Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1914-12-23

L
Ter and / who had remained to.
gether the entire night were stand
ing on the back steps of L;pfeld' s
store waiting for him to bring US
some water from the we'll. Two men
from Augusta, whose names | new
er learned, but who wore the uni
form Of the Clinch Rifles, had just
obtained water and were standing
on the sidewalk. The negro leaped
the fence at the rear of the store
but fell dead almost instantly. The
two rifemen had thrown their guns
which cleaned in the moonlight to
their shoulders and fired with dead
~ effect. This was one Of the negro
militia men. The moon by this time
was getting high in the heavens and
lit must have been nearly eleven
O'Clock. The searching was ended
by breaking in the front door of
Louis Schiller's store. which was
also his residence. Schiller was q
low Jew who had joined the negroes
and had been given office by them,
having held the position of county
auditor until the county of Aiken
was set apart. We wanted to hang
him, as the resentment against white
scalawags was intense. He had been
born and raised In Hamburg and
had really sold himself to the ne
groes. We did not find him in the
house but learned afterwards that
the poor wretch escaped US by
climbing through trap door which
led out on the roof and that he was
lying behind parapet on top of the
house while execrations against his
name and the purpose to swing him
were being expressed by the white
men below.
I have since learned that his
being Mason really saved his life:
as his brother Masons were among
the searchers and kept him from
being caught All of the work being
practically finished the whites be-
gan to disperse and those from An-
gusta to retrace their steps across
the bridge. Gen. Butler and Col
Butler had very quietly departed
some time before without leaving
any orders, and the mob, if it NAV
be called such, rapidly thinned out.
About this time James Lanham, my
neighbor and James McKie who bad
been on the post with me great
part of the night, and both first
cousins of young Meriwether who
had been killed, came to where
group of us were standing. On. of
them asked the question as to wheth-
er it was not dear piece of work
for us to lose one Of our best men
and have onlytwo negroes dead and
another wounded. 1t was agreed
|thatwe could not have story like
that 20 out as the record of the
nights work. LaGham said to me,
Il have no balls in my pistol and
no cartridges" I told him that l
had only shot once at Cook and had
Eve balls left. We exchanged pis.
tolls and he and McKle soon found
others of their way of thinking. The
party made their way to the place
where the negro prisoners were
held, and Henry Getzen, who lived
two miles from Hamburg and who
knew all of the negroes in the town
and neighborhood, was asked to
designate those of the meanest char
acters and most deserving of de.th.
His hands were yet stained with
the blood of young Meriwether,
whose body he had helped carry
from behind the abutment of the
bridge and you can imagine what
were his feelings. As fast as he would
select from among the prisoners
those be thought ought to be killed,
all militiamen, they were taken off a
little ways down the street and shot.
After five had been thus dealt with
the little squad of white men who
were still remaining in town seemed
satisfied and it was decided that the
rest Of the negroes, some 25 or 80
ID number, should be allowed to go.
The permission was given and they
were told to go up the street, and
you may depend on it that they
were not slow to move. When they
got about fifty yards away the
crowd fired a volley over their
heads, but / could not see that it
added anything to the speed which
they were making. Ii young Meri-
wether had not lost his life | do not
think any of these last negroes