Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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\ THE DARK DAYS Tillman Tells the Story of the Strugles of 1875 * IN SOUTH CAROLINA An Address Delivered by Senator Tollman at the Ked Shirt Reunion at Anderson, S. C\, 011 August 25, iii tin* Presence of Several Thousancl Knt hits lactic People. Tlie Hamburg lliot. Judge Aklrich told you last night that he could toll more about the Hamburg riot than I could because he would not have to criminate himself. As for that 1 have nothing to conceal about the Hamburg riot. I told the Republicans in the senate that we had to shoot negroes to get relief from the galling tyranny to which we had been subjected and, while my utterances were used in the Republican campaign book for 1900, I think my very boldness and the frankness with which I explain ed conditions did more to enlighten and disarm the fanatics than anything else I could have said. 10von Senator Hoar was so impressed that he became my warm personal friend. Because of the potent influence in arousing the white men of the State to their duty, I shall give you the story of the Hamburg riot in full, not dealing at this time with the two Ned 'Pennant riots and the. Ellenton riot. The third of these disturbances or riots occurred in Hamburg in July, 187(5, and this tragic episode in the struggle for white supremacy caused more widespread comment throughout the north and was more far reaching in its influence upon the fortunes of the white people of South Carolina than anything of the kind which ever occurred in the State. Congress appointed an investigation committee to take testimony and the bloody shirt was .waved by the northern press and politicians from one end of the country to the other. The two preceding disturbances, of which 1 have spoken, while causing great excitement arvd uneasiness, had resulted in no blood shed other than the wounding of two negroes, T\_ l..,f I1.A llnml.npir ill'ill l/l . i\n:i\ic r>, uui inc uiiiiiuui(, riot caused the death of seven negroes and one \\hite man, while two negroes and another white man were seriously wounded. The cause of the trouble, as in the two Ned Ten nan t riots, was the negro militia. The town of Hamburg, opposite the city of Augusta, and thirteen miles below where I was born and reared and was then liv, ing, had been a prosperous mart of trade between 1840 and 1860. At one time It had a population of between 3,000 and 4,000 and>did an immense business with the South Carolina planters . Owing to its liability to overilow by the Savannah river it had begun to decline and at the time of which I write it was occupied almost entirely by negroes. The white population consisted of a few families. The number of stores was small. The negro population in 187 6 probably numbered 1,200 v and it had become an harbor of lefuge for all of the cow thieves, cotton thieves, house burners, and other types of criminals among the negroes. Owing to the fact that the municipal government was composed of negroes, the town marshal was a negro. Gen. Prince R. Rivers, an ex-Union soldier, commander 01 the negro militia, State Senator from Aiken county and Trial Justice, lived there and the negroes were exceedingly insolent and it was dangerous for white men to go through the town unless they were well armed. A negro militia company of about one hundred men had been organized in this lawless den and one Dock Adains was captain. On the afternoon of the 4th of July, 187G, this company was drilling and parading on Main street and as was usual a very large proportion of the negro population were admiring spectators. A young man, Thomas Ilutler, whose father lived on^ the high hill two miles away, returning homo g from Augusta whither he had been on business found the street bloskod by the negro militia company. The militia were marching "company front" and the line extended /ron) sidewalk to sidewalk. As young Iliitler approached, instead of throwing man infa "/inlnmn nf fmifa" 1 11 f-y 11 i tiiiw i.ui (unit v/ l iwiu n or "column of platoons" or wheeling them out of the way, Dock Adams gave the order to "charge bayonets" with the view no doubt of showing off before the assembled I negroes and to compel tho young white man to turn his horse around and flee. But he was not of that kind, and knowing he had a right to the highway, as the approaching line of leveled bayonets came forward he stopped his buggy and reached for his pistol, cocked It and shouted, "I'll shoot the first man who sticks a bayonet in my horse." He was alone and there were more than 100 negroes with Springflold rifles and gleaming bayonets and sev- J eral hundred others looking on. Ho knew and the negroes knew that they could butcher him with great ease, but they felt certain he would kill one or more of them before it could be done. Tho captain shouted "halt!' and opened the ranks so that Butler could paso and in a little while dismissed hrs company and went to Gen. Prince Rivers and swore out a warrant hcarglttg young Butler with interfering with his company at drill. Butler went on home and told his father what had happened, and Mr. Robert Butler, whose plantation. lay above Hamburg ami who had a great deal of trouble with negro thieves and was in every way a very pugnacious man, hurried to the trial justice and swore out a