The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-06-12

Sonth Carolina-.asln lnainistsat AfysTSls-
tice tn . Reconstfa faeEea ste ~ s
e. E1emarl1aIsie spesSti az : u kfp arlilsoi-
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CoLuAsIAis5 O., May hai SjuSt
returned here from, b visit 81
thriving and healthy Yiiis8e Affsy
miles by rail from this spi ace my
visit was made atiaititas peei IihS fsvoEs
able for observations and notS ting, it
may not be aniss to chroRiolS b saeh inci-
dents and Developments as cams be-
fore me, ~
The Circuit Court was in session, pre-.
sided oVer.by o very old. somewhat pro
sy, but seemingly impartial Judge, of the
scalawag schoo1-E. Boozer. by name, of
and from Lexington County, and the
whilom lieutenant Governor, and Pres
ident Of the Senate ut The inception of
the negrogovefnment. The court house
is very handsome brick structure, to
which $4,000 has recently been ap-
piled in repairs and furniture, at
the expense Of the County. and for the
benefit of a Massachusetts, contractor,
whom the Massachusetts County Com
missioners selected to manage the busi-
ness. The grand jury contained some
two or three white men, all the rest be-
ing negroes, and the petit iuries were
composed almost entirely of blacks.
Some of these were mere boys in appear
ance, in q condition of absolute ignor-
ance not only of law, but of letters; and
the substitution of so many MONKEYS
could not have made the scene more pal
pably farcical. There seemed to be some
difficulty in getting the negro Jurors to
recognize, own, and answer to, the names
by. which they were entered on the
oehtre; and in some cases, members of
the petit juries were missed, and after
being vainly called by the crier, they
were hunted high and low, and finally
found snugly ensconsed with the grand
Jury, and sitting as members Of that high
inquest in it's private deliberations.
When brought into court by the negro
constable, and restored to their proper
seats, these erratic wholly y-heads seemed
in no way abashed, but Joined in the
laugh, which such mistakes occasioned
among the lockers on. The place as
signed for the bar is handsomely car
peted, and the lawyers were all white,
and said to be natives, and of marked
ability. = I was struck by the zeal, in
genuity and eloquence with which these
Carolina gentlemen defended the pris-
oners tried, nearly all of whom were
negroes, some Of them notorious scamps,
and none of them able to pay for such
professional services. Many of them
were acquitted on nero technicalities of
law, ably argued, and insisted on, or by
some flaw in the indictment. The worst
and the poorest of them had the gratuit-
GUS services of the bar, in cases in which,
where the party was able to pay, fee of
several hundred dollars would not have
h0arl \
these prisoners were known to be mem.
bers of the league, voting all the time
against the native white interest, and
obedient tools Of the radical adventurers,
who abandon them when in trouble.
Sumter seemed to be infested with
radical vermin. Whittemore, Massachu-
setts Congressman, old and young Moses,
father and son, Chief Justice, and
Speaker of the House, by tho favor of
the negro Legislature, and small army
OF other loyal leeches, were pointed out
to me. Their company is avoided by
the white population, but they seem to
have all the brazen effrohtery which is
usually associated with prostitution of
any kind.
witnessed quite scene in front of
the Court House. A group of thirty or
forty negroes, and q few whites, huddled
together noar the steps, were addressed
by O likely nulatto, we'll dressed, power
full in voice, and of decidedly declama-
tory turn. His name was johnson, a
member of the Legislature from Sumter.
The group, I learned, was the Radical
County Convention to nominate candi-
dates for the State Senate, and Probate
Judge and Coroner of the County. For
the Senate two candidates had entered
the field, q scalawag (Heriot) and car
pet-bagger, Gardner, from Boston.
johnson deolaimed eloqusntly against
any white. man for that Office; he said ::
"I told B.. F. Whittemore that aoe had
raised him from dung-hill to seat in
Congress, but if he did not behave him
self there, we would pull him down again
lower than he ever was before I insist.
he cried, "Jhat . negro shall go TO the
Senate" He succeeded, whipped out
his earpet-bag and scalawag Competitors,
and obtained the nomination himself,
which is the az An election For
the choice Of This Convention'(?) carries
(by sworn obligation} the whole party
(negro) vote. White citizens were stand
iny off ohouk ION x,t ~ a -, Sl,a -