The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-10-25

DISCHARGE OF KERNAGHAN III 5 EXPRESS
LENCY OUTwTTTED.-THE NEWS has mentioned
that several days ago Mr.. Robert Kernaghan, Of
Hamburg, South Carolina, was arrested by one OF
r. K. Scott's myrmidons on trumped up charge
OF having been implicated In the murder OF Ruff
fn, the scelawag sheriff OF Richmond County, Ca,
who was killed in the City Hall Park, Augusta,
Ca, during the last Presidential election. The
prisoner was taken to Columbia and kept there in
confinement until last Thursday, when Governor
Bullock sent reqaisitlon and a special messen-
ger, named Pettis, after the prisoner.
Pettis, two Carolina constablss, and Mr.. Kerna.
CHAN arrived in Augusta Friday afternoon by the
Charlotte, Columbia and Augusta Railroad,'on
their way to Atlanta. But Immediately after
their arrival Pettis was arrested on writ Of
haoeas corpus, Issued by Judge Snead.e The
grounds upon which the haoeds carpus was sued
out were thst Mr.. Kernaghan was charged with
having killed Ruffin in that city on last Noyem-
Der; that by the law Of the State person accus-
ed Of having violated the law must be tried in the
county in which the alleged crime was said to
have been committed; and yet, in the face OF this
law, Pettis was about to take the prisoner away
from Richmond County, where Rufin was shot,
and carry him to Atlanta, nearly two hundred
miles away.
On SATURDAY morning the case was called. and
all parties appeared in court. Pettis, who seemed
to be badly frightened, announced that lie had no
return to make; whereupon Major .Ganahl, coun-
sci for the prisoner, moved that he be discharged.
At this point Pettis received a dispatch from
Governor Bullock's private secretary, in reply to
one Petts had sent asking for Instructions saying
A. 10, hIo iloro MON n
to him during the day. Pettis wished to exhibit
to the court his papers and the dispatch which he
had Just received, but the court declined to eX-
anime them, as they did not constitute legal re-
turn to the writ.
Major Ganahl proposed to read q certified copy
OF the discharge Of Mr.. Kernaghan by Judge
Boozer, in Columbia South Carolina, on Last
Thursday, but the court also declined to hear 1t
read on the ground that 1t was not necessary.
The court then ordered that the prisoner be
discharged from custody, which was done and
the court adjourned.
Immediately after the adjournment Pettis was
arrested on q warrant issued by Justice Bills at
the instance of Mr.. Henry Key, charging the
Governors detective with the ofrence OF false i'm
prisonment.
The testimony showed that Kernaghan had
been discharged from custody by Judge Boozer
at Columbia, on Thursday, and then had been
arrested by Pettis and brought to Augusta, and
would have been carried to Atlanta but for his
discharge upon a writ OF hdoeaS corpus The
defence offered no testimony except q requsition
from Bullock on Scott for the body OF Kernaghan,
whom the requisitlon states Is charged with the
murder Of Ruflin in Augusta last November.
The magistrate, after the arguments, decided to
bind the prisoner over In the sum OF 1--WE hundred
dollars for his appearance at the next term OF the
Superior Court to answer the charge of false i'm
prisonment.
The Augusta Chronicle and Sentinel, from which
the above points are CLEANED, plainly hints that
the object OF Governor Bullock in ordering the
prisoner to be brought to Atlanta for trial was be-
cause he supposed that commitment could be OBJ
tanned there, (which could not have been done in
Augusta, for the innocence Of the accused could
have been clearly establishedD and then he could
have secured his share Of the five thousand dol
lars reward offered for the apprehension OF the
slayer Of Rufin.