The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-03-11
The Edgeneld Court.

open Court that it would, perhaps, be
better for the community of Edgefeld
that the trial of the thirty-one lynchers
should be indefinitely postponed, he did
not utter the sentiment of the people of
Edge6ed County. When Attorney
General Miles said that if the law had
been violated itshould be yindicated, he
must nevertheless have been clearly i'm
pressed with the conviction that that
vindication was thing of the very dis
tant and misty future. 1t is safe to as.
sert that the people Of Edgc6eld County
are anxious and willing that the lynch
ers shall have at least speedy trial, and,
if they are convicted, will not stand in
the way of an equally speedy and proper
punishment of the murderers. There
has not been at the present term of the
Court anything like either a loud mouth
ed denunciation by the enemies or an
open approval of the homicide of Cul'
breath by the friends of the lynchers.
1t may, perhaps, be a contradiction in
terms to speak of the friends of the
lynchers, but it is, ne7erthless, the fact
that they have large following, who
will use every endeavor to secure their
acquittal. 1t may be unnecessary to state
the fact but these friends are to be found
solely in the neighborhood in which the
assassination of Hammond took place.
In any ordinary murder trial the accused
will always have some defenders. In
this most extraordinar. case it is not
surprising that the lynchers should be
hedged in by a. army of friends. Many
of the defendants represent large families,
and considering there are thirty y-one de-
PENDANTS, it is evident that, including
their relatives and intimate acquaint-
ances, they are backed by a powerful
clan financially, inhuentially and other
wise. Culbreath also was a man who
had host Of friends, and between his
clan and the lynchers' followers the feud
which grew out of the first tragedy is in
creasing in virulence frum day to day.
1t is doubtful, whatever way the case
may terminate, whether peace will be
declared among them for at least a gen.
GRAFTON to come. It is not at all impos.
sible that more blood may be shed be-
fore final disposition of the case is
reached. This is very we'll understood
by the people of the county at large, and
they are naturally anxious that a trial
fairly and freely shall put an end to the
continual risk of unpleasant develop
ments. The clamor against the lynchers
is of course loudest in the section of the
county from which they come, and
chiefly from those who have been direct
ly or indirectly aggrieyed by the exer'
else of lynch law. The only public
opipion in Edgefeld County at present
is that the defendants should be tried for
the offence with which they are charged.
This trial will be hi d sooner or later, and
for that reason it is somewhat difficult to
understand in what way the present dila-
tory tactics of the defence will eventually
inure to the benefit of the accused.
Upon its face the showing of the defence
was a strong one, and one that the Court
could not oyerrule. The defence, how.
ever, either by design or by the force of
circumstances, unmasked one of the bat
teries of their case in the affidavits upon
which the continuance was asked. 1t is
now apparent that quite number of the
accused will endeavor to prove that they
we're not present at the lynching for
which they are indicted. Lieutenant
Governor Sheppard announced that he
had other afIidavits to support the motion
for continuance, and these were prob
ably of a similar character to those read
to the Court.
By this process of proof and by such
line of defence it is just possible that
all but few of the thirty. one will be
eliminated from participation in the
lynchipg. and that the remaining ones
will set up a plea of self defence, mas
much as it is claimed that Culbleath
fired the FIRST shot. 1t is said now that
the lynchers were fully informed of the
fact that Culbreath did not assassinate
Hammond, and that their object was
merely to extort from him confession
as to who had done the deed. How il
was proposed to get that confession is 8
story that can only be told by the de-
PENDANTS when they 60 upon the stand
The lynchng, according to this view o.
the matter, was not bloody vengeance
for crime which they supposed Cul.
breath TO have committed. AS far as the
transaction in the town of Edge6eld is
concerned, it was only the beginning o.
the tragedy, and affords good materia
either for the prosecution or the defence
of the prisoners. The subsequent crime
when Culbreath was taken out of the
town and left by the party on the road
side in dying condition, will probably
be the feature of the ease on which mos
stress will be laid both by the State ane
defence. Of the details of the transac
ton, when Culbreath received the wound:
from which he died, nobody knows any
thing except the lynchers themselves
and the verdict will, of course, greatly
depend upon the character of the story
they tell. One thing, however, is par
ticularly evident, and that is that when
the case comes on, the lynchers will lack
nothing that friends and money can con
tribute to their defence, and that if they
are convicted it will only be after q pro-
longed and desperate struggle.
None of the lyuchers appear to be