Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THE TRUMPET BLAST. REV. DR. TALMAGE ON 'BRINGING IN THE SHEAVES-" He Shows How Some Mtighty Sickle May Be Used For the Gospel Harvest-A Pow erfui Sermon to ani Immense Throng. WASHINOTON, Feb. 16.-A change has taken place. Dr. Taimage when first coming to Washington preached only Sunday evenings, but so great has been the demand for his services that he now preaches Sunday morning and evening and takes charge of the Thursday evening meeting. The throngs are immense. The subject of his sermon for today was "Bringing In the Sheaves," the text being Joel iii, 13, "Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe." The sword has been poetized, and the world has celebrated the sword of Bolivar, the sword of Cortes and the sword of Lafayette. The pen has been properly eulgized, atrd the world has celebrated the pen of Addison. the pen of Southey and the pen of Irvinz. The painters' pencil has been honored. and the world has celebrated the pencil of Murrills, the pencil of Rubens and the pancil of Bier stadt. The scnlntor's chisel has come in for high encomium, and the world has celebrated Chantrey's chis el and Crawdford's chisel, and Greenought's chisel. But there is one instrument about which I sing the first canto that was ever sung-the sickle, the sickle of the Bible, the sick le that has reaped the harvest of mny-.n centuries. Sharp and bent into asem icircle and gltt:riug, this reaping hook, n,, long er than your arm, has furnished the bread for thousands of years. Its success has produced the wealth of nations. It.has had more to do with the world's progress than sword and pen and pencil and chisel all put together. Christ pus the sick le into exquisite sermonic smile, and you see that instrument flash all up and down the Apocalpse as St. John swings it, while through Joel in my text God commands the people, as through his servants now he com mands them, 'Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe." Last November there was great re joicing all over the land. With trum pet and cornet and organ and thous and voiced psalm we praise the Lord for the temporal harvests. We prais ed God for the wheat, the rye, the oats, the cotton, the rice, all the fruits of the orchard and all the grains of the field, and the nation never does a better thing than when in the au tumn it gathers to festivity and thanks Clod for the greatness of the harvest. But Icome today to speak to you of richer harvests, even the spiritual. How shall we estimate the value of a man? We say he is worth so many dollars, or he has achieved such and such a position, but we know very well there are some men at the top of the ladder who ought to be at the bot tom and some at the bottom who ought to be at the top, and the only way to estimate a man is by his souL We all know that we shall live forev er. Death cannot kill us. Other crafts may be drawn into the whirl pool or shivered on the rocks, but this within us will weather all storms and drop no anchor and 10,000,000 years after death will shake out sig nalson the high seas of eternity. You put the mendicant off your doorstep and say heis only a beggar, but heis worth all the gold of the mountains, worth all the pearls of the sea, worth .un and moon and stars, worth the entire material universe, Take all the pprthat ever came from the-paper mlsand put it side by side and sheet by sheet and let men with fleetest pens make figures on that paper for 10,000 years, and they will only have began to express the value of the soul. Sup poeIowned Colorado and Nevada and Australia, of how much value would thybeto me one moment after I redthis life? How much of phia does Stephen Girard own today? How much of Boston proper ty does Abbott Lawrence own today? The man who today hath a dollar in hispocket hath more worldly estate than the millionaire who died last year. How do you suppose I fee, tude of souls, each one worth more than the material universe? Oh, was I not right in saying this spiritual harvest is richer than the temporal harvest? I must tighten the girdle. I must sharpen the sickle. I must be careful how Iswing the instrument for gathering the grain lest one stalk belost. One of the most powerful sickles for 'epn this spiritual harvest is the p ecig of the gospel. If the sickle haea rosewood handle, and it be -adorned with precious stones, and yet it cannot bring down the grain, it is not much of a sickle, and preaching amounts to nothing unless it harvests souls for God. Shall we preach philoso phyThe Ralp Waldo Emersons could beat us at that. Shall we preach sci ence? The Agassizes beat us at that. The minister of Jesus Christ with weakest arm going forth in earnest prayer and wielding this sickle of the gospel shall find the harvest all around him waiting for the angel sheaf bind ers. Oh, this harvest of souls! I no tice in the fields that the farmer did not stand upright when he gathered the gram.' I noticed he had to stoop to his work, and I noticed in order to bind the sheaves the better he had to put his knee upon them. And as we go forth in this work for God we can not stand upright in our rhetoric and our metaphysics and our condition. We have to stoop to our work. Aye, we have to put our knee to it, or we will never gather sheaves for the Lord's garner. Peter swung that sick le on the day of Pentecost, and 3,000 sheaves came in. Richard Baxter swung that sickle at Kidderminister, and McCheyne at Dundee, and vast multitudes came into the kingdom of our God. Oh, this is amighty gospel: It cap tured not only John, the lamb, but Paul, the lion. Men may gnash their teeth at it and clinch their fists, but it is the power of God and the wisdom of God unto salvation. But, alas, if it is only preached in pulpits and on Sab bath days! We must go forth into our stores, our shops, our banking houses, our factories, and the streets, and everywhere preach Christ. We stand in our pulpits for 2 hours on the Sabbath and commend Christ to the people, but there are 168 hours in the week, and what are the 2 hours on the Sabbath against the 166? Oh, there comes down the ordination of God this day upon all the people, men who toil with head and hand and foot-the ordination comes upon all merchants, upon all mechan ics, upon all toilers, and God says to you as he says to me: "Go, teach all nations. He that believeth and is bap tized shall be saved, and that believeth not shall be damned." Mighty gospel, let the whole earth hear it! The story of Christ is to re generate the nations; it is to eradicate all wrong; it is to turn the earth into a paradise. -An old artist painted the "Lord's Supper," and he wanted the chief attention directed to the face of Christ. When he invited his friends in to criticise the picture, they admired the chalices