The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-12-08
DAILY PRESS.
PORTLAND.
Saturday Morning, December 8, 1866.

~ INC CAUCUS vi hepuDilcdn ihomoCio Va
Congress held in Washington Wednesday
evening, it was agreed to raise special COM
1nittee to investigate the release OF the MUIR
Ilereis of Maine soldiers in South Carolina
These soldiers were Corporal NJ. Z. Corbett
and Privates Emory Smith and Mason Brown,
ali of the First Maine Veteran Volunteers
The murder was committed on the night OF
Sunday, October 8, 1885, at Browns Fer
ny, on the Savannah river. The parties iDi-
plicated were James Crawford Keys, Robert
Keys, his son, Elisha Byrem and +. G. Stow
ess. They were arrested by the military
authorities and brought to trial before mill
tary commission.
The facts proved ON the trial were these
The officers of the Treasury Department had
taken possession of fifteen bales ofcOtton ly
lag at the Ferry aud put them in charge otW.P.
Brown, the owner of the ferry, who lived
few rods distant. The cotton wss claimed
by the. elder Keys, who had engaged Stoves
to carry it by boat to Savannah. On the Fri
day before the murder Stowess informed
Brown that the cotton was about to be taken
away, and advised him to turn it over to the
military authorities and relieve himself of all
responsibility for it. Brown thereupon noti-
fed the military authorities of the intended
removal, and the three soldiers were at once
sent to the Ferry. Stowesss trip to Savan-
nah was accordingly postponed, on the plea
that his steersman was sick.
At about II o'clock Sunday night five men
f1,o in l., ~ ~.
liver. They were seen by Brown and his as
sistant, named Howell, to go the ferry, where
an alteration at once began between them
and the guard. A voice, identified as Stow
esss, was heard ordering the guard to lay
down their arms On the soldiers replying
that they were acting under orders which
they must obey the answer was heard, "God
damn you, we have come to throw you into
the river" followed by the sharp report of
firearms, and presently the same party of five
men came back past the ferry house, three of
them riding the soldiers horses. The moon
had been up for two hours. Brown swore
that he recognized Crawford Keys and Stow
ess. Howell recognized Keys, his two sons
Robert and Peter, Byrem and Stowess. Pc
ter Keys, who kept out of the way and was
never arrested, ordered Howell back to bed
The next morning the bodies OF our Maine
boys, SO needlessly, SO atrociously assassinated,
were found in the river, "a rod or two from the
shore, by detail of soldiers. Each had been
shot through the head, two with wounds that
must have caused immediate death; the third
evidently having been drowned after receiving
his wound. The hair of each was scorched.
showing that the pistols had been discharged
close TO their heads.
The defense set up for the four assassns
who were apprehended, was an alibi which
proved an utter failure. Every Circumstance
oftheir actions duiiDg the day, their meeting
and consulting together their absence from
home at the time of the mu rider, all tailed
perfectly with the direct and pos tive testimo-
ny Of Brown and Howell, who were old resi-
dents Of the district and perfectly familiar
with the voices and faces of their neighbors
On the morning after the murder Stoves
was proved to have told his negro servants
that the soldiers had been killed. that they
would probably all be arrested; and that if
had seen him at home at IL O'Clock the night
before and had got some brandy from him,
This was proved to be false, and further he
made no attempt to show how he obtained
his information. The four prisoners were all
found guilty BY the commission and sentenc-
ed to be hanged. This sentence was com
nluted by Gen. Sickles, in the cases of Byrem
and Robert Keys, in accordance with the re-
commentator of the commission, on ac-
count of their youth, to Imprisonment Tor
life. The two Others were ordered to be ex-
ecuted On the 9th April 1866.
At this point President job nson interviewed.
At the solicitation of the friends of the pris-
oners, he sent telegraphic order on the oath
April, suspending the execution of the sem
tence. Afterwards the President colnmuted
the sentence to imprisonment for life, and
the four prisoners were sent to Castle Pinck-
ney for confinement. Subsequently they were
removed to Fort Delaware, from which they
have recently been taken on a writ of habeas
corpus issued by Judge Hall, and are now at
large. Ii is understood that the removal of
the scoundrels was deliberately made for the
purpose of bringing them within the jurisdic-
tion Of the Delaware judge, whose "Conserva-
tism" was rightly regarded as sufficient
guaranty for their release.
The disgraceful nature of this transaction
is not yet fully exposed. We have related the
facts as they appear on the surface, shocking
enough so, but not SO black as the rumors
which Congress is called upon to investigate
A correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette,
writing from Washington under the date of
November %, says,
There were two principal actors in the mat
ter One was VIM. II. Prescott, of South
Carolina, whose presence here some months
since will be remembered, who was paid by
the wealthy prisoners to work up their case
with his friend, the President who had grant
ed him pardon. The second OF these advo-
Gates then steps in, in the person of Hon. o.
Il. Browning, then claim agent or pardon
broker, in Washington since Secretary of the
Interior, and then, also, the dispenser of much
of the Government patronage squandered in
the late attempts to create johnson party
Mr.. Browning was retained in the case and
prepared an argument which he read to the
President. Principally through the efforts Of
these two, the prisoners were brought from
Castle Pinckney to Fort Delaware, preparato-
ry to their release.
The amount of money which has passed in
this case is known to have been very great,
though the exact figures cannot of course be
obtained 1t has been stated by party who
could hardly be mistaken, that one of the chief
brokers received $4,000, as retaining fee
alone, and that 800 600 in all has been paid to
secure the release
So far as MIR. Browning was connected with
the case, his services began before he was Sec
rotary, although the case has but Just been de-
cided. .ra.ii lI'r :. E
This Prescott is the man who as a proni-
nent office-holder under Buchanan, played the
spy in the Rebel interest till he was compelled
to leave the Office he disgaced- "a fit advocate
for fit clients. Mr.. Browning conspired with
him, it is alleged, to set at liberty these con-
victed murderers, and the President of the
United States connived at their plot. The
blood of our DOOR hnvs 81, tzantnnlv smiled