The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1876-07-27
TheHamI,urg 5. C. massacre

Nothing has occurred of late to give
the Radical leaders greater hope and
courage than the unfortunate tragedy
which occurred at Hamburg, South
Carolina, on the Sth inst, in which
six unarmed negroes were shot down
by mob of white men. The party
which claims to own the negro vote Is
maxi ing Il desperate effort to turn this
massacre to party account by denounc-
ing it as political outrage" They
might as well call it a religious out
rage, for politics had no more to DO
with the crime than religion. Every
occurrence of this kind in the South is
seized upon by the Radical leaders and
every circumstance connected with II
distorted and exaggerated to serve
their partisan purposes: while outrages
occurring in the North have no partic-
ular significance. The following RE-
sUME of the affair from the New York
TRIBUNE, which supports the Repub-
lican ticket, is, probably an impartial
statement of the case, though. it does
! I1Ot LItoW tIC CiitlIC pl1iiiC vi tiiS Deo
rage upon the whites:
1--WE have waited before discussing
the recent tragedy at Hamburg, 5. e.,
until all the facts should be in our
possession We have now the state
ment of General NJ. C. Butler, who
was active in the trouble; the report OF
the Attorney Gen eral of South Caro-
lima, Mr.. Stone; an elaborate state
ment of the circumstances by Cover
nor Chamberlain and a suggestive
letter showing the underlying causes
of The riot. from our Washington cor
RESPONDENT. Succinctly given, the
facts are as follows: On the Fourth OF
July, at Hamburg, two young men
who were riding though the streets on
their way home We're detained by q
threatening to keep them all night
Application was made the next day Il
a Jus tice, Prince Rivers, for an inves.
iigaiion of the right of the militia tt
book up the highway. The nature %
the judicial proceedings is somewh hal
indefinitely given, for the Justice be
ing asked by General Butler whether
he was sitting us u civil or military Of
Ecer, replied that it depended upon the
facts as they should he developed: thai
he was then acting as Il peace officer
violent that the Justice committed
him for contempt. His trial was t6
take place the next day, but he filliet
to appear. In fact, he was at large, ,anC
with his Company upon the street
General Butler had Il conference will
a negro man named Gardner, and sug
gested as the best solution of the mat
ter that the blacks shoIld give vi
the ir arms; but they absolutely refused
Il IL - ~
them. Nor does the demand seem t.
have been backed by any particular
authority-the disarming was only
proposed as II citizen by General But
ler The whites began To assemble
The negroes announced their deter
mination of fighting ,yand speedily the
fight ensued. The blacks posted them
selves in their drill-rOom in brick
building. They fired from the win
dows the whites responded, and the
fusilade became general. MIR. Merri
weather, an estimable young white
man, was killed. This infuriated the
white crowd, which General Butler
says was under the special command
of nobody. A piece of artillery was
brought from Augusta, which silenced
the negroes, fifteen of whom were cap
tured. OF these five were murdered
after they had been taken into custody
and three negroes fell in the fight
One white man was killed and one
wounded. For the killing of the pris-
oners there seems to have been no eX-
cuse. Genereral Butler says, rather
unsatisfactory: Many things were
done on that eventful day which can
not be justified; but the negroes sowed
the wind and reaped the wr,rlwind; );
but the Attorney General says that the
original demand for arms was unlaw.
full; that the attack on the militia tC
compel compliance with the demand
was without legal excuse or justifica
ton. He declares that to the crime o
murder the whites added that of rob
berry, and that they We're only kept
from committing arson by the efforts
of their own leaders,"
The TRIBUNE adds that "both whites
and blacks are always ready for battle;'
that "any triiling event may provoke
a collision, and any collision may be
followed by massacre" but that 1--WE
have no hope of peace, order and gooG
| government in South Carolina, or in
any Southern State similarly situated
until both political parties abandon the
bad habit of making every disturbance
the occasion of cheap electioneering."