Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1872-05-09

ooiiuB SoiouiSo va @'SW tSAN ~
= -'tnecticut they had secret organization
known as the Sons of Liberty, and it ws
impossible for Great Britain to get vel
y dict of conviction in the courts Of Masss
> chusetts. He quoted from Justice MAJ
shalf::
The next measure proposed. %as bi
for thei;mpartaal administration Of Justic
Ain theproyieayH MHsnc chpsetts Bay.
lapro Hdea sFka nc cass a1S pefson shoul
be Indicted hi that that aprovihcs for murder o
S} ahysnfhe tal ofenSs and it shoul'
appeal BIZ information given on oath t
the Governor, that the fact was commit
4. ted id The exercise Srlaid Of thsmhgstra
cY in suppressing riots, and that a fai
trial could not be had in the province, b
should Send, fhe person; 50 indicted. e A!
5 Eo.nsg cplonyfor td GHsts RhtAH, AtSfbt
z hedH 4 Thisa act Has I'd GoaRnas h fofce
four years, and was, as an English wrltel
! aEand -tyrannicaf act 81 Henry VIII, lately
i revived fsgshs tg,sS on Bts.9a 3 q rs q
Colonel Hamilton continued "A A few
, weeks ago was riding on the public rad
Heading from y orkyille !toi Chester and |
came upon mansion sfandiHg onn one
side Of the road: Z! !I4sidsi d., that .anap-
sion knew that there, was = lady and
somme ynght}} 6e&Sti ia ssdEa den 6hf4here
was vacant place beside the hearth, "A
| vacant seat At the family table, and a
terrible feeHngA.that. only Tthe deseIato
know-of. Vacancy aid alonsEhess it all
4 the ehambersrefithat nihhsion 3 ahatswas
the once happy home Of M John 81 s Brat
Eton; the brother of the Pr, Rfatton who
I Ias been spoken Of III the testimony in
j this ease, who was as innocent, gentlemen,
as: any Of you can be, but who was still,
4 and who is now, gentlemen Of the jury,
an exile from home, an exile from his c6un-
iry- and all. that is. dear f, The human
heart, Riding Little further | came to
! aIs6 6ahtde adE Cabin, ana t6errssas siehee
| hrgfanea HEe {haf a. .aie graTe@ No
smoke was curling upward from the CHM
| pey, and no sound OF human life disturbed
the quiet of the dense wood on one side,
or the pine tl1icket on the other. That
| was the cabin of Jim Williams, and I say
| to you, gentlemen, that my heart was fill
cd with the profoundest sorrow when |
reflected on the untold misery caused on
bothslaessbg. Ythcsefunhappy oeeuEsles
| could not help thinking Of these two
unhappy pictures; and could not help
going to the causes which produced them.
l see them clearly, and hope that you
will. see them asplainly ! and Istell you
that as hope to be believed hereafter as
truthful man, and as / value my life
long reputation as truthful man, | be-
ieye-1 firmly believe-that the cause of
these organiza tiohs was the introduction
of that armed militia-the distribution
4d eAeg thase eae spqs ia the spege9 asaae aed
state of semi-warfare. i will call your
attention to the facts as they have come
out on these various trials. In the first
place. take the County of Laurens-there,
as YOU have been told, there was fighting,
killing and slaughtering by the militia.
In Union County there was the murder
Of Stevens. a poor, one-armed cripple,
committed by o. whole company Of thus
militia. Go to Roundtree's country, ana
there we're the paradcs and demonstrations
of Captain Ferris's company. Wherever
Won 90 YOU can trace these causes as clear:
jv as an effect can possibly be traced back
to.its cause do not blame the colored
men for their desire to bear arms. ! DO
NOT censnre their desire to have militia
companies but do blame those. men,
those officers of the State-who turned
them loose without oficers-wlthont any
one of discretion and intelligence t9 ieaa
tbem-to march over the face OF peace
full country. These proceedings must,event-
ually result in war between the races.
And here i ber4 cIt your ;attehtlon to-
significant fact and one which must be
accepted as conclusive evidence Of thus
practice. This factisj that Governor Scott, :
the Republican. Governor of tins State
has since taken away these guns from the
colored nilitia-taken every arm and eve,
~ round Of ammunition away from the
negroes; and left US unarmed and nne-'
ouipped. but at peace with each other.
Won will see now, think, how these dis
tnrbances arose. You will see that the
question Of politics came in only. as an
incident of the disturbances. The causes
lie a great deal deeper. 1t was distprr.:
bance' an. uasetting of the. whole condi-
t;ons % Of society. 1t happened that the
colored men belonged to one Of the polItl-
cal parties and the white men to another,
and it was by this accident that all this
show of testimony has been gotten up TO
show that there was conspiracy to op-
press somebody, because they voted IN
cerla,h VIZ ,ha,;s S5sscso;nynTfaa Sss;yTdfatb tbe
charges contained in the indictment, and
! spoke of. the government witnesses who
4 were depended upon to prove the general
conspiracy. Gunn, (the 5000 Gunn, as ne
was generally called, since it was shown
that the attorney general had given him
that amount for his servicesA Mullinaa
Mosely and the rest, were, The saldi' OF
flat class who are known as " swift WIT
nesses," ness SIS " and very swift they were to tes-
! .tify in these cases, although they acknowl,
edged that they were themselves guilty OF
the most heinous crimes. They had their
| lessons by heart. ,Theywere fully primed
and loaded, and they wentright OFT. :, he
once knew celebrated .quarter-horse IN
, Florida, He was an :. Indian pony,l and
, had one eve. He could make.the fastest
time for threehundred yards Of any horse
!. I in the world, and the. reason was that at
:. the ffst jump he could always get off at
} his full speed. His master would always
/ stand at his head to start him. He would
t keep that one eye Of his, on his master,
: and his master would start him by slap
). Ming his hands and shouting "Injun." So
. with these witnesses. The district attor-
f new held them exactly as the man in
e Florida held his pony-with q halter
round their necks-and he slaps his hand
e and hollers Ku-Klu1,%" and off they 60
: first Jump, atSfullsspeeds He sdidnot be-
:, lieye ono word of their nonsense. He
t did not seehow they dared to come upor
: the stand and expect any sensible, hon
10 est man to believe one word they said
d The testimy Of q principal in q ,murde
o could not be taken against his accessory
e. and he believed with Greenleaf that thes
It men were not competent to be put upol
,e the stand anyway. He claimed that NJ
y conspiracy against the right to- bear arm
" had been shown, because the guns -wer
to not keptby that militia company in con
ir sequence of their constitutional right t
" keep them, but by the act of the Legis