The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-10-12

has now endorsed and re-nominated me"
He next reviews the struggle of the Con-
servatives and Straight-outs for the con-
troll of the Democratic Convention, and
declares that the success of the Straight
outs was the success of the Edgefeld or
Mississippi plan, and warrants him in
declaring that the present struggle by the
Democratic party is to gain the political
control of the State for the sake of politi-
cal power and advantage. He then de-
nies the peaceful character claimed for
the conduct of Democrats at public meet
ings, and gives long account of his ex-
periencc at Edgefeld, Newberry, Able
Vile, Midway and Lancaster. At Edge
field, he says, he was compelled to divide
time in order to avoid bloolshed. The
whites were nearly all openly armed, and
some carried pistols in their hands. At
Abbeville, when he attempted to speak
concerning Hamburg, pistols were cooked
by white men who crowded towards him
on the stand. The accounts given of the
meetings at all the above named places is
very dark indeed, and represents the
white people as violent in the extreme,
and as having perpetrated every kind of
insult, barely short Of actual physical
violence. He next takes up the Demo
cratic plan Of prescription. quoting at
great length from the editorials and cor
respondence of the various State papers,
the resolutions of the ward clubs, &C., to
show that the Democratic party has
adopted and is carrying out systematic
plan of social and political prescription
with the set and avowed purpose of fore
ing men to vote contrary to their convic-
tions and wishes, and gives several sec
tions of the revised statutes to prove that
it violates the law Of the State. He
refers to the existing sabre and rifle clubs
as the basis of political organization,
and prominent agency in the canvass,
and quotes the revised statutes again to
show that they are forbidden BY law.
He then proceeds to instances of actual
violence by these clubs, and reviews the
Hamburg case as wanton butchery OF
unresisting prisoners. he believes that
the chief responsibility for the Charleston
riot rests with the Republicans; it was
inexcusable and disgraceful, but it was
subdued by the Republican authorities.
1t has fastened bloody blot on the party
that caused it." The origin and cause Of
the Ellenton riot is not definitely known,
but it has been clearly proved that nearly
all the colored men were killed, not
while resisting the execution of the law,
or any legal process, or while violating
the peace, or threatening or attempting
violence, but were shot down in the fields,
woods and cabins, and wherever found.
He is informed that forty or fifty were
killed, and is led to believe that the kill
ing has not yet ceased, three instances of
a later date being given. He attributes
all the violence to white Democratic
agencies, and declines to call upon the
Democrats to suppress these disorders
solely because the Democratic party are
the authors of the disturbances. 1t
would be like setting wolves to guard
sheep, and he will never yield to such a
demand. He cannot call upon colored
Republicans to suppress them, as this
would precipitate conflict. "In such
an emergency" he says, "my only reli-
ance must be upon United States troops" +"
He concludes as follows: "The Executive
of the United States will do his duty and
I will do mine, and it shall be seen by
the world whether the right to free
ballot can be trampled under foot by any
combination or party of men in this
CtofoD