The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-10-06
HsuIex and HAYS

deO uc oNOuCuVu upVu NhO pVheNN plos-
r form the spoiless innocence of Henry Will
l son, then charged with completely in the
: Credit MObilier frauds; and that gentleman,
seated in chair behind the speaker, SMILED
blandly and benignly upon the folly of bis
/ defender. The time came when the public
which had been deceived by the declaration
o.the one, and aequiescence of the other, lost
: fsith in Wilson, and turned with indigna-
) ton to Hawley, tor an explanation. He
J was forgiven because he had spoken in
good faith. Untsught by his former sad
experience in vouching for another mans
character, Gen. HawIey recently brought
forward one Charles Hays, a congressman
from Alabama, and introduced him to the
American people, as an unimpeach-
able witness in regard to the hor-
rors that had been psrpetrated in
his own State. And the inference
! was, of course, that these outrages merely
served as samples of the wholesale butchery
prevalent at the South. The letter of Hays,
detailing various crimes committed in Ala
bama was addressed to Gen. Hswley in re-
bly, to note from that gentleman request
| ing written statement ofthe horrors that he
had already described in private converse
! ton. The design was to use the letter as
campaign document, and it has served that
purpose wonderfully we'll. 1t was origi-
nally published In Hawley's paper and was
copied throughout the country. Senator
Morton took it up and fed his eager
audience on it's atrocities two weeks
ago and every republican orator east
81.
and blood to indignant partisans. 1t is not
too much to ssy that Hays tale has reawak-
ened old prejudices in thousands of breasts
and fixed the waveriDg allegiance of thou
sands to the republican party. Nobody
would have believed the fellows own word
but the mere fact that he was vouched for by
Joe Hawley was enough. His statements
passed unquestioned. After so much mis-
chief has been done. there is now compare
lively little satisfaction in learning that
HAYS is liar, that the worst of his horrors
are manufactured for the Northern political
market and that Gen Hawley has. by his
confiding simplicity of character, once more
victimized the public and done good service
In the cause of falsehood.
The correspondent Of the Cincinnati Com
mercial, II. V. r., who has been travelling
through the South during the summer, and
is now in Alabama, has taken up the differ
ent atrocities detailed by Hays, and exam
ined into the facts in each case. As to the
reputed hanging of four negroes in Pickens
county and the finding of three bodies float
ing down the Tombigbee river, III. ". II.
has been unable to find anything touching
these matters. The affair at Clintonville
and the Choctaw county troubles are pro-
nounced very doubtful, the correspondent
not being able to decide from conflicting
testimony which party was to
blame. The Keeton and Ed
wards murders did not take place
killed was democrat. The murder of Bill
lings is said by the republicans to have been
political one, while the democrats allege
that it was mere case Of killing for the
sake of plumber. AS the perpetrators of the
deed have not been found, the decision of
the question it not easy. The murder of
/ Tom. Ivy is generally admitted to have been
bipartisan one. The Allen outrage is a spec
linen of ingenious lying. The victim, who
merely received slight scratch in an alter
cation, declared that his assailant would
have been justified in the assault "if he (Al-
len) had INDUCED in the remarks attributed
to him." The following is given as Aliens
testimony in regard to his neighbors:
| "I came to sumter county about five years
| ago, with my family, from Manchester, New
| Hampshire. 1 had served in the federal army,
and this fact was well known. My family and
outside Of the mere civilities of lie, believe 1
obtained the personal friendship OF many, as
| well as good Treatment from ALL"
| O. Do you know of any Northern man, or of
any republican, having been killed in Sumter
county ON account OF politics?
| q. From all the information you have gained
respe. ting the killing of Mr.. Billings 10 you
think 1t probable that his death was the result
OF conspiracy?
i @ Judging from personal observations what
Is the general character OF the democratic party
Of Sumter county as to good order and peaceful
! A. 1t is good. think as good as the general
character OF political parties in the North.
/ Asa specimen of the stylein which General
Hawley's witness has done mis- work, how
ever, the gem ofhis collection of outrages may
be selected. 1t L. the frightful and mystic
rious story of the killing of five negroes in
North Sumter, on the Oath of August
This tale was the foundation Of Senator
Morton's remark, that the southerners
went cunning for the colored people in the
cornfelds, and it has doubtless formed the
text for many subordinate
preacher of the gospel of hatred
This is the way Hays tells the tale;
"Again, gather from the Meridian Mercury
(Democratic) an account of the killing of five
| negroes in North Sumter, on the night of August
q. 1871. Nothing Is known as 10 why these ne
= SrOes wGGe killed. They were ali shot. The
correspondent of the Mercury, writing from
Gainesville c. Alabama August 20, 1874 facetiously
remarks that two OF the crowd went dead Ia 8
. corn field ="
This is a graphic and CHASTITY statement
and the internal evidence shows that it was
made up with the Meridian Mercury before
] tha Nriter. This TACT stamps HaYs as a thor.