The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1916-01-14
Manning "Black Listed'
Him, Says Sheriff Long

have the ability and possess the con-
fdence of the people Of Union county
to fl the place Of magistrate.
A. C. Mann, whom this drum-neaded
i court recommended to fill the office Of
magistrate at Union, S. c., was, at the
time he applied for said Office, not
eligible to fill the same, for ne came
here some time this year; had not paid
any taxes in Union county; and did
not register untlf the 4th day of Octo-
Der, 1915, and this was done after he
had applied for the magistrates ofnce
in this county.
l would like to know why Governor
Manning black-listed me and over
ruled the endorsement of the Union
County Bar association and county
delegation.
was black-listed once before on the
night of the 31st of December, 1870.
Ny home was at Jonesville, ten miles
above Union. 1 was, at that time,
clerking for Lynn & Co., sleeping in
a back room of the store house. An
old negro, by the name of Ed. Fer
nandes, who was our butler, came to
me about 2 o'clock of that night Sc
cretly and made this statement: 81
went down to the Union league meet
ing tenignt Marse Gid, and was initiat-
ed into the order, and at the end Of
the meeting heard the negroes black
list you, Mr.. R. E. Brewton and Mr..
Charley Sims. 1 heard that Capt. Alf.
Walker, our negro captain, with his
militia were coming to kill you an
tonight" !
I then dressed up and sent word to
Mr.. Brewton and Mr.. Sims, and mott
fed several others to meet US we'll
armed. We went about half a mile
below town and waited for several
hours, but they failed to come.
We heard the next morning why
they failed to arrive. The negro mill
tia had started that night about twenty
or thirty strong, and when they had
come as far as Upper Fair Forest Bap-
tist church they met G. Mat Stevens
and Ben Robinson, both old Confed-
ha 17cD
an arm in the war; coming towards
Union with a dray wagon loaded with
two barrels of whiskey. The negro
captain halted them and demanded
some whiskey. Mr.. Stevens told them
that the whiskey did not belong to
nim, but gave them quart he had IN
his pocket. When Mr.. Stevens had
driven about forty yards from them
they ordered him to halt and a. the
same time fired a volley into the Wag-
on. killing Mr.. Stevens. Mr.. Robinson
ESCAPED and ran to the nome OF MI.
John Scott for protection. The negroes
bursted the heads out Of the barrels
and all got drunk. That was the rea-
son they did not get to Jonesville. AS
soon as the news reached us l organ
lied crowd of good men and we gath
up all the guns that belonged to the
negro militia and turned them over to
the sheriff. we asked him to notify
Governor Scott, who was carpet bag
ger from the State of Ohio and had
armed these negroes.
In the course of few weeks people
began to find out some of the negroes
who were in the murder scrape. A
number of them had barricaded them
selves in a house known as "the Yellow
House." near the Southern railway
tracks in Union. Deputy Sheriff Dan
Smith went to this house and demand
ed that they surrender. Instead OF
doing so they fired through the door,
killing him. This aroused the people
so much that I sent my Knight-HaWk
to Limestone Springs to notify the
Grand Cyclopse Capt. ]. Bank Lyles
of South Carolina, and he ordered all
the clansmen that were organized in
spartanburg and Union counties to re-
port to NE at the "old hanging
ground which they did, and by the
efforts of this organization we brought
law and order out of chaos in the
Piedmont section Of South Carolina.
During the year of 1871 President
Grant declared the counties Of Union,
Spartanburg, Laurens, Newberry, York
and Chester under martial law and
suspended the writ of habeas corpus
in these counties. He sent the United
States troops to investigate and make
arrests Of any members Of the Kill
Klux-KIan they could locate.
It was then had to leave my home