The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-01-01

KlJlX last January, anu naQ pafllclpaLeu III va
rious outrages committed by the klan last
gusto and much lndecency of language and
gesture, but no effort was made by the coun-
sel tor the government to connect Dr.tAyery
with any of the outrages, and indeed 1t seemed,
as though the oulF. object Of eliciting the whole
mass of questionable rubbish was to indame
the minds of the jury, and thus establish an
unconquersble prejudice before proceeding to
the trial on Its merits. At the close Of the ex-
animation In chief Of the first of these wit
nesses, Mr.. Wilson, of counsel for the defence,
rose and said that assDr. Avery utterly dis
claimed and denied any connection with the
Ku-Klux organic ations, by whatever deslgna-
tion known, in 1870 and 1871, they did not
deem 1t necessary to croesexamine.
!rohn Thomasson. an aged colored= man.
next testified to variety Of shameful out.
RACES perpetrated on him and his wife, which
had had tie effect Of driving them away from
their plantation, which had been bequeathed
to his wife by her former mistress, and also,
he believed. Of Fastening the death OF bis wife:
The story: o.. this witness was indeed q pitiful
main, true, but it hadrno reference to DR..
Avery, who was In no way shown or even
claimed to have been among the ratdlng
The prosecution then introduced the only
three Witnesses Of the day whose testimony
seemed to connect Dr.. Avery In any way with;
the outrages committed In York county last
spring. The first was Abraham Brumfeld, q.
,colored man. sixty -four years Of age, who tes.!
titled to visit made to his, house by dis
gi1lsed raldlDg party o 1e night last March,;
while he was 's lying out through, fear of the;
Ku-Klux, who were around shooting dogs, &c.!
They afterwards, he said, came hear where he
was lying concealed and engaged In CONVEX
satou, during which ne recognized Dr: Avery
nizng him; but was willing to swear to his
identity, because there was voice In the par
ty that sounded like DR.. Avery, with whom he
was very.Well acquainted.
The next witness was Emeltne Brumfeld,
wife of The former witness, who described the
raid Of last March, mentioned In ;her nus
bands testimony. Sam; stprgls, the negro
spiring, was sleeping In. her house and was
dragged out and frightened by having rope
put around his neck and the ends held up as
though they were about to hang him. The
witness testified positively that she recog.
nized DR.. Avery when he put the rope ABOUT
the neck of stnrgis. She knew him by his
wounded left hand, lshe ''done saw dat hand
s'seed his moustache, seed his hand and knew
1t was de height Of Dr.. Avery"
The next witness was Sam Sturgls himself,
who described the came occurrences and tes.
tilted that he recognized Or. AVerV1y seeing
his beard and Fthe side Of his faces. Just pre-
vlous to the testimony Of Emeline sBrnmaeld,
however, the counsel for the defence had In
sisted that the remaining witnesses should be
sent out of the courtroom to prevent e0llllslon,
and to this circumstance Is probably to be at
trIbuted the tact that Sturgis fatty contradict
ed the woman's testimony as to the person
who had put the rope around his neck. HIS
cross.examinatlon was as follows, and 1t viii
be seen that be testified that 1t was colored
man, after all, that had committed the eulmt-
mating act of the outrage upon him: -,
By Mr.. McMaster.-Q. Was Major Merrill
the frat man you gave information TO that DR..
Avery was In this crowd? A. Yes, sF; he
8. Was that after martial Law was declared
| In York County. A.. Yes, sir. =.
Mr.. Corbln. Martialhw hasn't been declared
MT Mr.. McMaster. Oh! that is a play upon
words.
o. Who put the rope around your neck
Was 1t DR.. Avery? A. No, sir; that aint the
man; the man that put the rope around my
neck was black man. -
8. Anybody else take hold,ot the rope A.
No. sir.
A. I don't know; I didn't give any person any
occasion, more than was Radical. -
Mr. McMaster. Well, that is a very great
misfortune, but 1t pays sometimes.
At four o'clock the court adjourned until
eleven A. II. Saturday. PICKET.
The Trial OF Saturday.
COLUMBIA, s. c., December 80.
| The testimony for the prosecution, in the
case OF the United States against DR.. 3. 7
Avery, was resumed this morning In the Cir
cult Court, the first witness called being Har
| rlet Postle, the wife Of Isaac Postlei coloreC
preacher Of York County. She described. 8
visit to her house by disguised party one Fri
day night last March. Her husband was con
cealed, and they said that he had been preach
thew wanted to find bin. she refused to tell
where he was, and they frightened her by
shooting off pistols around the house and By
i putting line about her neck. She declared
chat she recognized Dr.. Avery among the
,Epsrty. She said she knew him ssby his make
and his performance, and when he was put
ting the line around her neck she cotched hi:
lame hand and felt 1t. She said to herself
right then, kDoNs you .+ II H. her resioas Gross
| between DR.. Avery and her husband had
always been friendly. Some time after these
/ occurrences her husband was reported to be
| In prison and DR.. Avery had told her he Was
sorry Postle had got into trouble, and that 4
she needed any help he would assist her.
Isaac Postle was next called, and descI 6ed
under the floor. He testified, what his wife
had apparently forgotten, that they foucd him,
dragged him out OF the house and questioned,
] and whipped him. They told him II there
were more glR-houses burned, they intended
to kill ten negroes, and he would be among
the first. Witness was badly frightened, bul
when hope returned, he believed DR.. Avery
| was one of the men. He believed he knew
him by his 'commonness, (prObably mean
| ing familiarity and by his talk, although bis
voice was disguised. He also thought he re-
cognIzed Howard White, q colored man
When the prosecution got through with their
| witness, Mr.. Wilson, for the defence, submit
ted an affidavit, which was Identified by the
witness, In which he had sworn "that the
charges that Edward j. Avery conspired to In
lure j. 4. Postle and Sam Sturgis are. accord.
Ing to lawful evidence, now appearing, and
with which I am satisfied, Incorrect and false.
This was puzzer for the prosecution, and
the district.attorney elcited from the unfor
tunate witness tedious, rambling and inco'
herent story, In which he attempted to eX-
plain away the perjury, which IL was very EVIL
dent he had committed, either IN his afddavit
or on the witness stand.
! Next came Thomas Morehead, co!ored
captain In ScotGs militia, until their guns were
taken away, and now All attaehe OF the HOUSE
of Representative, and Governor" FeWel,
clownish darkey, each OF whom testified to
variety of occurrences In YORK county, Dul
with very slight reference or relevancy TO The
case of Dr.. Avery.
This ended the testimony for the pr0secu.
tlon, and the defence called as their first wit
ness the Rev. R. E. Cooper, {white) a Presby.
| Al n nhar0a Of the Rocky Hill