The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-07-05
spTO BE HANGED BY THE NECK.''
The Murdercrs of Young Edings Sen-
tcnced to Die OH July 13.

The Murdercrs of Young Edings Sen-
tcnced to Die OH July 13.
The Court of General Sessions met on
Saturday morning, at o'clock, Judge
Reed presiding. Before proceeding upon
the regular business of the session, David
Pearce and George Stevens, who were
convicted on Wednesday last of the MUIR
der of Mr.. J. Evans Edings, Jr., near the
Magnolia Phosphate Works, on the llth
day of May last, were placed in the dock
to receive sentence of death.
With that strange fascination for wit
Messing the misery and torture of others
which resides in the human breast, even
in the most civilized communities, sever
al hundred men, white and black, crowd
ed the courtroom at an early hour of the
day that they might see face to face the
two unfortunate beings trembling on the
brink of eternity and hear the announce
ment of their terrible doom. The ap-
pearance of the prisoners was but little
altered from that which they wore during
the trial. Perhaps there was apparent
less of that sullen look and stolid indif-
ference which was conspicuous up to the
time of the rendering of the verdict, and
more of frightened, hunted look, to-
gether with nervous, twitching OF the
muscles of the face, showing the terrible
struggle which was going on within the
breast of the wretched men. This per-
turbation was more conspicuous on the
part of Stevens, who is younger man
than his accomplice in crime, and is sew
eral shades lighter in complexion.
Pearce, who is almost jet black, has
bushy head of woolly hair, and satin the
dock with his head slightly bent forward,
casting rapid and despairing glances right
and left.
After complete silence had been OBJ
tanned in the Court room the prisoners
were commanded to stand up and state
the reasons, if any they had, why the
sentence of the Court shouldnot bepassed1
upon them. The Indictment was read
and the usual form gone through with:
Stevens then in an excited manner and
in highly pitched voice said: "I am
guilty Of highway robbery. Each man
had his work to do" Pearce said not O
word, and the Judge then proceeded to
pronounce
THE SENTENCE.
The Judge said: George Stevens and
David Pearce! Yon have been fairly
tried by ajury of intelligent men ofyourr
own selection, and have been convicted
of the highest crime known to the laws
of your country-a crime committed un-
der circumstances of peculiar atrocity,
such as has seldom if ever occurred in an
old and civilized community like this in
which we live. It becomes, therefore,
my solemn duty to pass upon you the
Judgment of death. I say solemn, be-
cause it is q duty which is extremely
painful to me. Yet I feel assured that
before high Heaven, and in the estima'
ton of ell men, you richly deserve the
Judgment which will be passed upon you,
and you deserve that it shall be executed
with dispatch. This young man whom
you took suddenly from life was engaged
in the lawful pursuance of his business,
and quick as thought by your act he was
hurled into eternity, and has or will an
swer before another Judge al! that trans
pired with him in this life. You have
learned since your arrest that your lives
would pay the forfeit. You could not
have doubted that, and you have already
had time to apply to that Judge above
for the pardon you will need to save you
from eternal damnation. You have had
time trust to cleanse your hearts and
become better men. In consequence of
the enormity of your crime will be com
pelled to give you much shorter time
than is usual. Give up all idea of the
world, and pray to God to have mercy on
your souls. 1t is proper that I should re-
cur briefly to the circumstances of the
crime for which you are to be punished,
that it may be seen, and the judgment be
approved by all men, as it will be. You
happened to be, on the 18th of May last,
near the Magnolia Works. One of you
had worked there for a while in the em.
ploy of Mr.. G. G. Pinckney, Jr. You
bad the knowledge that he was in the
habit of sending up a paymaster every
month to pay off the hands at the works,
and you, George Stevens, were in the
habit of receiving a portion of that money.
And you knew, both of you, that the pay.
master was this youth Edings. And you
deliberately went to work to take his life
upon his next visit. The proof is that
you conferred together about it, and
while you, Stevens, borrowed the gun,
which was afterwards used, and carried it
to your associate, Pearce, you stated that
YOU didn't have the heart to fire it. You
had not then turned hyena, the vilest and
most loathsome beast that 'roams in the
iungles of Africa, whence your ancestors
sprung. But Pearce said he would do it;
it made no difference to him he would
take the responsibility. So it was agreed
between you that you would waylay the
Young man and take his life; so on the
18th of May, at about half-past o'clock
in the afternoon, while he was passing
along the road to the works in his buggy,
having the money in tin box under the
seat, you secreted yourselves by the road
side in thick clump of bushes, where it
was impossible to see you, and as ne
passed he was fired upon and his head,
breast and body literally riddled with
buckshot and slugs. One of you who Lad
been deputised for that purpose stood up
the road little distance and stopped the
mule as it ran off, You then took the
box of money, carried it into the woods,
broke it open with the butt of your gun,
and then after dividing the money you
threw the gun and box away and quietly
made off to another point.
The Judge then carefully continued
the narration of the testimony from the
time TO the commission of the deed to the
arrest of the men in Charleston on the
day following. While touching upon the
confessions made by the prisoners before
Capt. Hendricks and Coroner Collins, he
said: "The only difference between your
statements was as to who fired the shot.
You heard me say to the jury that it was
wholly immaterial who fired the shot,
and that the man who stood by aiding
and abetting, succoring and comforting,
was just as guilty, in the eyes of the law,