The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1896-06-09
IaE STORY OF IHE STOLEN BONDS.
An sNYEREsrINe CASE IN coUnr.
Tho Bank OF the state Was Hiding
Out and the Yankees Captured -


Out and the Yankees Captured a
Lot of BoDds.
The members OF the Supreme Court
and the Csrcuit Judges In conference
havo recently heard the celebrated
case brought by Samuel Lord, receiver,
itr the recovery OF 100000 In bonds
which were lost under peculiar circum-
stanceB just at the close of the war,
and which the Legislature refused TO
pay last winter. Gen. Edward Me-
Grady Is n of the counsel for Mr..
Lord, and he has obtained an interest
ing account OF the discovery and hand
ling OF the stolen bonds from the Fed
oral officer who was In charge OF the
SQUAD which captured the assets of the
bank. The story 10 as follows:
Camp Crook, 8. D., April 81, 1896.
Edward McCrady, Charleston, 8. q.
Dear Sir Your communication of
date February Id, accompanied by me-
mortal to the Legislature OF the State
OF South Caroline, reached me, on the
range thirty miles from any post office,
Just thirty.one years and n day after
Tho capture Of the bank on Lynch
Creek, Sc.
The capture being made by o Federal
forco under my command on the 18th
day OF February, 1865, i am uncertain
whether | can assist you in the least in
recovering the bonds or their value.
memory serves, the details of the cap
ture. On the morning of the date
named above i left Hanging Rock, SC,
in command of about forty men of the
l02d Illinois infantry, to which : be-
longed, for the purpose of obtaining
forage On the march from Hanging
Rock to Lynch Creek mycommand was
increased by accessions from all parts
Of the army Struggling" foragers
authority had increased my command
to probably $50 men. Reaching the
vicinity OF Lynch Creek ] saw fresh
wagon tracks leading from the main
Z road into the timber over q r&ther in
) \distinct route or trail. / ordered two
ipen Jesse McGuade and Charles Hort
selll to follow the trail q few hundred
yards and report to me at q point
furt&er on. Hortsell did so report
abontNone mile from the place where
he left the marching column, stating
himself had been fred upon from O
camp they had discovered In the woods;
that McGuaG,e had been killed and he
(Hortsell) waSN wounded in the arm. |
detailed @ non-eommissioned officer in
command of q number of men to return
and investigate the matter, but seeing
that many OF the 'sSNaggling" foragers,
over whom / had litsle control, were
disposed to follow the detail, 1 return
ed myself with a largeNportion of the
command. When L reached the camp
occupied by those in change Of the
bank / found one of the officers of the
bank surrounded by the men who had
gone before, being somewhat excited
by the supposed killing Of McCIuade,
they would have undoubtedly killed
him had l not arrived in time, 1t
may be we'll to state here that thece
we're two white men with the bank,
and eight colored men 1--WE used to call
them niggers y one of the former was
a medium sized, dark ~complexioned
man ; the other somewhat taller, with
light complexion and sandy beard. |
also remember hat the latter had re-
ceived an injury to his right big toe /;
it looked like a gunshot wound. If my
X memory Is not at fault there were
three fve-mule teams and one spring
wagon, to which was worked q gray
horse or mare. One large iron s2fe
(being ! suppose too heavy to handle
a.osssilyII remained in one Of the<wagons;
Z We others, 1 think three in number,
were secreted in the woods near by,
You will better understand the diff
culties OF the position Ithen occupied
when / inform you that had it not been
for the support of the men from my
own regiment none of the property OF
the bank could have been saved as it
was, we were very nearly compelled
to fight for 1t.
Besides the contents Of the safes
there was much other property, cloth
for Confederate uniforms, mathemati-
cal Instruments, Confederate money
and bonds.
/ distinctly remember the bonds,
State bonds of South Carolina. |
think the box contained them was
broken OPEN, some of them, possibly O
major portion was appropriated by the
men at the time of capture or during
the march to camp.
You must realize that I.had but lit
tie time personally to look after the
captured property, other than that in
the safes, to which l held the keys. |
was in q strange country, had some not
very pleasant experience with General,
o Senator Butler, OF your State q few
few days before, and my time was
principally occupiedNn trying to avoid
q secOnd meeting.
All Of the bank property not pillaged
from the wagons on the road to Gen.
Sherman's headquarters, was by his
order turned over to Gen. AS. Will
llamS, Gnen the 10Th a.
&c. 1t occurred in this way L reported
the capture to Gen. w. r. Sherman in
the presence of Gen. w. w. Slocum,
commanding army of Georgia. Gen.
Sherman ordered me to turn over the
property to Gen. SlOcum. Slocum
said he had no provost guard and
ordered me to turn the same over to
Gen. Williams, at the same time en-
joining me to state to Gen. Williams
that | had reported the capture to
Gen. Sherman. Gen. Sherman then
asked me to remember as well as [
could what / had understood the safes
contained. / then proceeded to Gen.
Williams's headquarters, a few hun
bred yards from that of Sherman's,
: and executed the order of the latter,
by turning over to Williams all of the
properly in question including the
ON safes, which had not been opened
since coming into my possession, also
the officers Of the bank, referred to
beforeathat 1 had retained as prison
ers. stJne Of the parties last named In
formed me that originally there had
been found white men with the parry,
but two of them, having fired upon
and seriously wounded the two men re-