warrant for Adams for obstructing the highway. The trial was set for the succeeding Saturday, July .S The incident was noised about all over the counties of Edgefield and Aiken in a very little while. It had been the settled purpose of the leading white men of Edgefield to seize the first opportunity that the negroes might offer them to provoke a riot and tach the negroes a lesson, as it was generally believed that nothing but bloodshed and a good deal of it could so well answer the purpose of redeeming the State from negro and carpet bag rule. Mr. ltohcrt Butler sent to Edgefield for Gen. M. C. Butler to defend his son and prosecute Adams at the trial. Col. A. I\ Butler, the captain of the Sweetwater Sabre Club, summoned our company to meet at Summer Hill, three miles from Hamburg at 12 o'clock. It was our purpose to attend the trial to see that young Butler had protection and, if any opportunity offered, to set the ball rolling, ami if one iliil not offer, wo were to make one. We did not so in uniform and wore expressly ordered to leave our rifles and carbines so that when assembled we were only armed with pistols. Various schemes were presented and discussed but nothing definite was arranged except that we would go to Hamburg Mi a body at 4 o'clock, the time for the trial and see what would turn tip. The fact, however, that we had assembled was made known to Prince Rivers and when the company reached Hamburg wo 1 were informed that the trial had been postponed and it appeared ' for a while that all of our trouble and pains as well as the schemes ' we had formulated would come to naught. Dock Adams had assembled his company in the armory of the Sibley building, a two-story brick structure on the corner of Main and River streets. General Rivers had disappeared from town. There was much talking and planning among the leaders, the two Butlers and others of the leading citizens. At about 5 o'clock it was decided that the demand should be made of Dock Adamms to surrender his guns, and notice to that effect was sent him by Gen. M. C. Butler with the further information that he had shown that the guns were a menace to peace and good order and that the whites having lost al! patience were resolved to put an end to his outrageous and insolen* condudt. When the demand was made he promptly and peremptorially refused. He was then told that we would take them. When the sun was about half an hour high the little band of white men, mini bering about seventy in all, of whom forty-five belonged to the Sweetwater Sabre Club, rode down Main street towards tho armoiy and wheeling into a cross street we approached the river and halted in the street which was or upied by the frost In r?f e r1 ni \ ....si . . v v.'. X mill /V lilll" road, now the Southern railway. The Sibley building was on the southwest corner of the square. We dismounted in regular cavalry fashion and linked bridles. All of the disengaged men lined up. Then the order came, "All men having carbines or rifles stop five paces to the front" Only five responded. It was now shown how great a mistake had been made in ordering the rifles left at home. The purpose of that order is easy to understand. We did not wish it to appear that we had come to Hamburg with malice aforethought, but merely as spectators at the Butler trial. Events had shaped themselves so that the purpose of compelling the surrender of the arms by the negroes once formed there was no time to make new preparations. Sixty white men (the others were detailed to take care of the horses) were about to attack 100 negroes who were armed with the most approved army rifles, had plenty of ammunition, and were fortified so to speak in a brick fort, while the whites had shot guns and pistols. But the difference in the blood atid the color of the skin far more than made up the odds In the armament. The five men to whom the duty was assigned of opening the attack were Henry Getsen, DanInp Phlnney, MoKio Meriwether, , Thos. Settles and Demitrious Myers. T will always remember with sadness an Incident which took place just at this time. Young McKie Meriwether, belonging to the sabre vlub, but his father did not. The older man, Joseph Meriwether, it will be remembered, was the manager of Shaw's Mill two years before, who had manipulated that box and chang ed the negro majority Into a white majority. He had heard of the trial and had brought his Wlnceater rifle with him. When the elder Meriwether joined the squad, which was to take position behind the abutment of the railroad bridge, diagonally in front of the Sibley building and some seventy-five yards away, his son, a very handsome young man. about 2f? years of age, c#me running towards him atid un- j buckling the pistol as he ran. he handed the two pistols to his fath- { or and said, "Hero, papa, take these | and let me have the rifle." The exchange was made and t tie elder man took his place in the ranks, while the younger, along with the other four, stepped off at a lively mice towards tho r>ii<f <it' th } 11* 1 i \ tro ------ - I They marched in full view of the | negroes who could see them from j the windows of the Sibley building, j The rest of the men were deployed : on the other two sides of the square, J being on the north and east sides ! of the Sibley building, which had no windows on those sides. In fact, it had no windows at all except on the front towards the river. As a belonged to the first set of fours, I was detailed along with Pierce Putler and James McKie and one other whose name I forget, and placed in j position at the northwest corner of the square directly in the rear of the Sibley building. The square, 1 will state, was a small one, with sides probably seventy-five yards long. The out ranee to the second story ofMhe Sibley building where! the negroes were in hiding, was by a pair of steps running up on the : outside from Main street to a landing in front of the door on the west ! side. The sun was just sotting when orders were given to the squad at the | bridge abutment to begin firing on j the building. The other whites were , stationed up and down flu1 sidewalks) on th?