The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1873-11-27
A Leaf from a Lawyers Diary.


l;shed but for their entire accuracy the repu-
tation of the writer will vouch.-ED. COURIER
JOURNAL.
In 1865 I was the States attorney in the
= judicial district in the State of Kentucky.
had gone to the county of ", one OF
the counties in the district, for the purpose OF
being present in the prosecution OF the crlm'-
nails. There had been no court held IN that
county since 1861, owing to the civil war. l
found everything in the worst confusion posi-
BILE. Men had been murdered in cold blood,
and nothing was done with them. MURDER
arson, robbery, and all the crimes IN the ca1a
legue, had been committed with lmpunlty, ana
the malefactors had gone unwhlpped OF justice,
owing to the absence OF law. During the war
everything was in anarchy there was neither
saftv to Women nor innocent children-all
suffered alike When it was known that there
would be circuit court held in that county,
the news attracted a very large crowd.
On Monday morning, November s, 1865,
found large crowd in B, the county seat
of O.. Men, women and children came,
some the distance of thirty miles. Guerrlllas
and bushwhackers came with their guns and
pistols, as though they intended to overawe the
court, and determined that none of their gang
should be indicted for the numerous murders
of which they had been guilty. Court opened,
and the sheriff returned his list OF grana
Jury. The court instructed them as 10 thelr
duty; they were sworn and sent to their room.
I had determined in my own mind that every
person that had been guilty OF felony or mis-
demeanor in o. county should be regularly
indicted. if I could in any way obtain the evil
dence against them.
There was q case that was shrouded IN mys-
tery. A young man, who was the pride OF
widowed mother, had suddenly disappeared
from the county about two years before, ana
had never been heard from. His name was
Charles Belknap; he was an only child; hand
some finely educated, and as brave as lion
! made diligent inquiry. I had about one hun
dred witnesses summoned / examined them
closely, and when I dismissed them warned
then, to tell -,.al,. what transpired III the
grand Jury room. In that way hopeu TO
keen the real murderers in the dark as to what
/ was doing.
could only gather the following circum-.
stances in the case: That young Belknap had
left his home in June, 1868, and was riding a
very fine horse, with 81 800 in his possession.
He failed to return at night, and his mother
became very uneasy about him, and the next
morning set out to make inquiries concerning
him. She went to the house OF Squire Mosely,
who lived about five miles from her, leading
man in the county, and told her story, and
made inquiries concerning her SON lhc
Squire told her that her son WAS at his house
the dav before and left in the direction Of the
town of B; that he left about l0 CLOCK
in the morning. This was all she could near
of him. No one else had seen him, ana sne
returned home broken hearted mother She
made inquiries Of every person. every stran'
ger that passed was interroSaled, nut all IN
vain. She still kept up the search Tor her
l><,,t tI-..tX "a
had 50 mvsteriously disappeared, she was re-
turning home from one of her searches and
met Squire AIosely. The Squire told her he
had heard from her boy; that he w;ls III Iowa.
He had received letter from him. and that he
would be at home soon that he had lclt the
letter at home &c. Mrs. Belknap went direct
lv to the Suuire's house, without communlca-
tino her intention to him, and inquired of the
family for the letter that the Squire had re-
ceived from her long lost boy The family
seemed surprised, and knew nothing about
such letter having been received
This was all the evidence | could get as to
the probable fate Of her son. What WAS TO
do? | went to my room and studied over tic
matter. How could say that young Bclknap
had been murdered? His body had not been
found: and who would dare TO accuse Squire
No,ely of such crime? l lay in my bed that
night thinking over the circumstances, and 1t
was near four o'clock in the morning when |
fell asleep. l slept until eight o'clock, got
nm washed and dressed myself, fully deter
mined TO indict Squire Mosely for the crime
of murder. l went to the grand jury room,
directly after eating hearty breakfast. told
the foreman what my intentions were. drew
up the indictment, accusing Squire Mosciy OF
the crime Of murder committed as follows,
viz: The said Squire MoSely, on the = day
of August, 1sG3, in the county OF o., did
feloniouslv and with malice aforethought kill
and murder Charles Beknap by shooting him
with a gun loaded with lcaden bullet, against
the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth
of Kentucky | presented the indictment to
the grand Jury, and they ndorscd it true
hill I cautioned the members OF the jury to
say nothing about what we had done, but to
Keen the whole thing secret, and if before the
court adjourned nothing turned up to fix the
crime on the Squire, that we coulI destroy the
Indictment. The grand jury found indictments
against eighteen persons for murder, ana 80
secretly was it managed that the shcriH llao
them all in Jail at once. III.
The indictng of so many persons naturally
produced great excitement among the cltlZcnS'
went to my room that night and double
locked i' NV " door, examined my pistol and pat
If under the head OF my bed. About II
o'clock heard knock at my door; deman-
dcd to know who was there. a person an
ewcred, esr "a friend" | got up, lit a lamp, took
INV pistol in my hand aud opened the door; y
stranger s5 stepped in closed the door and de-
man,ied his business. He scented very much
frightened and casting hasty 8 lance around
.he room to satisfy himself that there was no
other person in tie room except myself, nc
told me that his name was Colby and stated
lha, he wanted to communicate q very mpor-
tlnt fact to me concerning the fate OF young
Bcknap. told him to proceed. lie wanted
to know whether he could tnrn States evil
doncc or not and save himself replied in the
affirmative. en- told me that he Knew
where Young i;eiSnap was buried, that Squire
MoseIy had killed him. had got 81 800 from
his pcrson, and had run 'elknar's horse off
ord rold him TO some Confederate soldiers, and