Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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I._. V vy A REAL FIND. (Index-Journal.) The publication of certain facts connected with the hanging of Mat-' thew Love at old Ninety Six in 1784 j in this newspaper last week has resulted in a real "find", a real contribution to local and State history, through the interest of Mr. A. J. Sproles, of this city. Mr. Sproles has a copy of the "American Museum" a magazine published shortly | after the Revolution, for the year' 1787, all numbers bound in one. In| this bound volume among other things of interest, is a copy of a letter written to Governor Guerrard by Judge Aedanus Burke himself,! ' I giving a full account of the famous hanging. It is an official report and is the last word on hte affair. Evi-J dently it was not known or was not, available to either Judge O'Neall or Gov. B. F. Perry, or their accounts would have had some reference to Judge Burke's own account of it. The contribution to history lies in the fact that Judge Burke specifically f states that Love was NOT taken from' the court house and hanged, but that the party waited until court had ad- j journed ana tnen went to wnere jjove was lodging and took him out and; hung him. He further says that they observed "every precaution" to respect the presence of the judge in the town. Thus the stories as to' what he said in court both as related by Judge O'Neall and by Gov. Perry,1 who wrote the account for Johnsons'! Traditions, were without foundation.! Judge O'Neall expressly states thatj "tradition ays so and so." Gov. Perry relates his account as if it were from unimpeachable sources. Thus1 falls to the ground another piece of "history." I The first part of the letter is taken up with an account of the bloody j deeds of certain Tories in the district' during the Revolution and thus explains the strone feeling against , Lovfe on the part of the patriots. It, appears that Love had run away shortly before the close of the Revo-! lution and it was when he attempted j to come back to his old haunts that ( he was arrested and thrown in the , Ninety Six jail. ] The letter from Judge Burke to ] Gov. Guerrard, with the sketch of the j part of certain Tories before the end < of the Revolution, left out, is as fol-j] lows: 11 "Copy of a letter from Mr. Justice (] Burke, to the governor of South, Carolina, giving an account of the' execution of a man named Love at Ninety Six, in November 1784. Charleston, 14th, Dec. 1784. SIR: | I arrived from my circuit this evenine. and take the earliest oppor-1 tunity to communicate to your ex-j cellency a very extraordinary affair which happened in the town of Ninev ty Six, on the 7th ult. I suppose your excellency is not unacquainted with the noted Tory, William Cunningham." He then relates the massacres of patriots by Cunning-1 ham and says that "a man named Love" was one of his principal lieut-1 enants. ove was a fiend in human form. When Col. Hayes and his party had surrendered and Cunningham ordered them killed, Love went to I the work with the fire of a savage and not only killed more than any one else, but took his sword and went all around, thrusting it into those who had not died instantly when cut down or shot by others. It was said that those already dead, he stabbed again and gave many barbarous insults to the bodies of Col. Hayes, Captain Williams and others of the party of patriots which had been massacred. The facts were related by Majors Hunter, Downes and Mulvee who through the soft-hearted- j ness of a member of the band, and by the intercession of their own slaves who had taken up arms under the Tories, escaped. Now follows the account of the trial and hanging: i. Thenceforth Love was held in unk1 versal execration, and went off with the British, but some time ago, ven-: turing to return to the vicinity of Ninety Six, he was taken up by a justice of the peace, who committed him to jail, thinking so barbarous a man did not come under the treaty of peace, so as to be sheltered from prosecution. The attorney for the state pressed the matter before the court of sessions. But I over-ruled the prosecution; and gave it as myi opinion, that his conscience, his fee j lings alone, stood responsible for what was alleged; and on motion of his council, he was discharged. I could not help remarking at the same time, that no appearance, not a look of disapprobation, was directed against him; all seemed reconciled to the court's decision. Love's acair closed the business of the sessions, and the court then adjourned to the 26th of April next. A party of men, as