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 A CENTENNIAL FOURTH OF JULY DEMOCRATIC CELEBRATION. 
 
 The Massacre of Six Colored Citizens 
 
 Of the United States at Hamburgh, S. ft, on July 4, 187(3. 
 
 DEBATE ON THE HAMBURGH MASSACRE, IN THE U. S. HOUSE 
 OE REPRESENTATIVES, JULY 15th and 18th, 1876. 
 
 The House of Representatives being in 
 committee of the whole on the bill for the 
 protection by United States troops of the 
 fexas frontier : 
 
 Mr. Smalls. I offer the amendment 
 which 1 send to the desk. 
 
 The Clerk read as follows : 
 
 I to the first section the following: 
 
 Provided, Thai no troops for the purposes nam- 
 
 el in this section shall be drawn from the state of 
 
 South ( iarolina so long as the militia of that State 
 
 peaceably assembled are assaulted, disarmed, and 
 
 prisom rs, and then massacred in cold 
 
 Qd8 Ol men invading tha t State 
 
 :ro:n the state of Georgia. 
 
 Mr. Smalls. I hope the House will 
 
 I that proviso as an amendment to 
 
 the bill. As I have only five minutes I 
 
 send to the desk a letter .published in one 
 
 • newspapers here from an eye-wit- 
 
 E the massacre at Hamburg, and I 
 
 .!■ Clerk to read it. 
 
 The Clerk read as follows : 
 
 The origin of the difficulty, as I learn from the 
 ost reliable authority, is as follows: 
 Fourth of July the colored people of the 
 sjed in celebrating the day, and 
 part of the celebration consisted in the parade of 
 the colored militia company. After marching 
 through the principal streets of the town, the 
 company came to a halt across one of the roads 
 leading out of the town. While resting there two 
 white men drove up in a buggy, and with curses 
 ordered the company to break ranks and let them 
 pass through. The captain oi »he company re- 
 plied that there was plenty of room on either side 
 of the Company, an. i they could pass thai way. 
 lite men continued cursing ami refused to 
 turn out. So the captain of the militia, to avoid 
 difficulty, ordered his men to break ranks and 
 permit the buggy to pass through. 
 
 Mr. Schleicher. I rise to a point of or- 
 . t. I wish to know if this proposition is 
 germane to the bill. 
 
 Several Members. Too late. 
 
 The Chairman. The Chair desires to 
 >ay that it strikes him as being as ger- 
 mane as other propositions which have 
 been generally entertained to make it al- 
 ; >wable. 
 
 The Clerk continued the reading of the 
 letter, as follows : 
 
 The order was obeyed, and the white men went 
 on their way uttering threats. The next day a 
 . trial justice issued processes against the 
 ol i be company, based on the complaint of 
 the two white men, citing the officers to appear 
 and answer to a charge oi obstructing the public 
 highway. Tney obeyed the writs, and after a 
 
 slight examination the justice adjourned the trial 
 until Saturday, the 8th instant. On that day, at 
 
 an early hour, the town commenced to till up with 
 White men. armed to the teeth with repeating 
 rifles ami revolvers. The colored people had no 
 ihe bloody tragedy which was soon to 
 take place, and consequently made no prepara- 
 tion to resist an attack, and were almost defense- 
 less. 
 
 Late in the afternoon Gen. M. O. Butler, one of 
 the most malignant of the unreconstructed rebels, 
 rode into the town, accompanied by a score of 
 well-armed white men, and stated to the leading 
 ••ol,. led men that he came for the purpose of pros- 
 ecuting the case on the part of the two white 
 men, and he demanded that the militia company 
 should sive up their arms and also surrender 
 their officers. This demand the militia was 
 ready to comply with for the purpose of avoiding 
 a difficulty it General Butler would guaran ee 
 them entu-e safety from molestation bv the crowd 
 ofwhite desperadoes. This Butler refus< t to do, 
 and persisted in his demand for the surrender of 
 the guns and the officers, and threatened that if 
 the surrender was not immediately made he 
 WOUl 1 take the guns and officers by force of arms. 
 This threat aroused the militia company to a real- 
 izing sense of their impending danger, and they 
 at once repaired to a large brick building, soma 
 two hundred yards from the river, used by them 
 as an armory, and there tooii refuge. They num- 
 bered in all about forty men and had a very small 
 quantity of ammunition. During this time, while 
 the militia were taking refuge in" their armory the 
 white desperadoes were coming into the town in 
 large numbers, not only from the adjacent county 
 of Edgefield, but also from the city of Augusta, 
 Georgia, until they numbered over fifteen hun- 
 dred well-armed and ruffianly men, who were 
 under the immediate command and direction of 
 the ex-rebel chief, M. O. Butler. After the on- 
 tire force had arrived, the building where the 
 militia had taken refuge was entirely surrounded 
 and a brisk fire opened upon it. This fire was 
 kept up for some two hours, when, linding that 
 the militia could not be dislodged by small arms, 
 ■ngerwas sent to Augusta for artillery. 
 During all this time not a shot had been tired by 
 the militiamen. The artillery arrived and was 
 posted on the bank of the river and opened fire on 
 the building with grape and canister. 
 
 Mr. oCHLEicher. I rise to a question 
 of order. If this be read as a part of the 
 gentleman's remarks, is he nut subject to 
 the five-minutes rule ? 
 
 The Chairman. The gentleman from 
 South Carolina was recognized at thirty- 
 two minutes past three o'clock. There is 
 still half a minute remaining. 
 
 Mr. Townsend, of New York. I hope 
 the paper will be read through. 
 
 The Clerk resumed the reading of the 
 paper, as follows : 
 
 Themiliti now realized that it was necessary 
 
 to evacuate i • armory at once, They proceeded 
 
 ofa > . rw into a corn- 
 

 field. They were soon discovered by the ruffians, 
 and a rush was made lor them. Fortunately, by 
 hiding and hard fighting, a portion of the com- 
 mand esoaped, but twenty-one wore captured by 
 the bushwhaokers and taken Immediately to a 
 place near tho railroad station. 
 
 Here a quasi drumhead court martial was or- 
 ganized by the bl i-hunters, and the last scene 
 
 of the horrible drama began. It mu.«t now be 
 remembered that not one of the twenty-one color- 
 ed men had a pistol or gun about them. The mo- 
 ment i hey were captured their arm.- wore taken 
 from them, and they were absolutely defenseless. 
 Tho orderly sergeant of the militia company was 
 ordered to call the roll, and the first name called 
 out to be shot in cold blood was Allan T. Atta- 
 wav, the Urs'i lieutenant of tho company, am 
 lng the position of county commissioner of Aiken 
 county, in which county Hamburg is situated. lie 
 i for his lite, as only one in his position 
 could plead, but his pleadings were met with 
 curses and blows, and he was taken from the 
 sight of his comrades, and a file of twelve men 
 fired upon him, Ho was penetrated by lour balls, 
 one entering his brain and the other three the 
 lower portion of his body. He was instantly kill- 
 ed, and alter he was dead the brutes in human 
 shape struck him over the head with their guns 
 and stabbed him In the face witii their bayonets. 
 Three other men wore treated in the same bruta] 
 manner. The fifth man when taken out made a 
 dash tor his life, and luckily escaped with only a 
 slight wound in his leg. 
 
 In another portion of the town the chief oi po- 
 lice, a colored man named James ( look, was taken 
 from his house, and while begging for (lis life 
 brutally murdered. Not satisfied with this, the 
 inhuina"n fiends bout him over the head with their 
 muskets and cut out his tongue. 
 
 Another color, d man, one of the marshals of the 
 town, surrendered and was immediately shot 
 through r tie body and mortally wounded. He has 
 since died. So far as 1 have buen aide to learn 
 •nly one white man was killed. It will thus be 
 seen that six colored men were brutally murdered 
 and ono wounded, while on the side of the whites 
 •nly one man was killed. 
 
 After this holocaust of blood was over the des- 
 peradoes In largo bodies entered the houses of 
 most of the prominent colored men 01 the town 
 and completely gutted then. They stoleall they 
 
 Sossibiy could, and what they could not steal they 
 estroyed. Furniture was smashed, books torn 
 to pieces, pictures cut from their frames, and eve- 
 rything that oould be destroyed was given up to 
 toe demon of destruction. Such scenes my eyes 
 have never before witnessed, and the distress and 
 suffering among the poor colored people was 
 heartrending to behold, The town is desolate. 
 and the inhabitants have taken refuge In Aiken, 
 Columbia, and other points. The civil authorities 
 are powerless or too negligent to do anyl hing, and 
 peace and ordercannot be preserved unless t'liued 
 States troops are sent to this point at once. 
 
 The scenes during the massacre were fearful to 
 behold — tlie moon snining down upon the 
 loene, lighting up i lie whole wit h a ghasiu 
 the popping of the small arms: tho screams of 
 frightened women and terrified children; the loud 
 reports from the artillery, all tended to make a 
 scene terrible and more than fearful to b 
 And now what was the provocation given 
 hellish slaughter? '1 he answer is. n 
 {rally the militia had the right of way over tho 
 pub fie road. The day was the nation's holiday. 
 The militia had a perfeot right to parade, and 
 vehicles of all kinds were required to keep out of 
 their way, and not interfere with their inarching. 
 Again, General Butler had. not the shadow of a 
 right to demand the arms of the militia. They 
 were organized under the constitution and - 
 the State, and were part and parcel Of the armed 
 force of the Oommon wealth. No private citizen 
 had the slightest right to molest them. Such 
 molestation was a direct blow al the power and 
 authority of tho State. 1. was a revolutionary 
 step, a be thus pun- 
 
 Are tho Southern colored citizens to be p 
 ed. or are they to be left at the mercy of such ruf- 
 fians as massacred the poor men ol 
 The murdered At taway was 
 
 prominence in the Republican party ol the county. 
 Me was a law-abiding citizen, held a responsible 
 
 office, and was well thought of by many people. 
 The other murdered men were good citizens and 
 have never been known to Infringe the law. Tho 
 whole affair was a well and secretly planned 
 scheme to destroy all of the leading liepublicans 
 of the oounty of Aiken living in Hamburgh. M.O. 
 Butler, who'lost a leg while fighting in the ranks 
 of the rebels, and who is to-day tho bitterest of 
 Ku-Klux Democrats, was the instigator of the 
 whole affair and the blood-thirsty leader of tho 
 massacre. He boasted in Hamburgh during the 
 fight that that was only the beginning ; that tho 
 end would not be until after tho elections in No- 
 vember. Such a man should be dealt with with- 
 out pity or without hesitation. The United States 
 Government is not powerless, and surely Bhe will 
 not be silent in an emergency like this, the paral- 
 lel of which pen cannot describe. In this Centen- 
 nial year, will she stand idly by and see her soil 
 stained with the blood of defenseless citizens, and 
 witness the bitter tears of women and children 
 falling upon the murdered bodies of their loved 
 ones?" God forbid that suoh an attitude will be 
 assumed toward tho colored people of the South 
 by the "best Government the world ever saw." 
 Something must be done, and that quickly, or 
 South Carolina will shed tears of blood and her 
 limbs be shackeled by Democratic chains. 
 
