Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-09-29
SCENES OF TERROR.
A Vivid Account Of the Recent TrOu.
bIes I'm Bdgeneid C0unty, q. G.
Edgefield Advertiser

| ana the molly rest VI last odDD2In QeS-
ecrated by scenes of turbulence and
violence which we hope never to wit
ness again. 1t seems that on Sunday
last one Ned Tenant, colored, captain
of a militia company in the neighbor-
hood Of Republican Church, some four
teen miles below us, called out his
troops for the purpose of drill, and God
| knows what else; that about eleven
O'Clock on the same night this militia
captain got up, commenced beating his
drum furiously, called together his
company, and alleged that his house
had been fired into by whites, and that
he wanted his militia for the protection
of his own person. The whites in the
vicinity were naturally alarmed, and
assembled quickly, sending out couriers
at the same time to various sections of
the country, and TO the garrison of
Federal troops at this post to give in
formation that the negroes were assem-
bling for some apparently violent pur-
to quel the riot.
1t was known that Ned Tenant, for
years past a VIGOROUSLY mischievous
fellow, had received and distributed
ammunition to his company a day or
two previous 10 this demonstration.
Rumor, with her thousand tongues.
took up the matter, and when it reach
ed this place it was very much exagger-
ated. Among other things, it was re-
ported that three white men had al
ready been killed, and that Prince
Rivers was upon the field with cavalry
and artillery. The quick, short perls
of thunder, with little or no cloud, of
Sunday night, lent confirmation to the
latter report. Negroes and whites,
| armed to the teeth, and excited to a
pitch of frenzy, poured to the place of
supposed engagement. Our town was
almost deserted of its male inhabit-
ants; and the screams of women and
children, left, as they supposed, at the
mercy of the neglo; the wild hurrying
| to and fro of husbands, sons, fathers
and brothers, mounting in hot haste;
the apprehension depicted in the coun-
tenances of all, and the dismay and
terror of the helpless portion of our
community, made up a scene of terror
and distress totally beyond our ability
to picture. Negro women poured
through the streets, urging the negro
men to the strife, and shrieking out
most CHASTITY and blamphemous impre-
cations against the white race. The
cry was, Death to all white men who
have gone to the front, and the torch
this very night for the women and
children who remain behind" White |
l., I g.
packed up their silver and valuables, in
the vain hope of saving some little |
from the torch which was so freely and |
fercely threatened. And there was In
deed deep cause for fear.
On Sunday afternoon, before the |
throngs of men, both white and black, |
who left our town, had fairly reached |
the scene of action, Tenant had be-
come alarmed and consented to dis.
perse his trOOps-some two hundred /
and fifty or three hundred in number. |
This he did only upon the stern and
final representation of Col A. P. But
Ter, who informed him that he (Col. !
Butler) could no longer restrain his
men, and that if he did not dispense In
ten minutes he must take the conse-
quences. Col. a. 2. Butler is captain |
of the Curryton Sabre Club, and was,
by common consent, In command of all
the whites who had assembled under /
arms. These were principally the Cur
ryton Sabre Club, and the Horns |
Greek Club, under the leadership of |
Capt. Ben Mays. Tenant then dis
persed his men. This was between 3 |
oe%
Large numbers of white men and ne
groes, however, poured in upon the
scene subsequently, and spent the
night upon the ground In fact, so
fast had flown the news, the whole
country, from north to south, and from |
east to west, was swarming with bodies
of armed men, white and black. on 4
horseback and on foot, while women |
and children were flying towards the |
railroad, to make their escape to Gran
iteville. Augusta and Columbia. Dur
ing Sunday night our town was Wig |
ilantly patrolled, from sunset until |
sunrise, and clubs of white men and
companies of negro militia camped on
the outskirts.
On Monday the excitement was
shifted from thee Republican Church |
section to our own midst. From early |
morning until late in the afternoon
armed whites and blacks poured into |
town, and the excitement was intense. |
The bar-rOoms were closed early in the |
day, and it was only by the untiring |
vigilance and wise counsels of several |
old and leading citizens that an actual |
cd ltr,.rr fha
afternoon Cain, the colored colonel of |
the militia, was induced by these citi- |
zens to disband his men, or rather to |
send them home-not, however, until |
these citizens had promised to prevail |
upon the whites to leave Simultaneous |
". And so this outrageous affair end |
ed for the present. On Monday night |
the town was again closely patrolled.
The times'a are out of joint, and the |
white people of Edgefeld have been in
suited, outraged and threatened be- |
yond the power of any human pen to |
describe; yet, nevertheless, in closing
our remarks upon this horrible and de-
grading episode in our history, we
would recommend to our people the care
full consideration of the followingpas-
sage from late speech Of that staunch
Democrat and able statesman, George
H Pendleton, of Ohio: Bear and
forbear. Treat the negro as the law
treats him; treat the white man as the
law treats him; respect the rights of
all, enforce the rights of all; maintain
the supremacy of the law; punish
lawlessness, by the law. Private ven
geance is not lawful punishment. An
indignant outburst of wounded sensi-
bihty, or of a keen sense of public
wrong, is not lawful punishment.
Maintain the law. Let it be the shield
of the innocent and the terror of the
criminal. Let passion be governed by
reason. Let tardy justice be sweeter
than retributive wrong doing. Let So
cial order and exact justice prevail.
The excuse will then be taken away
from military power, and in the self
government of the community, virtne
and intelligence viii, in the end, sure
" command control"
AN INTERNAL REVENUE MURDER.
Knoxville Chronicle, Sept. 26.