The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-03-04

time after our arrival the fragrant in.
cense of Ia siempre feL isla announced
that his bouutiful cheer had been dis
cussed with the keen relish of bunter
The old gentleman was in his chattles'
mood; the conversation turned upon the
Old Brick Church and its traditions, and
we were soon listening with the liveliesl
interest to the recital of his fathers
story of
"THE MAN WHO WAS HUNG AND UN-
HUNG"
"Tve often heard my father tell the
story which am now going to tell you,
but 1 don't think ever told it to any of
YOU before. The old gentleman was
about twenty-five when the Revolution
ary war broke out, and he served with
Horny, in Marion's Brigade, of which he
was most efficient officer. He had a
great many strange tales, connected with
the different parts of his neighborhood,
in which he had seen service, and which
he loved to tell after dinner over glass
of his rare old brown sherry. 1t some
times seems to me that such things never
happen now, even in times of war; but,
perhaps it is only because the events in
which we are actors seldom appear
strange to us until we look back at them
under very different circumstances, and
through a long lapse of time.
"The pine land country around St.
Stephens was then inhabited by the same
class of people who are found living there
now-poor and uneducated men, who
were too lazy to work for themselves, and
too proud to work for the large planters
around them. The abundance of game
and fish in the swamp kept them sup
piled with meat their wives and daugh-
ters cultivated little patches of sickly
corn, sufficient to give them hoecake and
hominy, and they never wished for any
better fruit than blackberries and per-
simmons. Many of them had a strong
dash of Indian and negro blood. and as a
rule they we're lawless set, with no reli-
gion and faint idea of morals. Few of
them owned foot of the land on which
they lived, or had any stake in the coun-
try; and yet they were generally as bitter
against the British and Tories as the
wealthiest planters around them, and
they made the best and most reliable
soldiers. You all know how Jasper re-
fused promotion for his gallantry at Fort
Sullivan because he could neither read
nor write. Here and there, however, as
with the gentry of the State, there was
found among them q Tory family or
neighborhood and this was the feeling
of the ssquatters' between st. Stephens
and Monck's Corner.
"Not far from the latter point there
was notorious rum-shop, kept by man
named Peigler, aud within a short dis
tance of it lived his six brothers and
about a dozen others, all of them bitter
Tories and bad characters. The neigh
borhood was known as 'Scuf1etown,' from
the frequent fights which took place
about Dave Peigler's groggery, and was
a terror to the country around. The
seven brothers especially were regarded
as desperate men and professed horse
and cattle thieves. Every Sunday they
would gather at Dawes shop, and spend
the day and most of the night in drink
ing, fighting, horse-racing, og-baiting
and other similar amusements. During
the period of general decentralization,
when the British held Charleston and
had overrun the State, the Partisan lead
ers were compelled to retreat to the
swamps and virtually to disband their
commands. The officers and men would
leave the rendezvous whenever the coun-
try was quiet, and return stealthily to
their homes; their faithful negroes
would apprise them of the approach of
danger, and they would retreat to the
swamps in haste, either to lie concealed
for time or to organize some sharp and
sudden blow at the marauding parties.
The Peiglers were very troublesome and
dangerous to the gentlemen of the neigh
borhood during these claudestine visits
to their plantation homes, acting as spies
and informers, and sometimes forming
parties for their capture. Dave, the tav-
ern-keeper, was particularly active in
these attempts. He had stolen great
number of horses, and was suspected of
several murders. though these could
never be positively proved against him.
My father and his friend and neighbor,
Capt. Theus, had been frequently sub.
jected to his plundering attentions, and
he had loudly threatened to have the
latter caught and hung on account of
some fancied injury. 1t happened some
time in 1779 that party of foragers
brought news to Marion's camp on the
Santce that body of British horse was
moving through the country, and Capt.
Theus and my father were detailed to
command a scouting expedition to hang
upon the enemy's flank and watch his
movements. The Captains plantation
10y in their way, and upon visiting it
they found that Dave Peigler and his
brother Dan had made raid on it but q
few hours before, and driven off several
horses and head of beef-cattle, boasting
that they had frightened the Rebels out
of the country, and promised to return in
few days and burn the house and set
tlement. The men had been left in a
thick piece of woods about a mile off,
and the two gentlemen having secured
their horses behind the garden aud
placed a trusty negro to watch the ap-
proaches, were just about to sit down to
tinner when their lookout came rushing
in with the intelligence that Peigler was
galloping up the avenue alone. They
had scarcely time to run to the window
and prime their pistols before the Tory
was at the HORSEBACK, mounted on a fine
blooded stallion which had been stolen
from my fathers place six months before.
The fellow evidently believed himself
master of the situation, and had no idea
of any enemy being near, for he was
cursing and swearing that he had left one
of his pistols in the dining-room; that if
he failed to find it he would cut the
throat of every negro on the place; and
that anyhow, he meant to pay himself
for the trouble of returning by taking
anything valuable he could find and
burning the cursed Rebels nest at once.
1t would have been easy to shoot him as
he stood fastening his horse, and my
father had raised his pistol to obey the
impulse, but Theus caught his hand, and
,,,;tb o1o, oh al taotb ord faofurac on I'm,