Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1877-10-11


the call of the revenue officers. A
raid in Western North Carolina
just completed resulted in captur-
ing several stills, their contents
and two distillers. Having about
broken up distillation in Georgia,
Alabama and South Carolina, The
entire attention of the revenue Of
fee has been turned to the cleaning
out of Nor:h Carolina.
WHAT. THE ABOVE CONTAINS AND soME
POINTS THEREON.
1t appears to contain official in
formation communicated to the
Commissioner of Internal Reye-
nue. by one of his Agents whose
pane appears in said article, and
the-same was communicated to the
press as 9eta0bLe information. But
Deputy U. S. Marshal Patterson
whose name also appears in said
article, and who was on the expe-
dition therein referred to, rcUerses
the statement, thus making tie facts
as to the killing altogether differ
ent. In letter to friend in
Washington he says :-"We have
returned from Wautauga, Two of
the men for whom we had war
rants killed and two wounded. See
Col. Douglas and have him get the
Attorney General defend the Mar
shall s posse
There are few facts in the ar :
ticle III qusioh worthy of notice
kSySt.-It e0as not two of the
marshals who were killed, but toco
men eoere killed By tie marssals.
Second. MIR. Patterson was not
a Deputy Collector, and moreover
if there was a Deputy Collector
with the posse [ have failed up t.
this time to learn the fact.
Third. Deputy Marshals have
not, but reve,eue cticers only have,
the authority of Law to seize and
destroy distilleries.
Eoaerth. Il seems significant that
this article should appear il the
leading daily papers in Washing
ton on the same das and just at the
time when an effort is being made
to influence the Secretary of War
to increase and continue the use
of troops to aid in the revenue ser
wee, when in fact there is not a
collector in Western North Caro-
lima who does not express his abil
ity and preference to do the work
with ciUI officers.
FItth. The article states that
the posse raided on illicit distilIer-
les. II they did it ostensibly and
professedly in performance of duty.
and IN fact ha1 no authority, and
kiIled ttU0 men, it does seem they
should be held to account.
MANNER OF EXECUTING THE LAW.
Again, in order 10 show you the
manner in which the laws have
been executed, and how the rights.
to say nothing of the feelings OF
the people, have been disregarded,
[ have to present the following
facts | am reliably informed
that more than tooo hundred cases
were docketed at the last term Of
the u. S. Court at Asheville, N.
c., the same having been sent on
from L. S Commissioners Courts.
Out Of this whole number the
grand jury did not return as n1auy
as forty ''true bilis," ard only toe
or sac Of these a0ero convicted- And
further | am informed that not
more than one IN .ttYe of persons
arrested aud brought before q. S
Com missioners were bound over
Thus it seems that not as many as
ten men are convicted out of prob
ably one thousand men accused
ard arrested.
COMPLAINTS FRIVOLOUS AND CIR R2UND-
LESS.
The complaints in most cases, i
feel compelled to say, are frivolous.
or entirely without foundation, aud
cannot but conclude, 10y inter-
ence and from the Information |
have, that the main reason opera
ting with the prosecution ln most
of The cases is mercenary desire
for the fees, without any respect to
dignity or propriety, aud as | have
before said, without any consider
alton whatever for any rights OF
the people.
CASES sEPARBrEp TO SWELL FEES.
Another matter too is the fact
that causes are frequently adroitly
managed separated and divided)
in such manner as to multiply
cases. This has been practiced to
such degree as that Judge Dick
has seen fit to pronounce against
it, and inform the District Attor-
ney that in future he will order
the dismissal of such cases.
SHAVING WITNESS TICKETS.
Another demoraiizinS feature OF
official misconduct IS the practice
of "shaUinq" eoitness tickets. For
/ instance a merchant named Haney,
doing business at Marshall, n. c.,
had taken a number of tickets in
exchange for goods. When in due
TT T~,.I i