Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-09-12
Release ef Prisoners Sentenced by a
Military Commission.

ing before the trcbldent, IN Wnlcn Exec
utive clemency is prayed for, wherein
the military authorities have assumed
jurisdiction, and while the civil courts Of
the Southern States were open and
competent TO try issues Of law aud fact
involved.
One Of the most remarkable cases Of
this class is that Of VIM. j. Tolar, Thos.
Powers and David Watkins, found guilty
and sentenced to be hanged by a military
com mission, at Raleigh, N. G., for the
alledged murder of Archie Bebee, q negro
man.
These prisoners were arrested and
tried conjoiutly with Duncan G. McRae
and Samuel Phillips, as TO whom a nolie
prosequi was entered, Phillips turning
States evidence, and it being decided by
the military commission that there was
no evidence duplicating McRae.
The facts Of the case, as admitted sub
stantially by prosecution and defense,
are That on Sunday evening, 10th of
Feb, 1867, respectable white girl,
Miss Massey, returning from church to
her home, in the vicinity of Fayetteville,
North Carolina, was met in the suburbs
of the town, assaulted, dragged from the
public highway$and b-utally outraged ;
that, on the same day, one Archie Beebe,
colored man, was arrested by the police
of Fayetteville, charged with the crime,
and the next day was brought before
magistrates for preliminary examination;
at that examination Bcebe was fully
Unidentified by the oath of the young lady
upon whom the assault had been COM
mitted. and by other testimony, and was
by the magistrates committed TO await his
trial at the next term of the Superior
Court for Cumberland county. The re-
port of the crime produced great indigna-
ton in the minds of the people of the
community, and large crowd, both
white and colored, assembled to hear the
preliminary examination above men
toned. After the examination, the young
lady, Miss Massey, passed through the
crowd from the courtroom to carriage,
and handkerchief falling from her reck
revealed the marks of the brutal clutch
of the ravisber's fingers upon her throat
and thereat the crowd, already excited,
became furious with Indignation The
prisoner, ,brougbtout few moments after,
was killed by pistol shot fired from the
midst of the crowd.
Shortly afterward the defendants, To-
lar ct al, were arrested by order of Gen.
Sickles, then commanding the Second
Military District, and were, in July fol-
lowing, tried before a military commis-
sion, as already stated.
A large number of witnesses we're ex-
amined and the testimony generally was
of conflicting character, some of the
witnesses for the prosecution swearing
that Tolar fred the shot, and that Pow
ers and Watkins Joined in the assault.
On the other hand, majority of the
witnesses for the defense testified posi-
lively that they heard the, report of the
pistol, and were looking at Tolar aud
saw that he not only did not fire the pis-
tol, but that he had nothing to do with
the attack on Beebe. Some of the wit
nesses swore unqualfedly that they
saw the shot fred by Phillips, as to
whom a nolle prosequi was entered, as
reward for his turning States evidence.
From the weight of testimony it does
not appear probable that either of the
parties contradictions, Powers and
Watkins-had anything to do with the
shooting; but it does appear that Phil
lips, who was acquitted, probably fired
the pistol. Three members of the COM
mission recommend Powers and Wat
kins to Executive clemency.
The Judge Advocate of the Second
District, upon review of the case, recon-
meuds that the death sentences be miti-
gated to Imprisonment for twenty years.
General Candy directed that the ac-
cused be imprisoned in Fort Macon for |
fifteen years; and tLey are now exc
cutting that sentence in that prison.
The Judge Advocate of the Second |
District, in reviewing the case, says that
while the brutal outrage committed by |
Beebe was not legal palliation OF the |
murder, of which it may have been the
exciting cause, yet it is competent and
reasonable for the reviewing authority |
to consider facts" in determining the
character of punishment that shall be in
Hicted upon the prisoners.
Ten thousand of the most respectable
citizens, many of them members of the
Masonic order, in North and South Car
olina, Joined by great many ladies and
colored persons, send petitions to the
President to pardon the prisoners. They
do not believe the accused guilty and
they say thcy knew Tolar to be peaceable,
honest and moral-a highly respectable,
Christian gentleman, and near relative
of the outraged young lady; that Powers
is the uncle of Miss Massy, aud her near
est protector, her father being dead; and
the petitioners argue that, even il the
prisoners did shoot Beebe, they submit
that the outrage committed on q highly
female--a near relatiye-was
in itself circumstance which should
mitigate the punishment Of the accused,
who have already been imprisoned a
year. That the negro Beebe was also
guilty of the outrage is admitted by all,
and be received as punishment for this
brutal act the penalty provided by law
death-and the only objection to that
result is found in the mode by which it
was accomplished.
II is further argued, in behalf OF the
that there was no reasonable
ground for the interposition of the mill
iary court; that no respectable officer Of
he United States army has ever intima-
ed that Justice has not been invariably
fairly and impartially, in
he Superior Court Of Law, to which
Beebe bad been committed TO answer;
md that in this case the military, by
order Of General Sickles, thought proper
% take eognizancs before any civil court
having poRr aud Jurisdiction Of the al
eyed oifeiSe could act; when, too, the
Of civil courts had already