The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-01-17
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS ARISE

wore present, oronfy those who did the
net? That depends upon other ques.
whether they were there by coll
cert and previous agreement for q COM
mon purpose I: whether that purpose
was lawful or unlawful, and whether
the act was done in prosecuting the
purpose for which they combined, or
arose incidentally Or collator&lly and
was outside of it. Its not known who
fired the shots which killed the de-
ceased. The prisoners were all there,
or in the immediate neighborhood.
The State claims that all who were
prcsentare responsible for the act upon
tho ground that they were conspirators
in the prosecution of all unlawful pur-
pose.
Upon the subject ofthe responsibility
Of confcdcrates there are two impor-
tant principles which must not be for
gotten.
First, when the act done Is the very
act which they confcderated to do; in
that case if the act is lawful in itself,
Of coursc there is no responsibility, but
if the act is unlawful, then the act Of
one is the act of all.
Second, when the act done is not the
very act which they confederated to do,
but some other act, collateral and out
side of the common purpose: i'll that
case whether the original purpose was
lawful or not, none are responsible but
those who do the act, ''for the confed-
crates assembled for another purpose,
and consequently guilt cannot be fixed
upon them beyond their original in
tentiOn."
lie then proceeded to apply these
PRINCIPLES to the facts Of the case. He
FIRST, that most likely these peo-
ple had no common "dciinitc purpose"
in their minds when they assembled
at the church. Hearing that Osborne
WAS in the calaboose and apprehensive
of injury. they probably gathered
there under tho influence of that
curiosity and clan feeling sc character
istic of (hcir race. If they had no conf
MOI purpose III their minds, then the
Goctrineupplicable to confederatcs does
not Apply. But second, if they assem-
bled with q common definite purpose,
What was that purpose? Was it to re-
lease Osborne by force? If so that
purpose was unlawful, and if the kill
ing of the deceased was necessarily in
vnlvcd in carrying out that purpose,
then tho act of one was the act Of all.
The only question for the jury ia this
connection was whether the net was
necessarily involved in their original
PURPOSE of breaking the calabcosc, or
merely done incidentally upon q new
state of facts not originally contcm-
plated.
This point was illustrated by q case
in the books: "Tllrec soldiers went to-
g~ctl,cr to rob an orchard. Two got
upon II fruit tree and the third stood ut
The gallo with q drawn sword, and the
owners son coming by, collarcd the
man 1T the gate, whrrenpon the soldier
stabbed him. 1t was ruled to hcmurlcr
in the man who stabbed, but those Oh
the tree were innocent"
But third, IF, rs all the prisoners
testified, they assembled simply to
watch and see that no harm was done
to Osborne; then the common purpose
for which they assembled was not UNI
lawful, and this ease must be consider
cd as other cases of sudden ARRAYS.
Osborne WAS in the custody of the
law and it was unlawful for him to
escape or for any II to take him out
without authority. 1t would have
been unlawful in the prisoners to re-
lease him, and it was also unlawful in
the parties who had him in charge, go
ing towards the Savannah river.
prisoners had
TIE RIGHT TO PREVENT THAT
WRONG,
and in doing so, TO uso rs much force
- was necessary to accomplish the
purpose and no more. In this view
each man is responsible only for his
act. Ho then considered the evidence
rs to who did tho act; who were
present ut the time; who shot and
who did not shoot, and who disc liarg-
ed the fatal shots which unfortunately
took effect upon tlle body Of the de-
ceased and caused his death. These
are all questions Of fact for the jury.
What is the grade Of this offence
If the parties were there for
AN UNLAWFUL PURPOSE,
and in the execution of that purpose
some shot and killed tho deceased, it
Is murder in all who wor present.
If tliry were there simply to pre-
vent Osborne being carried away; and
in attempting to prevent it, more
force was used than vas necessary, it
Is manslaughter in those who did the
act.
II they were there for an allowa-
bic purpose, and the deceased and his
comrado made the attack and fired
first, thon it is eXcusable homicide,
and the verdict should be, not guilty.
IN CONCLUSION,
he said they had discharged tho duty
imposed upon them by the court, and
had attempted to do it faithfully:
The prisoners had no friends to aid
with their counsel. He begged for
them the benefit OF all reasonable
doubts. The Stale is the common
mother Of us all, and has no passions
to crafty. Vengeance is not the OBJ
.jcct of the criminal law, but tho good
of the community, which he thought
would not DC promoted by executing
citizens by scores, if it could be avoid
cd consistently with law and justice.
The prisoners belong to a race remark
able for their cxcitability and love of
the marvellous, and he invoked the
jury to guard themselves against the
the excitement rife in tho COMMUNE
ty to deal rs lightly with them AS
the facts would permit and to execute
The inv faithfully but in mercy.
Solicitor Cothran.
There was an effort made to prove
that the fragrant act WAS committed
between twelve and II o'clock of the
night Of tho 4th December, thus.being
done on the 9Th day of tho month in
stead Of the 4th, as alleged in the in
dictmcnt. The weight of evidence
and tho hour of the moons rising on
the night Of the 9TH, to wit: at six
minutes past eight o'clock, in the
evening, seemed to be conclusive of
this issue when it is remembered that
all of the witnesses for the defence
fixed the hour ut about onc-and-ahalf
hours after tho moons rising. The
next ground taken was q denial of the
fact that any
CONSPIRACY
had been proved by the State on the
part OF those charged with tho homi-
eide. 1t was contcndcd by tho State
that this was not matcrial--that there
WAS no charge of conspiracy, that Of
fence being merged in the assembling
and committing of the deed-that
"thc fiery cross' had sped over the
surrounding country, and that the
transferring place" was 1T the church
near LowndcsviIlo, where at the APP