Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1872-01-12
! sKasKI1x sTrfaTs.''i

s N. Judges Bond and Bryan on tho bench
Mr. Corbia stated to the court that tllore
were sorie sosenteens prisoners who desired to
plead guilty 70 Che charge of conspiracy under
the ku hlnx ACT. They were caled in 2the
tollow order, aud made informal plea Of gull.
W: Aaron ESell, Monroe Soruggs, Alex.
Bridges John Burnett, StcphenED. SpIaun,
MARION Gardner. Chesterfield Soruggs, Hen.
ry Sarratt, A. Kird, Martin Hammett, Low.
is Henderson, Wm Self, Charles Tate, John
=. Tindall, Melvin g. Blackwell, John l..
Moore, John Cantrcll. Mr.. Corb'r request.
cd that the court pass Judgment on the ,pri.
soners.
Aaron Ezell was called up and asked what
ne had to say in cxtcnuation of his offence.
Ho stated that lie had been forced iuto the
order through fear; had been on two raids,
and whipped three oolorcd mon. Judge
Bond sentenced him to d tine of $40 aud i'm.
prisonuont one year.
!, Judge Bond called all tho prisoners up,
and charged them as follows
You have pleaded guilty to an indictment
which charges you with copspiring with
other men throughout this State, to intmi,
date certain GLASS of voters by means of
threats, beating aud even killing, because that
class Of citizens were opposed to the copspira.
tors ~ political opinion, .i.ly'. 4
!. I. We acknowledge great perplexity in. do.
terminlng what punishment shall be moted
ont to you. We hayo noswords strong enough
70 signify our horror at the means employed
20 carry out the purpose of tho klans. Our
difficulty is personal to you.
You have, as it appears from your state
yments 70 the court, been brought up in tho
most deplorablo ignownce At tho ag-
OF manhood, but one or two Of you can either
read or write, and you have lived in COM
mpnity where the evidence seems to ostab.
lish the fact that men of prominence and odu.
cation--those who, by their superiority
public opinion-were for tho most part
participants in the conspiracy, or SO
much, in terror Of it that you could obtain
from them neither protection nor advice, had
you sought it..
There is abundant proof of tho nature and
Character OF the conspiracy Evidence of
nightly raids by bands of disgu ed mon, who
broke into the houses of negroes and dragged
them from thcir beds s-parcnts and children
and, tieing them to trees, numerically
beat them, is exhibited in every case. Muir.
der and rape are not unfrcqucnt accompani-
monts, the story of which is too Indecent for
public mention. The persons upon whom
these atrocities are committed arc almost al.
ways colored people, Whatever excuse is
given for raid, its conclusion was almost al.
ways accompanied by q rel Ike for tho former
exercise of the suffrage and warn as to the
future exercise Of the right to vote
But what is quite as appalling to the court
as tho horrible nature of these Offences, is
the utter absence, on your part, and on the
part of others who have made confession here,
efa9y sense or feeling that you have done
anything very wrong in confessed participa.
tion in outragcs which arc uncxampled out
side of the Indian Territory. ,,,.a.
Some Of your comrades recite the ciroun.-
stances of q brutal, unproYoked murder,
done by themselves, with as ltto apparent
ablorence as they would relate tho Incidents
ofa picnic and you, yourselves, speak Of
tho number of blows with hickory which
you inflicted, at midnight, upon tic lacorat
ed, bleeding back of dcfcnoeless woman,
without SO much as blush or sigh of regrct.
None of you seem to have tho slightest idea
of, or respect for, the sacrcdness of the hu.
mau person. Some of you have yourselves
been beaten by the klans without feeling a
smart, but the physical pain There ap
pears to be 10 wounding of tho spirit; ne
such of injury to yourselfas a mnn, us would
be felt by the humblcst of your fellow oiti.
Gensiin any other part Of tho United States
with which I am acquaintod.
There the citizen upon whom such outraccs
weso perpetrated, stung to madness by the
;nsultto his manhood, would be swift to fol.
low tho wrong. door to tho end of the world
to make him atone for it, You mako cxcuso
for this in your statement to the court that
you arc very ignorant; that the klans would
have beaten you, and even killed you, had
you refused to join them in their crimes.
Some of you now particularly before me have
actually suffered for your refusal before YOU
really united membership with them. The
court, ia an eudeavor to recognize somo fea.
lures of humanity in you, has considered
these foets which you plead as excuses You
have grown up in country where slavery
existed fora long timo, and where the whip.
ping post was a standing institution. .eie !
TO sec blacks hagellated was no unusual 90
ourrenco. Tho scene often viewed, with its
novelty, lost its revolving effect. And when
it came to be understood that the hu
man person was not 30 sacred in tho colored
man as to secure immunity from outrage, il
did not take it long to lose its sacred charao
tar in yourselves, and in all other men who
like the eolored man, was obliged to labor. I,
must be from this cause thatsyour erindif
ference to ,wsongs which, among froemen
would stir. q fover in the blood of age, arises
& And then you tell us that you differ frou
many other portions of the country in this
that it has always been obligatory upon you
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