respectable for good character and services in the war, as most in the district, composed of the fathers, sons, brothers, and friends of tne siam prisoners, had attended court as usual, and waited until the judge had left the court house, and arrived at his lodgings. And then without tumult or noise, they made Love a prisoner, and put him on horse-back. Through the whole affair they studiously affected to preserve every appearance of respect towards the judge; for though the house which they supposed he had entered, led directly to the place where they intended to convey Love, yet they took a circuit another way, to the skirt of a wood, where arriving under a tree, to an arm of which they tied one end of a rope, with the other around his neck, and bid him to prepare to die; he urging in vain the injustice of killing a man without a trial, and they reminding him that he should have thought of that when he was slaughtering their kinsmen. The horse, drawn from under him, Jeft him suspended till he expired; Aid the multitude dispersing back Ifito town, all was quiet, as if nothing had happened. Thus I have related this unhappy affair and the motives which led to it, as I heard it. And I can assure your excellency, that whatever appearance this transaction may have to the contrary, the people of Ninety-Six appear very desirous to forget the injuries of the war, and settle the government, provided those do not return among them, who have committed wanton acts of barbarity. Many plunderers and other mischie^ vous people, - who had taken part with the enemy, now set down a-j mong them without molestation; nor can I learn that a serious resentment exists against any man who acted like a soldier, and fought them, or killed their friends in fair open action. But it is to be lamented that such men as Love is described to have been, will be so infatuated as to return, to keep alive the remembrance of past calamities, and thus FVT Lj/\ 1 THE The Cleveland. I News Says: "It's one of the * Best Things Cleveland Has Seen on the Screen in a Long Time. i Have You* Matinee and Night I FRIDAY and SATURDAY. prevent a restoration of public tran-: je quility. r? I have the honor to be, &c. th AEDANUS BURKE. S] His excellency governor Guerard.'in : | ai AN OLD-TIME LYNCHING IN NINFTY-SIX DISTRICT;!8 I 'Ll Recalled by the Hanging of a White I ... 31 Man in Missouri the Other Day by ^ an Infuriated Mob. j | ? i w 1 (H. L. Watson, in Greenwood Index-' Journal.) I ? I ' The action of the crowd out in ^ Missouri day before yesterday in takI I pi ing a prisoner from the courtroom ^ and hanging him to a tree outside ^ had a counterpart in what is now this ^ county over one hundred years ago. A man* named Matthew Love was , 1 te forcibly taken from the court at Old ^ Ninety-Six and hanged to a tree out- ^ side by citizens who were outraged at his acquittal. The party that took the law into its own hands was led by i ai Gen. William Butler, who had distin- , i b( jruished himself in the Revolution. i There ara two accounts of the! 6" 1 * j oi hanging. Judge O'Neall says that 1 Matthew Love was tried for sedition! ^ before Judge Aedanus Burke, an!^,. Irishman, of many eccentricities. The! ] > plea was made to Judge Burke that! . Love was not amenable to the Am-i ,C1 hi erican court, for the reason that under the treaty of Utrecht all for- ? ! mer Tories were granted amnesty. ! This treaty, by the way, was record-, . I i ed in every court house in the thir- , I I teen states, and, as a copy of it was ' on record at Old Cambridge, Judge, | Burke had to take judicial notice of( its provisions, and he ordered a ver-j * diet of acquittal. CG ! Gen. William Butler and his relaI l \\i tives and friends who had been; | ^4 watching the trial with intense in-' terest, for Love had been particular-^ ly obnoxious to the patriots in that j part of the state, immediately seiz-j F' ed Love, dragged him from the pris-J ' oner's box and started for the door.) According, to Judge O'Neall, Judge ' Burke ordered the sheriff to suppress n< the riot. N T ( "It is more than my life> or yours w is worth," was the sheriff's reply. ' M On hearing this, Judge Burke bi sprang from the bench, called to his' in servant, "Kit, Kit, get the horses, sc Kit"! ! co He was soon in the .saddle, fand sii stayed not his flight until he was un- th der the roof of his countryman, Sam-1 th uel Kelley, at Springfield, twenty-' tii four miles from the scene of vio-J tl 'R A OR DIN, A Vi. A. V-X X 1A : GREATEST H *' ]Ever Suspicioned if you c dramatic the greate xr>, then you i Y& OPl nee. He droped his razors in his ipid flight. Caleb