Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1896-02-28
NOT GUILTY.

NOT GUILTY.
A Colleton Jury Refuses to Convict tho
Broxton Bridge Lynchers.
The trial of the Broxton Bridge
Ilynchers was concluded last Monday
night at 12 o'clock with verdict OF
"not guilty."
The victims of the Broxton Bridge
lynching, it will be remembered, were
Isham Kearse and Hannah Walker,
both Negroes. The lynching occurred
on the night of December 2, last, and
the details.of the affair are still COM
paratively fresh in the public mind. 1t
will be remembered that the woman
was found lying dead in a puddle Of
water, and the man lying nearby in the
bushes. Bruises on the bodies Of both
the man and woman showed that they
had been literally beaten to death.
Shortly afterward it developed that
the beating was done by four promi-
nent citizens of the neighborhood--7
DR.. Ackerman and others and the
principal cause assigned was the al
legged offense of the man In stealing q
Bible from neighboring church. The
peculiar atrocity of the circumstances
aroused storm ofindignation through
out the State, and Solicitor Bellinger,
assisted by Governor Evans, went TO
work to investigate the matter thor
oughly.
Detective Newbold spent some time
in Colleton looking up testimony.
Among other things, he had the
bodies exhumed and examined by
experts, got afidavits from number
of witnesses who knew more or less
about the matter, and, in short, work.
ed up what might be called q very
good case. While Newbold and others
were getting testimony, however, the
friends of the accused were at work
on public sentiment in the county in
which the case was to be tried, and
when the matter came up, ID was quite
clear that although there was no doubt
of, guilt, the defense had considerably
the best of it.
The principal direct witness for the
prosecution was Rosa Kearse, the
widow of Isham Kearse. She claimed
to recognize the accused men as the
same ones who did the whipping; said
she was whipped herself and saw the
others whipped. The principal de.
fense of the accused was the plea of
not guilty. Two of the defendants
went on the witness stand and answered
such questions as were propounded by
their own counsel but refused to an
swer the questions ofthe solicitor with
the explanation that it might "tend to
incriminate u.s."
In their speeches, the counsel for
the defense claimed that the death OF
the woman was caused by drowning,
denied that the defendants had any
thing to do with the whipping, and
claimed that ifeven the defendants did
do the whipping, it was not with the
intention of producing death. Counsel
also alleged that the whole thing did not
really amount to much anyway; the
row was caused by the newspapers
which had already tried and convicted
the accused. Detective Newbold was
referred to as black hearted cur from
Texas, and the jury was told that it
should not give any credence to any
testimony that he had hand in get
ting up.
Solicitor BelliSger made fine argu-
ment for the prosecution. He repre-
sented to- the jurors that their posi-
ton was one which no man would ac-
cept voluntarily, and at the same time
one which no good citizen would shirk.
He made the arguments of the de-
fense appear ridiculous in the extreme,
said that Newbold had only done his
duty, and scored relatives of the ac-
.cused for questionable acts that had
been proved against them in the way
of intimidating witnesses.
All during the trial, the town OF
Walterborro was crowded with peo-
pie from all parts of the county, who
came there to help mould sentiment
for the accused. Threats of lynching
witnesses for the prosecution were in
dulged in quite freely, and it was quite
clear, long before the case closed that
verdict of guilty was out of the ques-
ton. The jury took the case at about
7.3O O'Clock Monday evening, and at
midnight returned a verdict of "not
guilty."
The indictment only charged the
murder of the woman. The solicitor
had decided to hold the other case for
another time. After the verdict, de-