The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-01-04
rFRoa OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT

(FRo4 OUR OWN CORRESPONDENCE
COLUMBIA, January 2.
In the United States Court this morning,
after some preliminary business, Mr. Cham.
berlain made an argument of some length
as to the propriety of proceeding with tue
trial OF Dr.. Avery in the absence of the de-
| fendant He claimed that the trial should so
| on, his principal point being that, while a
| prisoner could not be deprived of his right to
be present at all stages of his trial, still be
could not take advantage of his voluntary
va: IT OF that right by going away with the
obvious purpose of escaping the control and
Jurisdiction of the court to defeat the ends Of
justice. The only case he found to sustain
this view was couuterfelting case in Ohio
reported In Bishop on Criminal Procedure,
Section 6S7. The counsel for defence re-
Trained from argument upon the point, and
Judge Bond announced the opinion OF the
court. He said that the court had to decide
this question Immediately, while they would
prefer to have further time for consultation,
They thought 1t safest to proceed to trial, be-.
cause all questions then before the bar could
be argued when motion for Judgment came
to be made, if the verdict should be against
the prisoner.
Mr.. McMaster then proceeded with his ar
gument to the Jury, which was interrupted
Yesterday: He criticised very severely the
composition of the jury, explaining that In the
first place the jurors were selected by the
three collectors of Internal revenue. Among
the voters Of this State there were about Two
whites to three colored men, but the jury lists
showed no such proportion OF white men as
that. Another remarkable popularity was
shown. There were; In South Carolina, but
very few white Radicals, but strangely
enough almost every white man drawn npon
these juries was Radical. Eleven of the
jury whom he was addressing were violent
partisans. II was infinitely worse than the
notorious Episcopal jurles who tried O'Con-
nell, the Irish llberator, and the other Catho-
lies, during the troubles In Ireland. Of the
present jury, nine were colored and three
were white. The outrages had been commit.
ted on colored men, and naturally the colored
men upon the jury were indamsd against the
mea who were brought to trial tor those
outrages. The world had never seen par
allel to these cases. Macaulay had said that
In the Irish cases just referred to there was a
reasonable certainty of averdlct against the
prisoner; but here the chances were increased
one hundred fold. But he declared If he wers
nifty such as would be afforded by being on
that jury to show his race was fit for freedom
that black Jury could rise above the pas.
sions and prejudlces of their race and do jus'
tIce according to the facts proven. He knew
that he would have to conquer prejudice In
their minds because DR.. Avery had ran away;
but he begged them not to let that warp, their
judgment Of his case. The true way to Judge
of his action was to put themselves In his
place, and then say If they would not have
acted as he did. There had been an effort
made to connect hin (the counseD with COM
pliclty in the defendants escape; but as to that
he had nothing to say, for that was not the
Al. 1lo nr
he hoped he was by that time In coun-
try which he thinks freer than this. Dr.
Avery had come to that court positive of bis
innocence. He had not known member OF
the Jury He had been told that eleven of
them were partisans, but still he hoped for
Justice, but he was afterward astonished,
Mortified at the practices resorted to to secure
conviction. The prosecution INTRODUCED Its
blackest testimony as to outrages ID York
County, not pretending to connect those out
RACES with DR.. Avery, but introduced solely
to paint in the blackest background to the
scene. and play upon the passions OF the jury.
Then he had introduced bis witnesses. Some
of them were too scared to talS, and others
were kept away from the witness stand. He
knew from his position In the community that
the prosecution were determined, by any
means, to attach to him the damning stigma
Of all The outrages committed by the very
dregs and offscourlng OF York County, the
devils Of the coal fields, and stamp
the fnfamy of these acts. He knew
that three months would not roll by be-
fore those very devils who had committed
these mercless acts would still have honor
lett to aquit him (Dr. Avery of participation
in those crimes But when he saw ten years
il the penitentiary, In convlet's garb, and in
conVlct's cell, because he was gentleman,
could anybody blame him tor going, "where
the woodbIne tWlneth?" He had seen On
aged gentleman sent to prison for five years
because forsooth, In the language of the court.
he had not put forth his influence and stopped
these outrages. The counsel asked, In the
narfe of God, how could he do 1t? If the
moral force Of this community had been so
rascaity In the government of this State have
gone on until the debt had been piled up to
mountain height? Would not this venal
Legislature have been long ago expurged !?
The court had told the prisoner re-.
ferred 10 that he should have stop
he was quiet farmer, living at dis
lance from the outrages. He should forsooth
have gone TO Yorkvllle, twenty miles from
home, and stopped these outrages. 1t was ab-
surd TO say that the state OF society In South
Carolina, Georgia and Florida can be judged
by such rules as in social condition Of pro-
found peace. Those States had been harried,
y
been settled to their normal condition. The
counsel then reviewed the evidence, tearing
to tatters the fltmsy testimony Tor the prose-
cution, aud proving that Dr.. Avery had never
belonged to but one organization bearing any
resemblance to the Ku-KluX, and that was an
organization in 1868, purely for home protec-
tion, perfectly innocent and laudable In Its
purposes, and which had been dissolved years
before the outrages in York County were COM
mltted.
Mr.. Wilson followed on the same side, and
completed the reductio dd absurd am OF the
theory of the prosecution. He first remarked
that although the departure Of his client had
added an unexpected and heavy burden upon
him 1t should not deter him, and he begged
that 1t should not prevent the jury from doing
their whole duty. The fight was not necessa-
rily proof Of guilt. 1t might reasonably be
attributed to despair. He saw that he was
drifting to that m@lstrom from which no one
man had yet returned, and he took refuge In
| fight, but their duty was unchanged. The
counsel then read the enforcement act of 1870,
| and showed the absurdity OF charging that the
organization of 1868 was in defiance of that
law, and he pointed out dozens of the glaring
discrepancies and contradictions In the very
testimony of the proseetion, and declared,
what has been perfectly patent to every
listener, that before. any Intelligent jury the
defendant would need no further vindication
of his innocence than the very testimony
against him.
Mr.. Corbin then made bis argument for the
prosecution. He laid great stress upon the