By Mr. VAN TRUMP: Question. Do you call a county a district? Answer. Yes, sir. They were formerly called districts, and we have not yet got out of the habit of calling them so. By Mr. BECK: Question. Do you remember hearing that upon one occasion as many as six fires were seen from the town of York, all burning at one time? Answer. I do not remember particularly of hearing of that. Question. Was there any attempt made by democrats or others, to molest those persons who were delivering those incendiary harangues to the negroes in your county ? Answer. No, sir; I have never heard of any man being disturbed while making a public speech there, except a democrat. I saw Mr. Young, a democrat, interrupted in a speech; I have heard-I was not there at the time-that when General Butler, who was the candidate for lieutenant governor on the Union reform ticket, came to Newberry he was jeered at and disturbed very much in the course of his speech by the colored people, and that he got along with great difficulty in making his speech. Question. State how the negroes treated any of their own race who attempted to vote the democratic ticket. Were they at liberty to do so if they wanted to? Answer. They came near having a very serious Question. What was the general impression on that subject; were they allowed to vote the democratic ticket? Answer. A negro who announced himself a democrat or a reform man was in great danger of his life. By Mr. VAN TRUMP: Question. You were about to state a particular instance. Answer. I was going to say that we came near having a very serious riot in our town on the day of election, which grew out of an assault made upon a colored man of the name of Howard Brown, who voted the reform ticket. He was set upon by the colored men, his clothes torn off him for voting that ticket, and some gentlemen who witnessed it-one, perhaps-drew his pistol, and made them turn Brown loose, and said that Brown was a free man, and had a right to vote as he saw proper. The negroes immediately began shouting "Go for your arms; go for your arms," and ran through the streets like raving maniacs. They came very near running over me as I was crossing the street. They ran in the direction of their armory, where they kept their guns. It looked like we were going to have a serious collision. There were three polling places in town, and a great number had flocked in there to vote. The negroes ran to their armory, and it was supposed they would get their guns, and come back to the square for a fight. The sheriff, who was a very active man, being charged with the duty of preserving peace at elections, immediately sent a messenger to an officer commanding a company of United States troops stationed near the town, and requested him to come down and help him to preserve the peace. The officer double-quicked his company down to the public square. As the head of his column entered the square, the negroes set up a shout, thinking, I suppose, that he had come down to assist them. By the CHAIRMAN : Question. Did they say so? Answer. No, sir; they did not. Question. That was your inference. Answer. That is my inference. By Mr. VAN TRUMP : Question. It was a triumphant shout. Answer. Yes, sir; it was a shout of triumph. As he came in sight, they set up a shout. He formed his company on the public square, requesting the white people to go on one side of him, and he kept between the whites and blacks. The thing died out without any further disturbance, but it looked very threatening at one time. By Mr. BECK: Question. Was there any other cause for that demonstration or disturbance except the attack made by colored men upon a negro who had voted the democratic ticket? Answer. That was all. The moment this gentleman drew his pistol to protect Brown, and insisted that they should turn him loose, they ran off, shouting, "Go for your arms;" you could hear that all over the streets, and they ran in that direction. By Mr. STEVENSON: Question. Was there much excitement? Answer. Yes, sir; there was naturally considerable excitement at that moment. But the white people kept very calm; the sheriff was going about in the crowd, exhorting the people to be calm. Question. How were they armed? Answer. They were armed with pistols, a great many of them; a great many of them nad pistols. Question. There was danger of a general collision? Answer. Yes, sir; there was danger of a very bloody collision. By Mr. BECK: Question. Is it your opinion that that is the general treatment by their colored brethren of negroes in your county, who seek to vote the democratic ticket? Answer. Yes, sir; there is a tailor in our town, named Gourdine, who is a democrat. He was attacked a number of times last September; they would go to his house and threaten to take him out; on one occasion à great number collected in front of his house; it was at the time of some public occasion, perhaps when General Butler delivered his speech there; I was not there at the time, but I heard of it. They pursued Gourdine to his house, and threatened to hang him, and the sheriff and a number of others, determined men, jumped in his house, and stood there and protected him. They hallooed for a rope, saying they would hang the sheriff if he did not get out of their way; and if he had not been a very