Orangeburg news and times. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1875-1877, 1877-04-14

the clock i'll the telegraph office,
which in turn was regulated from
Washington by telegraph, whisperssto
the lieutenant. "One minute more,
sir" and is directed to take his Stand
at the south door, next to tile City
Fall and to give notice Of .sthe first
tnp Of the clock hell hya wave of his
hand. Col. Block, seeing the man.
nuvre, recalled the sergeant and sent
Lieut.. Briggs, of the same company,
to take the post tof warming sTHe
seconds arc minutes now, and every
body is listening for the. sound or
watching for the signal. Thereit goes!
Lieut.. Briggs waves his hand to in
dicatc the first tap, which was not
heard in the reccsses Of the! hall,
and advances rapidly to Col. Black to
report the fact. The Colonel says,
"Don'l run. sir" The lieutenant
joins The squad. Then is heard, "At.
tcniion, guard y Garry arms !"
fright shoulder arms !" "Two right,
march !" Tic sound Of heavy and
hurried footballs resounds along the
corridors, and before tile bell. has
reached the fifth stroke of the twelve
the ast file has crossed the threshold.
A number Of the negro constables,
evidently acting under .percmptory
and urgent orders, instantly sprang
to the heavy doors and slammed them
to with a ang, in the face of the
crowd within, and in the immediate
rear Of the last file Of soldiers without,
who are hardly out Of the way of the
closing panels. A heavy bar dropped
into its brackets, and tho military
occupation of the State is ended,
much to the relief Of the citizens and
the military as vel.
All was done SO suddenly that the
clock coull be heard striking after
the .oors were closed. The bell
strikes slowly at best, ana i. re1uirel
little suggestion t., evolve the compa.
risnn Of Il inncr, knell. Twelve
strokes sounded, and the 'welye long,
weary wretchcd years of carpet-bag
misrulc were tollcd off one by one,
and consigned to the tomb Of the past
forever, never to know resurrection.
The crowd quickly dispersed, almost
in silence, nil in few minutes the
wires were flushing the ti.linys 10,
every town and village Of the whn.cs
land. The detachment Of sol,li,rs
were marched direct 10 ths;r quarters
and dismissed, and so c.rlcI The first
lesson Of the evcii,iu! .lay.
Mr.. Cham heris,'s a::ion +, !lv
was y complete surprise to ever sinolT
outside the small circle OF his in,.,,.-
dia:c friends and associates, and
could not have been anticipated Ly
| any one not in his confidence. t was
certainly known, upon cvilencc con-
tanned in his own hanl writing :, thar 10
lately US Saturday night he wa~ fully
determined upon The palicy of resist
ance, rs set forth in the Nrws en1
C""'icr aud substantiatcd in 3D.
vices to Northern persons here
from correspondents ut Washing
ron. 10 this policy his supporters
here considered him firmly COM
mit.ed, and they were prepared tv
sustain him i'll it. He had not in u
single instance given the slightest
intimation Of even the possibility Of a
change i'll tae course he had marked
cut and declared, and such possibi-
lity has not been entertained for a
moment i'll the plans Of Governor
| Hampton and his friends, who have
been busiiy engaged for several days
dcvising the line Of attack to be pur-
sued in view ef his assured purpose Of
resistance to The last legal extremity.
The truth is simply that Mr..
Chamberlain changed his mind within
the past twcn ty- four hours, and the
change, to whatever influence due,
was kept so secret that il was not even
suspected til! the troops had actually
departed from his Office door, md he
had made formal and official au-
i ,anI,1aor.n,f L.,