 What I have written in this letter are facts 
 which I vouch for entirely, and are no 
 in any degree. It's a "plain, unvarnished" nar- 
 ration of painful and horrible truths. 
 
 Mr. Hill. Read the name attached to 
 the letter. 
 
 The Chairman;. The Chair understands 
 there is uo name given. 
 
 Mr. Hill. Who is the author of the let- 
 ter? 
 
 Mr. Gunter. I call for the date of that 
 paper and the name attached to it. 
 
 Mr. CONGER. I believe my time has 
 not expired. 
 
 The Chairman. The gentleman's time 
 has not expired. 
 
 Mr. Douglass. I call for the reading 
 of the name of the author of the letter. 
 
 Mr. Conger. I claim the floor for the 
 balance of my time. 
 
 Mr. Cochrane. Before this matter is 
 concluded, I desire to know whether there 
 is any uame attached to that communica- 
 tion. 
 
 The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk informs the 
 Chair that there is only a non de plume at- 
 tached. 
 
 Mr. Cochrane. I understand that the 
 name attached to that communication is 
 erased. I ask the gentleman from South 
 Carolina Mr. [Smalls] whether he erased 
 the name? 
 
 Mr. Conger. I hope that all this will 
 not be taken out of my time. 
 
 The Chairman. The gentleman from 
 Michigan [Mr. Conger] has live full min- 
 utes of sixty seconds each. 
 
 Mr, Conger. Theu I yield five minutes 
 to the gentleman from South Carolina, 
 [Mr. Smalls.] 
 
 Mr. Smalls. This is a letter written by 
 a gentleman who was an eye-witn< 
 this transaction to me, and I, sir. had that 
 letter published in the paper. I am re- 
 gponsible for the name. 
 
 Mr. Cochrane. Whose name is it? 
 Who wrote that letter? 
 
 Mr. Smalls. I will say to the gentle- 
 man if he is desirous that the name shall 
 
be given in order to Lave another negro 
 killed, be will not get it from me. (Ap- 
 plause. ) 
 
 Mr. Jones, of Kentucky. I ask the 
 gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Conger] 
 to yield me two minutes. 
 
 Mr. Conger. I have already yielded 
 five to the gentleman form South Caro- 
 lina, [Mr. Smalls.] 
 
 The Chairman. Does the gentleman 
 from South Carolina wish to occupy the 
 rest of the rive minutes? 
 
 Mr. Smalls. I do not. 
 
 Mr. Conger. Then I resume the floor. 
 
 The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from 
 Michigan has three and a half minutes of 
 his time remaining. 
 
 Mr. Conger. When an amendment was 
 before the committee to increase the regi- 
 ments without any reference to the action 
 of the [louse in reducing the army, I made 
 a suggestion to the House that that propo- 
 sition would draw from other cavalry regi- 
 ments a large portion of their quotas and 
 leave them with a very diminished number 
 of men. The amendment that is offered 
 here is a very simple and a very proper one 
 and in accordance with the amendment 
 which was last under consideration. It is 
 that, in portions of the United States, where 
 the lives and property of the citizens are 
 alleged to be invaded, where it is alleged 
 that property is taken and life taken by 
 riotous men, in regions of country whore 
 troops are as necessary to protect them as 
 they are necessary to protect our citizens 
 on the borders of Texas, notwithstanding 
 this resolution which we propose to pass, 
 troops shall not be taken from those re- 
 gions where their presence is equally nec- 
 essary for the protection of the life of the 
 oitizen and the protection of his property. 
 
 I venture to say there is no man on this 
 floor that dare rise in the presence of the 
 JLmorican people to oppose this amend- 
 ment, and I challenge any man to it; not 
 alone on account of the statements in that 
 communication, of the truth or falsity of 
 which I do not now speak, but from t he com- 
 mon knowledge which every one has of tht 
 events in the State of South Carolina. 
 From facta universally acknowledged I 
 ronture to say that the same spirit which 
 will induce every member of this commit- 
 tee and every member of this Congress to 
 raise his voice and his hand in defense and 
 protection of the citizens of the country 
 would palsy the hand that would be raised 
 to oppose the extension of that protection 
 to one portion of the United States where 
 the same necessity for protection exists. 
 
 Sir, I believe that the cutting down of 
 the army was the result of a determina- 
 tion on the part of some men somewhere 
 to prevent troops being sent into States 
 where lawless men take the lives of peace- 
 able citizens. I just charge that as the 
 attempt inaugurated in this House and 
 carried out, I regret to say, with the as- 
 
 sent of men who never ought to have givee 
 it their assent. 
 
 Mr. Milliken. I would ask the gentle- 
 man if he has any member in his eye or in 
 his mind whom he picture* as that 1 
 
 Mr. Conger. I charge that the natural 
 and inevitable result of that redue'io*. 
 must be to leave the army no small that 
 with the Indian war upon our hands and 
 the necessity of protecting the Texas bor- 
 der there would be no forces to be sentinte 
 other portions of our country where toe 
 presence of an army is eminently desirabl* 
 and necessary. 
 
 (Here the hammer fell.) 
 
 Mr. Cox. Mr. Chairman, I understand 
 that this town of Hamburgh is immediately 
 opposite Augusta, in the State of Georgia, 
 across the river. The town of riainburgb. 
 is mostly made up of a colored population. 
 It has a colored magistrate or inteodant. It 
 has moreover a colored militia com. 
 This trouble occurred in the firs! plaoe, &c 
 I understand authentically, by the killing 
 of a white man. That was the beginning - 
 of it. Afterward the negroes intrenched 
 themselves in a house and they were drive* 
 out from it. The gentleman from Georgia. 
 [Mr. Hartridge] has a letter, which he will. 
 read here, and which will explain the 
 matter. It is from a gentleman who has 
 been inculpated on the other side. I do not 
 take the statement which has been read 
 as absolute verity. It has no name attached 
 to it. It is indorsed, indeed, by the mem- 
 ber from South Carolina opposite as bein«* 
 authentic; but who indorses the gi-nfleiuan? 
 (Cries of "01 ahl" from the Republican 
 side of the House.) 
 
 Mr. Rainey. A large constituency do. 
 
 Mr. Smalls. A majority of 13,000. 
 
 Mr. Cox. Thirteen thousand people 
 may indorse the gentleman, yet he comes 
 here with all the prejudice belonging to his 
 race, and he will admit that much hi; 
 
 Mr. Smalls. No, sir; I will uot admit 
 it. 
 
 Mr. Cox. Now wait until I get tl.v 
 These gentlemen from South Carolina have 
 had read a statement which is anonyi 
 and they ask legislation based upi 
 And then the gentleman from Mi< 
 rises here and challenges every mom 
 this House to vote against that pro j > 
 if be dare, because of the condition o 
 army. Sir, it becomes us not only 
 quire into the basis of the letter which has 
 been read here, but into the basis of the 
 statement of the gentleman who indorsed, 
 it. Now I do not impugn the g( ntlei 
 veracity at all when I say that b 
 speak from hearsay, and that, iiot }i 
 been on the ground himself, he id;.;. 
 had partial accounts of the subji ct. Docs. 
 he understand me? And, if so wh; 
 unnecessary clap-trap on the <•■ 
 the House? 
 
 Now the gentleman fron a has 
 
 another motive. This letter was intended 
 
to be shaken into the face of the House for 
 political and bad party purposes, for the 
 gentleman knows that in the distribution 
 Qf the army there is strength enough in 
 the South to protect every one to whom 
 protection in the South is due. 
 
 Mr. Hill. The Hamburgh riot was got 
 up for that express purpose. 
 
 Mr. Cox. I have no doubt of it. The 
 State of Goorgia is not touch<- 1 by this 
 matter, but la entirely innocent in regard 
 to it. 
 
 Mr. Kainet rose. 
 
 Mr. Cox. The gentleman must wait un- 
 til I get through. The State of South Car- 
 olina is to day a Republican State and the 
 worst governed State in the Union; it is 
 bad all around; bad at its borders; bad in 
 its heart; bad on the sea-coast; bad in 
 Edgefield county; everywhere rotten to 
 the core, as your own party papers have 
 said. Give South Carolina a Democratic 
 government and fair play as has been the 
 case in Tennessee, Virginia, and other 
 States which have been rescued from mal- 
 administration, and you will see that every 
 man. black and white, will be cared for un- 
 der the law. 
 
 Mr. Gakfield. (in his seat.) As they 
 were at Hamburgh. 
 
 Mr. Jones, of Ky. Sir, as far as M. C. 
 Butler is concerned, to call him a Ku-Klux 
 would be an insult to the most honorable 
 blood in America. I have known his 
 family all my life. They have been in 
 every war of this country from the Revo- 
 lution down. They have been distinguished 
 soldiers, heroes, and statesmen, as he is 
 one to-day. He was a gallant and brilliant 
 officer in the confederate army from the 
 firing of the first gun of the war to the last ; 
 and when the war ended he surrendered 
 like a soldier and a hero, and he has be- 
 haved himself as a soldier and a hero ever 
 since. He was one of six or seven brothers 
 who went to the front, and I believe but 
 three survived the conflict. In addition to 
 the noble Butler blood which runs through 
 his veins, ho Inherits through his venerated 
 mother, whom I well knew, the blood of 
 the gallant Commodore Perry, of Lake 
 Erie fame. He has been eminently conser- 
 vative and loyal ever since he surrendered 
 his sword. 
 
 Why, sir, the conservative party in South 
 Carolina live years ago sent here to have 
 his disabilities removed. They were re- 
 i my instance ; and they ran him 
 for lieutenant-governor upon the conserva- 
 tive ticket with R. lh Carpenter, who went 
 from Kentucky into South Carolina, and 
 who was always a most loyal Union man. 
 
 Mr. Bucknkr rose. 
 
 Mr Joxes, of Kentucky. I will not 
 
 allow myself to be interrupted. Sir, if 
 
 there be a man in the Union whom we can 
 
 aize as the proud chevalier — sans peur 
 
 — it is M. C. Butler, of 
 
 South Carolina. 
 
 I repeat that I have known him from 
 boyhood. I knew his father and all hii 
 great uncles — all distinguished and honor- 
 able men. What is stated in that letter 1a 
 literally true. I would vouch for M. C. 
 Butler the world over. 
 
 Mr. Rainey. Mr. Chairman, no mem- 
 ber on this floor can deprecate more heartily 
 than myself the opening of this discussion. 
 I had anticipated that when this Congress 
 met its action wovdd be such as to exercise 
 a salutary effect upon the entire Demo- 
 cratic party of the country ; that it. would 
 close its deliberations without agitating 
 these questions affecting the lives and lib- 
 erties of American citizens. But it ap- 
 pears to me that so long as the negro has 
 a vote in this country, so long as he has a 
 voice in this government, it is necessary 
 that he should on every proper occasion 
 appeal to the country in behalf of those 
 rights. 
 
