Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-04-15
LAKE CITY LYNCHERS.
Thirteen Men on Trial In the United States
Circuit Court.

L
Circuit Court.
In the United States court at Char.
lesion, last Friday, Judge VIM. Fl.
Brawley presiding, true bill was
found by the grand jury against 13 OF
the men accused of lynching Frazer
B. Baker, at Lake City, S. c., on Feb
ruary %, 1898. Fifteen men are un'
der arrest but no explanation of the
dropping of two names from the
Indictment was given. Before giving
the case out, Judge Brawley delivered
an impressive charge. He did so, he
said owing to the unusualness and grav-
ity of the case. He sketched in outline
the offences of which the prisoners were
accused and defued the duties of the
Jurors in the premises. The crime
was one of the blacklist ever perpetra,
ted in South Carolina, he said, and ii
was the duty of the government to
prosecute to the fullest extent any or
all of the men who might be implicated
in its commission. the jury retired
and brought in the bill after being out
less than an hour.
The indictment they signed was ol
course prepared in the United States
district attorneys Office. II fills Sc
typewriter pages, and sets forth at
great length the incidents Of the Lake
City lynchiug. 1t will he remembered
that on the night of February %, 1898,
a mob went to the house of POstmas-
ter Frazer B. Baker, Negro, who was
obnoxious to the people of the town.
OIL was poured on shavings piled
against the house AMI set fire. When
Baker, his wife and children tried to
esca pc, he and his infant daughter
were killed, while his wife aud two
other children were seriously wounded
by men shooting at them from the
woods.
The men on trial now are: Martin
Ward, w. A. Webster, Ezra Mcknight,
Henry Stokes, Henry Goodwin, Moul,
trie Epps, Charles D. Jayner, Oscar
Kelly, Marion Clark, Alonzo Rodgers,
Edwin NJ. Rodgers, Joseph P. New.
ham and Early P. Lee, merchants and
farmers of Lake City and vicinity.
The last two mentioned have turned
states evidence. The trial commenced
Monday. Ex.Attorney General w. A.
Barber and J. P. Kennedy Bryan, OF
the Charleston bar, are assisting the
prosecution.
When the case was called on Mon
dey morning, it developed that there
were only eleven defendants. The
case against J. P. Newham and Early
P. Lee, who had turned states evil
dence, had been dropped, at the re-
quest of the district attorney.
The hearing during the day occupied
seven hours, much of which time was
taken up in reading and re-reading
the indictment and in arguing techni-
cal questions raised by the defense. At
the very outset, w. st. Julian Jervey,
of counsel for the prisoners, sought to
enter a demurrer to the indictment.
He claimed there was multiplicity
of crimes charged in the counts and
that the circuit court had no jurlsdic-
ton under the statute. At this Dis
trict Attorney Cochran and General
Barber replied for the defence and
the court overruled the demurrer. AT.
ter a technical objection to the jury
panel had been disposed of, the follow
ing Jurors were drawn and sworn:
NJ. B. Murphy, of Union ; W. A..
Calhoun, of Barnwell S. T. Craig, of
Anderson; Mcleod Hutson, of Beau
fort; c. H. Carlisle, of Spartanburg !;
A. L. Kearne, of Florence c. A..
Bowman, of Bamberg; w. A Hill, of
Newberry ; w. A. Tatem, of Hampton !;
w. R. Price, of Pickens; B. F. Davis,
of Marion, and J. W. Mccullough, of
Greenville.
The defence exercised its right to
challenge six times, four of the men
excluded being Negroes. The jury,
as it stands, is composed of white men
of means and standing in the several
counties from which they come. At