The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-09-23

yertaken by Ave or six white
men mounted and armed that the
buggy. was stopped; that one horse
dashed ridefless up the road towards
relntor, that he saw the pursuers
around the buggy, some of them dis
mounted; that he then came as rapid
lyi as possible to Albany 49,, E, 3
The following is the statement Of
theloSheriff of. Mitchell County,
sworn to by by himself and other
prominent citizens. It is addressed
to the members of the Legislature:
,sp"On Saturday, the 19th instant, it
was 'made. known to the citizens of
Camilla, that John Murphy, Of Alba
ny, Georgia, had issued o circular,
and secretly circulated the same
among the colored men of that Coun-
ty, ordering them to bring their
arms with them to a political meet
ing, advertised for that day, at this
place. This information was corro-
borated by statements made by Ro-
bert Cochran, ST., Thomas Jones and
others, who came ir frcm the road in
the direction of Albany, stating that
armed negroes were assembling in
large numbers, at China Grove
Church, waiting for the delegation
from Albany, headed by said Murphy,
and Pierce, candidate for Congress,
who were to be the speakers for the
occasion. AZ the request of the citi-
zens, Nj. j. Poore, Sheriff, with q
committee of nix other citizens, went
out to meet said procession, and to
protest against armed negroes being
marched in procession in our town;
to state to them, distinctly, that, if
they would put down their arms, no
objection would be made to their
entering town and holding their
political meeting. The Sheriff de-
hvered this message to Murphy and
Pierce, the leaders of the procession,
and they replied that they had no.
thing to do with those armed men;
the guns belonged to them, and they
were in the habit of carrying them
wherever they went. The Sheriff
replied, that, as n peace officer, it
was his duty, under the law, to for
bid an assemblage OF armed men at
political meetings, and assured them
that, if they entered the town with
their music and banners, followed by
armed men, as they then were, that
there would be breach of the peace,
and he would not be responsible for
the consequences. Shortly after
wards, the column moved into town
in regular order, headed by Pierce,
candidate for Congress, and one
Putney, white man, in a buggy,
armed with double barrel shotgun,
Spencer rifle and two pistols, with
quantity of ammunition, as was
afterwards ascertained. Next came
a four-horse wagon. containing q
band and number of armed ne
groes; next followed column of me-
gro men, on foot, between three and
four hundred, attended by about
twenty mounted out-riders. At.least
one-half, if not wo-thirds, were
armed with guns, and most of them
with pistols. The music was play
ing, and the crowd noisy and threat
ening in their conduct. Murphy
and one Philip Joiner, q negro, we're
In buggy, i'll the rear. AS the
head OF the column approached the
square, one of our citizens-James
Johns-who was intoxicated, .ap-
preached within few feet of tue
column and ordered the music to
stop. which was not obeyed, and the
column moved on. When about
twenty steps from him, his gun was
fired-whether Intentionally or un-
Intentionally, is not known-but it
was pointed in q different direction,
and the contents struck the ground,
about twelve feet from him. The
column then fired volley, some of
the shots at Johns, but most of them
in the direction of Naples store,
thirty or forty steps from the column,
at which place there was q number of
our citizens, all unarmed, wounding
six of them. Immediately, about
twenty of our citizens sprang to
their arms and fred into the column,
by which two negroes were killed
and a number-how many is not
known-wounded. The negroes
Immediately broke and ran to thick
cluster of timber, 100 yards North
Of the court house. At this point,
there was an attempt made by Pierce
to rally his routed forces. Our citi-
zens Immediately, to the number of
about thirty, part of them mounted.