Question. Have you heard this oath administered to anybody, or taken an oath like this yourself

Answer. No, sir; I never did.

Question. I have not yet read it to you.

Answer. Then I will take that back.

Question. [Reads.] "I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Invisible Circle; that I will defend our families, our wives, our children, and brothers; that I will assist a brother in distress; that I will never reveal the secrets of this order, or anything in regard to it that may come to my knowledge; and if I do, may I meet a traitor's doom, which is death, death, death. So help me God, and so punish me my brethren."

Have you ever heard that oath before?

Answer. I never did.

Question. Or any similar in terms to that?

Answer. No, sir; I never heard anything of any kind of oaths in no shape at all. Question. Have you been back to North Carolina in the last year?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. Have you met anybody from North Carolina in the last year?
Answer. No, sir.

Question. Nobody?

Answer. Of course, I have seen North Carolina wagons pass.

Question. You say you came from Catawba County?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. You have met nobody from there?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. Were you in town on the Monday before this raid occurred?

Answer No, sir. What raid?

Question. The raid on the county treasurer.

Answer. No, sir; I was not here.

Question. Had you no knowledge of a large number of men being here from North Carolina?

Answer. No, sir; I never heard of it.

Question. Have you never heard of some two hundred men having been here from North Carolina before this raid occurred?

Answer. No, sir. You ask me if I never heard of it. I have heard the reports, but I didn't hear of North Carolinians.

Question. You never heard here of their being North Carolinians?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. You are intimate with Hunter and Parish and Colcock?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Hunter?

Answer. I know him.

Question. Tomlinson-was he in that room that Saturday where you staid all night? Answer. No, sir.

Question. Was he there in the evening?

Answer. No, sir. I didn't come in until most night-sundown.

Question. After you came in, was he there at any time?

Answer. No, sir; I never saw him.

Question. You remained in the room?

Answer. Yes, sir. I walked down street and got a dram or two, and went back upstairs.

Question. They insisted upon you staying all night?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Was anything said that night about tearing up the rails?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. Or the expectation of a raid on the county treasury?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. How long has this intimacy existed between you and the clerk in that store and Parish and Hunter?

Question. How did Colonel Parish get his title?

Answer. Its Cal Parish, and not Colonel.

Question. Who is he?

Answer. He is The Parish's son. He is a clerk, and stays in a grocery-him and Nick Dobson's brother, and the man that has the store there; and Will Colcox and John Hunter stay in the drug-store.

Question. You say you don't know what "intimacy" means, and you are very intimate with this man Hunter?

Answer. I know him; I am well acquainted with him.

Question. When I asked you how long since this intimacy existed you say you do not know what intimacy means?

Answer. What?

Question. What common bond of intimacy exists between you and Hunter? What common bond is there between you and Hunter that brings you in here to stay all night with him?

Answer. None at all, only I am well acquainted with him. He knew my father very well. My father worked for his brother, and John staid there at the same time. Question. Have you any doubt about whether the Ku-Klux organization exists in this county or not?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. You have not? Do you mean now that you have no idea it does exist? Answer. I can't tell you a thing about the Ku-Klux.

Question. Do you believe there is a Ku-Klux in this county?

Answer. I can't tell you that. I don't have any belief at all. I don't believe nothing about it. They say there is such things.

Question. You have not an opinion whether it is true or false that there is a Ku-Klux in the county?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. Does your belief incline you to one side or the other, or are you perfectly non-committal?

Answer. Non-committal. I don't know a thing about it, nor wish to know a thing at all about them.

By Mr. STEVENSON:

Question. What do you think about it?

Answer. Which?

Question. About the Ku-Klux?

Answer. I don't know anything at all about it.

Question. You don't think about that; did you ever hear about them?

Answer. I hear just as I told you. I hear the clash and see it in the papers. I hear talk.

Question. Do you think there are any in this county?

Answer. I can't tell. I don't know.

