Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-08-11
WHO KILLED SANDY PEBBLES
The MurderOus Mystery of Night in
Rutherford.


An Innocent Man Aeeused-Infense |
Excitement Among the Negroes
How nm InsurreefiOn was Pre- |
yentea,
To the Union aud American.
NEAR SMYRNA, Aug. 10, 1S74.-I |
give YOU the facts of a crime commit
tn,l I'm this neighbOThOOd, which the few
Radicals hire Till endesyor TO parade be
fore the Northern people - evidence Of
Ku-Klux still being in existence. mJ
statements can be subStantiated by all that
were present.
Last Wednesday night, between the
hours of midnight and day, and about half
au hour after his return from his society,
e.udy PEBBLES, colOred, was taken frOmhis
IghoIne. on tie farIu Of DR.. L. Davis, by six
| armed and MASKED men, cried oa three
miles TO a woods-lOt of Mrs. A. HigdCt,
| and there brutally shot and killed with
pistols. Some of the neighboTs, white and
black. certified to hearing the firing and the
eroAns at the victim, about o'clock A. N.
IN lie morning squads Of negroes and,
also whites were seen all over the country
| In search Of Sandy. Those that beard
the firing and went in that direction were
| the fri TO find him, lying on bis face with
| hls arius sutstretched and liieless. There
were one horse track aud six other tracks.
Three wore mOccasins, such 80 out negroes
make of old boot legs and wear in the field.
One wore a No. s or boot, With a high
heel 10 il, and one was barefOOted. This
last track indicates a very large negro foot.
They were all on foot but one, and could
be traced from Sandy's home 10 the scene OF
The killing, then 10 a pasture, where they
wgfg lost sight Of.
A jury, consisting Of negroes, was OrgaIl-
is,.d by Esquire /. W. Mclaughlin 10 e1-
anime the body and 10 iIquife a. w the
probable perpetrators of the crime. At
iirst SaDdy's widow expressed herself as
utterly unable to suspect anybody, as they
were so closely maskGa that it was impos-
sible for her to say whether they were
white or black; but upon consultation WIZ
her friends, she thought she recognized two
of them. She was so much excited that
she could not give the alarm, although
there are several houses near by, and she
could have summoned help As the neigh
borlioOd is thickly settled, and the perpe-
traitors we're on foot and easily within
reach of any one in pursuit. And yet,
though almost paralyZed with fear, she
could think Of striking match
and holding 1t 70 the masked
face Of one ofthe party, and could thus re-
eognze Sandy's young master. The other
was A Young man Of the neighborhoOd, and
the only reason why she suspected him, IS
simply because she saw the two in CONVEX
satiOn together the day before, and because
I one Of the party was as tall as he.
! an the white people regretted the sad
occurrence, and promised the negroes thai
- ff,nr lrf,la ms Tor
and that the guilty persons should be dealt
\ | with according to law. However, DotL
! yorutg men proved an alibi; but one negro,
Miueo Elliott. made such an inhammatOF,
SPEECH IS really to excite all the negroes
, present: but the prudent remarks made by
another colOred man, Richard Benson
uuieted that which came very near bein:
! an insurrect m.
The widow herself proved that Sandy
! Young master. had always been kind 10th,
!, family, that he and Sandy had never ha'
any words or quarrel on anything, and fur
I, thermore that he promised Sandy lev
DAYS agJ 10 write a letter for him TO hi
brother in the army. This young man enjoy
!, fine reputation and is highly respected
he also proved an alibi by white and blac
witnesses. but the trouble was, that se7erd
:, DAYS before the cOmmittal OF the act, h
had two OF Sandy's brothers arrested Il
n stealing sheep.
8 The impression here is that the dec
- like the one in Smyrna last spring, wa
% committed by negroes. Henry Gooch wa
; killed OF his way home from
n society meeting, and so W.
q Sandy PEBBLES. Then one of the tracs
y indicated. as il is admitted by negrOe
y themselves. the very big foot Of negr'
With the exception Of few words with
white man in the spring Of the year, While
- was amicably settled, Sandy had only ale
= difficulties and was disposed TO be quiz
- and industrious man, but given great de
70 night meetings. He was a large hea'
built. athletic negro. and leaves wife al
= four or five children
The iury returned a verdict TO the efie
;, that Sandy came TO his death by pist
- shots from the hands Of parties unknown
- To still futher satisfy the negroes IN
~ they should have fair play, the VIII
- men advised them TO 90 before the grand lu
~ now in session, lay their grievance al
= SUSPICION before them, obtain a true bi
m and have il legally investigated. Son
~ NEGROES made threats Of killing the sa
~, yonDG men ANYHOW, / am told by several P,
!" ties. and the old men got them to leave I
- place: while at the same time MingO call
NV on all negroes willing to tight and die
" eether, to fall into line. They were
=, armed, aud the few whites on the Srou
- were not. The former were largely IN I
80 majority, but Richard BensOn's words
W Cancellation quieted his people, and by
'o time the Sheriff and his posse and \
' Page and force arrived, everything "
:; quiet, and no disturbance has occur
II TINS far STEWARDS GEEK.