more than they did the face, and the old artist said, "This pictur s a failure," and he dashed out the picture Of the cups and said: "1 shall have nothing to detract from the face of the Lord. Christ is the all of this picture. Another powerful sickle for the reaping of this harvest is Christian song. I know in many churches the whole work is delegated to a few peo pie standing in the organ loft. But, my friends. as others cannot die for us we cannot delegate to others the work of singing for us. While a few drilied artists shall take the chants and exe cute the more skillful music, when the hymn is given out let there be hundreds and thousands of voices uniting in the acclamation. On the war to grandeurs that never cease and glories that never die let us sing. At the battle of Lutzen a general came to the king and said: "Those sldiers are singing as they are going into bat tie. Shall I stop them:" "No," said the king. "Men that can sing like that can fight." Oh, the power of Chris tian song: When I argue here, you may argue back. The argument you make against religion may be more skillful than the argument 1 inake in behalf of religion. But whocan stand befoi e the pathos of some o plifted song like that which we sometianes sing: show pity, Lord; 0 Lord. forgive? Let a repenting ieblei live! Are not thy merces large and fre'? May not a sinner trust in thee? Another mighty sickle for the reap ing of the gospel harvest is prayer. What does God do with our praye.s Does he go on the battelments ef heav en and throw them otf? No, What dol you do with gifrs given you by those who lr. ouverv much? You keep them with great sacredness. And do you suppese God will take our pray ers, offered in the sincerity and love of our hearts, and scatter them to the wind:? Oh, no: He will answer all in some way. Oh, what a mighty thing prayer is: It is not a long rig marole of 'ohs" and "ahs" and "for ever and ever, amens." It is a breath ing of the heart into the heart of God. Oh, what a mighty thing prayer is: Elijah with it reached up to the clouds and shook down the showers. With it John Knox shook Scotland. With it Martin Luther shook the earth. And when Philipp Melanchthon lay sick unto death, as many supposed, Martin Luther came in and said, "Philipp, we can't spare you." "Oh," said he, "Martin, you must let me go: I am tired of persecution and tired of life. I want to go to be with my God." "No," sid Matin Luther, "you shall not go. You must take this food, and then I will pray for you." "No, Mar tin," said Melanchthon, "you must let me go." Martia Luther said "You take this food, or I will excommunicate you." He took the food, and Martin Luther knelt down and prayed as on]y he could pray, and convalescence came, and Martin Luther went back and said to his friends,"God has saved the life of Philipp Melanchthon in direct answer to my prayer." Oh, the power of prayer: Have you tested it? Dr. Prime of New York, in his beati ful bookeni i tkd "Around the World," described a mausoleum in India which it took 0J,,00 men 22 years to build that and the buildings surrounding and he says, "Standing in that mauso leum and uttering a word, it is echoed back from a height of 150 feet-not an ordinary echo, but a Drolonged music, as though there were angels hovering in the air." And every word of earn est prayer we utter has an echo not from the marble cupola of an earthly mausoleum, but from the heart of God and from the wings of angels as they hover, crying, "Behold, he prays !" Oh, test it: Mighty sickle for reaping this gospel harvest, the sickle of prayer: It does not make so much differenc'e about the posture you take, whether you sit, stand or kneel or ]ie on your face or in your physical agonies lie on your back. It does not make any dif ference about the physical posture, as was shown shown in a hospital, when the chaplain said as he looked over the beds of the of suffering; "Let all those wounded men here who would like to be prayed for lift the hand." Some lifted two hands; others lifted one hand; some with hands amputated could only lift the stump of the arm. One mmn, both his arms amputated, give* no signal except to say: "Me: Me !" Oh, it does not make any dif ference about the rhetoric of your pray ers. It does not make any difference about the posture. It does not make any difference whether you can lift a hand or have no hand to lift God is ready to hear you. Prayer is an swered. God is waiting to respond. "Lift up your eyes upon the fields, for they are white already to harvest." How many have you reaped for God? Do you ask me how many I have re aped for God ? I cannot say. Now, can you say how many you have re aped ? I hope there are some who have been brought into the kingdom of God though your instrumentality. Have there not been ? Not one? Y ou, a man 35, 40, 50 years of age and not one? 1 see souls coming up to glory. Here is a Sunday school teacner bring ing 10 or 15 souls. Here is a tract dis tributor bringing in 40) or 50 souls. Here is a man you never heard of who has been very useful in bringing souls to God. He comes with 150 souls. They are the sheaves of his harvest. How many have you brought? Not one-can it be ? What will God say ? What will the angles say ? Bet ter crouch down in some corner of heaven and never show yourself. Oh, that harvest is to be reaped now ! And that is this instant. Why not be re aed for God this hour?. "Oh," says some man, "I have been going on the wrong road for 30, 40 or 50 years. I have gone through the catlogue of crime and must first get myself fixed up." Ah, you will never get yourself fixed up until Christ takes you in charge: You get worse and ivorse and worse until he comes to the rescue. "Not the righteous sinners Jesus came to call." So, you see, I take the very worst case there is. If there is a man here who feels he is all right in heart and life, I am not talking to him, for he is probably a hypocrite. I will talk to him some other time. But if there is a man who feels himself all wrong, to him I address myself. Though jyou be wounded in the hands, and wounded in the feet, and wounded in the head, and wounded in the hea.rt, and though the gangrene of eternal death be upon you one drop of the elixir of divine life will cure your soul. Though you be soaked in evil indulgences, though your feet have gone in unclean places, though you have companioned with the abandonedt and lost, one touch of divineirace will save your soul. I do not say that you will not have struggles after that. Oh, no! But they will be a different kind of strug gle. You go into that battle, and all hell is against you, and you are alone, and you fight, and you fight, weaker and weaker and weaker, until at last you fall and the powers of darkness tramle on sour soul. But in the other case you