Question. You have no opinion?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. Do you read and write?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. How did you see it in the papers?

Answer. The man I staid with reads it.

Question. Have you ever worn a disguise?

Answer. Disguise! What is disguise?

Question. Did you ever wear a mask?

Answer. No, sir; I don't know anything about that.

Question. Do you know what a mask is?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. How long have you lived in that county?

Answer. Ever since I was born, and I am about forty-five years old.

Question. What is your occupation?

Answer. I am a lawyer.

The CHAIRMAN. I will request Judge Van Trump to examine this witness.

By Mr. VAN TRUMP:

Question. Were you at Laurens on the day of the last election?

Answer. Yes, sir. The general election of October, 1870.

Question. I mean the election that took place on the day before the riot, known as the Laurens riot.

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Will you give us something of the general condition of the county for a short time before that general election, if there is anything particular to be mentioned? Answer. We had a general canvass during that summer of 1870, and our district is composed of blacks and whites; the proportion being 1,900 white to 2,300 black voters. I suppose, without referring to the census, that there are 2,300 or 2,400 blacks. We had two parties in the district, nominally republicans and democrats, but really blacks and whites. The issue before the people was whether or not the representatives of the whites should be elected to the legislature and as county officers, or the representatives of the blacks. The district was divided almost upon the line of color. There were some whites who united themselves to the blacks.

Question. When you say "district" you mean county?

Answer. Yes, sir; that is the old name. The contest was a hot one, and during the summer, perhaps in May, I do not remember precisely, but pretty early in the canvass, to the surprise of the white people it was ascertained that some four or five companies had been organized, ostensibly as military companies, probably sixty to one hundred in each. They were composed entirely of blacks. When they were organized we did not know, but it became known to the county pretty soon that they had been organized, and they were composed of all ages. They were not organized in accordance with the militia law of South Carolina.

Question. What were the provisions of the militia law under which this organization was supposed to have been made?

Answer. I do not remember all its provisions, but one was: first, there should be a registry of all those liable to duty in the population between certain ages—I do not remember the precise ages; after that the military, the State militia, was to be organized out of the entire population, embracing both colors. But there was no registry that I ever heard of. The first thing the people of the county knew, these companies had been organized.

Question. By whom were they organized?

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Answer. It was understood that they were organized under the direction of a man named Joseph Crews, who had identified himself with that population early after the war. He was a citizen of that county for years before the war, and pretty soon after the war he had identified himself with that race and was elected by them to the State convention. He was a candidate for the legislature-the only white man a candidateand three negroes were candidates with him. These companies were organized, and were composed generally of the most turbulent blacks in their respective neighborhoods, to some extent. After these companies were organized, very soon it was ascertained that a large quantity of arms had been shipped to the county. They came in boxes and were sent, as it was understood, to Joseph Crews. Pretty soon after these arms were shipped, a force of the State constabulary was sent into the county, composed entirely of strangers to the people, particularly from the Northern States, mostly, I think, from your State of Ohio. They came ostensibly as peace officers. They quartered themselves at Crews's house. They seemed to be under his control almost entirely. Question. How many were there?

Answer. I think ten or a dozen. These when they came were first lodged in a house on the public square owned by Crews. He had a large wooden building there known as Tin Pot alley, which is somewhat famous in this State on account of that riot. He had been appointed trial justice in the mean time, too.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Question. Who had?

Answer. Crews. He was also chairman of the board of county canvassers, the officers who had charge of the election, and had his trial-justice office in a front room on a street immediately on the public square, and in rear of that office large numbers of these guns were stored. It was understood from subsequent developments that there were at least one thousand or one thousand two hundred stand of arms brought to the district. They were not all, however, stored there; a portion of them were stored in his barn. He lived about a quarter of a mile from the square. Our village is a large hollow square, with streets running off at the four angles. Two or three hundred of these guns, with cartridges and everything else, were stored there, and a portion at Clinton, a little village towards Newberry, on the railroad. After the guns and constabulary came the first thing the people knew meetings were called in behalf of that

party at different points in the district, usually on Saturdays; public meetings composed entirely of one party. Crews would start for one of his public meetings with one of these companies, sometimes two, armed and equipped, with bayonets on and cartridges around their bodies.

