The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1893-04-28
AN INNOCENT NAN LYNCHHD.
The Negro Peterson Put TO- Death 6y ihe Dem
marx Mob, ,AJir his isnsceacs Had Been
(I1snri, Estobl;,6edn isssslt ,EGs& q

The Negro Peterson Put To- Death 6yt ythe Den
marx Mob, ,Aftr his Asnsesacs Had Seen
Clearly Estabii,ked S@
DENMARK, s. c., April 24.--when a few
days ago, one Of the best ~ men Of Barn
we'll said in the matter Of the assault upon
Miss Mamie Baxter, that "the reputation Of
Barnwell county was at stake, and by God
somebody must die" the people Of the State
had NO idea Of how very soon the horrible
realization Of those words was to follow.
The crime has b.en avengel, but an up.
parently innocent man has been butchersi
and his blood now stains tho scene of the
fearful crime.
The horrible tragedy was enacted tonight
in the mosnligh, which made it nsar,y as
bright as day, and there was crowd of at
least two thousand people composed Of every
class of men in BarnMell county. This
crowd occupied the embankment rnder
which the scene was enacted. Thousands
Of bullets literally riddl:ng the man from
head 10 foot, vero fired into the body rs
soon as strung up. The people had grad
ually been working themselves up to the
frenzy pitch for the past two weeks and
when they got hold Of victim today, they
were in exactly the condition to believe any
one guilty. Somebody had to die, and some
body has died That is the story. Many
of the citizens deeply deplore the deed Of
tonight; they did all they could to prevent
it, and then they let the mob take its own
way. In this connection l must mention
the heroic and cool conduct of Senator s. @.
May6cld. He stsmmed the tide with gen
uine heroism until II became q wave and
swept everything before it. Standing ut
his elbow were ex-senator Sojourner and
scores of other men Of prominence. They
were the oldest men in the community.
They wanted to sec the right man hung aud
used every endeavor to get hold Of that man.
We have not ro,m to publish the evidence
given before tho Judge Lynch court, which,
however, was entirely circumstantial and, SO
far a. we could understand it, in nowiss
connected the prisoner with the assault upon
Miss Baxter.
A committee was appointed to take the
prisoner before Miss Baxter, which was j ust
what the negro requested to be doue.]
The following is the report of what trans
pired when the negro was confronted by tho
young lady
We went in and met the young lady. She
is quite small, about fifteen years Of age
aud of rather prepossessing appearance.
Mr.. Scjourner took the girl off to herself
and impressed upon her the Importance of
being absolutely certain that he was the
right man. He said; "Now, If, you can say
that he IL the man, why, do so if not, say so.
This mans lifs yeH hold in your hand"
The negro was then brought up the steps by
Constable Weeks. He stosd just inside the
hal, while the young LADY stood in the par
lor door. He faced her with absolute fear
lessness and looked her steadily in the eye.
She did the same and did not display the
slightest recognition. The negro was made
TO pull of his hat and put it in various posi-
tions. The young lady had been instructed
not to say anything until he was taken out.
He was asked some questions by Mr.. So
journer SO that she could hear his voice.
When the negro was taken out Mr.. Sc
jsurner asked tho girl what sho had to say.
Every one listened with breathless attention.
She said: al don know him, sir, that don't I
look like him at al. He is the same cslor,
that's al. He Int talk like the man; he
is thinner in the face, and was as dark as
this man, but his eyes don't look like him.
MIR. Mayfe!d-Dces this man look like the
right msn? It
No, sir.
Could you tell him if you saw himi
Yes, Sir, cIBld. If' the right man WAS
here l would know him.
The little boy who was with his sister al
the time Of the crime, and was ne,rly chok-
ei to death. was asked what he thought.
lie said: "The other man locked more like
him than this Qne ] would know him if l
saw him"
The party, after this failure to recognize
the man, came back to town.
Just before the negro got back to town,
the girls father came up and dramatically
declared that the girl would never be able
to recognize the man. The old man broke
down and cried. 1t had a great effect on
the crowd AcClendon ran out to the front
and said no would heal apy twelve to lynch
the negro. Twelve men SOON arrayed them
selves alongside. Some one cried "Lees
lynch both the negroes" McClendou shout
%, Somebody's got to die for this thing"
aud seemed very much excited. About that
time Marshal Weeks drove up with Peters IN.
The buggy was quickly surrounded. Mr..
Mayfeld made a speech counselling o wait
ing policy.
Moclendon got on tho buggy wheel and
made red hot speech. He concluded by
saying: "We will take this evidence and
kill this man. The man that says this, il
J. D.. McClendon, and don't caro- who
knows it," The marshal drove off TO put
the poor negro in the guard house. As he
did so q brother Of the girl ran up behind
the buggy with his hand in his pocket.
The marshal said with determination, that
he would kill the first man that put his
hands on the man. The man was taken TO
the guard house aud locked up.
M9as BLkoXLIsTIHG. - Gaffnsy City,
April l8.-Euenies Of the Alliance and