go into the battle, and you fight stronger and stronger and stronger until the evil propensity goes down and you get the victory through our Lord Jestus Christ. Oh, come out of your sins: llave you not been bruised with sin long enough? tHave you not carried that load long enough? ave you not fought that battle long enough? I rattle the gates of your sepulcher today. I take the trtumpet of the gospel and blow the long, loud Charlemagne's army had been driven back by the three armies of the Sara eens, and Roland, in almost despair. took up the trumpet and blew three blasts in one of the mountain passes, and under the power of those three blasts the Saracens recoiled and tied in terror. But history says that when he had blown the third blast Roland's trumpet broke. I take this trumpet of the gospel and blow the first blast, "Whosoever will." I blow the second blast, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found." I blow the third blast, "Ncw is the accepted time." But the trump (t does not break. It was handed down by our forefathers to us, and we will hand it down to our children, that after we are dead they may blow the trumpet, telling the world that we have a pardoning God, a loving God, a sympathetic God, and that more to hin than the throne on which he sits is the joy of seeing a prodigal put his iinger on the latch of his father's house. I invite any one the most infidel, any one the most atheistic. I invite him into the kingdom of God with just as much heartiness as those who have for 50 years been under the teaching of the gosoel and believed it all. When I was living in Philadel phia, a gentleman told me of a scene in which he was a participant. T Callowhill street, in P'hiltdeiphia, there had been opoerful meeting go inp on for some time, and many were converted, and anmong others one of the prominent members of the worst clubhouse in that city. The next night the leader of that clubhouse, the oresident of it, resolved that lie would endeavor to get his comrade -away. He came to the door, and before he entered he heard a Christian song, and under its power his soul was agitated. He went in and asked for Drayer. Be fore he came out he was a subject of converting mercy. The next night another comrade went to reclaim the two who had been lost to their sinful circle. He went, and under the pow er of the Holy Ghost became a changed man, and the work went on until they were all saved and the infamous club house disbanded. Oh, it is a mighty gospel: Though you came here a chifd of sin, you can go away a child of grace. You can go away singing: Amaz-ng grace, how swe et the sounI That save: a wretch Ike me! l ooce was lost, bat now am found Was blind, but now I see. Oh, give up your sins! Most of your life is already gone. Your children are going on the same wrong road. Why do you not stop? "This day is salvation come to thy house." Why not this minute look up into the face of Christ and say: Just as 1 am without one plea But that thy blood was shed for me, And that thou bld'st nce come to thee 0 Lamb of God, I come, Icome! God is going to save you. You are going to be among the shining ones. After the toils of life are over you are going up to the everlasting rest. You are going up to join your loved ones, departed parents and departed chil dren. "Oh, my God," says some man, "how can I come to thee? I am so far off- Who will help me? I am so weak. It seemi such a great un dertaking." Oh, my brother, it is a great undertaking! it is so great you cannot accomplisL it, but Christ can do the work. He will correct your heart, and he will correct your life. "Oh," you say, "I will stop profanity." That will not save you.. "Oh," you say. "I will stop Sabbath breaking." That will not save you. There is only one door to the kingdom of God, and that is faith; only one ship that sails for heaven, and that is faith. Faith the first step, the second step, the hun dredth step, the thousandth step, the last step. By faith we enter the king dom. By faith we keep in. In faith we die. Heaven a reward of faith. The earthquaioe shook down the Phi lippian dungeon. The jailor said. "What shall I do? Some of you would say, "Better get out of the p lace before the walls crush you." Wat did the apostle say ? "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved ." "Ah," you say, "there's the rub!" What is faith? Suppose you were thirsty, and I offered you this glass of water, and you believed I meant to give it to you, and you came up and took it. You exercise faith. You be lieve I mean to keep my promise. Christ offers y-u the water of everlast ing life. You take it. That is faith. Enter into the kingdom of God. En ter now. The door of life is set wide open. I plead with you by the bloody sweat of Gethsemane and the death groan of Golgotha, by cross and crown, by Pilate's courtroom and Jos eph's sepulcher, by harps and chains, by kingdoms of light and realms of darkness, by the trumpet of the arch angel that shall wake the dead and by the throne of the Lord God Al mighty and the Lamb ti~at you attend now to the things of eternity. Oh, what a sad thing it will be if, having come so near heaven, we miss it! UOh, to have come within sight of the shin ing pinnacles of the city and not have entered: Oh, to have been so near we have seen the migty throng enter, and we not joining them! Angels of God fly this way: Good news for you. Tell the story among the redeemed on high. If there be one there especially longing for our salvation, let that one know it now. We put down our sor rows. Glory be to God f or such a hope, for such a pardon, for such a joy, for such a heaven, for such a Christ!: _________ The Right views. Tom Miller, one of the negro repre sentatives, made a speech in the House a few days ago in which he gave his reasons for voting to make the birth day of General Robert E. Lee a State holiday, lie did not believe that the cause for which Lee fought was right he said: but there was no doubt that Lee was a great man, and it was on account of his greatness that he was able to prolong the war for four years. Had the war ended sooner, the eman ipation of the slaves would have probably not been one of the results, and, therefore, it was indirectly to Le that the negroes owed their freedom from slavery. W\e are glad to see that Miller recognizes that emancipation was only a result, not an object of the war. Too many of the colored people in their ignorance believe that the North undlertook all that dreadful lghting for no other reason than the establishment of their lirberties, when, as a matter of fact, emancipation was :ly a matter of supposed vengeance against the South.-Democrat. Lost Treasure and Life. STAMFolD, CoNN., Feb. 18.