The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-01-14

:
A REMARKABLE INsTANcB OF YOUTHFUL DE
pRAv1rY-A Boy TWELVE YEARS OH MURDERs
HIS sFArHER.--During the month OF April last
one Edmund Fraser, negro boy, while In the
woods of Clarendon. Distiot, killed bis father
under the most aggraN.ting circumstances
BE was arrested, tried AMI sentenced to be Se Se1
ecuted. The jury, however; recommended the
prisoner to Executive. cleIaency, and in'yiew O.
his extreme youth, the Governor connmute6
the punishment to imprisonment at hard labor
IN the penitentiary for Life: The following are
the reasons given by Hino E1cellency for exer'
cising this mercy: - - - -. ~
State us. Edmund Fraser, heedman-Mur,
der--Before Judge Moses-C Clarendon Districl
Fall Term, 1567.-Ths prisoner, Edmund
Fraser, was o coIored hoy, tried at Clarendon,
Fall Term, 1867, before Judge Moses, for the
murder OF Carolina Fraser, his father. de was
convicted and sentenced to he executed ON the
fourth Friday il January, 1868. The jury rec.
commended the prisoner to Executive clemen,
cy. He is represented toibe "a boy OF good
face. between twelve and thirteen years OF
age" but the circumstances Of the case indi-
cate iepravity rarely to be met with in aper-
son Of such tender years.
The prisoner and his younger brother, Fred
erick Fraser, boy Of eleven years OF age. left
the home Of their father, Carolina, and mother,
Molsey Fraser, on Sunday afternoon, In April
last, taking with him 6, double -barrelied shot
gun, belonging to the f!ther. They STAYED AZ
The house OF neighbor chat night. About sun
up the next morning, the father left home,
without stating whittier he was going; but as
the boys had gone off and taken his gun With
out permission, it is probable that ne was In
pursuit of them. He stated to his wife that he
would return to breakfast:
The younger brother, Frederick, in his e1'
animation, states that they had started nome
on Monday morning, when they met their faith
or. He proposed to the prisoner that they
should run. The prisoner said .No;" he would
not run. The father bad switch in hls hand,
and when he came up within about thirty feet
of the bows, the prisoner, according to the tes-
timony Of his brother, raised the gun, cooked
it, fred upon his father. and killed HIM instant
ly. They then dragged the body by the feet q
distance Of some fifty yards fion the path in
which he had been mnrd dered, and the prisoner
took some bark from an adjoining stump and
covered the body. He :hen hid the gun under
the side Of log, and the two boys went on
home. When they reached home, the mother
incurred if they had seen their father: Both
Of them declared they had not. When she IN
quired where the gun vas, they replied that "A
white man had took it from them." The gun
crows. The boys ate their meals as usual, and
exhibited no e1citement or concern. ,o
Some ten days afterwards the body was found
in state Of great decomposition. The evi,
dence of the younger boy was fully confirmed
by witnesses who went to the spot where the
murder was committed, and traced the path
along which the body had been dragged. The
bark was also found upon the body as describ-
ed by the younger brother, and the gun was
found under the log.
The deliberation exhibited by the prisoner,
and the oncealment and sek-possession sub
sequently, shows deprayity and heartlessnesss
rarely, if ever, equalled in this country; and
vet, In consideration of the very tender years
Of the boy, who is now less than thirteen years
of age, and that under the law he is barely re-
sponsible for any criminal act which he might
perpetrate, I'have been constrained, from con-
siderations of humanity, 10 spare his life. In
doing 80, however, have felt that such an
atrocious crime should be visited by punish
mert second only to that OF death, and have
therefore commuted the death penaltJ to i'm
prisonment for life al hard labor in the peni-
tentiary. JAMES Il: URN,
Governor Of South Carolina.
Columbia, s. c., December, 1867.