The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1890-01-02
THE SOUTH CAROLINA TRAGEDY
The Whites Driven to Frenzy by Repeated
Murders--A Statement to the Public.

MufdefS--A statement to the Public.
! 4 Columbia, S. c., special of Dec.
! 28thsays: Eight black bodies, steep
ed in gore, jumbled together like the
{ carcasses of so many butchered jack
7! ais, with bones and brains protrud
ing, lying half nude upon the ground,
was the siclening spectacle that pre-
scented itself early Saturday morning
in the limits of the little town of
BarnWell, in this State Worked al
most into frenzy by the repeated
! brutal murders of prominent white
men by negro plunderers, the citi-
zens determined to avenge their
dead friends, and in the gray dawn of
morning, they repaid life for life with
three for boot. The murder of young
! Robert Martin last Saturday NIGHT
made the fifth white man who has
been killed within the last sixty DAYS
/ by the cowardly bullets of colored
aSsassins.
The excitement was SO great that
1t eliminated in an act of even great
er lawlessness, when, at O'Clock this
morning, Il hundred armed men in
disguise broken open the Jail where
eight suspected cOlored murderers
were imprisoned, carried them to the
/ limits OF the town and shot them to
pieces. With the utmost quiet a
selected crowd crept into the Jail and
with the keys taken from the taller
opened the cells until they obtained
the eight negroes, some charged with
the murder OF j. j. Hefferman, and
the Others with having killed Robert
| Martin
HE poor wretches were then rap
Idly carried to the extreme limits of
the town. There in the gathering
dawn, amid their piteous bowls for
mercy, the crack of a hundred rifles,
and as many pistols rent the air,
mlngllng with the death cries of
eight poor devils, whose guilt was as
yet unproven. Scores of death-deal-
ing slu9s buried themselves in the
human targets until not a vestige of
life Was left. The merciless mob did
not retire satisfied until they had
fairly riddled the bodies with bullets.
1ne news was not known in town
until the sheriff returned about
broadcast time. The sheriff at once
{ wired to Gov. Richardson here for
help. Things had a foreboding look
until the train arrived this afternoon
with a detachment of forty militia
1nen under command of Col. D. l..
Copeland, of Bamberg.
The eight corpses found this morn
ing are victims of the uprising of the
country people on account of the
long continued Outrag es and murders
III Barnwell county. Barnwell was a
stronghold of the Radical negroes,
and before 1876 was the scene of fire.
quent collisions between the races.
kllenton, the scene of the famous
riots OF j 1876, is in that county.
Since the Democrats have had con-
troll of the State there has been but
little trouble with the negroes, but
many think that the election of a
Republican President has revived re-
collections of their former lawless
deeds. Some of their old leaders are
proving about the country and are
undoubtedly melting them to commit
acts of violence. Murders have be-
come very frequent of late The
country people have been very impa-
tent and have for a long time want
ed to take the law into their own
hands. They were kept back by the
cooler judgement of the town people
until a most horrible murder COM
mitted last week aroused them to a
pitch of despeI alton that resulted in
the mad act of this morning.
Five prominent white men of bust
| ness have been murdered in Barnwell
within the past two months without
| any provocatiOn. 1t looked like a
conspiracy in every case.
The country people felt that some
! thing had to be done or there would
be no end TO the reign of terror In
| consequence Of the lynching which
/ took place last night the undersign-
ed were this morning requested by
the sheriff to act as an advising com
| mittee and have issued the following,
address:
We deem it right to put the pub
| lie III possession OF the facts of the
occurrence and the causes which we
believe led to it rs far as we have
| gathered them. On the 30th of Oc-
tober last John j Iief1ernan, a prom
. inent young merchant and a brave
and public spirited citizen, was shot
down and killed in BarnweH by ne
groes. Public Indignation ran very
high. Threats of lynching were free
ly made, but diverted by cooler coun-
sci. However, at the last term of
court the grand jury found true bills
against his murderers and their ac-
cessOries, but the cases were cOntin-
ued. The white people were disap-
pointed, and the negroes, it is
thought, were embroidered by this
disposition of the matter. On the
10th of December Mr. James L.
Brown, a prominent planter and
leading citizen of Fish Fond town
snip was shot to death on his own
premises by negroes without the
slightest justification or excuse. The
murderer has not been arrested.
On the 18th of December, while go
ing from his store at Martins Sta
ton to his home, mile away, Mr..
Robert Martin, young man of the
most exemplary character and the
highest standing as Il man and citi-
zen, was followed by a negro and
shot in the back with gun loaded
with slugs, in the hearing of many of
, the negroes, who were all around the
spot when he was shot, and who adj
mitted 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 it lay in
the road all night and several hours
after daylight in plain view of them
all. 1t was satisfactorily tablished
that his murder was the result of a
conspiracy to remove him in order
| thn Il Their. lieauSe 11pOO tho n1anfo