-Early oday lire destroyed the farm house of charles Gildermeister at Buxtom Place, Riverton. Mrs. Gildermeister, after she had been taken out with her children, returned to the house for some valuable papers and money, and was burned to death. Mr. Gilder meister' was so badly injured in try ing to aescue his wife that he~ can scarcely recover. A llanker Assassinatedi. BAmu:IE, O.T., Feb. 18.-J. A. Stra thy, manager of the Bank of Comn mrce in this town for the last fifteen years, was shot and fatally wounded today by an un known man who called at his house and upon Strathy's ap pearance drew a revolver' and shot hm. The assassin then flied. Strathy is one of the most popular and well ko-- banerse in the Province. TWO WHITE 3MEN HANGED IN COLLETON COUNTY FOR MURDE:R ING AN UNKNOWN SLAVE. A F.mous Trial of Ante-Belum Dz.ys. How the Murderers c-f Negroes was Dealt With in Those Days in South Carolina. C.uRLErSTON. Feb. 20 -The recent lynching in Colleton county has pro voked the indignant comment of 7he press of the United States and almost every newspaper in South Carolina. It will be remembered that Isham Kearse, a negro of bad reputation, his wife and mother were dragged from their home one nignt last December, and beaten by a party of white men, one of whom was a physician. Kearse was found dead the next morning in the place where they had left him; his mother was found dead, from fright or exposure, in a small pool a few yards farther on, and his wife barely escaped with her life. The crime was committed near Broxton's Bridge, a section of Colleton county where negroes largely outnumber the whites, and where robberv and arson had been very common and the guil ty p-rsons had bee a-unpurisheci or a vear or ~ :'~earse was suspected of having been implicated in several incendiarisms, but the offenses for which he was beaten to death were attempt at rape and the alleged theft of a Bible from a Baptist church in the neighborhood. The eight lynchers, seven white men and one negro man. are now in jail. Governor Evans ordered State Detective Newbold to work un the case, and he has gathered a great deal of testimony going to prove "a horri ble murder," and "has every assur ance of a conviction." The white men charged with the crime are Dr. W. B. Ackerman, Frank Jenney, Frank Brant, Wyman Kearse, Jake Folk, Frank Stanley and Press Hiers. They have secured the services of Col. Rob ert Aldrich of Barnwell, and four members of the Colleton bar to repre sent them. Solicitor Bellinger will probably be assisted by Attorney Gen eral B3rber in the prosecution next week. The "Broxton Bridge horror," as the newspapers call it, recalls what was perhaps the most celebrated murder trial in the ante-bellum history of South Carolina. Colleton county was the scene of the crime, a negro was the victim, and his two white murder ers were hanged. The men were tried, convicted and executed at a time when, according to all our northern friends, the negro was regarded as "a chattel," though no less eminent an authority than Jefferson Davis denied that the use of that term was correct. A brief story of the crime and its ex piation will be of interest. THE MOTLEY-BLACKLEDGE HORROR On Jury 5, 1853, Thomas Motley and William Blackledge, two white men, caught and killed an unknown runaway negro, a stranger who doubt less obtained his living by petty thiev ing from the very men who convict ed his murderers. The negro was caught in a swamp with the assistance of a pack of bloodbounds. He was subjected for a night and part of the succeeding day to torture of so terri ble and shamefual a nature that it can not be put in print, and was eventual ly throttled and killed by the ferocious dogs set on by their masters. The story of the crime leaked out and the people of Colleton pushed the arrest and prosecution of the murderers. Motley, one of the accused, was the son of a rich farmer, and money was freely expended for his defense by the ablest counsel; his companion, Black' ledge, was one of the poorest class of backwoodsmen. They were tried, found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. The solicitor who prosecuted the case was M. L. Bonham, afterwat d a brigadier general in the Confederate army and one of the war governors of South Carolina. The foreman of the jury was Isaac Marion Dwight, a grand nephew of Francis Marion and a man of intrepid spirit and exalted character. Mr. Dwight and several of the jurymen were representative men and large slave-holders. The Supreme Court on appeal sustained the verdict. Judge John Belton O'Neall, before whom the case was tried, "charged the jury that they might find that it was done in sudden heat and passion, and thus mitigate the offense, but a jury of Colleton county found them guilty of mu;-der, nevertheless." Judge O'Neall, in pass ing sentence of death on the two men said, inter alia: "It may be profitable to you to re call the horrid deeds which you,joint ly and severally, committed at the death of the poor, begging, unoffend ing slave. I will not repeat the dis gusting details of the outrages com mitted; the public are already :ully informed and your own hearts, in every pulsation repeat them to you, I may be permitted, however, to say to yo~u, and to the people around you, and to the world, that hitherto South Carolina has never witnessed such atrocities; indeed, they exceed all that we are told of savage barbarity. For the Indian, the moment his captive ceases to be a true warrior. (ini the sense in which he understands it) and pleads for mercy, no longer extends his suffering-deathi, speedy death, follows. But you. for a night aind a part of the succeeding day, rioted in the sufferings and terror of the poor negro, and at length your ferocious dogs, set on by you, throttle&. and killed him as they would a wild beast. Can't you hear his awful death cry, 'Oh, ILord:' If you cannot hear it the Lord of Hosts heard and answered it. He demanded then and now froii you the fearful account of blood: "You have met with the fearful consequences of the infamous business in which you were engaged-hunting runaways with dogs equally fierce and ferocious as the Spanish bloodhounds. With one of you (Motley) there could have been no excuse. Your father, young man, is a man of wealth, reap ed and gathered together by a 1life of toil and privation :that the son of such a man should be found more thtan a hundred miles from home, following a pack of dogs, in the chase of negro slaves, through the swamps of the lower country, under a summer's sun, shows either a love of cruelty or of money which is not easily satisfied. To the other p.