* northern and eastern sides of, the .square, while the western side was left unguarded. As both sides I were using hreeeh-loading guns notwithstanding only five white men j were doing any shooting, the fusilade of shots was very rapid. The armory j had five windows and the negroes were firing from these, but most of the shots must have been fired while they were squatted below the window sills and their guns were elevated as there was little or no signs of where the bullets went. The j marks of the bullets on the sand stone window sills are still to be seen though filled up level with cement. The noise of the battle, if it may be termed one, was of course heard in Augusta and soon a considerable body of men gathered on the (leorgia hank, but as some stray bullets from the negroes' rifles at the windows gave them notice that they were in danger, they very soon retired out of sight. However, it was not long after dark before men belonging to the military organizations in Augusta and others began to pour across the bridge with arms to take part in the fray. The square on which the Sibley building stood had two or three otlmr stories on the Main street side. The old bank building was on Ithe southeastern corner and there were several small wooden shanties on other parts of the square. As soon as darkness fell the whites began to search all of these buildings and very shortly a negro man was discovered in hiding. He was dragged out while squalling at the top of his voice through fright. He was shot by some one who in the excitement i and anger forgot himself and j though not seriously wounded his | screams and cries resopnded to as 1 to be heard for half a mile around. Just about this time we were all shocked and enraged by the news from the bridge abutment that McKie Meriwether, the brave young man whose exchange of arms with his father, I have mentioned, had been killed. There has aiwa.vn been some mystery about his death. He along with the other four riflemen, had been firing at the windows when his brain was pierced by a bail which I entered at the top of his head. It j was never known whether he was shot from above by some one who crossed the bridge or was struck by a ball front the armory which hit some piece of iron of iron and glanced downward. If the white men were determined when they began that bloody business, this sad and unexpected death added ten-fold fury to their feelings. The men who were holding the horses had hitched them all by this time in a vacant lot and without orders from anyone and apparently without plan they joined in. As soon as it was entirely dark the negroes in the armory took advantage of the opportunity fo make their escape down the steps of whirl) I have spoken and to floe up the river. Some of theme were too much frightened to make this attempt and sought concealment in the cellar and other hiding places in the stores. Some of them ripped up the floors and hid under them. The whites from Augusta brought over at (ion. Tiutler's request a small piece of artillery which was loaded with pieces of iron (no regular halls were available) and fired off in the front of the Sibley building. After two discharges there was no further firing from the negroes a? all who could had fled and the town was deserted. The square I which was entirely surrounded by | this time was searched thoroughly. Every nook and corner of every building was examined by the whites who broke In the doors with axes. Prisoners to the number of some | thirty or i'erty men were captured I and as soon as taken were placed I under guard on Ulver street some 7f> yards above the wagon bridge. About 8:30 o'clock after a period ; of intense darkness the moon rose i and began to cast its lurid light over ! the strange and unaccustomed scene. ! The number of whites had increas- I ed immensely by this time and the ' searching parties worked northward from the Sibley building, which had been the first one taken and thoroughly searched. Two negroes who had reasons to know that their lives would not be spared if captured, tried to make their escape by jumping over the fence on the north side of the square and running down the street towards the trestle. The first to do this was dim Cook, the town marshall, who had in the years of negro rule, clubbed a great number , of white men and in every way illustrated his brutal and fiendish hate ; of the whites as well as the delight ! he took in degrading them. As he ' sprang over the fence the to which I belonged was the first ! to fire. We all fired once tit him. t He ran down the center