resolute man, probably that tailor would have been hung then, or have been killed. By Mr. STEVENSON : Question. Who is he? Answer. He is a colored man who came into our county from Charleston. Answer. Yes, sir. Question. Is he a fashionable tailor? Answer. No, sir; his business consists principally of repairing. Question. For white people or colored people? Answer. For all sorts who will give him work. Question. I wanted to know whether he has white customers? Answer. Yes, sir. By Mr. BECK: Question. How many negroes have been killed by white men in the county of Newberry, within the last two years, so far as you can recollect? Answer. There has not been a negro killed in Newberry County by a white man, to my knowledge, since October or November, 1868. Question. Have many white men been killed by negroes in that county during the last two years? Answer. Two white men were killed there by negroes last year. Question. Under what circumstances? Answer. A man by the name of Dunwoody, who was night-watch at the Greenville and Columbia Railroad depot situated in our town, was killed, and the depot was robbed, the safe broken open, and what money was in it taken out. Four negroes were arrested a few days afterward for that offense, a man and his wife, and two colored men. The man and wife confessed that they were there, engaged in the robbery, but they said that Dunwoody was killed by the other two men. They were tried at the spring term of our court in 1870, before a mixed jury, though composed principally of colored men. It resulted in a mistrial; and they were again tried in September of last year, before a jury composed entirely of colored men; and the man and his wife who confessed were found guilty, and the verdict as to the other two was "not guilty." The man was hung; the woman was not sentenced then in consequence of being enciente at the time. She has been delivered of her child since, and was sentenced by the court at the last term. The man was hung in November; and he adhered on the gallows to the statement which he had made in court, that those two men who had been acquitted were guilty of the murder, while he and his wife were present only aiding and assisting in the robbery. Those two men were detained in jail on the charge of robbery. Question. Having been acquitted of murder? Answer. Yes, sir. They were detained in jail by the solicitor on the charge of robbery; but he did not send out an indictment against them at that term of the court. At that term they demanded their trial, and at the last term of the court they again demanded their trial. And under our law, the State failing to prosecute, they were entitled to be discharged upon their own recognizance; and they were accordingly discharged at the last term of our court. Question. Was it supposed at the time the attack was made upon Young that the demonstration upon the jail had anything to do with them ? Answer. I was going to say that it was believed that the men came to the jail to take those two colored men from the jail to punish them, as the court and jury had failed to do it, for the killing of Dunwoody; that was believed to have been a part of their mission. Question. You have not explained how they were withdrawn from the jail. Answer. They were admitted to bail upon my motion at the last term of the court, I having been assigned by the court as counsel for them. They are now at large, and have not been disturbed since. But it was believed that these men intended to take them from the jail and punish them. Question. State briefly your law upon the right of a prisoner to be discharged, and the terms upon which he has a right to be discharged, if the Commonwealth fails to be ready for two consecutive terms after indictment found. Answer. Well, if he demands his trial at two consecutive terms, and the State fails to prosecute, he is entitled under our law to his discharge. Question. Suppose the State is not ready because of the absence of witnesses? Answer. The State cannot detain him after he has demanded his trial at two successive terms. By the CHAIRMAN : Question. That is, when he is in prison? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. Is that the case when he is out on bail? Answer. No, sir. By Mr. BECK: Question. He can go out on his own recognizance? Answer. Yes, sir; as they did in this case. Question. Have you since the war had any white man convicted in Newberry for killing a negro? Answer. Yes, sir; a white man named Whitman was convicted by a jury of white men for killing a negro, and principally upon negro testimony, and sentenced to be hung; but he escaped jail, and has not been rearrested. Question. In this connection I want you to state to us what is the operation of your election laws, and to explain to the committee what power the governor and others in authority have over the election officers, the ballot-boxes, and what are the facilities, if any, for fraud in conducting the elections in your State, or in counting the ballots; are men all of one side appointed for election officers; or what fairness is there in such appointments, if there is any? Answer. The governor appoints for each county three commissioners of election, who are charged with the duty of appointing managers of elections for the various precincts, and also