 Sir. I regret as much as any man here 
 that outbreak at Hamburgh. I regret that 
 the proceeding was measurably counte- 
 nanced by a cavalier who has descended 
 from noble stock — the very best that peo- 
 pled the soil of Carolina. When I make 
 this assertion I am not influenced by any 
 partisan prejudice; I do not speak from 
 hearsay or mere conjecture. 1 am sus- 
 tained in what I say by the Democratic 
 papers of South Carolina I have in my 
 hands the News and Courier, the leading 
 Democratic paper of the State, which 
 contains an article from the Augusta 
 Chronicle and Constitutionalist, stating 
 the very fact that General Butler went from 
 Hamburgh across the bridge into Augusta, 
 saw young men over there and said to 
 them : " Things over in Hamburgh look 
 squally; young men, we may want you, 
 over there this evening; get yourselves in 
 readiness." The editor of this Democratic 
 paper published in the city of Augusta, | 
 says that General Butler made use of that 
 expression, and that those young men, I 
 fully armed and to the number of two or 
 three hundred, went over there. 
 
 And, sir, what are we to say of brave 
 white men who fought in the confederate 
 army coming out in armed force to capture 
 and subjugate forty defenceless negroes 
 collected in a building where they could 
 defend themselves? These men said that 
 they were willing to surrender the few 
 arms they had, but not until General But- 
 ler or some one- else high in authority 
 should give them assurance; that their 
 property, their libei ty and their lives 
 would be secure. Did they exact from 
 General Butler any more thaa is accorded 
 to them by the Constitution? I ask 
 whether they had not as much right to 
 bear arms as General Butler or anybody 
 else? Had they menaced or threatened 
 any one while engaged in that parade on 
 the Fourth of July? No, sir; the whole 
 trouble arose because a few men, inflamed 
 
with whisky and with a determination to 
 subdue the negro in the South, told them 
 with threats that they must stand from 
 
 across the mad so that these men might be 
 enabled to drive by unmolested. 
 
 Why, sir, just think of it ! What would 
 be thought if here in Washington City, 
 when a military company was parading on I 
 the Fourth of July, two irren should come j 
 up in a buggj aud demand of the officers : 
 that the company should get out of the 
 way, and if they did not. should at once | 
 set to work and murder the men of that 
 military company ? I ask you. oitiz 
 the United States, would you stand it ? I 
 I ask you, brave men who fought for your 
 country's liberties long before you took j 
 part in the war of the rebellion, would you J 
 stand it? I ask you, proud Southern men 
 who boast of your gallantry and your in- 
 telligence aud your superiority to my race, i 
 would you stand it? I ask you. men of 
 the North who saerified your blood and j 
 treasure, who sacrificed the lives of your : 
 sons and your relatives, would you stand * 
 it? Do you. then, expect aegroes to stand 
 all this? Do you expect my race to sub- 
 mit meekly to continual persecution and 
 massacre by these people in the South?; 
 Are you not going to allow us any right 
 of self-defence ? In the name of my race 
 and my people, in the name of humanity, 
 In the name of God. I ask you whether we 
 are to be American citizens with all the 
 rights and immunities of citizens or 
 whether we are to be vassals and slaves 
 again? I ask you to tell us whether these 
 things are to go on, so that we may under- 
 stand now aud henceforth what we are to 
 expect? 
 
 The Chairman. The gentleman's time 
 hab expired. 
 
 The debate was resumed on July 18. 
 
 The Chairman. When the committee 
 rose it had under consideration an amend- 
 ment to section 1. offered by the gentle- 
 man from South Carolina, [Mr. Smalls,] 
 which will be reported by the Clerk 
 
 The Clerk read as follows: 
 
 Provided, That no troops for the purposes named 
 In this section shall be drawn from the State of 
 South Carolina SO long as the militiaol" :h 
 peaceably assembled are assaulted, disarmed, and 
 taken prisoners, and then massacred incoid blood 
 by lawless bands of meo Invading the State from 
 the State of Georgia 
 
 Mr. Cox. Here, Mr. Chairman, is one 
 chapter in this volume devoted entirely to 
 the State debt scoundrelism of the State 
 government. It runs up the debt from five 
 millions to some twenty-four or twenty- 
 seven million dollars. But can anybody 
 tell how much more it is, owing to the 
 malfeasance of the officials and the various 
 kinds of frauds that were perpetrated? 
 There is another chapter devoted to the 
 fraud in the expenditure of $700,000 appro- 
 the Legislature to buy lands for 
 the freefimen. 
 
 I'M 1 he frecdmen ! If there is one thing 
 than another it is a white rascal 
 above a black rascal. All through the late 
 experience of Congress you have seen, sir, 
 that the worst men who have preyed upon 
 the negroes in this oountry have been their 
 white allies. The gentleman from Vir- 
 ginia [Mr. Douglas] can tell you. from 
 his Committee on the Freedman's Bank, 
 how $64,000 was discovered by his com- 
 mittee to have been robbed from soldiers, 
 sailors, and marines; how much was stolen 
 by your Freedman's Bank, not to speak of 
 the Bureau. How much? At least a 
 million and a half. Am I uot correct? 
 Did not the gentleman's committee so re^ 
 port? 
 
 Mr. RaiNKY. Mr. Chairman 
 
 Mr. Cox. O, honey, sit down. (Laugh- 
 ter. 
 
 Mr. Rainev T rose to ask the Chair a 
 question. 
 
 Mr. Cox. I did not ask you to get up. 
 Allow me to finish. 
 
 Mr. Rainet. I wanted to know what 
 was the pending question before the com- 
 mittee. 
 
 The Chairman. Does the gentleman 
 from New York yield to the gentleman 
 from South Carolina? 
 
 Mr. Cox. No. sir. 
 
 Mr. Rainey. The go:. ileman should not 
 raise issues that are not embraced in the 
 pending question. 
 
 Mr. Cox. I do not desire to have any 
 collision with the gentleman. One of the 
 colored members said the other day that I 
 was good in everything except in being a 
 democrat. I have always had the kind 
 words of those gentlemen. I have never, 
 as some gentlemen on the other side have 
 done, called them " niggers." I did once 
 call them colored members, for which I 
 was called to aocount. I did not know how 
 else to describe them. I believe they are 
 to be treated under the Constitution and 
 the law with fairness and equality. Why 
 not ? They have the same immortal souls. 
 Some of them are better looking than some 
 of their white confreres across the way. 
 (Laughter.) I do not see why we should 
 be all the time keeping up this race con- 
 test 
 
 I .believe. Mr. Chairman, if I may at- 
 tempt to bring the committee back to good 
 humor — I believe in what an old parson 
 once said to a congregation in Ohio. Mem- 
 bers of Congress and others used to go 
 down and hear him preach ; and one day, 
 when one of my predecessors was sitting 
 there with a gold-headed cane* and brass 
 buttons on his blue coat, the type of a 
 statesman of the old school, he gave this 
 illustration: " There Is the old judge; 
 when he goes to the market-house to buy 
 a roast of mutton, does he ask whether it 
 be a black sheep or a white sheep ? No. 
 All he seeks to know is, is it good mut- 
 
Mr. 
 about 
 
 Saj when the horn shall sound, and tha 
 
 question will be not "whether he was a 
 
 black sheep or a white sheep, but whether 
 
 good mutton." (Laughter. ) 
 
 It may be that the great body of the 
 
 black people in South Carolina belong to 
 
 ategory of the good sheep; but 1 am 
 
 I from the testimony in this hook that 
 
 3ome of them will not go on the right side 
 
 m the day of judgment. I am afraid the 
 
 Sood Shepherd will not provide for them. 
 
 Mr. Stalls Have you the book there 
 
 erf the city of New York? (Laughter ) 
 
 Mr. Co:. I presume that the gentle- 
 man from South Carolina, by making that 
 remark, seeks to embarrass me in conse- 
 quence of the fact that I belong to that 
 portion of the democratic party, along 
 with Governor Tilden and others, who 
 drove out the rascals, as you did not in 
 your parly in South Carolina. (Laughter 
 and applause.) 
 
 Town bend, of New York, 
 man, I have no time to talk 
 South Carolina, but— 
 
 There Is a land of pure delight 
 Where saints Immortal reign, 
 
 and is the city of New York. 
 The population of South Carolina in 1870 
 was 716,300, the population of the city of 
 New York was 942,000. The population 
 of South Carolina was about three-fourths 
 ;5 f&At of the city of New York. The ! 
 gentleman from New York who has just 
 taken his seat [Mr. Cox] said that the 
 administration are eating out 
 the suT)siance of South Carolina. 
 
 sir, the debt of South Carolina 
 osuqr and above every deduction is less than 
 :. The debt of the city of New 
 York over and above every deduction is 
 $114,000,000. Who eats out the substance 
 of the people ? 
 
 But, sir, more than that. Gentlemen 
 say that bad men with bad motives have 
 i State of South Carolina. How 
 about William M. Tweed? He was the 
 Bolter of the city of New York in one form 
 OT another for more than twelve years.. He 
 iter of New York through Tam- 
 Hall at the time when the gentleman 
 Ohio brought his little '• carpet-bag " 
 t*> the city of New York and set it down 
 .mmany Hall, which was then fiour- 
 lahing in all its power and glory, and looked 
 ap smilingly for the approbation of Wil- 
 liam M.Tweed. (Great laughter. } While 
 im M. Tweed ruled New York 
 $40,000,000 was stolen from that people by 
 Tweed and his immediate associates, and 
 is to»day a judgment entered against 
 iam M.\ Tweed for his share of the 
 ■toftlings which could be traced to his 
 hands of over $6,000,000; Peter B. Swee- 
 ney, the city treasurer, stole another share; 
 Bichard B. Connolly another share; An- 
 drew J. Garvev stole his share; and fnger- 
 ftoll stole still another share of the 
 $40,000,000, and every man of them has 
 
 left this country for bis country's good ex- 
 cepting two — Garvey, who is in State's 
 prison, and Ingersoll, who has been j par- 
 doned out by the "reform" governor of 
 the State of New York. But there wai 
 not only this stealing of $40,000,000 by 
 this Tweed gang, but Thomas C. Fields, 
 another glorious leader of Tammany, got 
 an appropriation from the Legislature to 
 the amount of more than $100,000 nom- 
 inally for the benefit of the firemen, but 
 he actually stole every dollar of it. Henry 
 Genet got an act passed for a court-house 
 in the city of New York and stole the 
 $100,000 appropriated for the court-house, 
 and the sheriff of New York let him run 
 away. The present sheriff allowed Wil- 
 liam M. Tweed to go to his residence and 
 go up stairs unattended to see his wife and 
 allowed him thus to leave for parts un- 
 known, and the "reform" governor of 
 the State has not found time to investigate 
 the outrage of letting him escape or to re- 
 move him from office, as he had the power 
 to do. This is the party of reform and 
 retrenchment in the city of New York from 
 which my colleague [Mr. Cox] hails. 
 