-isoner, Biackled~e, it may be that poverty and former devo tion to this sad business mighit have presented some excuses." Bo0TH CONvICTED AND HANGED. The trial excited the most intense interest throughout the State, and es pecially in Colleton and other great slave-holding counties on the c:oast. It was not until 1S21 that the death penalty had been imposed in South Carolina for the miurder of anegro by a white man, and never before this had two white men been condemned for killing one negro. The well paid law yers of Motley made every effort in his behalf known to the law, an& peti tions were sent to Governor J. L. Manning praying executive clemency, but all to no avail. The influence of Motley's money and the disapproval by many slave-holders of the execu tion of two whites for killing one black, made the authorities fear an at tempt at a rescue of the prisoners, and a battalion of State militia, including the Washington Light Infantry and Washington Artillery of Charleston, commanded by Maj. A. M. Manigault, guarded the jail and surrounded the scaffold when the prisoners were exe cuted. The story of the case can be found in Seventh Richardson, South Ca-olina Reports, page 327. It is to be hoped that the people of Colleton of today will be as persistent in re pressing lawlessness as were their progenitors in 1853. .IUD(;E WILD S SENTETCA| ON sLATER. Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe's key to to "Uncle Tom's Cabin" contains the sentence of Judge Jamuel Willds on a white man, Slater, convicted of the murder of his own slave in Charles ton in 1807. There is no session dock et or journal among the court records of Charleston extant until 1833, and it is owing to Mrs. Stowe's pertinacity and assiduity that the very notable sentence was unearthed and given to the public. Perhaps the Grimke sis ters, two very violent anti-slavery agi tators in Charleston, furnished her with it. Slater was not condemned to death, as the punishment under the act of 1740, under which he was con victed and sentenced, was a fine of i700 currency, equal to ?100 sterling and incapacit. 4- enjoy or reccAei the profit~s o m ipla'e "or em picyment, civil or military, and if un able to pay this fine, then imprison ment for seven years. It was the ac.t of 1S21. under which Motley and Blackledge were hanged, which chang ed this trifling punishment to the death penalty. Judge Wild's sen tence makes inte:r esting reading to the st'.ident of negro slavery in South Carolina, It reads, in part, as follows: "John Slater, you have been con victed by a jury of your country of the wilful murder of your own slave; and I am sorry to say the short, im pressive, uncontradicted testimony on which that conviction was founded leaves but little room to doubt its pro priety. The annals of human deprav ity may be safely challenged for a parallel to this unfeeling, bloody and diabolical transaction. You caused your unoffending, unre sisting slave to be bound hand and foot, and by a refinement of cruelty compelled his companion, perhaps the friend of his heart, to chop his head with an axe and to cast his body, yet convulsing with the agonies of death, into the water. And this deed you dared to perpetrate in the very harbor of Charleston, within a few yards of the shore, unblushingly, in the face of open day. Had your murderous arm been raised against your equals whom the laws of self-defense and the more effacious laws of the land unite to pro tect, your crime would not have been without precedent and would have seemed less horrid. Your personal risk would at least have proved that though a murderer you were not a coward. But you too well knew that this unfortunate man, whom chance had subjected to your caprices, had not, like yourself, chartered to him by the laws of the land the same rights of nature; and that a stern but necessary policy had disarmed him of the rights of self-defense. Too well you knew that to you alone he could look for protection, and taat your arm alone could shield him from oppression or avenge his wrongs; yet that arm you cruelly stretched out for his destruc tion. * * * "From the peculiarsituation of this country our fathers felt themselves justified in subjecting to a very slight punishment him who murders a slave. Whether the present state of society requires a continuation of this policy, so opposite to the apparent rights of humanity, it remains for a subsequent legislature to decide. Their attention would ere this have been directed to this subject but for the honor of hu man natare, such hardened sinners as yourself are rarely found to disturb the repose of society." It was this same Judge Wilds who. to disaouse the public mind of the opinion that a husband may chastise' his wife provided the weapon be not' thicker than his little finger, pro claimed the law of South Carolina on this subject in the following graceful extract from "The Honeymoon :" "The man that lays his hand upon a woman, Save in the way of kindness is a wretch, Whom 't were gross flattery to name coward." YATES SNOWDEN'. Horrorsi of a Hanging. ST. Locis, Feb. 20.-Mismanage ment, in competency and tortue offi ciated at the hanging of James Fitz gerald in the Four Court's jailyard this morning. T wo reprieves had lengthened out the misery of the con demned. At 12 o'clock midnght, Governor Stone telegraphed from Jefferson City that the hanging should not take place before 10 a. m. When the tower clock struck 10 o'clock, Sheriff Troll still hesitated. At this moment, the sheriff received the fol lowing telegram: "Feb. 20, 9:45 a. m.-Henry Troll, sheriff: I decline to further interfere in the case of James Fitzgerald. You can, therefore, only discharge your duty. W. J. Stone, Governor." Then the solemn procession from the condemned man's ciell began. Father McEdlane, reading the prayers for the dying, supported Fitzgerald to the foot of the scaffold. Sherdff Troll led him to the trap and adjusted the rope and hood, and the concealed hangman said: '"All right." At exactly 10:17 o'clock, the trap was sprung. Fitzgerald's body shot downward. Instead of stopping when the rope's er'd was reached, there was a sharp snap, a wail from the unfortu nate wretch and Fitzgerald's body lay writhing on the ground.