The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-29
LYNCHERS RAID A JAIL.
EIGHT NEGROES TAKEN TO THE
WOODS AND SLOT,

South Carolina the Scene OF the
Tragedy-All the Prisoners Accused
of Murder-Public Lack of Faith in
Criminal Juries the Cause OF the
Raid.
CHARLESTON, S. c., Dec. 2S.-A bloody
affair took place in BarnweIl this morning.
For two years or more the miscarriage Of
justice in the courts of this state has been
the subject Of public comment. The most
atrocious and unprovoked murders lave oc-
CURED, and many Of the murderers have
escaped. Notorious instances of the kind
have occurred in Charleston, Edgefeld,
Barnwell, Abbeville, Laurens, and 10 many
other counties.
The public in Carolina seem to have ar
rived at the conclusion that justice ine the
state is a farce, aud that the safety of
society requires that there shall be some
hangings Such at least appears to have
been the motive of the Barnwen lynchers
in the terrible tragedy enacted there.
ARRIVAL OF THE MOB.
At 3 o'clock this morning about 200
masked men entered the village of Barn
well. which is the county seat of B0rnwell
county, proceeded to the county Jail, called
out the jailer, bound him, and entering the
the Jail took out eight men, all negroes
charged with murder. With these, and
accompanied by the jailer, whom
they compelled to precede them.
they silently filed out of the town to a dark
wood. and there put the prisoners to death.
The victims were tied to trees and posts on
the road leading to Williston. and were shot
20 death, each body being rlddled with
bullets.
THE TOWN NOT AROUSED.
The whole affair was conducted very
quietly and without confusion. The citizens
of the town were ignorant of any attack on
the jail. This morning the negroes began
collecting in force at the scene of the mas
sacre, and kilograms were sent to neighbor-
ing towns for help, and also to the governor
Armed white men responded to the call
promptly. and at 8 o'clock tonight the
situation was reported quiet.
NO FAITH PUT IN THE COURTS,
The people of the county had lost all
faith in the courts, and this led to the horri-
bio lynching, So many murderers had
escaped justice that they determined to take
the law in their own hands with the horri-
BILE result given above. The crime is very
heartily deprecated here, but among think
ing men it is regarded as the natural out
come of the criminal jury trials in the state
for the past year or two. Things have come
70 that pass that any red-handed murderer
in South Carolina who has money and in
tuencs Is almost absolutely safe from the
law" said g prominent jurist to-day.
The governor has taken measures to pre-
serve the peace.
WHAT LED UP TO THE CRIME.
BARNwELL, s. c., Dec. 2S.-The follow
ing statement is furnished for publication:
In consequence OF the lynching which took
place here last night, the undersigned were this
morning requested by the sheriff to act as an
advising committee 20 counsel such steps as
may be deemed best to secure order. We at
f, first pre- ceeded to investigate and deem it
right to put the public In possession of
the facts of the occurrence and the causes which
lFe believe led to It as far as we have gathered
them. On the 30th of October last John J. Hef-
fernan, a prominent young merchant and brave
pnbllc-spirited citizen, was shot down and killed
in Barnwell by negroes Public indignation ran
very high, and threats of lynching were freely
made, but were diverted by cooler counsel.
At the last term of court the grand jury
found true bills against his murderers and their
accessories, but the cases we're continued. The
white people were disappointed, and the
negroes, it is thought, were emboldened by this
disposition Of the matter. On the 10th of De-
cember Mr.. James S. Brown, prominent citi,
zen of Fish Pond township, was shot to death
slightest justification or excuse. The murderer
has not been arrested. On Dec 49, while going
from his store at Martins Station to his home
mile away, Robert Martin, q young man Of
the most exemplary character and of the high
est standing as a man and citizen, was followed
by negro and shot In the back with a gun
loaded with slugs. This occurred on the public
road which passes through his fathers planta-
tion, in hearing of many OF the negro hands,
who were all around the spot when he was shot
and who admitted that they heard the shot and
his cries when shot, but none of whom went
70 his relief, nor did any of them go to his
body, although it lay in the Goad oil night and
Tor several hours after daylight In plain view of
them all. 1t was satisfactorily established
that his murder was the result OF a
conspiracy to remove him, in order that their
license upon the plantation of his father might
be greater The murderer-that is the negro
who fired the shot--and his accessories, six in
number after being clearly identified by the
coroners jury, were arrested and lodged in jail.
These several brutal murders of prominent
white men by negroes caused state of
indignant resentment among the peo-
pie shat caa be better imagined than de-
scribed but cannot be imagined by any
one not present in our midst and sharing it.
This morning about O'Clock large body OF
armed men IN disguise called at the jail,
overpowered the jailer, took out the six muir
derers Of Martin and the two of Heffernan took
them to the limits of the corporation and shot
them to death. RoBT. ALBRIcH,
MIKE BRowN,
GEO. H. BATES,
VIM MCNAB,
JAS. A. JENKINS.
Committee.
Four years ago five men were lynched in
Yorkville for the brutal murder Of little
boy who caught them stealing, but they
belonged to an organized gang, whose mem
bers were sworn to kill any one by whom
they were caught stealing, and they were
believed to have committed several muir
ders previously. Their conviction was un-
certain, and the people took the law into
their own hands. But the wholesale lynch
ing of this morning is without parallel in
the records of crime in this state.
NO INTIMATIoN OF THE INTENTION.
There was no rumor in the town Of
Barnwell last night that violence was con-
templated. Had there been whisper OF it,
the jail would have been guarded by troops.
The names of the men. murdered by the
mob were Ripley johnson, Mitchell Adams,
Peter Bell, "Rafe" Morrell, Eugh Furze,
Hudson johnson, Robert Phoenix, and
Judge Jones. They were shot to pieces. The
firing was the first intimation the people Of
the town had of the trouble.
a