 But, sir, we have not told the whole 
 story yet. Tammany elected judges to 
 protect these thieves and robbers— George 
 G. Barnard. McCunn, and Cordozo — every 
 one of whom was impeached and two of 
 them convicted and one resigned. But, 
 sir. we are not through yet. There are 
 now some decent judges in New York and 
 Tammany opposed every one of them, and 
 if Tammany opposed them my colleague 
 who sits over there talking about purity 
 and reform voted against every one of 
 them, for he has never found occasion to 
 quit Tammany yet. And when Bosa 
 Tweed's successor, the noted John Kelly, 
 came and waived his wand over him as h» 
 sat in our Speaker's chair and said to him, 
 •' Come out of that chair and go with me 
 to Saint Louis to carry out the great farce 
 which we have planned," and said, " W# 
 have elected our delegates, and we want 
 you. Brother Cox, to go with me to Saint 
 Louis in the attitude of the brother of the 
 temperance lecturer." You know that 
 while the one brother was lecturing on 
 temperance the other was exhibiting him- 
 self as an awful example; and that is the 
 part you and I will enact at Saint Loui6." 
 .Laughter. ) 
 
 The gentleman went out, and he and Mr. 
 John Kelly enacted the farce and tried to 
 make the world believe that if they nom- 
 inated Tilden they would be opposing 
 Tammany, that notorious sink of political 
 corruption. 
 
 Mr. Gaufield. It is not the least sad of 
 all the sad facts in the subject that we are 
 now engaged in considering, that so grave 
 an occurrence as the one which has been 
 introduced officially by a member of this 
 House has elicited so little attention from 
 the majority that the whole drift of th* 
 
ji amission should hnfce been turned away 
 
 int » v partisan direction, and partly ami 
 mainly turned into laughter. 
 
 Now I want to state iu a word what I 
 understand to be the facts which we are 
 oalled upon to consider by this amend- 
 ment. A legally organized militia com- 
 pany, parading with aims that arc- legally 
 held by them, in their own town, on the 
 centennial Fourth of July, were accosted 
 by two young men who demanded that 
 the company should get out of the road; 
 and because the whole company did not at 
 once move out of the road for the two men 
 who could have gone quite as well a little 
 at one side, it was resolved by sundry 
 persons to disarm that legally organized 
 military company of the Stale ; and be- 
 cause the company did not consent to be 
 disarmed at the command of unauthorized 
 persons, au organized mob. led by a dis- 
 tinguished gentleman who served as an 
 officer in the war against the Union, as- 
 sailed, surrounded, opened fire upon them, 
 captured some of them, and after capture 
 murdered in cold blood, without warrant 
 or authority, a considerable number of 
 American citizens. This has been stated 
 here iu the House on the official authority 
 of the attorney general of South Carolina. 
 The papers of the dominant party in that 
 State and Georgia admit that the real and 
 only ground of this outrage was the fact 
 that the military company was composed 
 of colored men ; that colored men had 
 used their rights as citizens to organize 
 themselves as a part of the State militia 
 Now I have no doubt that there are mul- 
 titudes of good men in the South, and 
 many on the other side of this House who 
 deeply deplore this bloody and atrocious 
 outrage. But how has it been treated in 
 this discussion? The first utterance was 
 by the gentleman from Mew York, 
 Cox.] who aiose in his place and declared 
 that the negioes began the affray by kill 
 tug a white man That statement has been 
 answered by the fact that they made no 
 hostile demonstration until they weie fired 
 into by the mob. Again the gentleman 
 from New York [Mr. Cox] stated that 
 this matter was introduced here foi a bad 
 purpose, a bad motive, to stir up bad 
 blood, and to afiect the elections. And 
 to-day we have been treated to an extreme 
 example of his usual method. lie has 
 attempted to laugh at a group of atrocious 
 minders. His levity was never so horri- 
 bly out of place. 
 
 The only calm and thoughtful declara- 
 tion which has been made on this subject 
 on the other side of the House was by the 
 gentleman from Geoigia, [Mr. IlAltT- 
 ridge.] who spoke manfully and legret- 
 fully upon the subject and suggested that 
 we should wait until the official examina- 
 tion was had. 
 
 1 am more troubled than by the mere 
 fact of the murder about the symptoms 
 
 that I see around me; Has it come to 
 pass that a murder like this cannot be dis- 
 cussed in this House without its being 
 charged that there is a bad motive for 
 speaking of it? Do our northern dem- 
 ocrats care more for the interests of their 
 party than for the safety of the lives oi 
 citizens? But I am still more anxious to 
 know, and to kuow from gentlemen of th« 
 South who can speak with knowledge and 
 by authority, whether this is a sporadic 
 case of murder, or whether it is a symp- 
 tom which indicates a general condition of 
 feeling in their sectiou. My anxiety is to 
 know whether this instance indicates a set- 
 tled purpose to declare that black men 
 shall not be legally organized into militia 
 companies, shall not parade peaceably in 
 , the streets under arms, shall not be allowed 
 1 all the rights, privileges, and immunities 
 ! of citizens of the United States of what- 
 ever color. That, Mr. Chairman, is my 
 great anxiety in regard to this case. 
 
 We fought a gieat war to establish the 
 
 I Union and the equal rights of citizens be- 
 
 I fore the law; and I wish we could lay 
 
 aside all the bitterness of that contest; but 
 
 I say distinctly to gentleineu from the 
 
 South that the era of out good feeling can 
 
 'never be ushered in in its fullness until 
 
 you let us know that the old spirit of caste 
 
 and race which caused the war has been 
 
 laid aside with the weapons we carried in 
 
 ; the field; and until a black man. while he 
 
 behaves himself, lawfully and peaceably 
 
 shall enjoy all the rights, all the privileges, 
 
 all the protection, and all the guarantees 
 
 of the. Constitution that a white man enjoys 
 
 : in all our States I "When that is done, we 
 
 c.in>b-:kc hands in full assurance of peace, 
 
 and can hang tlu- olive branch over all our 
 
 doors; until that time comes, we must 
 
 keep watch with that eternal vigilance 
 
 which is the price not only of liberty but 
 
 of equal justice to all citizens. 
 
 Mr. Lamar. Mr. Chairman, I do not 
 propose to discuss or analyze this terrible 
 ami' disgraceful aiiair at Hamburgh, al- 
 though 1 think that the gentleman from 
 iOhio°[Mr. Garfield] has not given a fair 
 i and impartial statcmeut of the circum- 
 stances in which it originated. Bur those 
 I circumstances are of no moment here upon 
 this question, nor are the provocations 
 which led to the final fearful tragedy in- 
 volved in the proposition now bvfbre us 
 Nor are they, in my opinion, [and here I 
 differ with the member from Ohio, the 
 legitimate topic of debate or discussion 
 on this floor; they belong to another tri- 
 bunal, to which the constitutions of States 
 as well as that of the Federal Government 
 remit these subj< 
 
 Whether in the circumstances and these 
 provocations the whites or the blacks 
 were most to blame is a question to which 
 I shall not now recur. Through all the 
 confusion which has been thrown around 
 this transaction, (and 1 must say, notwith- 
 
standing the honorable character of the 
 Informant of the member from South Car- 
 olina, which I do not question in the 
 slightest degree, his document was evi- 
 dently written, and perhaps very naturally, 
 under great exasperation and excitement,) 
 through all the uncertainty which exaspe- 
 ration and exaggerations have thrown 
 around this subject, there is one fact 
 which gleams out acknowledged, or, if 
 not acknowledged, is indisputable. It is 
 that a body of white men did, without au- 
 thority of law, put to death a number of 
 black men, who bad been taken as prison- 
 ers ; I mean who had been captured and 
 deprived of their liberty, but who were 
 not prisoners in the legal sense of the 
 term, inasmuch as those capturing them 
 had no right under the law to deprive 
 them of their personal liberty. 
 
 Now, sir, I wish to say here in my 
 place— and what I say here just as itdrops 
 from my lips aud falls upon the reporter's 
 notes is at once sent throughout the entire 
 South, and every constituent of mine, in 
 every home aud hamlet, will read what I 
 gay ; aud even if I were base or ignoble 
 enough to utter here what I would swerve 
 from there, as has been falsely charged 
 agaiilst Southern men, the Record would 
 always convict me — in my place here and 
 with the responsibilities surrounding me, 
 I assert that no excuse or palliation can 
 possibly be found for these outrages and 
 this barbarism. [Applause.] 
 
 As a Southern, man and as a Democrat, 
 I have a remark or two to make upon this 
 subject. Mr. Chairman, we of the South 
 have a lawless class precisely as you of 
 the North have lawless classes. Asa con- 
 sequence we have riots in which human 
 life is lost pr< 'sely u you have such 
 riots, with this difference : Ouijs without 
 preconcert flame up iu different loc i 
 and are confined to short periods of time, 
 while yours in more thau one instance 
 have held several counties in terror, have 
 extend- over months of time, and have 
 Involved a larger loss of human life, defy- 
 ing the authorities of your States. 
 
 Mr. Conger. Imovethatthe commit- 
 tee rise in order that the time may be ex- 
 tended. 
 
 Mr. Schleicher. I gave the longest 
 time that was asked for. Twenty minutes 
 had been agreed upon ; but at the sugges- 
 tion of the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. 
 Garfield] it was extended to thirty urin- 
 ates. 
 
 The Chairman. Discussion is not in 
 arder. 
 
 Mr. Schleicher. If we keep on ex- 
 tending she time for discussion it will go 
 aver until to-morrow, and I do not know 
 how much longer, for, sir, the time never 
 will be in this when some member does 
 aot wish to speak. 
 
 The Chairman. The gentleman from 
 Michigan moves that the committee rise 
 
 for the purpose of extending the time foi 
 debate on the first section of the pending 
 bill. 
 
 The committee divided ; and there were 
 — ayes 101, noes 43. 
 
 So the motion was agreed to. 
 
 The committee accordingly rose ; and 
 the Speaker pro tempore having resumed 
 the chair. Mr. Monroe reported that the 
 Committeo of the Whole on the state of 
 the Uuiou had, according to order, had 
 under consideration the joint resolution 
 (H. R. No. 96) to provide for the protec- 
 tion of the Texas frontier on the Lower 
 Rio Grande, and had come to no resolu- 
 tion thereon. 
 
 Mr. Schleicher obtained the floor. 
 
 Mr. Conger. The committee rose for 
 a special object on my motion, and I in- 
 sist that I am entitled to the floor. 
 
 The Speaker pro tempore. The Chait 
 is supposed to know nothing of what takes 
 place in committee. The gentleman from 
 Texas is entitled to the floor. 
 
 Mr. Conger. I believe the Chair was 
 present when my motion was made and 
 when it was carried by a vote of the com- 
 mittee. 
 
