Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1872-06-20
A narrowing Scene.
n,;o,, ,ls Msw Yori. Sim. June 70.

From the Ner York Sun, June 10.
The steamship Champion, FROM Charles
ton arrived at Pier 30, North River, last
u;eh ht, having on board twenty-three hu.
klux prisoners Among them were gray
nairedl men and beardless boys; strong
men and cripples.. They were under
guard of United States. soldiers, and on
their way to tue albany Penitentiary to
serve out term OF imprisonment. All
OF them proiessed to be farmers OF iarm
workmen, and their sunburned faces and
hardened hands gave proof OF It,
The terms OF Imprisonment are: three
.or ten years, and $1,000 fine; six, eight
years and $l00 fine ). two, four years and
$lOO fine; one. four years and $500 fine;
:nree, three years and $l00 fine; four; two
,ears and Sl00 fine; three, u year and
lulf and Sl00 fine; and one, one year ali''
SO fine.
All Of these men lived i'll York County,
5. g., one OF the nine counties IN whlch
martial law was declared last October
some OF them have. already been impris-
)ned for months.
SLOWED AWAY BETWEEN DECKS.
A reporter went ON board the Champion,
md found the prisoners slowed away bs-
gqdn decks il the lore part Of tho slh.';
y air circulated through '.,c place, .;u,
Ic thermometer indicated nmety-elsn
,egrees. They are rough-looking men,
.aggard and latlercd, 'blt have not VI
aus look. The reporters questions were
,romptlv answered, and, by many OF the
| zen, with much Intelligence. They sai9
ihev had been arrested for belonging t.
he order" a gray-haired nan told'th'
blowing story
When martial law was declared last o.
tober, no outrages had been committed
| gor year, and none since, in our county
| t least. But the military authorities
.lave been making arrests sor the pas
| ,lght months. The prisoners are taken
,esore Judge Bond, in the United States
! Circuit Court, and the charges are alike
| in ali cases. They are accused Of being
,r having been, members Of the Ku-Klrx,
and are told that this can be proven Oy
members of the band who are witnesses
,r the prosecution, and advised to plead
guilty TO mitigate their punishment.
| Knowing how useless RESISTANCE is, tie
poor wretches plead guilty to avoid I
severer penalty. Thus, twenty-five O.
.h.se men are suffering the penalties g
convicts through fear, and not from any
! evidence of their crime. One man of fifty
years approached the reporter and sale
: vehementfy:
UNFORTUNATELY AN AMERICAN CITIZEN.
"I did not plead guilty. l am no,
guilty, and ! would rot make such con-
.esslon for the world They tried me on
TWO charges, but no evidence was adduced
to convict me. Yet it was meant that l
should be punished, and they gave me
TWO years. Two years for being an Amer
ican citizen unfortunate enough to i've in
South Carolina / am not, nor ever was,
4 a Ku-Klux, whatever that may be, and
have always been peaceable, law-abld-
ing citizen I.go to prison an innocent
man, but the hardest criminal never left
his prison with worse heart than I shall
leave mine If my life is spared this in
dignity shall be avenged"
The men complained bitterly OF being
sent North for confinement. They thought
# bad enough to be slr1marily arrested
4 by soldiers, illegally t.1sd, and unlustly
| convicted, without being taken so tar from 70
home, and where their friends cannot VISIT
4 them. - ~
i RELEASED BY DEATH.
They are to remain in prison until the
! fines are paid. Some Of them are without
money, or friends that have means, and
they seeno limit to their Incarceration.
The reporter said to one:
".How will you pay your fine ?" "
I By death" was the answer.
! He was cripple, pale and emacIated,