By Mr. VAN TRUMP:

Question. You mean one or two of this constabulary force, or negro companies?

Answer. Negro companies, and the constabulary also; they always went with them. The impression made upon the people there by the conduct of this constabulary was that they were not peace officers, but partisans there to influence the election in this State. They went to all these public meetings and were followed by one or two companies of black militia. On the road to these meetings the white people were badgered considerably, it was so reported. For instance, they would shoot at dogs along the way, and it was reported at one place, as they passed down to a meeting fifteen or sixteen miles below the village, the people had assembled at the Methodist church for service, mostly women and children, and as they passed they were turbulent and fired around the building. I do not know that they fired over it. They insulted white people along the road, denouncing them occasionally as rebels, saying that they had guns and the white people did not have them; that Scott, the governor, did not allow them to have guns. "When they assembled at the public meetings they usually stacked arms and were addressed or harangued generally by Crews. I never attended one of the meetings and do not know from my own knowledge what he said; but at one of these meetings, near Waterloo, some fifteen or twenty of the citizens did attend, and they published in the Herald, the county paper, an account of his speech over their signatures, certifying to its correctness. In that published statement it was said that he used language like this: He advised the negro women to dress as men and vote at the polls the coming election; that it would not do for the blacks to be defeated; that their freedom depended on that election; that the whites would reënslave them. He advised the negroes to vote as often as they pleased. He advised them to submit to no sort of outrage, but to resist under all circumstances. He advised them if they did not believe they were settled with fairly in their contracts, to go to the fields and take what they wanted. He said if they were convicted they would be pardoned; that he was a trial justice and that he was satisfied that Governor Scott would do anything he advised, as he had never failed to do so. He told the women if a difficulty took place they could assist with the torch. He said to the men that matches were cheap and did not cost more than ten cents a box. This is the substance of what those gentlemen said was a part of his harangue at Waterloo. This thing kept intensifying during the summer as that election approached. The negroes, of course, seeing the white people were not armed, and offering no resistance to insults along the highway, began to be pretty bold and defiant, until the impression prevailed almost entirely over the whole county, that it would be a miracle if the election passed off without a general conflict. The whites believing that, and being unarmed, a good many sent off and got arms, bought Winchester rifles on their own hook in New York and elsewhere. I don't know how many they brought into the county in that way; perhaps eighty or a hundred guns. Things were in this condition all the summer, Crews going from point to point every Saturday. About four weeks before the election a disturbance started in Newberry, forty-five miles away, which came near being a general conflict. I do not know how it originated. It spread into our county; I do not know how. The first thing we knew in the village there seemed to be a struggle about to ensue at Clinton, over the arms there. They were placed under the control of a man, an employé of Crews, there. Question. Was there a military company there?

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Answer. Yes, sir; a negro company-one of those companies I spoke of in the beginning. This difficulty in Newberry widened into our county very strangely; I do not know how except from the general state of feeling between the two races over all the country; and the whites and blacks in Clinton for a day were standing on the eve of conflict; they were drawn up. Things were in this condition there. Our town is about eight miles from Clinton. Crews said to some of the citizens that he could stop that if he was down there, and they advised him to go down; but he did not go down. Instead of that he went out into the country, he said, as I understand, with a view of quieting the negroes out there; he was apprehensive that they might go to Clinton and precipitate a conflict there. He went to the country, and the next morning, in the village, to our surprise, there were about four hundred negroes. When I went down town-I live out about a mile-they were surrounding this armory of his on the public square.

By the CHAIRMAN :

Question. Have you mentioned what day that was?