- The rope had broken. Officers at once rushed to the spot and found Fitzgerald was still alive and conszious. "My God: My God:, my throat !" he groaned. Before the horror-stricken watchers could touach him, he arose. Standing up with the black cap over his face and the broken instrument of death dangling from his heck, he walked in to the morgue, where he was giyen stimulants. He was more anxious than his executioners for death, and begged that the end come <quickly. When a sccond rope was called for, none was to he had, and Fitzgerald lay moaning on a slab in the morgue, while a messenger was sent a distance of nine squares for a new rope. Fath er McErlane bent over the body of Fitzgerald and "-ited prayers. Once Fitzgerald raised his haand, and pulled the head of the priest to his face and whispered earnestly for a half minute. What that communication was will never be known, but the l ace of the priest, then ashy pale, turned scarlet and tears fell fr-om his eyes. At 10:45 the messenger arrived with a ne w rope, which was quickly ad just ed and Fitzgerald was carrried to the scaffold. It was necessary for two deputy sheriffs to hold him up while the noose was placed. Fitzgerald's only words were pleas for haste- At 11:02 the trap was again spring. At 11:13 the attending physicians pro nounced life extinct and the corpse was given to relatives. To say that the community is indignant at the sheriif and his assistants is putting it mildly, Sheriff Troll says all the us ual tests wvere applied to the death ap paratus before the hanging and that the horrible scene at the first attempt was wholly due to some defect in the ,.,me tha t could noat be foreseen. THE WEBSTER FACTION of tie rIeiablican to old a Conventjon in April. COLUML. S. C., Feb. 19.-The fol lowing interesting circular was vester day issued from Republican headquar ters in this city and explains itself: Headquarters of Republican State Executive committee. Coixxm, S. C., Jan. 2, 1806. A call is hereby made for a converi tion of the Republican party of South Carolina, to be held at the city of Co lumbia on Tuesday, the 7th day of April, 1896, at 12 m., for the purposi of electing four delegates at large aid four alternate delegates at large to represent the Republican party of said State in the national Republican con vention to be held at St. Louis, Mo.. on the 10th day of June, 1S96. The Republicans of the various counties, and all voters without regard to past political affiliations, who believe in Republican principles and endorse the Republican policy, are cordially in vited to unite under the call of thei respective county chairmen in the election of dele tsajLsotrs ventio. The convention will be composed of 125 delegates. appointed among the sev-eral counties of the State, as fol lows: Abbeville 5, Aiken -3, Ander son 5, Barnwell 5. Beaufort 4, Berke ley 4. Charleston 9. Chester 3, Chester field 2, Clarendon 3, Colleton 4, Darl ton :3. Edgefield:3, Fairfield 3, Flor enee *3, Gergetown 2. Greenville 5, Ham.pton 2, Horry: Kershaw 3, Lan caster 2, Laurens 3, L-xtington 2, Ma rion 3, Marlboro 3, Newberry 3, Oco nee 2, Orangeburg 5, Pickens 2. Rich land 4, Saluda 2. Spartaburg G, Sum ter, 5, Union 3, Nilliansburg 3, York 4. A copy of the call for each county convention should be sent to the chair man of this committee as soon as the same is issued, and this committee should be promptly notified of the de legates elected to the State convention. Each congressional district is entitled to two delegates and two alternate de legates to the national convention, who shall be chosen at conventions called by the congressional committee of each such district in the same way that nomination of representatives in congress is made. All district conven tions should be held within the bounds of the district, and cannot be held later than 30 days before the meeting of the national convention. It is recom mended that the county chairman and the member of the congressionai com mittee from each county join in the call for a county convention, so that as far may be practicable, delegate3 to the 'Itate qnd congressional conven tions may be elected at the same cou n ty convention. This committee recommend the fol lowing apportionment of delegates to dist-tict conventions: First District, 3A Delegates-Beau fort 6, Berkeley 2, Charleston 13 Col leton :1, Georgetown -1, Williamsburg 3. Second District, 27 Delegates Hampton 4, Barnwell 8, Aiken, 6, Edgefield 6, Saluda 3. Third District, 27 Delegates--Abbe ville 9, Newberry 5, Anderson 7, Oco nee 3, Pickens . Fourth District, 36 Delegates Greenville 9, Laurens 6, Fairfield 5, Spartanburg 8, Union 4, Richland 4. Fifth District, 25 Delegates-York 7, Chester 5, Lancaster 3, Spartanburg 2, Chesterfield 3, Kershiaw 4, Union 1. Sixth District, 27 Delegates-Claren don 4, Darlington 5. Florence 4, Marl boro 4, Marion 5, Horry 3, Williams burg 2. Seventh District, 29 Delegates Berkeley 4, Colleton 4. Lexington 4, Richlend 2, Sumter 7, Orangeburg S. E. A. WEBSTER, Chairman. Attest, J. H.JoHsso,_Secretary. VACANT PROFESSORSHIPS FILL ED Meon Deemed Competent Elected to Fill the Various Positions at Clemson. COLUKIBIA, S. C., Feb. 19.-The board of trustees of Clemson college have been in session in Columbia for some time, and yesterday the consid eration of important matters was en gaged in. Several vacant professor ships were filled by men in whom the trustees seem to place the greatest con fidience and trust and who are highly spoken of. A member of the board of trustees yesterday gave the representative of The State a short sketch of the profes sors elected by the board, and they are g-iven below in full: SMr. J. V. Lewis, who was elected to the chair of Mineralogy and geolo gy, is a native of North Carolina and graduated some years ago at the State university there. For a few years af ter graduation he was employed on the United States geological survey. He then spent a year at John's Hopkins university and another year at Har vard under the distinguished geolo gist, Prof. N. S. Shaler, who thus writes of Mr. Lewis: "While here he won the esteem and respect of all who came in contact with him. He is a gentleman; he is well trained in bis profession; he had an excellent intinence upon the young men with whom he caane in contact. If there were a vacancy in our geolog ical corps I should consider Mr. Le wis as a fit candidate for the place, provid ed it called for any other than certain special attainments. If you had writ ten me to recomimend a candidate I should have asked you to consider Mr. Lewis as perhaps the most available of all I could have mentioned." Since leaving Harvard Mr. Lewis has been engaged in the geological survey of North Carolina, and also comes highly recommended by IPro fessor Holmes, with whom he has been working. 'He is a member of the Batist church and recently married, andi a member of the Y. M. - -. A. Capt. Ezra B. Fuller was elected in structor of physics to fill the ilace made vacant by the -esignation of Prof. C. W.- Welch. Captain Fuller is well known to the people of this State and it is sutlicient to say as to his qualifications that he taught phys ics for four years at WVest Point. Hie is considered an unusually strong man. Mr. W. M.