of the street J towards the railroad trestle towards the moon so that it. was easy to see ! the whole performance. White men were standing or sitting on both sides of the street and as he ran between these they fired at. him, the wonder being that as the street was narrow the bullets did not wound or kill the white men opposie. It seemed as though Cook was hound to escape as he had nearly reached the trestle and none of the pistol ; bullets appeared to have taken ef- ; feet. Fear lent speed to his flight and the crack of the pistols, some forty or fifty of which must have . been fired at him, sounded like so many pop-guns. Suddenly the loud, reprot of a shotgun rang out and j Cook tumbled in a heap almost turning a somersault. Pierce Butler and , I. hearing that it was Cook that had been killed, had the curiosity to j leave our posts and walk down to j where he was lying and as the shad- | ows made it somewhat doubtful. Pierce struck a match and being] very familiar with Cook's face, remarked with satisfaction, "Yes, it's Cook." This negro was more hated ' hv the whites of the surrounding i country than anv other iiwiivMn>ii I the race. A large part of his face had boon torn away by tho buckshot which had laid hint low after all of the pistol balls had missed their mark. A while afterwards when the | searching parties had worked their way through tho different buildings on tho square another negro jumped over tho fence at. the same spot, hut he had no time to run. Pierce Butler and I, who had remained together the entire night, were standing on the hack steps of Lipficld's store, waiting for him to bring us some water from tho well. Two men from Augusta, whose names I never learned, but who wore the uniform of the Clinch Rifles, had just obtained water and were standing on the sidewalk. The negro leaped tho fence at the rear of the store, but fell dead almost instantly. The two riflemen had thrown their guns, which gleamed in the moon light, to their shoulders and fired with deadly effect. This was one of the negro militiamen. The moon by this time was getting high in the heavens, and it must have been nearly eleven ; o'clock. Tho searching was ended by breaking in the front door of Louis Schiller's store, which was al so his residence. Schiller was a low j Jew, who had joined the negroes, and had been given ollice by them, j having held the position of county auditor until the county of Aiken j was set apart. We wanted to hang ] him as the resentment against white scalawags was intense. He had been i horn and raised in Hamburg and had really sold himself to the negroes. We did not find him in the house, but learned afterwards that j the poor wretch escaped us by climb-I ing through a trap door which led j out on the roof and that he was lying behind a parapet on top of the house while execrations against his name and the purpose to swing him was being expressed by the white men below. All of the work being practically finished the whites began to disperse and those from AlIfiaiHtfi '? I'otrann I a I.ii<-II oiupa aurnHH | the bridge. Gen. Butler and Col. Butler had very quietly departed some time before, without leaving any orders and the mob, if it may be called such, rapidly thinned out. About this time Jas. Lanhain, my neighbor, and Jas. McKie, who had been on the post with ine a groat part of the night, and both first cousins of young Meriwether, who had been killed, came to whore a group of ?is wore standing. One of them asked the question as to whether it was not a dear pieeo of work for iis to lose one of our best men and have only two negroes dead and another wounded. It was agreed that we eotild not have a story like that go out as a record of the night's work. Bant ham said to me, "I have no balls in my pistol and no cartridges," I told him that I had only shot once at Cook and had five balls left. J We exchanged pistols and he and McKie soon found others of their way of thinking. The party made their way to the place where the negro prisoners were held and Henry Gel- | j 8<u), who lived two miles from Hamhurt? and who knew all the negroes In the town and neighborhood, was asked to designate those of the meanest character and most worthy J of death. As t'ast as he would select from among the prisoners those he thought ought to be killed?all militiatmn they wcro taken off a little wa rs down the street and shot. After five luul been thus dealt with the little squad of white men who were still remaining in town seemed satisfied and it was decided that the ^ rest of the negroes, some US or .'10 in number, should he allowed to go. The permission was given and they were told to go up the street and you may depend on It that they were not slow to move When they had got about f>0 yards away the crowd fired a volley over their K??t I "ool.l 4 1? A 1...... i>ni i mi hi mil s?'e liiill II added anything to the speed which ' they were making. If young \leri- I wether had not lost his life I do not e think any of these last negroes would h have been killed, but the purpose a wf our visit to Hamburg was to Is strike terror and the next morning H (Sunday), when the negroes who ' *ud tied to the swamps returned c /somo of them never did return, t' Wut kept on going) the ghastly sight which met their gaze of seven dead negroes lying stark and stiff cer- s tsinly had its effect. One of those doomed to die os- * oriped In a rather curious way. ' Whether it was that the white men >t. i < mi k (ii ine moony work or ' something else. I ilo not know. Home: the hist of the doomed men, they either stinted hsidly or some of them did not lite at all at the word of command. \\ h? n the shots rang out this negro fell though dead and as soon as the whites went away he crawled into the high weeds which were near the road and thus escaped with only a wound in it is thigh. 