 Mr. Schleicher. I move that the 
 House resolve itself into the Committee ol 
 the Whole on the state of the Union ; and 
 pending that motion I move that all fur- 
 ther debate on the first section of the 
 pending bill and amendments thereto be 
 limited to ten minutes. 
 
 Mr. Conger. I move to amend that by 
 extending the time for debate to one hour, 
 giving the first five minutes to the gentle- 
 man from Mississippi [Mr. Lamar) who 
 was on the floor at the time the debate 
 closed. 
 
 The Speaker pro tempore. The ques- 
 tion is on the amendment of the gentle- 
 man from Michigan. 
 
 Mr. Hale. It is understood by these 
 gentlemen that it is to be divided up into 
 five-minute speeches. 
 
 Mr. Conger. Yes; under the five-min- 
 ute rule. 
 
 Mr. Lamar. Iu view of the evident 
 difficulty we are getting into, I will say 
 that I do not wish to prosecute my re- 
 marks. 
 
 The Speaker pro tempore. All this dis- 
 cussion is unnecessary and out of order. 
 
 The House divided on Mr. Conger's 
 amendment ; and there were — ayes 74, 
 noes 129. 
 
 I demand the yeas and 
 
 I will move to make it 
 
 Mr. Conger. 
 nays. 
 
 Mr. Kasson. 
 twenty minutes. 
 
 Mr. Conger. I demand the yeas and 
 nays on my proposition. 
 
 The House divided ; and there wer»— 
 ayes 37, noes 137. 
 
 So (one-fifth having voted iu the affirm- 
 ative) the yeas and nays were ordered. 
 
 Mr. Hoskins. la view of the lateneea 
 
I 
 
 of the s ssion I ask we may compromise 
 tbis matter by allowing thirty minutes for 
 de bn [ a 
 
 The Speaker pro tempore. That caii 
 only be done by unanimous consent. 
 
 Mr. Conger. I prefer to have the yeas 
 and nays on my motion. 
 
 The question was taken: and decided 
 iii the negative — yeas 67, nays 126, not 
 voting [)o. 
 
 The Speaker pro tempore. The ques- 
 tion is on the motion of the gentleman 
 from Texas [Mr. Schleicher] that when 
 the House again resolves itself into Com- 
 mittee of the Whole all debate on the 
 pending section and amendments be closed 
 in ten minutes. 
 
 Mr. Conger. I move to amend that by ! 
 making the time forty minutes. I ask 
 the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Schleich- 
 er] to accept that proposition. 
 
 Mr. Hancock. We made one contract 
 with you already and you would not stand 
 by it. 
 
 Mr. Randall. The time was fixed by i 
 the request of that side of the House and ! 
 that time has expired. 
 
 Mr. Conger. When was it fixed ? 
 
 Mr. Randall. This nioming. The . 
 original time suggested by that side was 
 twenty minutes, and the agreement was 
 Anally made at their request that ..there 
 should be thirty minutes. What they i 
 asked was acceded to, showing that there 
 has been no disposition to cut off debate. 
 
 Mr. Conger. The gentleman from j 
 Pennsylvania cannot deny that there has 
 been a disposition to cut off debate. We 1 
 have asked an hour, or forty minutes, or 
 thirty minutes, and that is refused with a 
 strong hand. 
 
 Mr. Randall. This is brought in to 
 excite bad feeling. We want to preserve • 
 peace. 
 
 Mr. Conger. The gentleman does not I 
 want us to discuss particular subjeots. j 
 That is the trouble. I will modify my j 
 amendment aud move to strike out ten ] 
 minutes and insert thirty minutes ; and I 
 upon that I call for the yaas and nays. | 
 
 On the question of ordering the yeas 
 and nays there were ayes 47. 
 
 Bo (the affirmative being more than one- , 
 fifth of the last vote) the yeas and nays 
 were ordered. 
 
 Mr. Mills. I suggest that we compro- 
 mise on iilteen minutes and give it all to 
 the gentlempn from Michigan. 
 
 I FEAKER ;■ o temp ■ ■:. TL propo- j 
 •ition of the gentleman from Texas is not j 
 in order It can only be entertained by 
 unanimous consent. 
 
 The question was taken on Mr. Con- 1 
 
 ri's amendment, and there were — yeas 
 nays 111, not voting 102. 
 JSo Mr. Conger's amendment was not j 
 agreed to. 
 
 Mr. Schleicher. I move that the 
 Souse resolve itself into Committee of the 
 
 Whole on the state of the Union upon the 
 Texas border bill, and pending that mo- 
 tion I move that all debate upon the flret 
 section and amendment thereto be olosod 
 in twenty-five minutes, and on that mo- 
 tion I move the previous question. 
 
 The question was taken on Mr. Schleioh- 
 er's motion, and on a division there were 
 — ayes 119. noes 30. 
 
 So the motion was agreeed to. 
 
 The House accordingly resolved itself 
 into Committee of the Whole on the state 
 of the Union, (Mr. Monroe in the chair, > 
 and resumed the consideration of the joini 
 resolution (H. R. No. 96) to provide for 
 the protection of the Texas frontier on the 
 Lower Rio Grande. 
 
 Mr. Kasson. Mr. Chairman, for the 
 first time during this debate the House 
 has heard from a gentleman of the oppo- 
 sition a distinct, direct, and pointed con- 
 demnation of this most serious and alarm- 
 ing outrage upon human life, human lib- 
 erty, and constitutional rights. 
 
 Mr. Lamar. The gentleman is mis- 
 taken. I only repeated what my gifted 
 friend from Georgia [Mr. Hartndge] 
 said. 
 
 Mr. Kasson-. The gentleman from 
 Georgia "deplored" the outrage. I failed 
 to hear him condemn the men who were 
 involved in its commission. 
 
 Mr. Hartridge. The gentleman will 
 allow me a word? 
 
 Mr. Kasson. The gentleman must ex- 
 cuse me, as my time is so short. Even 
 the gentleman from Mississippi was not 
 able to close his eloquent denunciation of 
 the outrage without impliedly turning the 
 responsibility for these riots and outrages 
 upon the Republican element in the 
 South. 
 
 Let us come to the point before thie 
 House under debate. On the Fourth day 
 of July last a militia company was assem- 
 bled in the streets of Hamburgh, South 
 Carolina, celebrating the anniversary of 
 their national independence and ours. 
 They were lawfully observing it, when 
 two young white men got into a quarrel 
 with them ; but the d;> y closed without 
 disaster. On the following day an armed 
 organization from Georgia, where the 
 chief criminals yet remain, invaded the 
 State of South Carolina and committed 
 murderous outrages which are certified in 
 the report of the attorney-general of 
 South Carolina over the signature of Gov- 
 ernor Chamberlain, which report I now 
 hold in my hand. The question is, were 
 these militiamen violating the law when 
 they were attaoked? Had this militia 
 company the right to assemble and parade 
 on the national holiday ? Your Constitu- 
 tion tells you, in the second amendment 
 to it, that — 
 
 A well regulated militia being necessary 4o th« 
 security of a free State, the right of the people U 
 keep and bear arms shall not be Infricged. 
 
10 
 
 And yet the gentleman, General Butler, j taCle, Tbia has been no ebullition of senti- 
 who is comiTi< nried as a noble expf" .'it of mans. The jubject-matter before us ha« 
 ohivalry, (and his personal character may been notning of fancy. It has come up 
 be all that his friends claim, proposed, as [from no desire to "shake the bloody, shirt." 
 is admitted, that tl\e arms, borne by tliis The gentleman from South Carolina, [Mr. 
 militia company should be surrendered to .Smalls,] representing a defrauded and 
 unauthorized persons, and to deprive the murdered race, has offered a practical 
 militia of South Carolina of the right amendment to the bill before the House, a 
 secured to them by the Constitution of the perfectly germane amendment to a bill 
 United States. And then from the first which p-oposes to regulate the movement* 
 osition to violate a constitutional I of the United States Army. The amend- 
 
 right they went on to other and more 
 senous violations of constitutional rights 
 and liberties, even to the taking of priso- 
 ners who were lawfully in Che militia com- 
 
 ment is in these words 
 
 Provided. That no troops for the purpose Darned 
 in :>i.s section shall he withdrawn from the Stat* 
 of South Carolina so long as the militia of that 
 v. peacefully assembled, are assaulted, dle- 
 pany, and not only that, but disarming armed, taken prisoners, and then massacred la 
 them of the arms they had a lawful right coI<1 blood by lawless hands of men invading that 
 
 ■ 11 « i i. i. 4.) „.. . ..I » »v „ State tain the State of Georgia, 
 
 to hold. And not only that; let the, B 
 
 angels weep, but let honest men do more The circumstances calling out thin 
 than deplore ;" let them condemn with all amendment are that at least six men. oiti- 
 the energy of which human nature is capa- zeus of the United States, equal citizens 
 ble ; they told these prisoners to run. and ; with you, sir, and me and the leaders upon 
 as they ran from them they "chivalrous- ', the other side ; meu whom we have uudor- 
 ly" amused themselves by shooting them I taken to clothe with all the high privileges 
 down, and even in two instances mutilat- and rights that spring from our Constru- 
 ing their dead bodies. tion and laws ; men whom we have made 
 
 And when the gentleman from South : fellow-crtizens with us have been wantonly 
 Carolina, [Mr. Smalls,] whose State and and foully murdered. And yet the major- 
 district have thus been invaded and out- % of this House upon a deliberate roll- 
 raged, brings the matter to the attention call have refused to allow sixty minuteo 
 of this House, the gentleman from New debate upon this subject of the slaughter 
 York [Mr. Cox] calls it bad in morals, bad of our fellow-citizens. Why, ; r. the tak- 
 in motive, and charges that it is brought ing of the life of a single British subject, 
 inhere for a bad political purpose. Sir. entitled to the protection of the British 
 the Democratic party did not always Va 1, is forced entrance to the House of 
 
 this position. In 1840 they declared in Commons and has here dominated all 
 their national platform: other subjects for weeks and months. And 
 
 That every citizen of every section of the coun- the French Assembly has again and again 
 try has a fight to demand and insist upon an debated for days and kfi upon the 
 
 equality of rights and privileges and tocomplet«| _,.,„.. rs n f a s i n „i P p re „, 1, , ,iv,.„ This 
 an ample protection of person and property from 'wrongs O. a single r u .. .1 rizcu. 1 Uia 
 .■Diestlc violence or foreign aggression, tenderness for the lir-- i perfy of the 
 
 They re-enacted that in their platforms citizen has been the common pride of every 
 until 1864. But when there came to be ; legislative body that has ever been known 
 citizens of another color, citizens who were to the civilized world. And yet the ma- 
 dependent, ignorant, poor, and needing jority of This House decline to give an hour 
 protection, the Democratic party com- for debate to this overweening, overmastor- 
 menced leaving out of their platforms this ing subject, or inquiry into the causes 
 principle of the right of the citizen to pro- which led to the murder of these six men 
 tection in person and in property. I stand and for discussion of the means by which 
 here, independent of all party on this we may prevent like occurrences by the 
 question, to say that, be the wronged citi- presence of United States armed forces, 
 sens white men of Texas or black men of The gentleman from Georgia asks why 
 8outh Carolina, this great Republic of I do these things continue to occur? Let me 
 44,000,000 of people owes all its energy tell him that they will continue just as long 
 and all its power to protect all citizens of as members on that side of the Chamber 
 this couuti-y against outrages upon liberty rise as one man to stamp down the diseus- 
 and life such as have been perpetrated in ' sum of these atrocities. Let me tell him 
 this case. This is what the gentlemen that so long as the Democratic party are 
 from South Carolina [Mr. Smalls] has as- led by men in whose neighborhood these 
 sorted, as is his right. And I rise here to scenes are enacted, and who have nothing 
 defend him and the race he represents but good words for the actors in the ter- 
 against being laughed out of this tribunal rible drama, the raiders and murderers in 
 of the nation and from the presence of the G orgia and South Carolina will go high- 
 American people when they bring their handed on their bloody work, and will, as 
 complaints before them and demand re- they believe, be protected in it. 
 dress and protection in the name of human- Sir, these is something to do besides in- 
 Ity and of constitutional right. i voking sentiment and quoting poetry, as 
 
 Mr. Hale. Mr. Chairman, this House has j has been done in this case. I charge upon 
 presented this morning a remarkable Bpec- ' the gentleman from Mississippi, [Mr. 
 