- Riggs, a native of South Carolina, was elected assistant profes sor to Professor Tompkins in mechan ical and electrical engineering. He is a graduate of the Alabamh Polytech nic institute and has had some special training at Cornell university. For the past three years he has been an as sistant in thc mechanical departmnent of his alma mater. lie has the unqual itied endorsement of the faculty at Auburn. Mr-. Riggs has had a great ~leai of experience in the practical work of a mechanic. Hie is unmar ied and belongs; to Presbyterian fam ilyr instructcr in wood work the board elected Mr-. Albert Barnaes, a raduate of Cornell university. More iicultv was founad in iliing this po sition th'an all the others- Mr. B3arnes, it is believed, will measure up with the high standard which the board re uires. lHe is a man of tine education ai a large practical exper-ience. :inee graduatio'i he has taken a spe ial cou-se in order to rnore fully qui:) himself for the work. Mr-. Barnes is unmarr-ied and a member of he Cougregationalist church. Mr. John Thompson. a gr-aduate of he University of Minnesota, was elected assistant in the department of .hemistry. For several year-s smneI gr1,,a+on Mr Thnmpson has pursued rpecial courses in chem*a been for some time an t the university. He has tural chemiistry a specialt ticular!y strong in this t M r. Tb-m pson is a marrie Mr. Bowman. the prese r in forcZe and foundry . tained in his present posit All these gentlemen e unanimous support of th The rest of the work e board was of little impor o interest to the geueral pub The board expected tha tive committee would c them for further informat ing the college, but they pear at any of the meeting The trustees adjourne afternoon and most of t have already gone home. The college will open tod most of the students will sides a great many new preparations are all co r their reception.--State. T0 BAQO-tfiRE. ise;t 3othod of Cultivating and Curing Fine Yellow Tobacco. Mr. James B. Hobgood, of Gran ville county, N. C., gives the follow ing methods of planting, cultivating and turing tobacco, which we take from the Richmond Tobacconist: Plant Beds-The first work in pre paring for a crop of tobacco is to burn and sow in good time plenty of plant land, in warm, moist situations. Se lect land that will not become sodden by too much rain, and, if possible, let the1 spots- be on creeks or branches (far enough off to guard against over flowing), with a south or soutwhest exposure. Burn the land well. My plan is put down on my beds, about four feet apart, what we term "skids" -oles the size of a man's arm. These are to keep the wood off the ground. Wien these skids are burnt up. one may as a rule know that the land is burnt hard enough and that it is time to move his fire on further. This is the best guide I can give to the inexperi enced as to the length of time the land should be burnt. The best time for burning, in tne latitude of North Carolina and Virginia is from the first of January to first of March. Good, fine stable manure, free from seeds of grass, oats or clover, with some good commercial fertilizer, is what I think best to use on plant beds. After burning, rake off the ashes, cover the ground well with stable ma nure, hoe up the bed thoroughly, and and make it fine by repe ted hoeing and raking; then mix the tobacco seed, using one and a half tablespoon fuls in every 25 pounds of fertilizer to every 100 square yards in the bed, and then tread it with the fee- or pat with the hoe. Tobacco seed requires but little covering, and if covered too deep will fail to come up. Cover the bed with fine brush (dogwood is the best if convenient), to protect the plants from frosi and to keep the bed moist. Sometimes it becomes neces sary to force the growth of plants in order that they may be large enough to transplant at the proper time; this is done by using some quick, reliable fertilizer as a top dressing, care being taken not to apply it when the plants are wet with dew or rain. Soil-Gray, friable soils-fresh from the forest or long out of cultication with a dry, porous subsoil, are the best adapted to the growth and maturity of yellow tobacco. Plow your land and put it in good conditien before bedding, run the rows off three feet four inches each way, using, according to the strength of the land, fromi ninety to one hun dred and ten pounds of good fertilizer to every one thousand hills. Use farm pen manure in the drill with the fer tilizer; it will be found of very great advantage, even if it is not convenient to use it except in small quantities. Planting-Plant in hills as early af ter the first of May as the plants and season will admit. As soon as the plants take good root, commence cul tivation, whether in a grassy condi tion or not, and continue to stir the land with plow and hoe until the to bacco begins to come in top, using short single trees as the plants increase in size, to prevent bruising and break ing. After the plants become too large to admit of the plow, use only the hoe to keep down grass. Topping-It is best to wait until a good number of plants button for seed before beginning to top, as these will then ripen together. A man must top according to the appearance and pi om ise of the plant, the strength of the land, &c.; he must use his own judg ment in topping, bearing in mind that a strong, healthy plant can bear high er topping than a small one. As a gen eral thing the first topping will bear ten to fourteen leaves, priming off the lower leaves neither too high nor too low, so that when the plant ripens the bottom leaves may be well off the ground. As the season advances, con tinue to top lower, so that the plants may ripen before frost. Cultivation After Topping.-Never plow tobacco later than the first Au gust: after which time use the hoe, as late plowing keeps the tobacco green too long and causes it to ripen with a green color. Vv hen tobacco begins to ripen, use neither plow nor hoe, as quality is better than quantity in this case. After being topped, tobacco should be kept as clear as possible from worms and suckers. Cutting.-Let your tobacco stand on the hill until thoroughlyripe, bearing in mind not to cut any until a barn an be filled with plants of uniform ripeness, color and quality. Put seven medii.m sized plants on a stick four and a half feet long. Let the plants go from the cutter's hands over the ticks in the hands of the holder, after being filled, the sticks should not touch the ground for any length of time, in fact, it is better for them to go directly from holder to wagon and from wagon to barn. where they should be tiered about eight inches part-that is, if the tobacco is of me iumi size. Barns.--I think barns that are sev nteen and a half feet square are the best for curing successfully;: a barn of his size, with four tiring tiers below he joints, will hold about a hundred nd lifty sticks. Curing.-As lune-curing has taken he place of the older method of cur ng by charcoal, it is only necessary o give directions for that purpose. A ry, curing heat is the principle of >both methods. Flue curing has many dvantages over the primitive way, eing chear er, cleaner, giving the to acco a sweeter flavor, and it is at ended by less danger of fire. My ad: vice, right here, to the novice is. to see for himself the plan on which a to. >aco barn is built and arranged for :uring. Temiperature.