The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1890-01-11
A FEARFUL RETALIATION.

A terrible tragedy took place at
Barnwell, 3 C., on the night OF De-
cember %, when eight negroes were
taken out Of the Jail and lynched by
being shot to death while tied to trees
aud posts. OF course such a fine oppor-
tunity as this conld not be passed by
the radical press of the country to make
political capital. While mobs lynch
men everyw here, In the north as well
rs In the south, wherever 1t is done il
should be reprehended as a crime.
The facts In this case as related dis
passionately by the best citizens are as
follows:-On the 30th of October last
John j. Heffesman, a prominent young
merchant and a brave and public spirit
ed citizen, was shot down and killed in
Bsrnwell by negroes. Public indigna-
ton al very high. Threats of lynching
were freely made but diverted by cooler
counsel. However, at the last term of
the court the grand jury found true
bills against his murderers and their
accessories, but the cases were continu-
ed. The white people were disappoint-
ed and the negroes, 1t ia thought, were
~emboldened by this disposition of the
matter. On the 10th of December MIR
James /. Brown. q prominent planter
and leading citizen of Fish Pond town.
ship was shot 10 death on his own
premises by negroes without the slight
est justification or excuse The II
derer has not been arrested. On the
18th OF December, while going from his
store at Martins Station to his home, a
mile away, Mr.. Robert Martin, a
young man of the most exemplary char
acter and the highest standing as a mar
and citizen, was followed by a negro
and shot in the back with a gun loaded
with slugs, in the hearing of many OF
the negroes, who were all around the
spot when he was shot, and who ad.
United that they heard the shot and his
cries when shot, and none of them
went to his relief and none OF them
went to his body, although 1t lay In the
road all night and several hours after
daylight in plain view of them all. II
was satisfactorily established that bis
murder was the result of a conspiracy
10 remove him in order that their
license upon the T lantation of his father
might be greater. The murderer-that
is, the negro who fired the shetland
his accessories, six in number, after
being clearly identified by the coroner's
jury, were found and lodged in Jail
These several brutal murders OF promi-
mem white men by negroes caused a
state Of indignant resentment, and
while the result Is TO be deplored, and
even condemned, it Is not one to cause
great surprise, or to justify the attempt
to turn it 10 political use. The good
citizens OF Barnwell deplore' the event
as much or more than can others, any
where else, but as the retribution was
terrible, so also 1t must be admitted the
prosocalion vas great. AS more than
one negro has since said, where the
negro behaves and attends 10 his own
business he gets into no trouble. In
this case the chances are that bad
whisky and criminally inclined negroes
have brought upon themselves a pun
ishment from which they thought
themselves exempt by reason of their
numbers.
There is some talk among the ne.
groes of e%migrating from the country
In a body, but there are too many of
them who seem to think tho trouble
was sought by bad men OF their race TO
render the effort at all successful.