Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1876-11-30
"A rerocious and vescmous Letter Com
cssnlng EtseGala.

Huron County, Ohio 1t is supposed to
, be written by Mrs. Kellog, wife of the Of
, fcer who commanded the company of U.
5. troops that soperintended the voting at
Macedonia Church In the reflector it
, is headed by horrible and bloody captions
in huge. glaring type
EpGErIELD, S. c., Nov. 10, 1876.
Is there God in Israel? know not
where 10 begin to lei! You Of what has
been going on here during the past few
days You never heard or dreamed OF
such performances as have witnessed,
and you will never see anything like 1t
ul,less You should happen to be South du-
ring an election. i pray the Lord yoa
may never see it and that | may never
again. ! believe ! could endure to see
battle, where all could have jar plc:y, and
where ! might take part myself; but 1t
mas made my bload boil to see the poor
colorei people SO imposed upon as they
hare been, and for all | can see, al'oayS
,cM6c. The red shirters commenced gath
erng in on Monday, sngly and in compa-
MES, armed TO the teeth with shot guns,
rifles and pistols, and the Ceiling began.
They made night hideous with their yells
and shoutc. 1t was enough to frighten
the dead from their graves, and you can
easily imagine that the colored people
trembled. They (the colored people, com
menced comiag in, some poor creatures
coming alone across lots, frightened, but
knowing that troops were here and eX
pecting they @cu!d be allowed to vote
r. was officer Of The day, SO staid al night
at the Barracks. OF course | did not
sleep much, ior l could moi. Some one
wa. knocking at our Doors nearly all night,
but no ope opened them. The white peo-
pie yelled all night long and The Rife
Clubs" roJie the streets all night like mad
men, firing pistols and doing everything
to -frfghten the negroes -
Finally morning came and the polls
opened amidst scenes that ! cannot fully
describe The rtlemeN surrounded the
boxes, armed, and the coiordd people could
not approach tic box; ten o'clock came
and 10 colored men had voted aJ the school
house, and the marsha! called for troops
Rs. company was detailed to go. When
he got 10 the school house there were nun
dreds of colored pc 2le trying to vote and
four or Eve hundred white people trying
to keep them from it, Two or three hun
dred lammed in on horseback close arc una |
the door, with pistols drawn and cooked
swearing and cursing. Il. called upon |
them 10 keep quiet and orderly and asked
Gen. Gary, who was in the midst OF tie
mob, TO help him to preserve order. He
himself Gen Gary) was then trying toget |
out his pistol, saying, II there Is gong
TO be row, there will be a Lively one"
1t H.. who was in another part of the
crowd, ordered the soldiers to load their
pieces and fix their bayonets, which they
proceeded to do 4 manager OF the cleo
lion, a Southern Democrat, when he saw
the gr!s jcins loaded, said, / viii Try
to quiet them" ard weit into the crowd
outside, Lui came back and said lie could
do nothing with them. They welt threat
ening the negroes with drawn pistols at
their heads, and knocking them over with
pistols and clubs This IS no hear-Say
+. saw it all, and with cooked pistolswith-
in three ieet Of his head, pointing from all
directions, he tried 10 Quell the disturb
ance; not colored man had voted yet,
nor dared TO- r. saw these poor creatures
beng buliied; one was struck after he
arrived
Three had blood brought on them, ard
il the negroes had turned and struck back
If they had dsred 10 rescn. my of these
insults or injuries, it would have been a
terrible Tine They were trying t, pro-
woke some poor negro 10 strike back but
the weak, de!eacel9ss creatures took It ami
they dare, not s;lijla. Finally, when tie
Grave. democratic chiv.irv (?j saw That
the officers were determined 10 keep The
peace anl that they were prepared to DO
it, amids, oa'hs and curses, they fell back
ana lei the colored people 80 Up,
Bat the oath had 20 be administered 70
each orc, and several hours had yi0I sed.
a::i! wacn r'g!.t cam", ard he LGx was
closed, from lCug ic SIX hundred AAters
STOOD there With ballots IN hand unslls,S
cast ih=lq, Some q them had con;e
ing to eot, some rrohat!y haI v.:!kel. all
ni9at :he night before, and there tGty
stood, kept from their rights BY threaten
lug. p.uraeyous Democrats
Bu; there vas another roling pace at
the CoUtt House, only few scds away.
Thcn the ciivairy found thatt!n negroes
could vote at the School Honc, = good
share caue back tc the Court House.
where they had already surrounded the
box. anG seemed determined 10 keep the
negroes away. The coored people o.. :
course stayed at the School House, hopirg
that all would get a chance; ar hour or =
50 before the boxes were to close, they saw
that j. would be Impossible for all 10 vote Il
there, so they turned their heads towards
the Court House. I-Aearl tic horsemen,
the Bloody Shirters, the Riilemen. in other
words, the Democrats. come riain5 past
as if their lives were in danger, cling
AMI screaming. going to The Court House.
Shortly afterwards | saw tie cololcd peo-
plc, to tie number OF two hurdrcd. |
Judge, coming quietly a oag ihesiIewalk,
on Their way to the CoGrt House to Try
and vote. In a few moment. saw ,hcm
returning, saving that they couli aot g,
to tie Cour House. Then eal,i them
say, any ~.niow was 0pen) ;hey are all
diaml up in line, and Gen. Butter s...s if
~. Try 10 vote there VII be fgh; ri3at !
there" | wanted TO see for nlrse:i. 50 |
ran down 70 the gate, and thl!c saw
hundreds oi ilcrsemcn drawn upln inc,
packed ir tight, sevcra! tiers ,;eep, with
their horses noses 10 the sidcwaIt, and
Bu;lcr was speaking, rebels Yelling Ike
devils, and there we're tie co!ored ,. op.c,
who had got 20 the line and dared 60 no
father i looked nomen. and came
back 10 my room, wishing that was {
lnua and could 90 thee az the mead o. !
those people and led item through that
line OF cat-thro&ts anG b. shot topicces G
ii need he. | woud try, at least, an! see 4
what they would do They would not :
serve white men so, but they knew they
could lrighten the col0red men.
Then the colored men turned back anu E
decided to 90 beck to the School H.use !
and wait They met Others con.ing, bat ,
none could pass the R"uels, Of course.
l expected that the Marshal would cali
for troops to open the way, out the time !;
passed and 1t was getting darl; and no
troops came. Finally they ali WeSt bacll: T
20 Tie School House. | hear that The !
Marshal was run oii' from the Court House.
Elher that was the case OF he was afraid
to call for troops, and 50 the day closed,
7 ,ritl, hun,i,,Ja