11 
 
 Lamar,] who has a philosophical, specu- 
 lative mind, and has human sympathies ; 
 
 wh>> sees the wrong and infamy of these 
 things — | here the hammer fell J — I charge 
 upou that gentleman who has been twice 
 shosen by h mstituents a Representa- 
 tive in thi , and has been further 
 sudor in the Sen- 
 ate — I charge upon him the responsibility, 
 not of the acts themselves, but of putting 
 a stop to these things in his State. I 
 charge upon the gentleman from Georgia 
 [Mr. Ilartridge] that he and Ids associates 
 must stop them there. [ Here the hammer 
 again fell.] I charge upon the leaders of 
 the dominant party in all the Southern 
 States that they must stop these murders. I 
 [Cries of "Order!"] 
 
 Mr. Lamar. I have discharged my re- 
 sponsibility in part by • efeating the 
 authors of such disorders in ray State. 
 
 Mr. Mackey, of South Carolina. Mr. 
 Chairman, in connection with the subject 
 now under discussion the gentleman from 
 "New York [Mr. Cox] has seen fit to de- . 
 nounce South Carolina as one of the 
 worst-goverued States in the Union. For 
 this assertion there is do foundation ■what- 
 ever, and instead of South Carolina being 
 badly governed at present she has a better 
 government to-day than she has had for 
 years. I would like to remind the geutle- 
 iiiiic of this fact, of which he seems to be 
 entirely ignorant, that to-day the only 
 question dividing the Democracy of South 
 ina is whether or not they shall nom- 
 inate as their candidate the man who is 
 now the Republican Governor of our State. 
 If the preseui govertfment of South Caro- 
 lina is so bad and corrupt, why are the 
 Democrats discussing the propriety of 
 ig the head of that government their 
 candidate in the next election? It is an 
 indisputable fact that should Governoi 
 Chamberlain again be the nominee of the 
 Republican party he will receive hundreds 
 of Democratic votes. Many of the lead- 
 in u Democrats in the State know this, and 
 hence they argue that it would be inexpe- 
 dient to nominate a Democratic candidate 
 should Chamberlain receive the Republi- 
 omination. At one time the State 
 government of South Carolina may have 
 exceedingly bad, but such is not the 
 present condition of affairs, Taxes have 
 reduced, assessments lowered, cor- 
 oincials removed, and numerous re- 
 forms inaugurated, and the vast improve- 
 ment iu I he government is fully recognized 
 by two-thirds of the Democratic papers in 
 the State. Quotations from Pike's Pros- 
 trate State have no application whatever 
 to the present condition of affairs in our 
 State. This much I have deemed it neces- 
 aaiy to say in refutation of the assertion 
 that South Carolina is to-day the worst- 
 governed State in the Union. 
 
 Mr. HoQB. I move to strike out the 
 last word. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, in rising to speak up^B 
 in is questi m I « ill say that I had hopetl 
 the occasion would not have arisen at thi* 
 late period, when I as a member of Con- 
 gress should be called upon to rise in mj 
 place and speak upon the subject that it 
 now occupying the at ten ion of the Houso. 
 I was in hopes that the time bad passed in 
 South Carolina when these outrages, these 
 deeds of blood and murder could nevei 
 occur again. I was in hopes they wer« 
 f lever passed. 
 
 I can remember, Mr. Chairman, that in 
 186B, during the memorable election in the 
 third congressional district, which I had 
 the honor to represent on th.s floor, then- 
 were nearly three hundred of our citizen* 
 thai were murdered; so that this outrage 
 that has been perpetrated in. Edgefield is 
 nothing new in the history of South Caro- 
 lina. Over three hundred of my constitu- 
 ents at th it rime suffered loss of life bj 
 adhering to and advocating the principle* 
 of the Republican party. But while thii 
 state of affairs has existed, I do not want 
 to make the statement to-day to this House, 
 nor do I believe it, that eveu iu South 
 Carolina all the white men who belong to 
 the Democratic party are in favor <sf the 
 murderers. I do not believe that. On 
 the contrary, I know there are many 
 men in our State that belong to that party 
 who are as much opposed to these deedi 
 of blood and violence as I am. 
 
 But I do state to-day, and I stated from 
 the knowledge that i have gained from ex- 
 perience, after nearly eleven years' s resi- 
 dence in South Carolina, and having been 
 intimately connected with the politics of 
 that State during that time— I do state 
 that there is an element in the Democratic 
 party either controlled or partly controlled 
 by the men who leaded the band of mur- 
 derersat Hamburgh a party beaded by such 
 men as General M. C. Butler and General 
 Geary, and men of l hat class, who by their 
 acts and their words, by their counsel to 
 the people who do these deeds of blood, 
 urged them on to commit these great 
 crimes. While perhaps General Butler 
 would be too much of a gentleman or too 
 honorable a man toshoot a negro if he had 
 told him to run off, for the mere pleasure 
 of seeing him fall, yet by bis advice these 
 | dirty "scoundrels and murderers who did 
 that shooting were actuated and encour- 
 aged to do these deeds of blood; it was by 
 just such men as Butler and Geary, of 
 Edgefield County. Those are the men 
 who advocated and recommeuded thisout- 
 rage upon the colored people; and it was 
 simply because they are members of the 
 Republican party, because they cannot 
 control their suffrages and get them to put 
 them in office by their votes. They say to 
 them, "You have to act with the Demo- 
 cratic party in South Carolina; or we will 
 make you do it." The edict has gone 
 forth that a black man in South Carolina 
 
12 
 
 must cither vote the Democratic ticket 
 in the future or follow in the footsteps of 
 those who fell at Hamburgh. It has placed 
 my distinguished friend from Mississippi 
 — no, I do not know that he would allow 
 me to call him that — it has placed him in 
 A position to obtain a seat upon this floor, 
 to be elected to the Senate. He says that 
 they have peace in Mississiqpi and in Ar-. 
 kansas. So they have; but it is the peace 
 of the grave; it is the lasting peace to the 
 colored man and to the white man who 
 dares to advocate those great principles 
 of civil and religious liberty that have 
 been advocated by the leaders of our 
 party — principles which came down to us 
 from our forefathers, and which it is our 
 duty to perpetuate and hand down to our 
 children as a sacred heritage. 
 
 Mr. Hoge. I withdraw the formal 
 amendment. 
 
 Mr. Foster. I renew it. I have a 
 word to say on this subject to gentlemen 
 from the South. It has been my good or 
 bad fortune politically (I do not know 
 which) to join other gentlemen in a report 
 on Louisiana affairs in which the truth 
 was told when it bore heavily on my party 
 friends. I denounced the fraud of the 
 returning board of Louisiana, and joined 
 heartily with Mr. Wheeler in bringing 
 about the compromise that bears his 
 name. I have never failed to denounce 
 my party when I found it in the wrong. 
 
 I concede that you have had bad gov- 
 ernment in some of the Southern States. 
 perhaps in South Carolina, though I doubt 
 it now. Under Governor Chamberlain the 
 government of South Carolina has greatly 
 improved. 
 
 If I know myself, I have none but tie 
 kindest feeling for tbe people of the 
 South. I long to see the day when peace 
 shall reign throughout your borders, when 
 prosperity shall bless all your undertak- 
 ings. I long to see the day when we shall 
 hear no more of the color line, wh«u every 
 man, be he black or white, shall be in the 
 full, unrestrained possession of every right 
 vouchsafed to him by the Constitution and 
 tbe laws. 
 
 I cauuot, however, close my eyes to 
 scenes of horror and bloodshed, of which 
 the Hamburgh massacre is a sample ; scenes 
 and outrages that would disgrace the sav- 
 age. 
 
 Talk not to me about your chevaliers, 
 your men of high honor, when they stand 
 by and witness (and, as I believe, encour- 
 age.) the bai barities of Hamburgh. 
 
 Are Mississippi outrages and tactics to 
 be transplanted to South Carolina? Did 
 you sell out the solid vote of the South to 
 Tilden; and do you propose to ratify your 
 bargain by scenes of bloody barbarity, a 
 parallel of which can only be found in the 
 South where v <:ii prate so much ,of honor 
 and high breeding? 
 
 Let me tell you, gentlemen of Georgia, 
 
 that it lies within your power to stop thes* 
 infernal outrages. Be as active it hunting 
 out the human Sends who ciossed the 
 bridge at Augusta, Georgia, to Hamburgh, 
 South Carolina, with artillery to shell out 
 of the citadel the forty negroes that could 
 not be dislodged by hundreds of armed 
 whites from your State and the State of 
 South Carolina. See that they are caught 
 and punished. 
 
 Mr. Cook. What evidence is there that 
 a single man went from Georgia? 
 
 Mr. Conger. I call the gentleman to 
 order. 
 
 Mr. Cook. These men never went from 
 the State of Georgia. 
 
 Mr. Poster. They did. General But- 
 ler admits it. 
 
 Mr. Cook. No. sir. 
 
 Mr. Foster. When y>i have caught 
 and punished these men t^cn shig to us a 
 panegyric to the vindication of outraged 
 law, instead of talking to us about noble 
 blood. Ay. a nobility that murders in cold 
 blood a captured negro. 
 
 If you gentlemen have not the influence 
 to stop these outrages you are not lit to oe 
 Representatives in the American Co.« ress. 
 You can do it if you will. Wheu yyu have 
 tried and have succeeded you will Ik ir the 
 most welcome shout of " Well done, good 
 and faithful servants" that has been heard 
 since the dawn of Christendom. We will 
 fall on your necks and rejoice. 
 
