Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-08-01
EXTRAORDINARY OUTAGE.
Hew Alabama Radical OmefaRs Exc
cute the Law--sacEing the Premises
ola Citizen. ah43 a-r esd

assault and battery, and lined $5'
Judge Smith subsequently added to th
sentence fifteen days imprisonment, ,
which fact, it seems, Mr.. Letter was ig
norant. After the jury had rendere
their verdict, he sought the sheriff to pa
his fine, but this officer could not b
found. ia FfA III T9(EfT
| Mr.. Letter, knowing that bis wife wa
alone and unprotected, then rode home
1 about nine miles off. The next day hi
came to Montgomery, and was busily en-
gagged, either in the city or at his planta
/ ton, for the two or three ensuing days
designing to visit Hayneville the latte
part of the week to settle the matter. Ii
the meantime Judge Smith, against the
remonstrance, as it is said, of the sherif
and county clerk, added twenty days b
the sentence of Imprisonment. .sHa /
It appears that after hearing that he
had been thus sentenced, Mr.. Lehel
evaded an arrest. The warrants for his
arrest were placed by the sheriff in ..tht
hands of deputy and sent to Mr.. Nc
Grath, the TAILOR at Hayneville, to be
executed by him. McGrath was sick
and the deputy met, at . livery stable in
Hayneyille, one William McKibbeE, who
took the warrants from the deputy with
out any authority for doing SO, and put
them into his pocket.
1t seems that he was a clerk in the Of
flee of the sheriff, and it further appears
that he had expressed desire to arrest
Mr.. Letter for some reason or other. The
next morning this fellow summoned q
posse of armed negroes to LETTERS planta-
ton for the purpose of arresting him.
When he reached the plantation he was
told that Mr.. l.. was absent, but he at
once commenced a furious hunt after him,
stimulating the negroes with violent and
inflammatory cries, and as Mr.. Sanbora,
who was present as one of the posse,
says they would have undoubtedly MUIR
dered Mr.. L. had they succeeded in
catching him.
From this point we will allow the
Hayneville Examiner to tell the story.
McKibben was now furious. His vic
tim had escaped. He now ordered his
"black column" to take the horses out
of Mr.. LIS stables. Miss. Fannie Tay'
Ter, young lady housekeeper on the
place, told the negroes not to do it as
they were Mrs. LETTERS horses. They
hesitated. Mex. cooked his pistol and
pointed it at them, repeating his order,
Miss. T. repeated her injunction, telling
them and NICK. that the horses were the
property of Mrs. L. The wretch walked
up to her and pointed his cooked pistol
close to her head. She saw the deadly
blue slugs in their chambersl One touch
of the rutfian's finger and her soul would
be in eternity, and her brains on the
wall. Then he cursed her! "You Cd
id bitchg-You id strumpet"!!!
His craven heart could not arrest man
without so armed negroes at his heels;
but he could curse and beard helpless
girl Whether or not he would have
made the innocent girl the object of his
devlish rage We are never to know
At that moment Mr.. Hewes
came up to him. Mr. II.
is a gentleman of Northern birth, who
has been in Alabama but few months.
He told Mex. to stop, that he was talk
ing to lady. The brute turned to him,
ado you take it up, sir?" 81 do" re>
piled Hewes, "and will not hear lady
talked to in that manner" "All right +,
SIR" said McKibben, 81 will attend to
you some other time" He turned away ,
and asked the negroes if they had guns
and pistols. Most of the negroes that
came with him replied in the affirmative,
but those on the place had not. Nc
Kibben told those without arms to 60
into the woods and cut sticks and clubs,
and kill Letter wherever they found him
The Infatuated and brutal hounds obeyed
with the utmost alacrity. They were
ripe for any atrocity. Theirs was not
tn en- mission Of law and order, but the
fanaticalfury of the cannibals of Ashantee.
"They took the stock of Mr.. Letter
Is head-the negroes mounted and rode
off A plantation was sacked Its busi-
sess operations entirely suspended ! Its
laborers converted into the deadly foes
of its owners, and of the Anglo Saxon
racel Bad blood had been fOmented
between the two races by an officer OF
the law The negroes of all the planta-
tons of north Lowndes now know that
the shooting of one of their number by
a white man-although in selfsdefense-
was the cause of his being hunted like a
wolf; his premises invaded by body of
armed men, ladies of his family cursed
and insulted his stock carried of, and
his crop left to waste
"The sheriff was at Stanford's pla ce
that night, and met McKibben returninH
| from his successful razzia. He had the
| stock returned, but was not informed as
to the extent Of the Outrages Of the evenr
ing before.
Meanwhile, Mr.. Letter rode to Mont
| gomery-arriving that mig ht | o'clock.
The next morning, accompanied by some
| friends, went to the capitol, and laid the
| facts of his case before the Governor:
That official, Gomprehending at glance
the full measure of injustice Quin had
done Mr.. Letter by his sentences of i'm
| prisonment, at once signed full pardon
| With this instrument in his hands, Mr.
Letter reached home that Friday night
| He there heard, for the first tim e, the
| full extent of the outrage5 McKibben
had committed. The next morning he
| reached Haynville and laid the facts be-
| fore the sheriff.
"A warrant was at once issued for Me
Kibben. 1t was placed in the hands Of
Constable Burns, who approached Me-
Kibben to serve it The latter presented
a pistol and defied arrest. He subsequent
ly submitted and was carried before JUS
tice Enochs, who required him to give
bond to appear the following Monday
Failing to make bond, he was sent to jail
Monday last he was brought before
Justice Enochs for examination. lie ap
peared with counsel-Jas. Buell., ESQ
Examination, however, was waved. Bono
was required in the sum of 81 900 for hi
appearance at the next term of the Cir
cult. In default of this he is now in jail.
| We append card fromth sheriff;
| HAYNEvILLE, July &c, 1869. - Col
Brewer: There seems to be considerable
excitement in the northeastern part o
the county, occasioned by an assault on g
lady by one of my deputies, at the resi-
dence of Mr.. G. Ii. Letter.
| In justice to myself, | desire to sa,
that the arrest which my deputy was at,
tempting to make was wholly unauthor
lied; that he clandestinely took, durin,
my absence from the county, a capias
which l had specially (by writer
orders) entrusted to my jailor for its ex
ecution. l understand that the freed
men were summoned in large number
by him, and given orders to commit fla
grant violations Of law, besides compro
missing his dignity as an officer and gen
tleman by making an assault on an un
protected lady. The offender is now il
jail, and if the charges against him b
true. he will be punished as the law pre-
scribes.