The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1873-11-27
3! Leaf from a Law,,yer's. Diary.

'-7 Leaf from a Lawyers Diary. ..'a',S ~,
EThe following graphic and remarkable nara;
.;vue bss heen obtained BY us from q prominent
iowvar in one of, the Eastern Kentucky ,coun-
t;es The facts in it have not before been pub
Eshed. but for their entire accuracy the repu-
tation of theiwEiterwil vouch.--ED. COURIER
JopRSAL - [,i.iiq9 s;..s' .'i;!.. = =
fIno1ss5TI was the States attorney in the
- judicial district in the State Of Kentucky.
I had gone to the county of O., one of
the counties in the district, for the purpose OF
being present in the prosecution of the crlml-
nails. There had been no court held IN that
county since 1851, owing to the civil war L
found everything in the worst confusion posi-
bic. Men had been murdered IN cold blood,
and nothing was done with them. MURDER
arson. robbery, and all the crimes in the cata.
legue. had been committed with impunity, and
the malefactors had gone unwhipped OF justice,
owing to the absence of law. During the war
everything was in anarchy; there was neither
safty to women nor innocent chlldren-ali
suffered alike. When it was known that there
would be circuit court held in that county,
the news attracted q very large crowd. .''7..el
On Monday morning, November 8, 1865, I
found q largeIcrowd in B. the county seat
of.O-... Men, women and children came,
somesthe 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 grand
iury. The court instructed them as to their
dnty: they wefe sworn and sent to their room.
Ehad determined in;my own mind that every
person that had been guilty of felony or mis-
demeanor in o. county should be regularly
irdicted,s ,sif could in any way obtain the evil
dence against them a51s' ,''l y, ,'4''.'!'
). There was 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, and
had never been heard from. His name was
Charles Belknap; he was an only child; h2nd-
some, finely educated, and as brave as lion.
made diligent inquiry. had about one hum
dred witnesses summoned. I examined them
closely, and when I dismissed them warned
them to tell,no. one what transpired in the
grand iury room.-- In that way l hoped to
keep the real murderers in the dark as to what
: could Only gather the following circum.
stances in the case That young Belknap had
left his home in June, 1863 and was riding
very fine horse, with $1,500 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 Moseiy,
who lived about five miles from her, leading
sman-in the county, and told her story, ana
made inquiries concerning. her son. The
Squire told her that her son was at his house
the day before, and left in the direction of the
town of b; that he left about 10 o'clock
in the morning. This was all she could near
of him. No one else had seen him, and she
returned home broken-hearted mother. She
made inquiries of every person; every stran-
ger that passed was INTERCEPTED, but all IN
vain. She still kept up the search for her
missing lboy and about twelve months after he
had so mysteriously disappeared, she was re-
turning home from one of her searches and
met Squire Mosely. The Squire told her ne.
had heard from her boy; that he was IN Iowa..
He had received letter from him, and that ne.
would be at home soon that he had lett the
letter at home, &c. Mrs. Belknap went direct
ly to the 'Suuire's house, without communica-
ting 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 I could get as to
The probable fate of her son. What was 1 to
do9 I went to nv room and studied over the
matter. How could say that young Belknap
had been murdered7 His body had not been
found; and who would dare to accuse Squire
Moselyof such a crime? 4 lay IN my oed tnat
night thinking over the circumstances, and 1T
was near four o'clock in the morning when
fell asleep slept until eight o'clock, got
nm washed and dressed myself, fully deter
mined to indict Squire Mosely for the crime
of murder. I went to the grand jury room,
directly after eating hearty breakfast. ltold
the foreman what my intentions were. drew
up the indictment, accusing Squire Mosely OF
the crime of murder, committed as follows,
viz: The said Squire Mosely, on the : day
of August, 1868, in the county of o, did
feloniously and with malice aforethought kill
and murder Charles Belknap by shooting him
with gun loaded With leaden bullet, agsinst
the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth
of Kentucky. presented the indictment to
the grand jury, and they indorsed it true
bill. I cautioned the members of the jIry to
saw nothing about what we had done, but to
court adjourned nothing turned up to fix the
crime on the Squire, that we could destroy the
Indictment The grand jury found indictments
against eighteen persons for murder, and SO
secretly was it managed that the sheriff had
them all in Jail at once. :,
The iudicting Of so many persons naturally
produced great excitement among the citizens
I went to- my room that night and double
locked my door, examined my pistol and put
II under the head of my bed. About II
o'clock I heard knock at my door; deman-
ded TO know who was there. A person an
swered, "a friend" got up, ut i, .h lamp, mp TOOK
sIyapoer p stepoed in. closed the door and de-
mandsd his business. He seemed very much
frightened, and casting hasty glance around
the room to satisfy himself that there was no
other person in the room except myself, ne
told me that his name was Colby, and stated
that he wanted to communicate very impor-
tant fact to me concerning the fate of young
Belknap. I told him to proceed. He wanted
to know whether he could turn States evi-
4 L iad IN fha