Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1867-07-31
From the Kingsrrec Star, July "a.

SOhliiCI VI
There occurred at This place on Saturday
last most unfortunate and mischievous col
lision of the military authority with the reg.
uIar administration of justice. A freedman,
named Ben. Finklea, had been arrested and
imprisoned under due process Of law for an
assault and battery with intent to kill, upon
the person Of William Mcclellan. Captain
Pingree and Mr.. j, e. Lewis, representing
the Frecdmenfs Bureau, called upon Mr..
Moody, Clerk of our Court, androquired lin
to discharge the prisoner upon HIS own r.
cognizance. This he refused to do, declaring
that both the State Law and Order No. 10, f
Gen. Sickles, required in criminal cases that
the usual recognizanceS should be given, and
that there must be bail; that in this case the
physician attending the assaulted party had
informed him that be was in critical condi-
ton, and that his recovery was very doubt
full; that to release the prisoner under those
circumstances, would violate his sworn da!y
to the State laws, anG the express provisions
of paragraph eleven, of Order M. 10, to
which he specially called the attention of the
Bureau. They replied that they had nothing
to do with General S::ckles' orders; that they
acted under General Scott, who was the ru.
ling power in this State, and would sustain
their action in this case; that they had orders
from him declaring that freedmen should not
be required to give bail, and that they re-
cognzed him only, and that this negro should
not give bail; that Congress would sustain
General Scott in what he did. Mr.. Moody
still declining to discharge the prisoner upon
his own recognizancc, they called a freedman
standing by, Coleman Afford, and instructed
him to 20 to the jail and order the jallor to
turn out the prisoner. Afford started off in
hot haste, and on the verbal order delivered
BY the negro the jailor turned the prison out,
and he is now at large. We have no wish to
increase the excitement which this affair has
occasioned, and will not assail the motives OF
the officers of the Bureau. Ina conversation
with Capt. Pingree afterwards, in which We
endeavored to convince him of his error, he
assured us that be was acting in accordance
with General SCOTS decision in similar
case, and that whatever might be General
Sickles' orders, General Scott would sustain
him. Bat we cannot remain silent as to
the effects of this affair upon the public
mind.
These officers have by their official action
shocked the moral sense of this whole com
munity, and done moe to destroy the feeling
of submission to authority than all that has
happened. For one hundred aud fifty years
in Carolina, the law las been, as it is every
where in Christendom, that in homicide, OF
a case where the life ofa wounded party still
fingers in suspense, tae accused, committed
by judicial authority. shall not be released ex
cept upon bail.
RI the first citizen of this District had as
saulted negro uader such circumstances
and Mr. Moody had discharged him without
bail, the whole Bureau would have had from
General Scott a yiolert diatribe as 10 the par
tiality and corruption Of our tribunals.
And when every fotm Of law is thus viola
ted 10 protec! thSEegro in crime, when Gen.
eral Sicklcs' orders are in vain pleaded against
the negro, but the white man is stringenty
bound by them, who can expect peace, who
can look for quiet submission to authority
We impugn no mans motives, but the Satur
days proceedings lead to results which we
shudder to contemplate. Its effects upon the
negroes are already evident; there has been
at least one case since then in which, "ithout
p:ovocation, this same Coleman Afford, in the
public square, lavished the most violent de-
nunciations on one Of our most peaceable
aud inoffensive citizens, and on his attempt
to explain, exclaimed, "Hush, sir, l don't
want to hear you; you have no more power
and influence than he dust on which
tread"
But above all things, we implore our fel.
low-citizens to beware of violence. Oar enc.
mics seek 20 goad US to this as help to the
waning fortunes Of corrupt and doomed par
ty. Let US keep in tie right. We cannot
believe that General Sickles will sustain this
outrage, aud until he endorses it, let every
good citizen use his influence to calm all cx-
element.