 [Laughter on the Democratic side of the 
 House and cries of " O, no! " 
 
 Mr. Cook. You must not fall on my 
 neck; you have fallen on our property and 
 on our rights as it is, and now you want to 
 fail on our necks. [Laughter.] 
 
 Mr. Foster. We did fall on you, and 
 you remember the fall. 
 
 Stretch out your hands in charity to 
 God's poor whom you have with you. Give 
 them to understand by every act of yours 
 that you recognize their complete political 
 rights. Wipe out all distinctions in youi 
 laws on account of color. 
 
 Let them feel and know that their old 
 masters are their friends, and that they 
 will if need be fight the world in arms to 
 preserve their liberty, notwithstanding it 
 was obtained against the masters' will. 
 
 Your professions will not do. These 
 barbarities must cease. If tbey do not 
 you must expect that the power of the 
 Government will be exerted to its full 
 limit if need be to protect the humblest 
 African in your midst. 
 
 Lay not the flattering unction to yom 
 souls that because you can give Tilden a 
 united vote he will be elected. 
 
 The instrumentalities used to bring 
 about a United South for Tilden will at 
 certainly give the North to Hayes. 
 
 We are as tired of Southern misrule ai 
 you arc. This misrule is not a one-sided 
 South as well as North. The ras- 
 cals hunt in pairs, as thereto in the North. 
 
18 
 
 When you catch a Belknap you catch a 
 Pendleton with him. [Laughter and cries 
 of " I O!"on the Democratic side of 
 the House.] So in the South, the steal- 
 ings are divided between the parties. 
 
 I beseech and implore you, men of the 
 South, to stop these outrages upon the 
 black man, thus restoring confidence in 
 you in the .North, and then henceforth we 
 will dwell together in unity, peace, and 
 good-will. The horrors of the war will be 
 forgotten. Then we will go hand in hand 
 exalting and glorifying the Republic. 
 
 Doc Adams's Statement — The Story of the 
 Two-Hour's Siege, and how he with a 
 Detachment of his Company Escaped 
 from the Armory. 
 
 [From our special correspondent.] 
 
 Aiken, South Carolina, July 12. 
 I send you a statement of Doc L. Adams, the 
 captain oi the militia company, just as It. lias been 
 given t>y him. lie saw a part or the affair and 
 was quite an interested party. Here is his state- 
 ment : 
 
 I am captain of Company A, Eighteenth Regi- 
 ment National Guard of the State Of South Caro- 
 lina, which company has been stationed at Ham- 
 burgh ; in fact it was made tip there from the 
 Citizens of 1 he town and vicinity. 
 
 On Saturday, the 8th day of July, abouthalf.past 
 four o'clock, General Butler, with about thirty or 
 forty men, assembled at the ofhee of Trial-Justice 
 Rivers, in Hamburgh. The occasion of this was 
 because at t bat hour the trial of the mflitiaofficers 
 was to take place. I went to Trial-Justice Hi vers 
 
 lied to him that I anil the other officers of 
 tbe company did notwantto be tried before him 
 that evening, and that we would give bond for oar 
 appearance before the ctrcuit court. Myreapon 
 for saying this to him was because I had beard 
 threats made against myself and others by the 
 forty or more armed men who werecrowded round 
 
 ': office. On making this statement to 
 Rivers he told me 1 could use my own judgment 
 about the matter, as he was of the opinion himself 
 that it would be unsale for myself and the other 
 officers to be tried at that time. 1 having con- 
 cluded not to go to the court, a committee came 
 from General Butler for me to meet him at the 
 bouse of s. K. Spencer, where a hundred or more 
 (urmed white men were congregated. 1 refused to 
 ge, 'Sieving my life would be unsafe. The white 
 
 vere armed with revolvers and sixteen- 
 Shooters. I then made the proposition that If 
 
 1 1 Butler would meet me halfway and keep 
 bis men back I would meet him, and we would try 
 and settle the matter without any trouble. This 
 General Butler refused positively to do, and sent 
 a message to the effect that the arms of the com- 
 pany ami the officers must be given up to him, 
 andtbathe would not guarantee any protection 
 whatever even if the arms and officers were sur- 
 rendered. 1 refused to agree to this, as I saw if I 
 did my men and myself would be at the mercy of 
 General Butler ami his men. I then, to preserve 
 the lives of my men and myself, took refuge in a 
 brick building'we used as an armory. There were 
 thirty-eight of -us in all. We had hardly got in 
 and secured the entrance before Generai Butler's 
 men opened fire on us. At this time General But- 
 ler had about two hundred men. They kept up a 
 brisk fire on the building for over half an hour 
 before we fired one shot lrom the building. Gen- 
 eral Butler's men were posted under the trestle of 
 the Charlotte, Columbia and Augusta Railroad 
 and under the abutment of tbe bridge of the same 
 lompany. This was between six and seven o'clock 
 p. m. We remained In the building until about 
 tight o'olook. 
 
 My reasons for leaving was because I hear* 1 
 threats made by General Butler's men to blow tbi 
 building up, and to send to Augusta for cannon. 
 an<l I knew wo could not hold il if either of thesi 
 ivere resorted to. Alter getting out of th< 
 building with my men the oompany divided, and 
 command of one portion and gavoLicuten 
 ant Attaway command of the other. The numbei 
 with mo amounted to about a dozen or so of men' 
 Art:-. way bad twenty-one. I wont to the left oi 
 the building with my men and escaped. Attawaj 
 and his men were captured. This is all that I ca« 
 speak of positively, as when I made my escape J 
 and the portion of men with mo came right on U 
 Aiken. At tbe time I left I think there were foul 
 or five hundred men under General Butler, wltli 
 re-enforcements coming in from Augusta and 
 Edgefield. Between twelve and one o'clook a1 
 least two thousand men were present, armed t« 
 the teeth. 1 left for Aiken about three o'clock 
 Sunday morning. 
 
 Boc Ii. Adams, 
 Capt. Co. A, Eighteenth Rcgt. N. O. S. 8. O. 
 
 The above statement is signed with Adams 
 own signature. He seems to be a man of sotni 
 intelligence, and as "mild mannered" as possible 
 He gave the statement without hesitation, and il 
 a manner which convinced me of his sincerity. 
 
 O. MoK. 
 
 PRINCE nrVKRS' STATEMENT. 
 
 The testimony was closed at this point, and 
 though many oihor witnesses were walling thll 
 was deemed sufficient. The verdict has not yet 
 been rendered. 
 
 Prince It I vers made the followingwritten state- 
 ment In substance to Attorney General Stone to- 
 I'ay : 
 
 On the affidavit of one Robert Butler he issued 
 warrants as trial justice lor Doc Adams and th« 
 other commissioned officers oi a militia company 
 in the town of Hamburgh for obstructing the 
 highway and prevent mg the said Kobort Butler 
 lrom passing. This was on tho 5tb of July, 18T6. 
 Owing to some confusion taking placeln thisoffioi 
 on the said day ho postponed the trial till Satur- 
 day, the 8th, at 4p.m, at which time General M. 
 C. Butler appeared as counsel lor Robert Butler. 
 During tbe said trial M t;. Bui ler asked for mor* 
 time, which was granted, he, Butler, promising 
 to be ready within an hour ; but ho never returnee 
 to Klvcrs r office any more, but went to August* 
 and returned with two companies of soldiers and 
 demanded tbe Immediate surrender of the arm* 
 in the possession of I he ml lit la to him. After some 
 talk with Rivers he, General Butler, granted 
 them a half hour I o comply wil h his terms. I,' I vert 
 then went to tbe drill room of the company and 
 consulted with the men who were there assem- 
 bled to get thorn to give up their arms sooner 
 than have bloodshed This they refused to do, 
 saying that General Butlor had no authority to 
 make them give up their arms. The time having 
 expired General Butler gave tho order for th<5 
 troops under him to fire, which they did, and said 
 hrc was not returned by the militia lor some 
 time. Butler told me he would have the amis oi 
 burn the town. 1, Rivers, ollered to box tbe gum 
 and send them to Chamberlain, but Butler would 
 not agree to this. 
 
 the hamburoh rtot — official rftfort of at- 
 
 turskv-obn kiial scone. 
 
 Office op thk Attornev Gtcnkrai., 
 Coti'MKlA, 8. C, July 12, 18T3. 
 
 Sir: According io your roquest of Monday last 
 I have visited Hamburgh for tho purpose of as- 
 certaining tho facts connected with the. killing of 
 several men thero on the nlghtot the 8th of .Tnly. 
 
 iviy information has beon derived chiefly from 
 Trial -Justice Rivers, and from the testimony of 
 persons who have been examined before the coro- 
 ner's iury, now in session, and 1rom those who re- 
 ceived wounds lrom the armed body of white men 
 who had taken (hem prisoners. 
 
 From tins information the following facts seen 
 to be clearly established : 
 
 During the administration of Governor Scott * 
 company of State mllltla was organized at Ham 
 burgh, of which Prloae Rivers was captain. Tbtt 
 
14 
 
 sompany was known as Company A, Ninth Regi- 
 ment, National Guard of the State of South 
 Carolina. Arms were at that time furnished lo 
 it, and some ammunition. This company, previous 
 to May, 1S78, had for some time but few names on 
 Its roll, drilled rarely, and soarcely kept, alive its 
 organisation. Hut in May of this year the num- 
 ber of members increased to about eighty, and 
 one Doc Adams was chosen captain. 
 
 On the 111] of July the company drilled on one 
 of the public streets in the town of Hamburgh. 
 The street on which they drilled was between 
 one hundred and one hundred and fifty feet wide, 
 but It was little used, and was overgrown with 
 grass, except in that portion which was used as a 
 oarriage road. While the company was thus 
 drilling Thomas Butler and Henry Getzen, his 
 brother-in-law, came along in a carriage u:;d de- 
 manded that the company should make way for 
 them. Adams halted the company, remonstratod 
 wit li Butler and Getzen lor thus seeking to inter- 
 fere with the company, and called their attention 
 to the lact that there was plenty of room on each 
 side of the eompany to pass. 
 
 Finding them unwilling to turn out of their 
 oourse, Adams Anally opened ranks and allowed 
 them to drive through. 
 
 This incident seemed to have angered Butler 
 and Getzen, who made complaint before Trlal- 
 Justioo Rivers against the militia company for 
 obstructing the highway. The trial justice on the 
 following day issued a warrant against Adams, 
 as he was the captain of the company, and 
 had him brought before him for trial. During 
 the progress ol the trial Adams was arrested by 
 thetrlal justice tor contempt of court, and subse- 
 quently the ease was continued until four o'clock 
 Saturday afternoon. July 8. 
 
 At that time Butler and Getzen, with General 
 M. C. Butler, who had been employed by Robert 
 J. Butler, lather of the former, as their attorney, 
 repaired to the office ol the trial justice, but Ad- 
 ams did not appear. 
 
 General Butler inquired as to the nature of the 
 charges against Adams, and asked if the trial jus- 
 tice was to hear the case as trial justice or in his 
 official capacity of major-general of militia. 
 
