The Orangeburg news. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1867-1875, 1867-12-14

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fore 4 sunbeam; every one looked surprised.
Anon he came to the dazzling" (" wit Of the poet
lawyer, Pike. Then the curl of his lip grew
sshaarperghis smooth face began to kindle up,
and his eyes tolopen dim and dreary no longer,
but visidias lightning, red as fire globes ana
glaring as twin meteors The whole soul was
in the eye 7 tile full hedit streamed out of his
face 7gFhea without bcstoYipg ,an ,allusion to
Prentiss he turned short around on the per
jured witnesses Of Hopkins, tore their tcsti-
niony into shreads, and hurled in their faces
such terrible invectiYes that all trembled like
aspens, and two of them fled from the court
house. The excitement of the crowd was be.
coming tremendous: Their united life and
soul seemed to hang upon the burning tongue
of the stranger, and he inspired them with the
power of his isfpassions.j He seemed to have
stolen mattress long hidden secret Of attraction.
But his greatest triumph was To- como.
His eyes began to glance at the assassin
Hopkins, as his lean taper fingers assumed, the
same direction. He heninlcd the wiietch with
wall of strong evidence and impregnable ar
gnmont, cutting off all hope of escape He
dug, beneath the murdercTs feet bitches of d.
lemna, and held up the sdnderer to the scorn
an and contempt of the populace. Haying thus
slrt him about with circle of fire, he stripped
hin,sclfto the work of massacre -, ''.i :,
Oh! then it was vision both glorious and
dreadful to behold the orator His actions be-
came rs inpetuous as tho motion of an oak in
hurricane. His voice became trumpet
filled with wild whirl-pools, deafcning the air
with the crashes of power, and yet intcrmn-
glcd 1all the while with sweet undersong. of
the soft,cadence. His forehead glowcd like a
heated furnace, his countenance was hagg rd
like tliat;of q maniac, and ever and anon lie
flung his long and bony arms ON high az if
grasping after thunderbolts. amir
He drew picture of murder in such appall-
ing colors that in comparison hell itself might
seem beautiful; he painted the slanderer so
black that the SUN seemed dark at MONDAY
when shining on such n monster And then
fixing both portraits on the shrinking Hopkins.
fastened c led them the forever. The agitation Of the
audience amounted almost to madness
AL Mt once the speaker descended from the
pcrilous height His voice walled out for the
murdered dead and livng-the beautiful Mary,
moro beautiful every moment as her tears
flowed ,fastcr- till men wcpt and sobbod like
children. 4 t M
He closed by.a strange exhortation to the
Jury,iand through them to tho bye standers ;
no advised the panncl, after they should bring
in verdict for the plaintiff, not to offer vio-
lence to the defendant, however richly he might
deserve il; in other words, "not to lynch the
villain, but leave his punishment with God"
This was the most artful trick of all, and best
calculated to insure vengeance.
The jury returned verdict of fifty thousand
dollars; and the night afterwards Hopkins was
taken out his bed by lynchers and beaten al
to death. AS the court adjourned the
stranger said: y.
4 "John Taylor will preach here this evening
at early candle light"
lie did preach, and the house was crowded.
| have listened to Clay, Webster and Calhoun
Ito Dwight, Bascom and Beecher-but never
heard anything in the form of sublime words,
cevon approximating to the cloqucneo of John
massive rs cataract of fire" -'