Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-01-02
AVENCING THE MURDERS
A Mob of Several Hundred Men Raid
the Jail at Barnwell, S. c.
Taking Out Eight Negro Prisoners
and Shooting Them.
Public Sentiment in a Feverish State
in That Vicinity.

VI NFNTIdI IIIIITILJN ILI-H IUIVNDW IIIU jul %
Barnwell court house at 2 o'clock this
morning, overpowered the jailor and took
out eight negro prisoners charged with
murder. The prisoners were Ripley
Johnson and Mitchell Adams, charged
with numbering a man nam named Heffer-
man, and six others charged with the
murder of young Martin. The prisoners
were taken out of town and shot to death.
The Tailor was tied and forced to accom-
pany the lynchers. The whole thing was
conducted in a very careful manner, the
citizens of the town not knowing anything
about it.
The following statement, signed by R.
Aldrich, Mike Brown, George II. Bates,
William McNab and James 4. Jenkins,
some of the most prominent and infu-
entail citizens of Barnwell, has been sent
to the News and Courier, in explanation
of the horrible butchery of defenceless men
at that place last night:
Son the 18th Of October last, John III.
Hefferman, a prominent young merchant
and public spirited citizen, was shot down
and killed in Barnwell by negroes. Public
Indignation ran very high. Threats of
lynching were freely made but were di-
verted by cooler counsel. At the last
term of the court the grand jury found
true bills against the murder
ers and accessories, but the
case was continued. The white
people were disappointed and the negroes,
it is thought, were embodied by this dis
position Of the matter. On the 10Th of
December James S. Brown, a prominent
leader and a leading citizen of Fish
Pond township was shot to death
on his own premises by
ill., IL -1s-141.I .,,o4.Ho,
ton or excuse. The murderer has not
been arrested. On the 18th of December,
while going from his store at Martin sta
ton to his house a mile away, Robert
Martin, a young man Of high standing
was followed by a negro and shot in hear
ing of the negroes whose houses were all
who admitted they heard the shot and
cries, and none of whom went to his relief
and none of them went to his body, al
though it lay in the road all night and for
several hours after daylight In
the plain view of them all.
1t was satisfactorily established his muir
der was the result of a conspiracy to re-
move 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 coroner's jury, were arrested and
lodged IN jail. These several brutal muir
ders of prominent white men by negroes
caused such a state of indignant resent
ment among our people that can be better
imagined than described, but cannot be
imagined by any one not present
In our midst. Last night a large body of
armed men In disguise at about 2 a. M.
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 causes
which led to the lynching does not in the
opinion of the law abiding citizens In any
way justisy the atrOcious murder of eight
defenceless human beings. All is quiet
at Barnwell at a late hour this evening,
although trouble has been anticipated and
may yet come.
CHICAGO, Dec. 2S.-The Chicago Times
hos the following account from Columbia,
S. c., of the lynchlng of eight negroes at
Barnweli this morning: Three hundred
armed men with faces masked surrounded
the jail just before daylight this morning,
when the inmates were sleeping sOundly.
They moved with caution and as an organ
1ACo bOuY. Liz IdllOI wa StlAtN dIlu
overpowered, his keys taken from him,
the heavy doors unlocked and before the
eight negroes stopping within were
awakened from their sleep their cells
were filled with strange figures.
They were seized and carried out into the
night. Their cries for mercy, prayers and
curses are alike mheeded by their silent
e~xecutioners. The body of men is put in
motion and proceeds a quarter of a mile
and halts In the outskirts OF the town.
Eight unfortunate wretches are secured,
several hundred shots are fired, and eight
bodies lie on the earth with blood running
from a hundred wounds-literally torn to
pieces. Such was the scene of the terrible
tragedy enacted In the town of Barnwell
this morning. A most terrible retribution
for a not extraordinary offense as the rec
ords will prove. Five 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 who ever caught them steal
ing and they were believed to have COM
mitted 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 a parallel In the records of crimes
in this state, and there was less ground for
the act than probably any lynching before.
1t is doubtful if any county can show a
like record. The eight negroes were
charged with committing and being ac-
cessory to the crimes described below.
On the afternoon of October Goth, John
c.. HeffeGman was shot and instantly killed
in restaurant In the town of Barnwell by
Ripley Johnston. Hefferman was one of
The principal merchants of the town and
Johnson was a colored man employed at
that time In running a gin. There had
been some trouble beween the white man
and the negro the day before and although
there were conflicting accounts as to the
difficulty, 1t Is probable that Hefferman
threatened the negro, for he had been
summoned to appear before the town coun-
Gil the morning following and had been
put under bond. The killing took place In
a colored restaurant where Hefferman had
followed Johnson. Five negroes charged
with being accessories to the murder. who
were In the restaurant. fed to the swamp
but were shortly afterwards captured and
jailed. A large reward was offered for
Ripley Johnson, and he was captured two
weeks later. OF the two murders for
which the men were lynched this morning,
the worst was committed on last Saturday
night, when Robert Martin, a Young man
of great promise and an only child of aged
parents, was ambushed and shot to death
while riding to his fathers house. 1t was
discovered that Martin had been shot by a
party of negroes who worked ON his
fathers place and whom he kept pretty
close to their work and allowed little
licenses. 1t was also believed that the
negroes IN the houses near by knew all