The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-07-05
sTO BE HANGED BY THE NECK.u
The Murderers Of Young ESdings 9an-
fenced to DIE on July 13.

$40 BE HANGED BY THE NECK.'j
The DIurderers Of Young TadIngs San
fenced to DIE on July 13.
The Court Of General Sessions met on
Saturday morning, at 0 o'clock, Judge
Read presiding. Before proceeding upon
the regular business of The session, David
Pearce and George Stevens, who were
convicted on Wednesday last of the mur-
der of Mr.. J. Evans Edings, Jr., near the
Magnolia Phosphate Work, on the 11th
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 .he 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 migtS see face to face the
two unfortunate beings trembling on the
brink OF eternity and hear tho 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 ssso!id indif-
ference which was conspicuous up to the
time of the rendering Of the verdict, and
more of q frightened, hunted look, to-
gether with o nervous, twitching of tho
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 tho
part Of Stevens, who is younger man
than his accomplice in crime, and is sew
eral shades lighter in complexion.
,,,h 70 III - l. I,
bushy head Of woolly hair, and sat in the
dock with his head slightly bent forward,
casting rapid and despairing glances right
and left.
After complete silence had been oh.
tained in the Court room the prisoners
were commanded to stand up and state
the reasons, if any they had, why tho
sentence Of the Court should not be passed
,pen them. The Indictment was read
and the usual form gone through with.
Stevens then in m excited manner and
in highly pitched voice said: az am
guilty Of highway robbery. Each man
'ad his work to do" Pearce said not u
word, and the Judge then proceeded to
pronounce
THE SENTENCE.
The Judge said: George Stevens and
David Pearce Yon have been f.irly
tried by jury of intelligent men OF your
own selection, and have been convicted
of the highest crime known to the laws
of your c0untry-a crime committed un-
der circumstances of peculiar atrocity,
such rs has seldom if ever occurred in an
old and civilized community like this in
which we live. 1t becomes, therefore,
my solemn duty to pass upon you the
judgment of death. say solemn. be-
cause it is q duty which is extremely
painful to me. Yet feel assured that
before high Heaven, and in the estima.
ton of all men, yon 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 all that trans-
pired with him in this life. You have
learned since your arrest that youT lives
would pay the forfeit. You could not
have doubted that, and you have already
had time to apply 10 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 bs.tsE Uien. Iii consequence Of
the enormity of your crime will be COM
Yelled 70 give you much shorter time
.nan is usual. Give up ali idea of the
world, and pray to God to have mercy on
your souls. 1T is proper that should re-
cur briefly to the circumstances of the
crime for which you are to be punished,
that it may DO seen, and the judgment be
approved by all men, as it will be. You
happened to be, on the 11th of May last,
near the Magnolia Works. One of you
had worked there for while in the EN-.
ploy Of Mr.. G. @. Pinckney, Jr. You
had the knowledge that he was IL the
habit of sending up q paymaster every
month to pay off the hands at the works,
and you, George Stevens, were in the
habit of receiving 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
had not then turned hyena, the viiest and
jungles of Africa, whence your ancestors
sprung. But Pearce said ne would do it I;
it made no difference to him lie would
take the responsibility. So i. was agreed
between you that you would wnylay tho
young man and take his life; so on the
18th of May, at abDut haif.past 4 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 gccreted yourselves by the road
side in thick clump of bushes, where it
was impossible to see you, and as he
passed he was fred upon and his head,
breast aud body literally riddled with
buckshot and slugs. One Of you who had
been deputised for that purpose stood up
the road a little distance and stopped the
mule MS it ran off. You then took the
box of money, carried itinto 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. q ' llm :
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 fred the shot.
You heard me say to the jury that il was
wholly immatorial who fired The shot,
and that the man who stood by aiding
and abettiDg, succoring and comforting,
was just as guilty, in the eyes Of the law,