The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-01-29

Tie scuaietown settlement In North Cas.
elina-A Band Of Organized Robbers and
sIsrderers.
We published some days since communi-
cation from Rutherford, N. c.. giving the par
ticulars Of the assassination of farmers wife
and daughter in that neighborhood by MEM
bers of what il known as the 'Lowry gang.
They had broken into the smokehouse at
night for purposes of plumber, and the owner
having sailed out of the dwelling house,
armed with his gun, and followed to the piazza
BY bis wife and daughter, the robbers opened
fire upon them and shot the two women.
Strange as the statement may read in all civil
lied communities, the unfortunate people
among whom this foul crime was committed
look upon 1t as one of the ordinary and almost
inevitable occurrences of life. Ever since the
war, and, indeed, for some time before its
close, an organized band of robbers and muir
derers has had its headquarters in one of the
large pine swamps with which the State of
North Carolina abounds. In q morass mac
cessble to all who are unfamiliar with
Of ell law, issuing from 1t by day or
by night only for the purpose OF
robbery or murder. Their leader is sort
Of cross between a half-breed Indian and
mulatto. and the members Of the gang-eight
or ten in number-are all related by blood or
marriage. The chief. whose full name is
Henry Berry Lowry, is as great an object Of
terror TO the people Of the surrounding coun-
try a. King Theodore of Abyssinia was to the
neighboring tribes before his stronghold at
Magdala was stormed and captured by the
English expedition. The nearest settlement,
which rejoices In the suggestive appeilation
of the Scuffictown Settlement, is mostly in
habited by negroes and malattoes, many of
whom have ties OF kindred with Lowry and
his gang and all Of whom regard the outlaw
with mingled feeling Of terror and admira-
ton, and are always ready to give notice of
the presence OF any officers of justice who
may venture into the locality. The State au-
thorities Of North Carolina have proclaimed
the gang A. outlaws, and various attempts
10 dislodge them from their fastness
and secure them dead or alive have
been made, but always without success.
The outlaws have the reputation. and seem to
deserve II, Of being dead shots. and the citi-
Gems, whom the Sheriff sometimes enrolls as
q posse comitafus for the purpose Of aiding in
their capture, are generally very glad to get
out Of the morass after several Of their num-
Der have been struck down by the deadly
bullets OF their unseen foes.
Such state Of things as exists there in the
heart OF an American State is a standing
almost incredible IL there were not the
strongest Official evidence of it. The testi-
mony taken before the Ku Klux Committee on
that point will sadden and astonish the people
of the United States If ever 1t comes to be
published. One witness, man of anding
and intelligence, was asked by the committee
whether there was any prospect at all of
capturing those fellows, and his melancholy
reply was, ''None in the world. There they
have been four or i've years and not
one of them has been killed. They are
terror to the country. Our people of
The men are sending of the female men,
beers Of their families TO avoid their being
taken as hostages" Further on he stated
his belief that one of the reasons why this
gang had not been broken up was that they
we're voters on the republican side of politics,
and that they carried their political bias into
their murderous trade and only killed demo-
Gratis. He described the fruitless efforts to
capture them made by the Sheriff, with a
party Of q hundred citizens, and stated that
the party had not been able to do anything
after they got into the swamp, except have
FIVE Of their men killed and four wounded.
According to this witness these murderers
have inspired terror on account of the GER
tainty of their aim, as they rarely fire without
killing; and he proclaimed his honest belief
that their opinion was that SO long as they did
not kill any but democrats the government
would not try to capture and punish them.
These remarkable statements were verified
by all the other testimony taken on the same
point, and certainly reveal a condition Of
society In the State of North Carolina which
ought to put our civilization to the blush, and
which reflects utter disgrace upon the autbo-
rites Of that State, and to some extent upon
our federal officials, who have used the mill
tary forces where there was much less cause
for their interference. but have not attempted
to put down these outlaws.
SuaAR-CuRKD-The offence OF the Porkopo-
lis Aldermen atoned by the committee Of pri-
vate individuals who invited Alexis.