Gilbert -found lem and brought them to him at pringfield. Burke, in his delight and| i his best sounding Irish, said, "You e a proper honest fellow." The other acount of the hanging given by Former Governor B. F.l srry in his Reminiscences. He says Dve was being tried for stealing,'] id on his acquittal was seized, ta- < :n from the court and hanged to a : ee outside. He also adds that the i ife of Love was in the court and,'i rowing herself down before Judge < urke, besought him to save her, 1 lsoana ana that Judge Burke re- 1 ied thus: "Fore God, Madam, they i ould hang me too." He knew the t mper of the men who were under i jtler. The truth is that Love was acquit- j d under the provisions of the treaty ith England, and, though this was e thing to do under the law, tradiDn is that Love^ had kept up his ischief after the close of the war id that his conduct had become unsarable. This, he added to the fact iat he had been an active member : the "Bloody Scouts," under( Bloody Bill" Cunningham, and that most every home in that section, id felt the cruel and murderous ind of this band, was more than the' tizens could stand. General Butler, mself had had his aged father and. ;her members of his familv shot jwn in cold blood by this gang. An interesting sequel is that Gen.; rilliam Butler was. himself elected leriff of Old Ninety Six district in| 194, showing that he was by no! eans regarded as a lawless citizen' f his fellows. i The stories of Judge Burke's ecmtricities are many and interesting. re hope to reproduce some of them ; another time. "WIVES OF MEN" eaturing Florence Reed and Frank Mills, to be Shown at the Opera House Friday and Saturday. "For over two weeks, every afterjon and evening, the big Casino j heatre, Broadway, New York City,! as filled to capacity when 'Wives of; en' was being shown there. This j g seven part special feature starr- j g Florence Reed is one of the reen's most dramatic stories It intains enough thrills and startling tuations to make a half-dozen of e so-called program features. From ie time of the astounding revelaons brought out at the wedding in : first reel until the surprise end-1 II \ \RY PF UMAN STOR ^Blf^^^^^^B|^Ks>v^^S^flE)|^^HflHNi^H^B That Your Hus l :an sit through this tren episode without expe st thrill of emotion of yc ire bereft of all human: i ERA HOL ing in the seventh part the interest J never lags for a moment. It is one of the greatest pictures vfe have ever presented. See 'Wives of Men* at! the Opera House Friday and Satur-J day, Matinee and Nights." ' PREPARE FOR THRILLS. Those who are going to follow the newest serial treat of Marie Wal-j :amp fame have some thrills in store | for them. When you realize that the' scenes of "The Red Glove," which, are going to make you clutch the j 2dge of your seat and hold your breath, mean for Marie Walcamp as-J bounding feats of daring, sometimes it the risk of her life, always with ;he possibility of severe injury, you vill appreciate that you are watching Excellent Real ? I The John P. Wilsor acres 01 line larin ia,m town, good dwelling, cellent value for quid The L. C. Haskell ! roomy dwelling with encesr 20 acres of lan and pasture. 2 Lots on Trinity St 1 Lot on Magazine 2 Lots on Wardla^ 1 Lot on Orange St: 1 Lot on Parker St: - These are all nice 1 close in town and in g Abbeville I and Tri I J. S. Stark, Pres. 'ESENTAl y OF ALL til * I IM St mK \ ^B/ J9 - ^^B^QKg^^yE lyH^BIH^jBHRaaKi i 6and Was Untr lendous, | p iriencing rnr life,- Ji feeling. ^ jy BE the exploits of a real star. When-the famous serial "The Lion's Claws" was being filmed Miss Walcamp crawled to the end of a limb over a pool in which a score of alligators waited for her to fall into their yawning maws?in the jungle scene. The limb cracked. Members of the company rushed to fight off the aligators with barbed hooks, but the daring star caught a slender strand of vine hanging from the tree. The director ordered the pic- ' ture to stop, but Miss Walcamp shouted to her rescuers, "Stay out of the picture and keep shooting! I am all right." ' Don't miss the thrilling "RED GLOVE SERIAL," beginning at the Opera House on next Tuesday. Values in Estate, ? i home place, 140 8 i just on the edge of | barn and cabin. Exc sale. home place, large all modern convenid with good garden ;reet. Street. y Street. reet. reet. Duilding lots and all ood neighborhoods. Insurance list Co. W. L. Peebles, Mgr. ION MES The Cleveland Plain Dealer Says: "It's Just the Kind That Makes Picture Goers." nmaBH ue to You? RI. and SAT. une 6th and 7th. | latinees 3 & 4:30 1 -'-Li.- O P_ O.Ort 1 Igllts, O OC UiOKJ. 25c. and 50c.