The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-10-28
DIsARMLNG TEE MILITIA.
GOVERNOR SCOTT COMING. TO THE
STICKING POINT
The Shooting at the Armory.
rrRou ouR OWN CORRESPONDENT

p [FRoN OUR OWN CORRESPONDENCE
q COLUMBIA, october 26.
b A oood deal has been said to-day about the
covernor.s promised order to dlssrm oil the mill
,t,an the state, without distinction Of previous
condition or color.
It appears that under deal OF outside pressure
the Governor. this morning, brought himself up to
the point OF ,uvtttng the order. IL ls now under
stood to be his declared policy to dtsarm the MILL
the STATE Tn ass
saw thas Governor Scot, having secured his eec-
ton, has now no more use for them, and turns
them on.
said about Laurens, there appears to have been
some verbal error What this Dennis said to Vim.
bush was to this effect :"You ought to take eighty
or hundred Winchester rides to Laurens and
Kill every man there, and burn every mousse"
Among the several witnesses who heard this Ian;
guace were Messrs. u Glaze and Hodge OF this
eity. white citizens, and trustworthy Witnesses.
Public opinion is very much divided upon the
fate OF the Infamous Joe Crews, OF Laurens.
Everybody has positive opinions about him, and
In my last gave the version Of one OF the State
armory guards (colored) about their firing pro
miscuously last saturday night 49,, ..u
Nobody believed his version then, and every
day confirms everybody's opinion.
have to-day conversed with witness VINO
was very near the spot at eight O'Clock Saturday
pight-the time the first firing comm ,nced This
gentleman is Northern man and not preludiced
against the negroes, at elst. He was near enough
to hear dstinctly and the hrst sounds that reach.
ed him were the commands Of the sentinel on
duty In front, In the words shalt halt halt !"
rapidly uttered. and then gunshot.
Then followed scene of. wild but Invisible con-
fusion, made up OF rapid and irregular nring IN
every direction, commands, shouts, calliugs and
minglngs Of words 10 Wild disorder.
This melee went on for half an hour or go, and
gradually quiet returned.
A policeman tcolored) went in to learn who had
broken the peace, and to arrest the Offenders but
no breakers Of the peace nor Offenders could be
pointed out to him. Only somebody thought he
had seen somebody In the vicinity OF the armory.
The night was perfectly dark.
At the distance pointed out to me the guard
could not have distinguished man from horse,
nor could human eye have told perfectly wnlte
statue from one In ebony. And yet the guard
asserted that he saw distinctly
he was badly frightened, and olazed away In
the dark for fear he should see somebody.
Ny informant, who was on the ground. be.
lieves that every shot fired that night was Tired
the State arms, and that nobody was near to az
ford any pretext for the firing.
Now the firing itself was an outrage upon the
community. volley after vnlley-during the night
habited portions OF the city, and the wonder is
that families were not murdered
Now, the sum OF the whole matter Is just this:
If the State armorY needs guarding at all, that
guard and that kind OF guard are utterly incom'
peteut to protect It.
The Governor must either put a competent
guard over the armory, or he should put the arms
In charge Of the United States forces Stationed
here.
1t is evident to everybody that II anybody In
this community desires to capture those arms, It
could be done any day or any hour; and could
have been done easily last Saturday nlght 9y iour
States soldier who ls familiar with the character
or that State guar1. -.
Either that guard let loose their bullets under
instructions from their Radical masters, or else
they were terribly frightened OF nothing.
Either horn Of the dilemma is bad enough. but
what third horn is there? CoRSAlR.