 To this the trial justice replied that ho was to 
 hear the case as a trial justice, but If the facts 
 showed that a military o flense had been com- 
 mitted, Adams would have to bo tried by a court- 
 martial. 
 
 General Butler thonstatod that he thought the 
 case might be arranged, and at his suggestion 
 tlmo was given him to see the parties. 
 
 After tins the 'rial justice did not seo General 
 Butler at his otllee, but learned that ho had gone 
 over to Augusta. 
 
 In the mean time the trial pistico had boen in- 
 formed that some two hundred or thrco hundred 
 armed white men wore In Hamburgh, and that a 
 demand had been made by them that the- militia 
 should surrender their arms After a consulta- 
 tion vvitn Messrs. Jefferson and Sponcer, Kivors 
 lent lor General Butler. He rode up to the back 
 
 fato of Kiver's house. The two had a conversa- 
 lon, in which General Butler said that ho had 
 given orders to have t he guns given up In half an 
 our, and the time was nearly up. 
 Rivera asked it some other arrangement could 
 not be made, lo which General Butler replied in 
 the negative. 
 
 Rivers then asked if he would not consent to 
 have him receive the arms, box t hem up, and send 
 Itaem to the governor. To which Goneral Butler 
 replied that ho would box them up and send them 
 to the governor, and if he, the govornor, should 
 return them to the company It would be at bis own 
 risk. Rivers then asked if thoy would give a 
 bond for the arms, to which Goneral Butler said 
 that he would stand the bond, and turning to 
 another person— 1 think K J. Butler— asked if he 
 would not go on a bond also, to which he replied 
 that ho would. 
 
 Rivers then asked for time before tiro should be 
 speneil on the militia so thai be might have a 
 Mmfcrotioe with the Boers. This was ae- 
 
 Hded to, and Rivers then went to the building 
 Mown as the Sll ley I uildlng, In the second 
 »f which the company had its armory and drill- 
 fftom, and where it was thejj assemt led, and told 
 Baptaln Adams wcat u.:gLt be expected if he 
 
 should refuse to give up the arms. To this Ad- 
 ams replied t hat General Butler hud no right to 
 the guns; thai 1 he company held them, and he 
 proposed to hold them, unless General Butler 
 showed some authority to take them. 
 
 After this Interview Rivers returned to General 
 Butler, with whom was Kobert J. Butler. He 
 told them the decision to which the company had 
 come. Then Kobert J. Butler said that General 
 Butler was his attorney; that he had come to 
 settle the matter. If the company would apol- 
 ogize for the insult to his son and son-in-law hs 
 would do nothing more. But the whole matter 
 was in Goneral Butler's hands. General Butler 
 said that, as the men would not meet him, he 
 would have no more to do with them. Genera) 
 Butler was asked by Rivers If he would guarantee 
 the safety of the town should the militia surren- 
 der their arms. He said that would depend on 
 how the men behaved themselves afterward. 
 
 This statement is confirmed by S. P. Pixley. 
 
 While these negotiations wore going on the 
 armed bony of white men in the town were con- 
 centrated on the bank of the river near the Sibley 
 building. Soon after they were broken off firing 
 began. Men who were in the building say that it 
 was commenced by the whites firing upon the 
 building. Adams gave his o r ders not to shoot un- 
 til ho directed them to. The company had Tory 
 little ammunition, and all they had was a portion 
 of that issued to the company when it was first 
 organized. 
 
 After the firing had begun it was returned by 
 the militia, and one of the attacking party, Mc- 
 Kie Mernweathor, was shot through the head and 
 instantly killed. Alter this apiece of artillery, 
 said to "belong to the Washington Artillery, ol 
 Augusta, was brought over from Augusta and 
 four charges of canister were tired from it upon 
 the armory, but without injuring anyone. The 
 persons In the armory escaped troni the rear by 
 means of ladders, and" hid in under floors of adja- 
 cent buildings, or wherever else they could find 
 shelter. 
 
 The first man killed by the whites was James 
 Cook, town marshal. He had been In the armory, 
 but was not a member of the company. He had 
 gone into the street lroui the rear of the Sibley 
 bulling, and was at once fired on and fell dead in- 
 stantly, pierced by five or six bullets. 
 
 Afterward the whites began their search for the 
 members ol the company. They succeeded in 
 getting about twenty-five colored men as prison- 
 ers, Somo of whom were never members of the 
 company. As fast as the men were captured they 
 were taken to a place near the South Carolina 
 Bailroad, where a large party of armed men 
 stood guard over them 
 
 None of those thus caj>lured had arms in their 
 hands. 
 
 Subsequently, and at about two o'clo.k a m., 
 six men took A. T. Attawayout of the' ring." 
 Ha and his mother begged for his Hie, but to 
 vain. He was then told to t»rn round, and was 
 shot to death by the crowd. 
 
 IXstVld Phillips was next taken out and was 
 similarly killed. 
 
 Poinpey Curry was next called out. He recog- 
 nized among tho bystanders Henry Getzen and 
 Ur. Pierce Butler, and called on them lo keep ibe 
 other men from killing him He ran, and was 
 shot at as he ran, one bullei striking him in the 
 right leg below the unee. 
 
 Afterward Albert Myni&rd. Moses Parks, and 
 Hampton Stevens were killed. Stevens did not 
 belong to the eompany. Nelder John Parker, who 
 has been commonly referred to in the newspaper 
 reports as John Thomas, was corporal in the 
 company. 
 
 When he was arrestod and taken to the spot 
 
 whore the other prisoners were, he recognized 
 
 among the party two gentlemen o( Augusta, 
 
 rwiggs and Chutfee. He appealed to them 
 
 for protection Tney said lie should not bo hurt. 
 
 He states that General M. C. Butler asked him If 
 
 be was i>ne id the ■! — d rascals. The reply was in 
 
 rmative. He was then shot in the back. 
 
 Messrs. Twiggs and Chatfee then said if he was 
 
 :dn they would shoot the ones who did it. 
 
 II ev look him'off, and had him taken to Augusta. 
 
 He was shot before Attaway was killed. He may 
 
 recover from his wounds. 
 
15 
 
 One Butler Kd wards was taken as a prisoner. 
 He say* he was taken before General Butler, who, 
 • i th" t ne, was In the street near the Sibley build- 
 ing, i 'us was about twelve o'clock. 
 
 Threats we o made to shoot him. Goneral But- 
 ler i trecte 1 that he be tikan to the others. He 
 reooguized unMig the crowd one Captain Oar Wile 
 
 and Dunbar, of Augusta; said he had a long 
 
 talk with the former. He was among the prisoners 
 w'-o T<sr? let looso anl told to run ; as they r*u 
 they w,cre bred at and he wis shot in tho head. 
 He was not a member of the c. m pan jr. 
 
 Willis liaris, one of the members of the com- 
 pany, was taken to the place whore were the otnar 
 prisoners. The moo statei that .blin Swannger, 
 of Edgedeld county, had charge ol the prisoners. 
 He states that he siw General Butler bed-re the 
 men were killed, who astced mm what he wjs d .>- 
 lug, and told him he would have enough of u be- 
 fore he g-ot through. He was shot in the arm, 
 near the elojw, when at j-. twenty paces distant 
 from the crow. I. The ball is seal in his arm, and 
 he sutlers muoh pita. He also states that some 
 if the young men from Georgia remonstrated 
 against shooting the pnoners hut in vain. 
 
 Besidos the killing and wounding of the men 
 herein mined, the party broke open several stores 
 and houses, ani, in some instances rc-obed the 
 Inmates. They took from Mr Charles Koli the 
 postmdster, and a very respectable white citizen, 
 a gun which had m his store, and hi? private prop- 
 •rty. From an old ooloreJ man, named Jacob 
 Samuels, in his employ, a watch and 
 
 let fire to his house. They broke open the bouse 
 of Trial-Justice Kivers, aod did much dam 
 well as robbed him of clothing They obtained 
 kerosene oil and attempted to set nre to a house, 
 tout were prevented by Colonel A. P ljutler from 
 doing so. The ropes of the public wells were cat 
 and some fences were torn down. 
 
 §o far as 1 can learn, the primary object of the 
 whites was to take away from the militia their 
 arms. 
 
 The man Parker, who was wounded, states that 
 os Friday, the 7th instant, ho had a long talk 
 With one Harrison Butler (white) on Broad street, 
 Augusta. Butler told him that if Rivers did not 
 rive orders for tho militia to give up their arms 
 they would take them any way on tho next day 
 
 On Saturday rumors were abroad in Han 
 that there were armed parties coming in to t:ike 
 the guns, but little credit was attached to them. 
 
 One of the white citizens of Hamburgh heard - 
 conversation between David Phillips and r>i 
 Butler in the afternoon. Phillips talk* 
 
 i big, as the gentleman said, and General But". 
 
 i ler told him that thev wanted those guns an> 
 were bound to have them. 
 
 ; In the afternoon Colonel A. P. Butler went t< 
 t lie vinous stores In town and told tho proprietors 
 that they must not sell any liquor to his men In 
 spito ot this, however, some of the men compelled 
 one of tho storekeepers to rurnish them liquor 
 from the same person they obtained kerosene oil 
 to use in setting fire to a house. 
 
 The whites were armed with guns and small 
 arms of various kinds, and manyol them had axes 
 and natcnets. 
 
 It 14 proper to state that tho intendant of Ham- 
 burgh, .Mr. Gardner, was informed by General 
 Batler, in an interview with him, that the arms 
 of the company must bo given up. 
 
 rriai .Justice Rivers is now holding an inquest 
 ana takitig testimony ot witnesses. Until their 
 verdict i.t rendered, it will be impossible to tell 
 who were engaged in tho attack on 1 he militia 
 and the xubeequent killing and wounding of the 
 eol red men. 
 
 It may be possible that a onroful judicial inves- 
 tigation may show some slight errors in some ol 
 the minor details suited in this report. But, 
 matting due allowance for such errors, the facts 
 show the demand on the militia to give up their 
 
 I arms was made by persona without lawful author- 
 Ity to enforce such demand or to receive the arms 
 bad ihej been surrendered; that the attack on 
 the uiilltu to compel a compliance with this de- 
 
 j nuind was without lawful excuse or justification; 
 
 I and that alter there had been some twenty of 
 twenty live prisoners captured and completely in 
 
 I the power ol their captors, and nlihoui means of 
 making further resistance, five ol tbeui were de- 
 liberately shot to death and thre<s more severely 
 wounded. 
 
 It further appears that, hot content with thui 
 satisfying their rongeance, many of the crowd 
 added to their guilt i he crime ol robbery of de» 
 fenseless poople, nud were only prevented from 
 arson by the efforts ol their own lenders. 
 Yours, very respectfully, 
 
 W I 1.1.1 AM STONR. 
 
 .*it->r;eij General, South Cartlin* 
 Hon. D. H. Chameehi ain, Oovtrnor. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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