Norwich bulletin., 1921-04-02
ODD INCIDENTS IN AMERICAN
 HISTORY
THE EXECUTION OF COL. HAYNE.

THE EXECUTION OF COL. HAfNE'
 One of the finest examples of the true American patriot in the south dur- ing the Revolutionary war was that or Isaac Haynei of South Carolina. when
 The war broke out he lived on his own plantation and had an ample fortune. He i owned extensive iron works which were afterwards destroyed by the British.
 Hayne was among the early patriots of his state who took to the deld, and at the siege of Charleston, in 17SO, | he served in a company of mounted ! militia and at the same time was a member of the state legislature. Al i the equalization of Charleston on May | 12 he was taken prisoner. but was al- l lowed to return home on parole | In 17S1 he was forced to return to the city and was threatened there wituI | Imprisonment unless he would become l a British subject. He would gladly 1 have endured imprisonment but he could i not bear the thought of leaving his family l the pestilence of smallpox then spread 1 ing over the lower country. He con- | suited his friend. Dr. Ramsey, the his- torian, who was himself prisoner in 1 Charleston, and influenced by family af- Il lection, he accepted the British pro-
 tertion upon the humiliating terms pro-
 posed by Clinton in his second and cruel
 proclamation, and took the oath of ale
 glance.
 Hayne was assured by Patterson, the
 deputy British commandant in Charles
 ton, that he would not be called upon to take up arms against the king. For"
 he said. when the regular forces of his ; Majesty need the aid of the inhabitants !, for the defence of the province. it will be , high time for them to leave .t.'' Col. Hayne was often called upon . ! hxy c11h0r6inafa nffianrc n tnl<a m a .
 for the king but steadily refused. When , in 1781 Greene approached with a Con- ! tinental army, and the partisan troops ! had swept royal power from almost every 1 place where it had planted is heal of , military subjugation. Col. Hayne felt i released from his oath of allegiance. be- : cause its conditions were su,h that :ts obligations ceased when royal rule snou!J : be suppressed.
 :. When again summoned, while his wife i. was upon her dying bed. to repair 1, with arms to the British camp al !, Charleston, he again refused He di. . more; he buckled on his arr1or repaired :, to the American camp. and foreswearirl his forced allegiance to the Br.tisl z crown, he pledged his life to the de 2 fence of his country.
 With troop of horse accompanied
 by Col Harden, he secured the coun
 
 e Andrew Williamson, a former efficien 1T patriot, but now active in the Britisl It service. When intelligence of the ac n reached the city troop of cavalry wa 't sent in pursuit of Hayne. battle en e sued and the patriot was made prisone Il and conveyed to Charleston. Col Nes .g bit Balfour, a proud, vain and ambition man, was then the commandant H Fe knew that the surest road to distinctio af riprOY rd ha at.a y to consider Hayne a traitor because h 1t had signed an ao: of allegiance an n then took up arms against the king. Her is was an opportunity for Baleou- to d:s It. tinguish himself and Hayne was cast int ly the provost prison and kept there urt Ill Rawdon arrived from orangeburg. to Hayne was thnn taken before a coul to of inquiry. where neither the member h. nor the witnesses were sworn IT ed whole proceeding was a mockery. fC ne Rawdon and Balfour had preiudged hi e. worthy of death. Without even tf l." form of trial he was condemned tn l n- hung. No one, not even the prspne P. that such erneity was contemplated ul .. til the sentence was made pub ic and oh had but two days to live. Tns men no the city pleaded for him; the womt ns signed petitions and went in trc6ps ar upd2 their knees implorei a -emissic N of his sentence. Haynes sister, Mrs. Psro7neau, vi his orphan children-for ia the mea hS time his wife had died--claa in de. % mourning, knelt in suopication befo sa his judges, but in vain. Rawdon al =: Bahour were inexorable. and on .he s1 a, aa day of July. 17S1. one of the pure ay and most amiable of men was hul 1n' upon gibbet. Like Andre, he asked ns be shot as soldier, but this boon VI te' denied him.
 Thirty-tWo years aftevrad Lord Ra' A don, in a letter to Gen. Henry Lee, g " tempted to excuse his want of humani sm by pleading the justice of the senten, we But the denunciation of the Duke M no Richmond at the time in the house 0i- lords and the truth of history ha
 given the whole transaction the star the of banbarism.
 the (Monday-The League of the Six N eH- tions)
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