Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1872-01-08
THE KUKLUY TRIALS.

eluCc iSst ICtsSi'
have resulted in events which, but for the
gravity Of the occasion, would be ludicruus.
Mr.. johnson and Mr.. Stanbery came here,
beyond doubt, with the belief that they were
to be the champions of rights which have been
for centuries the inheritance OF English
speaking nations. This belief, held in COM
mon with very many honest Northern demo-
Gratis, was confirmed by the representations,
upon their arrival, of most Of the local bar
with whom they became associated, and also
of prominent citizens of South Carolina who
were in attendance. 1t was, therefore, no
small disappointment when, in the progress
of the trials, one after another of these repre-
sensations was proved totally false. AS the
evidence was given in the first case which
came to trial upon its merits, they not only
found themselves upon ''false scent" as to
any tenable line of defence, but found them
selves spokesman for villainy which was
proven fearful beyond conception. Every
struggle against the overwhelming evidence
produced by the prosecution, every prolonged
effort to entangle a witness on cross examine
ton. based on the theory that the witness had
been hired to tell his story, only buried them
deeper and deeper under the accommodating
conviction that the people who employed
them had told them what was false. Finally,
when the witnesses produced by the defense,
one after another disproyed the very facts
upon which they relied for acqui,tal, they
found themselves in predicament in which.
if they followed further the lead of the local
bar, they must have inevitably put themselves
before the country in a totally false position.
Neither of these gentlemen wished to identify
himself in sympathy with such conspiracy
as that in which those whom they represented
had been engaged.
MR.. JoHNsoS's pENUNcIArIoN ON THE Ku-
KLUx
Mr.. johnson could not endure the enibar-
rassment of his position. Fealty to his quasi
client, the prisoner at the bar, demanded
that he should make the bSst showing for him
he could but self-respect had also its demand
The compromise was difficult, but in his case
was made with the ingenuity which has al
ways characterized him as a lawyer. In his
denunciation of the infamous organization,
of which he claimed his client vas an igno-
rant and deluded dupe rather than member,
and his arraignment of the barbaraties OF the
institution of human slavery, he reached the
only flight in which anything Of his former
FIRE and eloquence were noticeable. His lam
guage in regard to the former, was So appro-
pirate that will be excused for quoting again
the most striking part of it, He sad, in speak
ing OF the KuKux crimes:
IL have listened with unmixed horror to
some Of the testimony which has been
brought before you. The outrages proved
are shocking to humanity; they admit Of
neither excuse nor justification; they violate
every obligation WHICH nature and law impose
upon men; they show that the parties engag
ed were brutes. insensible alike to the obi
cations of humanity and religion. But, if
justice shall not oyertake them, there is a
tribunal from which they may not escape; it
is their own judgment; that tribunal which
sits in the heart of every living man; that
still, small voice which strikes through every
/ heart-the voice of conscience-the voice Of
God! If it has not already startled them to
the enormity of their conduct, trust, in the
mercy of Heaven, that that voice will speak
before they shall be called upon to account
for the transactions of this world; that it
!, will SO speak as to make them penitent, and
that, trusting in the dispensations of Heaven,
whose justice is dispensed with mercy, when
they shall be brought before the bar Of that
great tribunal, there will be found in the fact
Of their penitence or in their previous lives
some small grounds upon which God may
say Pardon!"
Such language, and from their own coun-
sci, was far from what the Ku-Klux and their
T sympathizers:had looked for. Anger and con-
sternation were seen on the faces of many
men who had come to hear their own defence
from the mouth of this distinguished advo-
cate.
Mr.. Stanberry bore his disappointment
more quietly than Mr.. johnson, aud without
! much attempt to excuse himself for being
here, as Mr.. johnson had done, he contented
himself with what was little else than dis
cussion of the propriety of negroes being al
lowed to sit as members of a jury. Mr..
johnson took no part afterwards in the trials,
and o few days after the case was concluded
he quietly left for his home.
One startling episode in the trials occurred
too late for Mr.. johnson or Mr.. Stanbery to
hear in person. 1t is in illustration of what l
have before intimated was the relation in
which the local counsel placed themselves to
these gentlemen as to the merits of the cases.
Poor Hayes Mitchell, whose labored defence
on its merits was to have been the GROWING
glory of the "counsel from abroad" came up
Two days ago for sentence. He was asked the
usual question, "What have you to say why
sentence should not be passed upon your"
lie replied as follows, to the confusion of his
local counsel and of the democratic news
papers. which have persistently charged that
he was tried by a "packed jury"
"Well, might say right smart, and then it
mightn't be much benefit. l never was ar
rested. Invent up to Yorkville and gave my
self up to Colonel Merrill, and told him all
knew, except some things lie didn't ask me
and didn't give me time to tell him, but he
sent me to Jail. l came down here with the
intention of pleading guilty, but my lawyers
kept me from it, and said not to plead guilty
Eand wouldn't let me do it, and couldn't help
myself. know did wrong, but was mis-
led into going on the raid that hung Jim Will
liams. had nothing to do but to hold horses,
and didn't know what they did until it was
over, and then durstnt tell anyone; every
body, mighty nigh, was in this thing, and |
was afraid if said anything. aint no lead.
ing man, and don't want to be made to stand
for them that are. wanted to plead guilty
and call for the mercy of the judge because /
was ignorant, but they wouldn't let me-"
MAINE CENTRAL TO DOVER.
(From the Dover Observer)
1t cannot be doubted that the extension of
the Dexter railroad to this place would do
more to induce capitalists to utilize our man.
ufacturing privileges, than any other thing