The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-01-17
Wednesday, Jan. IL 1877.
The ;Iowndesvlhe Case.
Ten Men Under the Shadow Of
tie Gall0ES.
44tE EVIDENCE WHICH briggs
CONVICTION.
AN ABLE Defence AND A VIC
!ORogS PROSECUTION.
The Judges Charge.
What the Jury Did on a SnElay
Morning.
YltE EVIDENCE WHICH briggs
CONVICTION.
The Judges Charge
The Death Sentence.

The trial of the I~ownlcSTille
case, about which so much has been
said, took place hero before Judge
Cooke last week. Tho fato Of the
popular young uan WHO was the
victim-tho rumbcr Of tho accused
-(nurtccn,l end tho extraordina-
ry and HcpalIing circumstances OF
the whole transaction made the case
interesting and exciting, even be,
yond what is usual in capital cases.
H4,e trial commenced Friday corn
ing. Tho Judge charged tho Jury
Saturday evening ana tho Jury
returned their awful verdict as the
gray dawn YVES bGcalipG Gu Sun
day morning.
Our new Solicitor hcshcl his
maiden sword, and Cor the fr&t on
slaught went deep. As has been
said, l.o made q "tcn-strikc." lie
showed tho coolncss and readiness
and ability Of an old stagcr. The
prisoners had employed no counsel.
Fho Judge assigned them COUNSEL
aud they had in ell respects. q fair
trinl and had an earnest ablo and
eloquent defence. 1t is highly to
tho credit of our bar that any one
accused can get hero en- earnest and
fpitLful doscaco, no matter how dcs-
tit4to of means or how stepped in
crimes no may be. 1t is 6 con1tribu
ton TO Justice. 1t is evidence of a
high civilization, and is honorable to
arl concerned. Any charge that
This people will not rclndcr justice
to any class Of tho community, Is
thus d~isprovcd and branded as false.
:Tho prisoners selected their own
Jury, which Was a very Intelligent
ono. 1t was composed of four
white and eight colorcd men, and it
is greatly to tho credit Of tho Latter
that they ]concurrcd in reaching q
verdict, according to tho law and
tho evidence, without any nrciu-
dice Of race Or color.
The following evidence, wo be.
,~liovc, brings out all tho important
facts brought to tho attention Of
tho Court. Wc would give,thc owl
dcnco of all tho yitncssco # we had
room:
T. G. BAKER, sworn for tho State,
says;
Remembers on evening Of 18th December
last being at home, in early part at
Iowndcsvillc; left atll O'Clock ; went in
direction Of Col. Harper's; AZ Presbytcr-
ian church, in the Incorporation of
.IowndeSvillc, wcre fired on by persons
in ambush light moonlight night; were
trotting along and discovered persons in
front on left Of road, some behind trees;
called Aliens attcntion to them heard
some II say ''stand your ground, boys"
stopped about twenty yards from nearest:
heard one party say "d0n't fire; about
that timo SLOTS wcr" fired first one shot
and then a yollry first shot, shot gun OF
musket; witness horse whirlrd away :;
Allen was killed witness slightly wund-
I'd in neck witness horse throw him Il
or 20 foot back; thrown on his hCad WA,
struck first; while on ground Aliens
horse without rider Allen killed. dead :;
witness ran back to LowldeSvillc; can't
say whether other shots were fired !;
thought party who said "hOld your
ground Tas VOICE of JIutsop Cozby did
not recognize other voice; knows Ilutson
and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS back t"
Lowndcsvillo and got his gun and somr
did not find out any of tho parties did
not &c, in Search; remained III Lowndes-
willie.
Cross-cxamined.-Livo 8 miles from
Lowndosville, northeast direction not
on main Anderson road explains locali-
tics in diagram vas on road 10 iIarpCr'S
Ferry ,tr0ad runs cast to west; loatls to
1Iarper's Ferry OH Savannah river, 5 o. q
milos; not going home that night, ut the
time; Clayton Alton vas with Witness !;
he lives south Of Lowlhiosyillc; neither
on road home; Osborne Rhodes was with
them; no is a colored !; is d calabooso III
'Iowndesville; in middle Of strqct between
14atiiner's and church; were On horse
back; Osborne Rhodes on foot, between
witness' and Allen; got him in calaboosc;
WASH confinement undor process from
Trial Justice Bockham; witness not q
,nr.fa I1a. rnf Phn1nS nm nf nrlnInnSn .
door T'as unlocked by Mr.. Pritchard no
One Else there; all went together; took
Rhodes out. had a rope; witness had it
made effort 10 tic him did not DO so; said
he would go without being tied; odd him
they were going to take him to otlior sido
Of river; would protect him; he hal!oood
loud; said go, Lord" or something Of
tho kind; mounted horses at shop rcar
re!ahooso !; started of ut trot; told Osborne
I O'run; was between them when IN up
to mon suppoSes nearest was - or 20
yards was armed with pistol; Allen had
arms; no pistol drawn III ea!ahoose;
Rhodes was told to quit hallooing; pistol
not in hard whom riding OIL; did not fire
pistol '.Ai,en' didrnot' fire; pistols were
loaded when taken off; had rot becnshot;
knows no shot was fired by them; some
little time between the words spoken and
the firing; words addressed 10 those III
the party who fred after II o'clock; not
late as hclf-past.
:: Observation-Disclosures OF 9Th De-
gambler after lsto election ; some excite
ff,ent in county; Osborne Rhodes was q
afraiper snid he camo from Georgia;
objected to-had been making threats, rs
witness heard did not draw q pistol on
Rhodes - were going to take him from
community and take him back whore he
came nom did not intend to do bodily
harm to him; knew he was required to
give bond to keep tho peace; was put in
calabooso to give bond.
The testimony of a. J.. Spcer on the