The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1876-07-26

"Pe''i'i hilhlief, 10 inquire about
tho whereabouts of the Trial Jus.
tee, in order to begin tho inycstiga
ton. l was moreover bafiied and
triEed with for ho,trs by this Trial
Justice and his negro associates,
until this armed company of outlaws
had timo to concentrate in their
nrmory, where they ccnld success
fully maintain their attitude of
armed msurrcction, armed with
guns which this same Prince Rivers
admitted i'll my presence had been
taken from him by these negroes
without authority.
Tho town Ind negro intondant,
negro aldermen. negro marshals.
1t WAS almost a terror to every white
man whose business required him to
60 through it. They had harborcd
thieves and criminals from every
direction. They had arrested and
fined some of the best and most
poaccable citizens for the most
Trivial offences against their Or
dinanccs--somo for drinking out of
Il spring adjacent to the highway.
One young m III was fired upon, the
bail passing through his hat, arrest
cd, dragged to prison and heavily
fEcd, because his horse SHE'D on the
edge of II sidewalk. An old man
was arrcStol, insultcd and fined, bo-
, cause his horse turned on the side.
Walk rs he WAS in tho act of mount
ing. Market wagons, camping with
III tive or six miles of the town, have
been robbed night aftor night. cnttle
had been stolen and run into this
place and sold. Stolen goods have
been systematically received here,
the parties knowing them to be
stolen. For nights previous TO the
collision, uno!fending white citizens
were halted by tho pickets of these
mllltla mon, armed with State guns,
and stationed Oh the highways. In
one instance, five or sin of them lad
s"rapcd their bnyoncts on the pail.
lngs OF gentleman, md upon his
rcmonstlnncc, cursed and abused him
in the hearing of his wife and some
visiting lnuics. The names of all
these pcrsons can DO given.
Why did this Attorney General
and these "swift denouncing" news
papers not put themselves to some
trouble to ascertain tho provocat;ons
on both sides ? That this was not
II company of S ato militia, but
band of negroes organized contrary
to law, or without tho autholity of
law, who had taken tho State proper
ty without authority that "Compa-
ny a, Ninth Regiment, National
Guard OF the State of South Caroli-
IA, had been disbnndcd for several
years, and that this band had usurp-
cd Their organization without au-
thority ? that they had not only
unlawIully and liotously obStructcd
the public highway, but had broken
up civil court, dcficd its process,
and resisted its mandates, and in
suited its officers, and riotously
threatened the lives of pcaceable
citizens
Why do they not publish tho fact
that certain white man, who lives
III that town Of Hamburg, and pub
fishes II Radical paper III Columbia
for circulation i'll Georgia, was seen
on the train going towards Columbia
on Thu Stay evening previous, and
returned, ns is strongly suspected,
with ammunition for those negroes
Why have they not reported that
this same man said to the negroes
after the alteration on the streets
on The 4th of July, between this
so'cAllcl militia company md young
Butler and Getzcn, that "they (the
ncyrocs) ought to have shot Gctzen
to death, and beat Buffers brains
out with the butts Of their guns"
and that he inco1it;hently fled like a
mischicvous cur, when the storm,
which he had brcwed, burst upon
the offending negroes
Why they have not reported all
of these provocations, I cannot con-
ccivc, except upon tie hypothesis
that they arc Imid to lie and to
| slandcr and misrcprcscnt tho white
people Of this State for political
effect.
Thoy say that the demand was
made upon the negroes for their
arms without authority or jlstifca-
tion. Why had not any citizen or
number of citizens the right to
demand them
Prince Rivers, Brigadier or
Majo General of militia, had said
publicly that they were talken from
him without authority. These
negroes had assembled riotously,
were in state of armed resistance to
tho laws. and any citizen or number
OF citizens had the right to dispcrse
the rioters aid aHppress thc riot,
end to use just 50 much force as was
necessary to accomplish it; and II
every ncero engaged in the riot had
been killed in tho suppression, it
would have been cxcusablc, if not
justifiable.
| The tribunal OF the written law
had been applied to. and ignomini-
ously fnilcd. Delay would have
been fatal to the safety of tho lives,
families and property of tho I'm