of designating the different polling places in the county. The commissioners furnish the managers with sealed boxes for receiving the votes-boxes with locks. All the commissioners in our county were of the governor's party, of his complexion in politics. Question. Was that generally the case in the State, so far as you know? Answer. Yes, sir; and the managers were all of that party. It operated very unfairly with us in this particular: The commissioners refused to make any publication of the polling precincts they had designated in our county until they were called upon, a few days before the election, by some gentlemen, who insisted that we should know where they were going to establish boxes. No publication had then been made in the newspapers. They then indicated the number of boxes they were going to establish in the district, and where. There had formerly been seventeen boxes in our county; they designated only eight; although the vote had been more than doubled, they designated only eight polling places in the county, three of which were in the county town. By Mr. VAN TRUMP: Question. Therefore one box could have answered for the town? Answer. Yes, sir, one box had always accommodated the town before. But the colored people were invited to come from all parts of the county to the court-house and vote. They came from the remotest parts of the county to vote, and monopolized all the boxes in town until 10 o'clock in the day. They congregated around the boxes at 4 o'clock in the morning, before they were opened, and monopolized all the precincts until about 10 or 11 o'clock in the day. By Mr. BECK: Question. Did they come armed? Answer. No, sir, they were not armed at the election? Question. Was there at the election last October any check upon the party friends of the governor who were managing the election, to prevent their counting just as they pleased? Answer. Under the law the managers, I think, have three days in which to make their returns of the ballot-boxes to the commissioners of the county, and the commissioners probably have six or seven days in which to count the votes and make a return of them to the board of State commissioners at Columbia. After the election was over and the boxes were brought to the county town, there was then a check put upon any attempt at fraud. A number of persons of the opposite party insisted upon remaining with the boxes until the votes were counted; and they did sit up and guard the boxes all the time until the votes were counted. Question. That was peculiar to your county, and not by any legal right? Answer. No, sir, it was not by any legal right; those who had charge of the boxes consented, I think; they felt sure of their success, and there was no temptation to commit fraud. Question. They had had the boxes for three days before? Answer. Yes, sir; it was well known that their men were elected. Question. Were not all the managers and all the commissioners upon one side; and was there practically any check at all? Answer. No, sir. By the CHAIRMAN : Question. That is upon the assumption that the oath they took was no check? Answer. Yes, sir. I understood that the executive committee of the republican party were called upon during the progress of the canvass by the committee of the other party, and asked that one manager at least should be appointed of the Union reform party, but they refused it. Question. That was at Columbia? Question. Did you ever hear of one single election officer within the State, either a commissioner or a manager of elections, being appointed, who was a democrat? Answer. I never did. Question. Do you think that throughout the whole State there was an election officer who was a democrat? Answer. I do not think there was one; at least I never heard of one. Question. What impression did such an election law as that, affording such facilities for the commission of fraud, and the universal appointment of partisans as election officers, all belonging to one political party-what impression did that make upon the people of the State in regard to the election; that the intention was to defraud? Answer. Well, the impression was that this act of the legislature was framed with a view to that very thing, by leaving the ballot-boxes after the votes had been deposited in them for so long a time in the hands of the managers of elections; the impression was that it was framed deliberately with a view to fraud, for they would have time to ascertain, from an estimate made of the vote in different parts of the State, how the election had resulted; it would give them the power to count out the ballots as they might deem necessary; that was the impression. Question. Was there anything connected with the last election to justify the belief that frauds were actually perpetrated? Answer. O, yes, sir. I know that in my county particularly, a great many persons were permitted to vote who were not entitled to vote; and their names were collected with a view to having them indicted for it, but it never was done. A great many who were under age were permitted to vote in my county. Frauds of that sort were charged all over the State. There was one case in which some of the commissioners of Beaufort County were tried and convicted, in the United Staets court, for stuffing the