Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-12-29
WHOLESALE LYNCHING.
Eight Negroes Taken Out Of
Jail and Shot.
A MOST COLD-BLOODED AFFAIR.
The Laws Delay Made q Pretext
For the Crime-The Shock
ing Details.
Associated Press DISPATCHES to the HERALD

| Associated Press DISPATCHES to the HERALD.
CHARLESTON, s. G., December 30 -
mob of several hundred men raided tbs
all at Barnwell courthouse at o'cloch
this morning, overpowered the jailor and
took out eight negroes charged with muir.
der. The prisoners were taken out Of
town and shot to death. The jailor was
tied and forced to accompany the lynch.
ers. The whole thing was conducted in
very skillful manner, the citizens of the
town not knowing anything about it. A
great many negroes are collected at the
scene of the lynching, and more trouble
is anticipated. The Governor has been
appealed to for troops to preserve the
peace.
LATER-The following statement
signed by Robert Aldrich. Mike Brown,
George Taylor, William McNabs and
James A. Jenkins, some of the most
prominent and influential citizens of
Barnwell, has been sent to the News and
Courier in explanation of the horrible
butchery at that place last night;
On the 3Oth of October last John H.
Heferman, prominent young merchant
and citizen, was shot down and killed in
Barnwell by negroes. Public indigna.
tion ran high. Threats Of lynching were
freely made, but diverted by the coolness
of the officers. At the last term of court
the Grand Jury found true bills against
the murderers and accessories,~ but the
cases were continued. The people were
disappointed and the negroes, it is
thought, were emboldened by this dis
position of the matter. On the 10th of
December, James Brown, a promi.
nent and leading citizen, was ehot to
death on his own premises by negroes
without justification or excuse. The
morderers were arrested. On December
18th, while going from his store at Mar
tino, Robert Martin, citizen of high
standing, was followed by negroes and
shot in the hearing Of negroes houses
which we're all around, who admit hear-
ing the shooting, but none came to his
relief, and none of them went near his
body, which lay in the road for several
hours after daylight and in view of them
all. 1t was satisfactorily established
that his murder was the result of
q conspiracy to remove him in
order that their license upon the planta-
ton, of. his father, might be greater.
The murderer, that is the negro who
fred the shot and his accessories, nine in
number, after being clearly identified by
she Coroner's jury, were arrested and
lodged in Jail. These several brutal
murders of prominent white men by
negroes caused state of indignation and
resentment among the people that can
be better imagined than described, but
cannot bs imagined by any one not
present in our midst. Last night
a body of srmed men in
disguise. at about o'clock, called at the
Jail, overpowered the jailor, took out the
six murderers of Martin, and two of
Hefferman, took them to the limits of
the corporation and shot them to death.
This explanation of the causes which led
to- the lynching does not, in the opinion
of law-abiding citizens, in any way JUS
tify the atrocious murder of eight de-
fsnseless human beings. The greatest
indignation is expressed at the brutality.
All is quiet in Barnwell late this even
ing, although trouble is anticipated and
may come yet.
CHICAGO, December 2S-The Times
has the following account from Columbia,
S. c., of the lynching of eight negroes at
Barnwell this morning.. Three hundred
armed men, with faces masked, sur
rounded the Jail just before daylight this
morning, when the inmates were Sleep
ing soundly. They moved with caution
and as an organised body. The
jailer was sezsd and over
powered, his keys were taken
from him, the cell doors unlocked
and before the frightened negroes within
were awakened from their sleep their
cells were filed with strange figures.
They were seized and carried out into
the night. Their cries for mercy pierced
the air unheeded. The body of men pro.
ceeded quarter of g. mile aud halted on
the outskirts of the town. The eight un-
fortunate wretches were secured; several
hundred shots were fred, and eight
bodies lay on the earth with the blood
running from, a hundred wounds,
literally torn to pieces.
Such was the scene of the terrible
tragedy enacted ia the town OF Barnwell
this morning, a most terrible retribution
for q not extraordinary offense, as the
records will prove. Four years ago five
men were lynched in Yorkville for the
brutal murder of a little boy who caught
them stealing. but they belonged to an
organized gang whose members were
sworn to kill whoever caught
them stealing, and they were
believed to- have committed several
murders previously. Their conviction
was uncertain and the people took the
law in their own hands. But the
Wholesale lynching of this morning is
without parallel in the records Of crime
Fin this State. and there was less ground
for the act than probably any lynching
before. 1t Is doubtful if the country can
show like record.
The eight negroes were charged with
committing and being accessory to the
crimes described below: On the after
noon Of October Goth John @. Hefferman
was shot and instantly killed in a restau'
rant of Barnwell by Ripley johnson,
Hefsrman was the principal merchant
of the town, and johnson was colored
man employed at that time in running 9
gin house. There had been some trouble
between the white man and the negro
the day before, and although there were
conflicting accounts as to the diff
lculty, it is probable that Heffer
man threatened the negro, for he hat
been summoned to appear before ths
Town Council the morning following
AMI had been put under bond. Th,
killing took place in q colered restau
rant, where Hefferman had followed
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