The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-05-03

Tho Murder OF Minor Parss-Tss True
Version OF the DiabeAieea 0Asnce. =
In these days Of degensrapy and crime,
thH coNntfE is 80 often sIhocke kef;by hos-
rifle dsed&bf blood tfat the marc kill
\ iD6 ofN sifigle man makes, little or mo
niSressio9s upon The pei 5lie. al As.,. IA
! mRp is shot; the news spreads swiftly
lover the country. Many indignant re-
marks are made; q few short G6mments
by the press, and there's an, end oisthe
matter; iThe victim Is soon forgotten,
the act lost sight of amid other and
fresher sensations. and the world moves
gayly ON. Such is the why OF the world
such it has always been, and suoh it will
ever continue to be-, perhaps; but we
must confess that we feel Tor THOSE who
suffer unmerited ills, and we shall not
pass them hurriedly by, careless of the
evil which has befallen them. t
| Ne, have read with indignation the
details Of the rash killing of Minor Pa
ris. He was poor man; he was OBJ
soure-unknown. perhaps, out Of eight
OF the smoke Of his own cabin; and his
untimely end is o matter of small conse-
quenoe to the public. He may have
been the criminal he is charged to be;
the indictment against him may have
been true; he may have violated the En-
foroement Act, and actually committed
the horrid (?) crime Of intimidating
some oolored voter; but for all this, he
was q human being, an American citi-
zen, and was entitled to be treated as
suoh. and not Be dealt with as on outlaw
and shot down like dog. Various ac-
counts Of the shooting have appeared in
the columns Of the newspapers. At first
| the versions OF the affair differed widely,
and in many points were totally false;
but now the true story of the unfortu-
nate affair has been laid before the pub
lilo in the evidence of the witnesses, who
testified at the coroner's inquest. The
| substantial facts appear to be these:
Deputy Marshal Duncan. having bench
warrants for Minor Paris, Marion Har-
ris and others, went up into the Broad
River country to execute the warrante.
He was accompanied by detachment
OF Federal cavalry, who, as is stated by
Major Merrill, in his despatch to the
War Department, we're ''acting as u
posse to the United States Marshal
When the force reached the neigh
borhood of the Cherokee Iron Works, a
squad of soldiers were stationed ut a
point on the river where certain boat
was lying. and ordered by Lieut.. Ben
ner, who commanded the detachment.
mot to allow any one to take the boat
awaT; and to arrest any person that
came there; and not to allow them to go
away, and if they insisted on going to
fire on them" This was the rash order
whioh Hamilton Grider, the lance COR
poral, who was in Immediate command
of he hot IL
from Lieut. Benner. While the squad
(Minor Paris aud Marion Harris) came
boat, or to visit Paris fsh-traps out in
which. They we're ordered by Grider to
halt Harris did malt, bus Paris re-
fused to halt. and going to the boat, got
in and rowed off into the river. After
he had got some distance from shore, the
detachment, having called to him re-
peatedly to halt and come back, fred O
volley at him, one ball inaicting death
wound through the hips. A short time
after the shooting, Marshal Duncan and
Lient. Benner, who, we are told, were
asleep (D at the house of MIR. Latham, a
few hundred yards distant, at the time of
the firing, arrived at the scene of the oc-
currence, and the wounded man was
brought on land, where he died after suf-
fering intensely for eight hours. These
are the plain unvarnished facts. Now,
it appears from this state OF the case,
which we take to be tho true one, that
the Deputy Marshal, to whom the bench
warrant was directed, and the only one
in the party who had legal right TO ap-
prehend the accused, was not only abb
sent at the time of the attempted arrest,
but was actually asleep.
No warrant was served upon Paris
No authority was shown which he was
bound to obey. The marshal who held
the warrant for his arrest was in bad
asleep. several hundred yards from the
scene. Had Paris refused to surrender
to the marshal, the lawfully constituted
officer of the Federal Government, upon
his exhibiting this warrant. and the
marshal had ordered the soldiers to fire
upon him, and he had been killed, the
act. perhaps. would have bean justifia.
BILE. Bot the military were acting only
as a posse to the United States Marshal;
and operating in that capacity, they
could be used by the marshal only in
case Of forcible resistance to the mar