ballot-boxes. Two of the commissioners of Beaufort County were tried in Charleston, before Judge Bond, United States circuit judge, and they were convicted. By Mr. VAN TRUMP: Question. Republican or democratic commissioners? Answer. They were republican. By Mr. BECK: Question. Will you state to us what has been the increase of taxation imposed upon your people within the last three or four years, and whether there is fairness or unfairness in the mode of assessing the value of your real estate? Answer. Our taxes have been considerably increased. I was a member of the legis lature in 1858 and 1859, and from that time until the legislature was dissolved by the war. I think the appropriations before the war were generally about $350,000 a year; the tax raised was about that amount; but now it is in the neighborhood of $2,000,000. Question. What was it in 1866 and 1867, before reconstruction began? Answer. I do not remember what the appropriation was in 1866; but that was not carried out, I think. The military intervened after the session of 1866, and I do not know whether the tax was collected or not. Question. What is the impression of your people as regards the honesty or dishonesty, corruption or extravagance of your officials in power, and of your legislature generally? State in a general way the facts that induce the people to doubt the integrity of the present administration of the State government of South Carolina. Answer. Well, sir, it is the general impression that the whole State government-that is, the legislative and executive departments-are corrupt and dishonest; that for the last two or three years bribery has stalked most unblushingly in the legislature, and the treasurer of the State and other officers connected with the executive department have been charged with dishonest practices in various ways. It is the general belief in the State that the whole concern is corrupt. Question. Are there any facts, within your knowledge or in regard to which you have information, upon which you can rely, bearing upon this subject? If you have, state them in your own way. Answer. I do not know of my own knowledge any of these things, because I have been very little about Columbia, never remaining there longer than my business compels me to. Question. State your general information in regard to the management of the school fund, the land fund, railroad corporations, &c. Answer. The land commission there has been the source of great complaint; it was ereated by an act of the legislature with a view to buy lands for the landless and homes for the homeless, and $500,000 was first appropriated by the legislature for that purpose. A man by the name of C. P. Leslie was appointed land commissioner for the State, and charged with the duty of purchasing lands and reselling them to indigent persons, in small lots of twenty-five, forty, and fifty acres. Afterwards $200,000 or $250,000 more was appropriated-$200,000, I think. All of that money has been expended, and very few people have been benefited by it. The general belief is that a great deal of corruption has been practiced in that commission; for instance, it is charged that bodies of land have been bought by the commissioner at low figures and charged to the State at high figures in his accounts. There is one transaction in which it is said that a body of land, lying in Charleston district, entirely worthless, was bought for $30,000 and charged up against the State for $120,000. That has been charged publicly, and it has not been denied by the parties who are said to have been guilty of it. By Mr. BLAIR : Question. Was that not proved to be the case upon an investigation? Answer. Yes, sir. By Mr. BECK : Question. How have they managed their railroad transactions; do you know anything about that? Answer. The legislature has been charged with corruption in railroad jobs, too. The railroad on which I live, the Greenville and Columbia Railroad, was purchased more than a year ago by a ring, as it is called, in Columbia, headed by the governor of the State, and with Parker, the treasurer of the State, and others of that party in it. The stock of that road was purchased at a very low figure; the stock belonging to the stockholders along the line of the road was sold out at a very small figure, and it now belongs to the ring, and at the last session of the legislature a bill was introduced to give the State indorsement to $2,000,000 of the bonds of that road. Question. After those men had obtained it? Answer. Yes, sir, after those men obtained it; the bill was introduced the past year, but it was defeated in the senate. It was believed that they managed to get it through the house by bribery. Question. What was the general impression about bribes being paid to members of the legislature for all sorts of jobs; 'did you ever hear them say anything on that subject themselves? Answer. A colored member from my county told me on the floor of the house, the second time I was ever in the house, that he constantly saw bribes offered there to parties to vote for measures; that they had been offered to him. He approached me, as I entered the bar of the house, and asked my opinion about some bill that was pending-what I thought of it. The bill I think was called the Sterling Loan Bill. He said |