The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1871-12-21
,,s,.HoYT & CO., Proprietors
The, Views and Opinions Of a Northern Resi-.
-, dent of this State.


THE annexed letter is copied from the New
YORK Advance, paper published at Ogdens-
oufg, on the st. Laurence River, near the Can
aaaf afline. It's beautiful utterance deserve a
wide circulation:
aItz! 9t;o' Rock HILL, s. C., Nov. II, 1871.
9dI5tks Editor of the Aduajace: Ayear ago, 1
was placed in charge of the Western Union
Telegraph Office, located at this point, little
Village on the Charlotte, Columbia and Angus
tsc Railroad, in the District of York. am
titus in one of the Counties in which martial
law prevails at this time. A Northern man by
birth and education, I came to the South ex-
pecting to encounter bitter prejudice, to meet
Nth GOODNESS heard and put faitn In the
Malicious and slanderour reports which GER
Gain class of Northern politicians are so indus,
ni0us in spreading. 1 was OF course prepared
for insult and rudeness but far from this be-
inr the case. I have met with universal kind
ness and courtesy from the citizens Of this
place. A years residence in the South has SUI
feed to excite in me sentiments of sincere re-
gard and esteem for these brave and true
hearted, but down-trodden, ruined and out
RACED people. They are now the victims Of
such cruel tyranny, and are suffering so much
from gross injustice and unrighteous oppression
at the hands of the Federal Government, that
qsanot refrain from doing what little may lie
in nv power to call the attention of the coun-
Sry-to the arbitrary proceedings now being car
ried on in the upper Districts OF South Carolina,
and to aid in the work of arousing the men OF
the Northern States to q sense of the CALLING,
grinding despotism to which these unfortunate
people are being subjected. The nine Coun.
ties placed under martial law comprise one OF
the fairest portions of the State. 1t is the up
,sfy,1Htry of South Carolina, fine cotton and
grain land, quite thickly settled by thrifty,
industrious yeomanry, whose ancestors were
mostly Scotch and Irish emigrants from the
Southern portions of Pennsylvania. There were
few large e-holders in this part of the State
The negroes now are in a minority In all OF
.khsss 4rebellious" (?) Counties, except two or
three. When martial law was declared, pro-
found peace prevailed throughout these Coun-
ties: It was in the middle of October when
President Grants proclamation declaring us to
be in a state of rebellion burst like thunder
bolt from cloudless sky upon the people OF
this country.
The farmers at the time were busy gathering
in their corn and cotton, the negroes were hard
at work. No Ku Kluxing were going on; no
Union League outrages were being committed
no disturbances of any sort were occurring.
TLeI country was at peace and entirely free
from all domestic violence. Party spirit was
toiiine down, partisan animosity was being al,
lsyed. ard an era of general prosperity and
good feeling between the blacks and whites was
beginninS to dawn upon these people. They
were not in "a state of rebellion" There was
fi,d resistance to State or Federal authority
81, T.t,eEn were no armed and organized bands OF
men opposing the execution of the laws, OBJ
structing the course of justice, or enacting do
naa5tic' Violence, as is alleged by the admins
tration in Washington. The harsh measures
adopted by the Federal authorities tor the sup
preston of the Ku Klux Kans OF this State, are
not only unnecessary and uncalled TOR by the
State authorities, but are cruel and lnhuman
totally unworthy of the American people i
live here in the heart of the socalled rebellious
district: see the practical working of these
measures and tell you the manner in which
the hw Is being enforced is arbitrary. tyranni-
cal and barbarous In the extreme. Not only
has the writ of habsas corpus been suspended,
but one would suppose from the manner In
which The military are arrestlng and lmprlson-
inc citizens, that all law had been set aside
T6e people are as completely at the mercy of
1theisoldiers as if-it were war times. Arrests
are made upon bare suspicion. Amy person,
black or white, who has grudge against per-
son. can 90 and testify to the military COM
mandant that he believes such person TO be
Kn Nnx, and the person is Immediately ar
rested. It is done by soldiers, without warrant;
men are dragged from their beds and hurried
..,otiF to Jail, in the night time. They are I'M
,prisoned without hearing, or any preliminary
fare alike: nor are ahcy informed of the accu-
sations against them. They-are allowed no OPP
portunity of establishing their innocence before
incarceration. They are committed to jail
without hearing, snd wholly ignorant of the
cause of their arrest. know positively OF
nine men, all of good standing and respectable
ity-personal friends of mine, with the exceP;,
sien of one or two-were arrested on the night
of, the Goth October, while they were pursuing
their usual business avocations here In the VII
ilage The next day they were carried, under
guard. sixteen miles distant to the County jail ];
they were locked up in dungeon, and they are
to-day, awaiting hearing" Exactly three
weeks they have lain in Jail, close prisoners,
Surdedby United States soldiers, and to-day,
November II, they are wholly Ignorant OF the
canse of arrest. No accusation has been made
against them; no investigation has been made
into. their cases; no hearing has been allowed
them; their applications for bail perslstently
refused, though for these nine young men bail
bond of 100000 were offered and refused.
= Is not this glaring I'M ustice-a fagrant vlo.
lation of every principle of justice and liberty
Ts Il not cruel thus wantonly to confine these
:, Young men and keep them totally in the dark
/. as to the offence with which they are charged Z
sThree of these men are married; their wives
and children are left at home, dependent upon
friends for support, and there are hundreds OF
other families in the country left in the same
nlipht. The cruelty of this arbitrary procee9c-
Ing against the Ku Klux is that innocent SUI
fer with the guilty 1t is true, that lawlessness
and domestic violence have existed in TINS
country; but the corrupt Radical party OF TINS
carpet.bag ridden State are to blame for IL
They have robbed the State and outraged the
people. They have placed the Government IN
the hands of the ignorant and half.civllized
iarkies and passed obnoxious laws. Iheyhave
done everything irl their power to oppreS,S N .he
whites Of the State, who own nearly m al .ne ne