The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-07-04
TME HUNTED lEOUNTAINRERs.
VILE AND BLOODY WORK OF THE
REVENUE HOUNDS.
From thc Me,ps and Cb,.rier.

PICKENs O. H., juno %.
reached this place last Friday about
10 o'clock q. M, since which time have
been busily engaged in the duty assigned
to me of investigating the subject of out
RACES reported to have been committed
in this county by United States internal
revenue officers, and tho state Of feeling
existing among the people in regard to
the same.
AN APPALLING CONDITION OF AFFAIRS.
My purpose being 20 visit the disturbed
section ard to interview the alleged vic
Tins in person with view to getting at
the facts as nearly as possible, without
the risk of exeggeration consequent upon
such facts passing through several chan
nels, have spared no pains TO carry out
this plan, and have Elected my iinfor-
nation in every instance from trustwor-
thy sources and for the most part from
the sufferers themselves. Thnt informa.
ton, / may as well say in the outset, re-
veals condition Of affairs here, the
coidest statement of which will scarcely
be credited by any person in the State
whose good fortune it has been to live
without the limits of this truly oppress.
ed and long suffering district.
THE PUBLIC IGNORANT OF THE TRUTH.
Complaints of the conduct of the men
who under color Of law have 80 persis.
tently and systematically violated the
law for weeks and months together.
have occasionally reached the ears Of
the outside world, but such complaints
have been almost as persis.ently and
systematically ignored by the fellow
citizens Of the complainants even in the
State, for the reasons, perhaps, that for
Sears they too had grievances to occupy
their own attention; that it is alwsys
easy to bear another's wrongs, and for
the further reasons that the remoteness
of the troubled ssction end the absence
of ready means of communication hin.
dered the matter from being brought to
the attention of the general U,-Slic as
strongly and urgently or as o. anlas it
should have been. It may also re.
marked that the offenders, In D cry in.
stance, had superior opportu. Il les for
presenting their aide Of each c.,ge as it
arose, and in many such instances che
representations Of the one side only were
ever heard. On very few occasions
indeed, comparatively speaking, papers
published Ia the upper counties would
contain sume account of reported mis-
conduct on the part Of revenue officers,
such for instance as the unvarranted ar
rest and imprisonment of q suspected
moonshiner; the forcible entry into the
private dwelling of another; insult
offered to the wife of still another, &c.
butpreceding such narrative by several
days readers outside Of the county would
have been informed Of the capture of a
NOTED desperadp," the destruction of q
still" or two, and Of ever 80 many gall
Ions of "mash," and in the face of such
tidings the protest Of the Pickens Ssnti-
mel or.0f the Walhalla Courier would be
read with but languid interest or with
indifference. the reader coolly consider.
;:;S that stEEio osia VIII always complain
when the laws are strenuously enforced,
while as far as the indignant Victims
own earnest protest of wrong suffered at
the hands of the hated excisemen, this
would be met by the pat quotation, 'No
rogue e'oT felt the haltef draw with good
opinion of the law" Or something equal
iy to the point, and the whole matter
was dismissed without appeal.
That actual violence. has been done the
law, and the rights of innocent citizens
shamefully invaded ;.ld trampled upon
on repeated and. repeated occasions, for
period extending through several years,
very few Of my readers are prepared to
believe but that such has been the case
can readily be proved, and will be prov.
ed TO the satifaction, of all, or the fault
will ne mine, not thRt or the subordinate
officers Of the United States rsvenue de-
partment.
The latest instance has perhaps at
tracted the most attention abroad, and ON
this account and because it invcl lved the
death of one Of the victims, end BECAUSE
Of tho feeling which exists in this COM
munity in regard &c &c it, 1t ID proper that
it should be considered first in order. 1
refer to -
THE gILLING OF AMOS LADD,
A few days ago information was as
usual teiegraphei over the country by
the deputy masshals concerned in the
affair that one Amos Ladd, an illicit dis
tillef 10 Pickens County, had been killed
at his home by q party of officers who
had been cent to arrest him, and one of
whom had been compelled to shoot him
IN seig.defences The officers asd the
county Immediately. after the deed was
performed, and the facts of their subse-
, quents arrest ct: Greenyille and trialeas
Walhalia are too we'll known to require
restateWanG mere. On tie preliminary
hearing. before JndGe Kershaw they were
refused bail except In one instance, and
are now lying IN Jail awaiting trial Gn the
charge of murder.
From the al MdavitB made by them. in
regard 70 theeccurrence, which afiidayits
are now on hle IN tho ofic5 of the clerk
of court of this county, have obtained
their version of the affair, which is to the
elect shss, :isssag in search of Redmond
and 5EfRad, they proceeded to the
ileighborhood of Ladd's house on Satur-
day evening, the 9Th OF June, and secre-
ted themselves in the wood adjacent,
whence they could see what passed at
the hense. On Saturday evening they
sa: ... :. :s. -: ..s:..S &C fence .he
house where he Whistled and raped on
the fepce, which sign Yas ,anBwered by q
wotgsan ia the house who went out to
him, and after some ccnversation the
man went away aud the wCnan returned
90 che The 0fRccfg femaiEed in
fsiid In I3atsn ght, and rtesSp ,s4psIihs ssw
the niaIi return TO the houaS, when he
WIS pseseptlg Joined by another. The
0ilcefs quickly surrounded the h1nse,
atsd nnotl rnaiinR up 90 1t from several
directions 5ne Dk them was, as he sage,
e1nfsenlad hr al.n nf fha men in the
hytsA whom he oFdtsed to, sugrender.
The nitn in response aimed bis gun, o
hint and ateel rifle, at she officer and
pulled the trigger. The gun inissed fire,
ssFliSredPoH the officer fired, the man
Y sprang out of the doorway, and mo-
nient later sscond shot was Cred and
the man ieII dgad IN tio no ya1 ysi1a. 9 ly.e n.i.
cen, thinking that it HAa RedcNoi,d,
asked If,e, o,1tf, IN ", ,,,r, II zone ft,aty had