Answer. I do not know the date; it was perhaps a month before the election. I suppoɛe about four hundred negroes were around this armory of his. They were not armed and were doing nothing. They staid a day and a night and were rationed by

Crews out of this Tin Pot Alley. They went down on the depot-lot and cooked their provisions. The people did not understand it at all; it excited them very much, and but for the forbearance and prudence of the more prudent citizens there would have been a conflict then certainly. The people in the country heard of it and began to come to town; they began to come in squads, considerable squads. Some of us, hearing of their coming and knowing that if they did come and see these negroes there some of them might get to drinking and we would have a general row, sent out messengers to prevail upon these gentlemen who were coming from different quarters not to come in. They did not come in, and the next morning the negroes all disappeared. This difficulty at Clinton was stopped in the same way. Some of the prudent citizens got committees from the whites and blacks to meet and talk the thing over. They came to the conclusion that they would not have a fight there because they had difficulties in Newberry, and the thing passed off. On the day of election we generally had in our county about fifteen or twenty boxes scattered all over the county, convenient to the different neighborhoods. Crews was chairman of the county canvassers, and under the act of the legislature he had the power, or so construed the act, to arrange the precincts as he thought proper.

By Mr. VAN TRUMP:

Question. Did he change them?

Answer. He changed them as he pleased, locating precincts, and he appointed the managers; he had that right. He concentrated four boxes at the village.

Question. How many had there been before?

Answer. Never but one, except in 1868, when he had the same power. He brought them all there.

Question. All in the county?

Answer. All but two. I believe he had two others in the county. On this day he brought four there, and he brought those four where the negro population, if they had voted at their own regular precincts, were largely in the majority. He kept two off in the county where the whites were in the majority. The result was, that there was a very large preponderance of blacks in the village on the day of election over the whites. I suppose they outnumbered us by, I don't know how many, but there was a very large preponderance of blacks in the village on the day of election. The thing went on pretty well; the whites were excited, and so were the blacks, but no serious matter occurred. There was a little row. We had to vote within certain hours on the same day, and it was with some difficulty that we could concentrate it into one day. Question. So much concentration of population?

Answer. Yes, sir; the negroes surrounded the boxes in some places and kept the whites from coming in, and the whites surrounded one box, too. It was difficult to vote. They acted pretty much alike in that respect; but they got along better than I expected of them; but there was a little row, cursing, started at one box-there was no fighting, no blows. Shortly after that the news ran over the village that a considerable number of negroes had gone up to Crews's barn, where the guns were, and were arming to come down and attack the citizens. It went like wild-fire over the town. I never saw people concentrate so quickly in my life. The white people were not armed, except that they had pistols. When the news began to spread-you know how such a thing will scatter over a crowd-they collected in one body at a certain point, looking towards this house where they expected the negroes to come down the road. Colonel Smith, who was in command of a federal company there, I believe it belonged to the eighth regiment, and who was a very prudent man, had his quarters over the branch, a quarter of a mile from the public square. He heard of it, and came over immediately to the whites, and said he had heard this report about the negroes arming, and said, "I will go up and see about it. Don't do anything at all. Be quiet. I will go up and stop it." He marched straight up the road to this house, and directly he came back. He reported that there were some thirty or forty who were arming. He did not say what they intended to do, but he said he had told them that if they undertook anything of that sort it would be the worst thing for the whole of them, that they ever attempted, and directed them to put the guns down. They obeyed him promptly, and the thing hushed there for that day, and we had no further difficulty. That was the day of the election. The next day-it was during court-week, and a considerable body of men were at the court-house, in our county-in our State the whole population attends court

Question. Was that the first day of court?

Answer. No, sir, it was not; it was Wednesday; that is the great court-day.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Question. Which day was the election held on?

Answer. On Tuesday. That is my recollection. On Wednesday there was a large collection of blacks and whites. The election was just over, and that probably brought a great many to court. During the day, while court was in session-I was in the courthouse myself, engaged then in a case-I was examining a witness on the stand in a