-After filling the >arn with ripe tobacco, start the heat t about 90 to 100 degrees Farenheit nd keep) there for ~30 or 36 hours, vhich letgth of time is commonly re .uired to y ellow tobacco, some taking little longer- or shorter time. Right ere is where a man must exercise his udgment, as neither the best theory nr the most minute directions will erive-it is a practice that makes a good cure. After finding the best leaves in the arn of a uniform yellow and the oth rsof apea green, one can, as a gen POWDER Absolutely Pure. A cream of tartar baking powder Highest of all in leavening streneth-La test United States Government Faod Re port. Royal Baking Powder Companv, 10G Wall St,. N. Y. the yellowing heat at the rate of five degrees every two hours. When 115 degrees is reached. it is time to give to bacco air by cracking open the door and making holes as large as a man's head on each side of the barn near the bottom logs; which treatment will be of great advantage, as the tobacco will commence drying off and the trails will begin to turn up. Continue to increase the heat at the above rate until 135 is reached, where the heat must be kept for tvwelve hours, which is the length of time re quired to cure the leaf. Raise the heat now five degrees every hour and a half until it gets to 180 degrees. This heat will in a short time cure both stems and stalk. As a general rule. by following these directions, tobacco will come out of the barn a pretty uni form yellow. To cure it a bright, clear yellow, it must have all the heat it will bear until it reaches 135 de grees. Ordering and handling. -After to-., bacco is thoroughly cured, let it come in order enough to handle well; then move from curing barn to packing barn, or some tight house, and bulk down so that it will retain its color, as exposure reddens it. Stripping.-When ready for strip ping take as much bulked tobacco as one wants and hang at some damp time in a ctiring barn, so as to bring it in order to handle. In stripping, se lect leaves of uniform size and color. making about six or seven different grades and tie in bundles of six leaves. After tying the bundles should be hung on a stick, putting about 25 bun dles on a stick, and the sticks put down in a bulk, perfectly straight. This will press the tobacco out fRat and cause it to make a better appear ance on the market. It should re main in bulk for several days. CLEMSON INVESTIGATED. Mir. Mc3laster's Letter to The State Fuly .Justified. COLUMBIA. S. C.. Feb. 20.-The fol lowing report of the recent investiga tion by a legislative committee into the workings of Clemson college was yesterday handed a representative of The State: To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of South Carolina: "That a joint committee consisting of two members of the senate and three members of the house of representa tives be appointed to make an investi gation into the workings of Clemson college, the service of its various de partments and as to the foundation of certain rumors, reporting a lack of harmony in the colaboration of the board of trustees. That said commFE~ tee have leave to sit at such time and places as will serve their convenience and that they have power to send for persons and papers and report lo the present session of the general assembly by bill or other wise." Under the above concurrent resolu tion we, the undersigned members of the committee, acting through the au thority of the same, beg leave to make the fol lowing report thereon: First, as to the workings of Clemson college, we beg to say that the com mittee visited the college on Thursday, Feb. 6th, and remainedi there for inear ly three days, that they personally in spected and examined all the depart ments of the institution ahd so far as they were able by diligent observation and inquiry from the various heads and assistants of said depart maents, would say that systematic man agement and apparent good order were clearly indicated and especially was this observable in the chemical, horti cultural and dairy departments. It appeared to the committee that the mechanical department was also liber ally equipped for perfect instruction in mechanics, but upon consultation with the president of the college and a majority of the board of trustees, we were told that to graduate successsully the senior class (which is large)I other additions of machinery to that depart ment were absolutely necessary, and should be made at once. As regards the agricultural department, in which connection the Hatch fund for experi ments in agriculture is a valuable ad dition, we saw no reason or necessity for further outlay, with the exception ot two additional instructors which were elected at the recent meeting of the board of trustees. We regret to add, but nevertheless are firmly con vinced from the testimony taken, that smlicient attention has been sadly acking in pushing and perfecting the two paramount departments of the in titutions mechanics and agriculture. The evident intention of the projec or and founder of the institution was o give to South Carolina an agricul ural and mechanical college. We eieve, however, that the board of rustees and the president are now horoughly awakened to the impor ance that specially attaches to those two departments which immediately oncerns and determines the futnre success or failure of the institution as uch arid that they will work vigor m'sly and harmoniously to that end. our committee would further report hat as pertaining to the rumor of the ack of harmony in the bard of trus ees that the testimony taken points unmistakably to the truth that such vas a fact, and that impediments were n some instances interposed which mpeded or stayed for a time the pro ~ress of the institution. We believe, however, that the cause wich provoked said condition has ow been removed by a partial reor ~anization of the faculty and the dis hiarge of certain professors and in ~tructors and the election of others, rhich impresses us with the belief that iereafter the board of trustees and the >resident and faculty will work har noniousiy and that we may con fident y look for success and progress in that ~reat institution of learning. We would say further that a cursory ~xamination of the bookkeeping of he colle g e disclosed the fact that the ooks of the institution were neatiy nd simply kept, and that the plan of, uditing accounts and making requisi ions for materials, etc., disbursing ucds for various payments showed erfect system and simplicity. All of which we respectfully submit .d ask to be discharged from further