Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1868-09-16
VOLUME xxxIII.-No. ss..
Horror of Il ,rrors.

One of the most revolving on'r.g and
double murder occurred near Swsinps Sill
in the Western corner Of North Carolina, and
near the Georgia line, on Tuesday last, which
it was ever our lot to record, or which ever
took place in any civilized land. A few
miles from tbs mill, on the Oolunsbas road,
/ lived, Mrs. Marks, young and h'anliIul
widow lady, about thirty years of sge, . hired
woman and two children, q little. boy Of. live
and little girl of eight, living with her. At
about o'clock IL the evening Of ths 2lss
inst, loud rap at the door of tho 5hensa
startled the inmates whit. had just retired i"r
the night. The hired woman, who slept III
4 an upper room, raised window tp a.certain
pthe cause, and was accoated by s-nsgr'. who
| said he had letter f,r Mrs.. Mn,k-. Mh ch
he had brought from the village, aud t. u. it
was very important, and must Le answered
that night. Recognizing him as mai from
the village whom she knew, she went DOWN
stairs aud opened the door.
As soon as the door was fairly untastcned,
agang of nine armed negroes, who had been
concealed in the dirk behind q. c!ump of
bushes, made rush into the house. The
woman fed through rear door, nd-eseaped
Mrs. Marks, hearing the noise, started to Come
from her room, but was met by two Of the.
negroes, who seized her and attempaed 10
drag her toward bod. standing in Q 0orrrr
fthe room. Being woman Of grea' strength
she struggled fearfuliy, but The rest Of taa
gang coming to tho aid Of the two. r'ts Nc.
fnaify overpowered. They then Threw hrt
on the bed, tying her arms aad '3eet to o'ths.
bedpost-with cords, and .proceededto violaas
her person in turn, until all nine oGthem bad
satisted their hellish passions. While this
was going on an attempt to vielaia the. person
of ,the little girl, who was held BY two Of the
tends in plain sight of the mother. while
third one accomplished the dannable deed,
knife having to be used for the purpose.
The.sereams Of the child were fearful, which
so enraged the demons that TREY tore her
tongue from her mouth, aud finally beat her
brains out against the stone jam of the ere
place and threw the tody into the back yard
Not content with this they seized the hoy.
and after tying him with cords, proceeded to
commit q nameless outrage npon his body.
The woman who escaped frem the house fed
toward Slower Station, put the night being
dark, lost her way, AID did not arrive at Mr,
Applebys, the nearest Reighber ofy Mrs.
Marks, until about two o'clock In the mora
ing.
She Immediately gave the alarm, and Mr..
Appisby called up his men, and after armiug
them, sent off to Robert Slows and the
other neighbors. As soon as possible they
all took their horses and proceeded TO Marks,
where they found the house On fire, and dis
covered the terrible scene we have described,
but the perpetrators of the deed had fed.
When found, Mrs. Marks was wholly inssn-
sible, and it was With great difficulty that
she was restored to consciousness. George,
the little boy, was found dead on the floor,
bound with cords as they had LEFT him, md
the dead body of Annie. the little girl, had
been dragged from the yard into, the back
stoop, undoubtedly fol, the purpose Of haytsg1;
all traces Of their guilt.ublitsruted ythe iire
which they had sets-It nppossd thai i.le.;
miscreants were alarmed BY .Gs approach Of
the horses Of Mr. AppleS;: AID hls men, and
they scattered to their hsines before morning.
The whole country Is aroused, and It viii he
difficult for all Of the perpetrators Of sucha
diabolieal. deed to escape. The negro WHO
pretended to have the letter was recognized
By. Mrs. orally, the work woman, as Bill
Batssn, the recent negro and Radical caadi.
date for the Legislature from that district.
He was not to be found the next day. and
his wife said he was going to Mulberry, to
negro meeting. BE is probably seereted
either 10 the wood or in the huts Of soma cf
the rest Of the gang, but it will be hard for
him to escape, as the whole county is isaroused.
No negroes were found absent from home Cor
five miles around, except Batson, aad snless
ha is caught it viii be very difficult TO ferret
out the murderers, on account Of the.sesret
Organizations known to exist among chem.
Iffs and property arc as the mercy Of the
blacks in nearly the; whole South. fhsy re-
fuse to work. and being fed by the Freeamen's
Bureau, arc allowed to live in .idleness to-
perpetrate, their fendish outrages. Mn Stokes,
whose plantation is on the Cumberland road,
informs us that he 6nds;it a rost fnpossible
to hire help at any price-all the ncgrocs re-
fasing to work and being supported ty the
bureau. just bciUre the last election hoarly
Two thousanl rstions were dealt out H. tho
negroes in that district, by the hufeaa agent,
sDd Batson had nearly the whole distribution.
The excitement ia relation to the murder is
intense, and it was with the utmost dARculty
that the citizens could be restrained from
wrpaking vengeance iadtscriminateiy. .-Geor.
gia Clarion. .