The news and herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1876-1881, 1876-10-26

| "hilCS 10 pun No"it 'V WV hihO
and eight wounded. That Of th
negroes is estimated at fifteen killot
and three wounded all of thos
afterwards died from their i'll
juries.
WHY THE DEATH ROLL Is SMALL.
! 1t appears rem lrSable, when we
consider the number Of men on
gagged and tho timo Of tho conflict
that the death roll is SO small. Tht
truth is there was enough ferocity
and determination in the conflict tc
have causel tho deaths Of thou
sand men. If the whites had struck
the negroes on Monday morning at
Ellcnton there would have been
terrible slaughter. If tho United
States troops had been half III hou,
later at Rousc's Bridge swamp
scores would have fallen right there.
The main bodies OF whites and
blacks never colliled. Tho blacks
at the first liro would bury thcm-
selves III the swamps, whittier tho
whites were afraid to follow them
The negroes lacked ammunition and
proper arms. There were, proba.
bly,, thirty Winchester rifles in tho
swamps. All elsa wero shot-guns,
old muskets, &c. The negroes
loaded their guns with half charges.
Wilkins Hamilton, oolorod, pulled
down his shotgun on Jim Bush, ut
about forty PAGES. A spoonful Of
bird shot pattcrod against Bush's
thick coat and fell back from his
shirt bosom. Half the wounds re-
coivcd by tho whites were from
small shot Wherever tho Winchos.
tel ,whistlod there was. trouble in
tho dir.
::TnE MEANING OF TIE CONFLICT.
I see nothing in this terrible con-
fict beyond hint us to the heat of
tho canvass and of tho inilnmmublo
nature of things here. The negroes
wero imprudent and wanton in two
respects. / can hardly blame them
for ralying ut first to protect
Frederick Pope. They believed
That Williams, thcir favorite, had
been lynched and that Pope was
being hunted down. They very
naturally thought of protecting him.
They were wrong in violating tho
treaty they made, by killing Will
liams, by ambnsling tho party ut
Double Bridge and hy firing the
Bailey outhouscs. They wore
wrong in tearing Up tho railroad
track and cutting the telegraph
wires, in breaking open and plm-
deriny NTo:,t>le srX's tol G., in driving
cattle into tho swamps and killing
them, i'll threatening Ellenton. The
whites were much more prudent and
correct. Indeed it is hard to sec
how the whites were so easily con-
trollcd as they were. They are con
tinually nervous about tho III 70
question anyhow, &s tho blacks out
number them ten to one. Now let
us consider the condition of mind
those mon who were ambushcd at
Double Bridge on Sunday night
must have been in. They wore
openly attacked by a large number
of armed negroes IL the night. Al
ter they scattered, wounded and OK
hausted, they discovered that an
other party of negroes had killed
Williams and shot Stailiny's horse.
While they were receiving this news
they saw the skies rcltlcning with
two or thrcc inccndialy fires, evi-
dcntly the work Of another party of
negroes. They felt certain, SO many
OF them Informed me, that there had
been a general uprising OF the ne
GroeS for Tic purpose Of rape and
murder and arson. Their cooincss in
dispensing 80 promptly at their
captains call is remarkable.
TIE wRECXINd OF THE TRIM.
It hes been said by Senator John
Patterson that tho wllito people
wrecked tho train on the Port Royal
Railroad for the purpose OF robbery,
believing that ~ United States pay
master with %;50,00O was on board.
This can hardly be so, as the train
that was wrecked was tho way
freight train on which no passcn-
gers (nuch less n United States
paymastcr) ever travel. Besides
this the telegraph wires were cut in
three places on tho night before the
train was duo - u hardly likely pro
ccoding if robbery WIS tho object.
l have seen the Affidavit of TcMnant,
the engineer, in which Eo says that
the ficld in front Of tie place where
the engine was wrecked was full OF
armed negroes. The impression is,
and il is shared by al, that tic
negroes feared tho train would
bring help from Augusta and they
determined to wreck it.
a PRETTY PICTURE OF PEACE.
I am convinced that tho groa.
masses Of negroes in South Caroline,
rs well as elsewhere, aro perfectly
peacGnblo and harmless. It is only
when their leaders stir their pas
sions and appeal to their Drciudicet