The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-08-17
The Hamburg Affair in Court.

The hearing of the motion for bail in
the case of the State against r. j. But
ler and others was had ut Aiken on the
10th instant. The State was represent
ed by Mr. Stone, the Attorney General,
and the applicants for bail by M. w,
Gary, Gov. M. L. Bonham and j. G.
Sheppard, of the Edgefeld bar; D. S.
Henderson, G. w. Croft, o. C. Jordan
and James Aldrich, of the Aiken bar
w. T. Gary, of the Augusta bar, and Le-
Roy F. Youmans, of the Columbia bar.
The affidavits submitted were about
eighty in number. They will soon be
submitted to the publicin in printed form,
and it is useless to give more than the
substance of what they contain. They
were sufficient to induce the distinguish
ed iurist before whom they were submit
ted, the Hon. John j. Maher, Judge Of
the Second Circuit, to decide without
argument for the applicants for bail that
they were entitled, as matter of strict
law, to bail, which his Honor fixed, after
suggestions from the Attorney General
and the opposing counsel, at 81 900 in
the case of each of the applicants. '
The afidavits on the part of the ap-
plicants show a very different state Of
facts from those which have been sent
forth to the public with the iulprimat,r
of the Attorney General and the Cover
nor. They show that the so-called mi
litia company, commanded by Doc. Ad-
ans was not an organized militia COM
pany under the laws of the State, but an
Organization raised "for the purpose Of
killing whites" that the ammunition
used by said company in the fatal affray
of July eighth was obtained for the pur-
pose of being used on that day; that in
the difficulty between the militia compa-
nv and Getzen and Tommy Butler, on
the 4th of July, the said company was
entirely at fault, and committed on these
two young gentlemen, both by word and
deed, the most gross, wanton and unpro.
yoked outrages, and that Mr.. Robert j.
Butler, the father of one and the father
in-law of the other of these gentlemen,
only sought the vintC;--ation Of the law
for the purpose of having his family Sc
cured from aggression and insult while
travelling the public road to market; and
even after legal proceedings, had gone to
the court room the second time fixed fol-
trial; was anxious only for what he
claimed, and had a right to claim, as
any other citizen; and insisted on moth.
ing which the company had right, legal
or moral, to object to.
The afidavits further show the earnest
efforts which General M. G. Butler made
to have all the matters of difficulty ar
ranged peaceably, and the duplicity with
which his efforts were received and treat
ed by those who managed the interests
opposed to those of his clients; that the
aggression and firing commenced on the
part of the company, so called militia,
of negroes, and that in the firing By the
whites upon the building occupied by the
negroes, and in the killing of the negroes
Cook and Parks, the whites were entirely
and absolutely under the protection OF
killing done in self-defense; that as to
many of the parties charged it was proved
unquestionably that they were far away
some in the country, at a very consld-
erable distance; some in other States
for example, some in Georgia and some
in California.
Besides this, it was shown how utterly
lawless, tyrannical and oppressive had
been negro rule in Hamburg, detailed
by the most respectable gentlemen in
such colors of truth as to show that it
was an insult and horror. The inconsis-
teucies of the witnesses at the inquest
were patent on their face, but the diabol-
ical periuries with which that testimony
was fraught are shown in their true light
by the sworn statements OF most respec-
table gentlemen who made atfidayits for
the affiants. The Attorney General re-
lied entirely on the testimony at the in
quest, and at its conclusion General NJ.
G. Butler, under oath, administered by
the Judge. swore that the great bulk Of
it, of which he had cognizance, notably
the testimony of Augustus Robinson and
some others, was absolutely and unquali-
fiedly false. At the conclusion OF his
testimony, with great Difference to the
distinguished Judge who presided, he
said that he and his friends would regard
it as the greatest of hulniliations to be
arrairned on such a charge, if he and
they did not know the entire spirit in
which the prosecution had been conduc-
ted, and the publication of the pejuries
at the inquest had evinced; that the
prosecution was for political effect. His
Honor granted the application for bail,
and fixed it at 81 900 in the case of each.
-Columbia Register.