11 (5 was afterwards the star ' witness against us and the means of getting the names of some of the 0 men who were there. Hts name was ^ Pomp Curry and by a strange coinci- :l deuce he was the hoy who, when 1 went to school at Liberty Hill in 1 St? I and 1 8*? 12 and boarded with Mr. Kiali Edwards, made our tires, brought wood, blacked shoes, etc. C He disappeared, whet iter by death or n fright, I do not know. After the tl election of 1 87 0 I never heard of s him again. )< It was now after midnight and the moon high in the heavons looked down peacefully on the deserted town and dead negroes, whoso livos had boon offered up as a sacrifice to the fanatical teachings and fiend- f lsh hate of those who sought to sub- ^ stitute the rule of the African for that of the Caucasion in South Carolina. The party with which 1 loft Ilainhurg was the last to leave the place. We got our horses and when wo approached the outskirts of the town we stopped at the famous Sipout Spring, whose waters gushed from ^ the bluffs back of the town. In the better days of the town this spring had been provided with granite coping and cover and was always a place for travelers to slake their thirst as they came in or to guard 1 against it as they were leaving, the f roads leading through a dry and sandy region. The names of the 1 men in the party, as 1 remember, 1 were: Henry Getsen, chief of our ' drum head court martial, Milledge Home, who lived two miles below me, James banhan, Gus Glover, Jot; Mays, Sam Mays, Henry Simpston, John SwAflritiffon - - ra~" ? * ii i II H "jf , William Cook and myself. Many of theso are dead. When wo had drank and washed, John Swearingen stepped up on the bank behind the * spring and seizing the post upon 1 upon which was nailed a notice, ' "Five dollars tine for dipping any * unclean vessel in this spring," broke * it off tit the ground and threw it * into the middle of the road, saying 1 with an oath, that Jim Cook would s never arrest another white man for drinking at that spring. * This was tin allusion to an incident * of the preceding year when Itev. ' Mahlen Padgett, who was carrying i cotton to Augusta, having no cup n had stopped at the spring and drank t and had been arrested by Cook and c hurried before the town council, 1 charged with having broken tho or(ilnanee of the town because having * drank front the spring he had dip- * ped an unclean vessel in it. Ho R was found guilty and fined five dol- P lars. f This had been a momentous and * strenuous day's work. We were all n tired but more than satisfied with 1 tho result. When we reached Henry ' Oetsen's house he asked us to stop 1 and eat some watermelons, which r we very gladly did, and as all of the c others except Home lived further f up the road than myself, we kept f company as we wended our way ' homward. The first streaks of dawn * were reddening the east when I * reached my mother's, whore I had ' left my wife. My mother was taken ill a short time afterwards and died the latter part of August. Most of { the men who had organized and car- t riod out tills program lived in Edge- < field county, but a few were cltlj /en8 of Aiken living along the Edge- i ! field lino. < i The medium who does not work 1 in a spirited way doesn't seem to have a ghost of a chance. FOLLOWtf) COOK 1 ieoond Time an American Hat j Reached , ' I THE NORTH POLE ! i lessages Ileeeive<l From Nc.vf Poumlluml Tell of Persistent Itb?piorer'n Final Success Oiiv) Ve-ar ] Alter llrookl\n Rival's?SelentifU* ji ( Horltl Stunned at Reports. From St. Johns. New I'o wndkirht, ornoB the mess i?e that tjominortoftt Vary has just telegrapher! tl ? saurnor of New Fonndland by wircws from India llarhor, Labrador, nnouneing he has discovered tfcu J Jorth Pole ami congratulating New 1 'oundland on I Lb part in this' dl-*overy, seeing that the captain m I row of Peary's steamer are N? .* "oundlanders. I New York, Sept. 0.? Peary ucceeded. "Indian Harbor, via (.'ape *\ i*\, Sept. 6.- To the Ah^ixtatoA 'ress, Now York: , "Slurs and Stripes nailed fo N<vr*ti ole. (Signed) "Peary.'/ "Indian Harbor, via Cape Ray,, M. \, Sept. ?. Herbert l?. Hru|gm?\ftf Brooklyn, N. Y,: "Polo reached. Roosevelt (Signed) "Peary. ' * "Indian Harbor, via Cape Rsiy, N. Sept. 0. To the New Yqrli irnos, New York: , "I have the pole, April C. K?* ert arrive Chateau bay Sept. 1. ocure control, wire for me thowo nd arrange expedito transmission ig story. (Signed) "Peary,"? South Harpswell, Me., Sept. 0;? onirnander Robert K. Peary aftounoed his success in dlscove rinli he North Pole to his wife, who < to nininering at Katrlo Island n* foi >\vs.; "Indian Harbor, Via Capo R.iy, "September G, 1900. Mrs. It. R. Peary, South Harpswel), Me. ? "Have made good at last. 1 have he old pole. Am well. Love. Vill wire again from Chateau. (Signed) "Port.''* In reply Mrs. Peary sent tho foluwiwg dispatch: "South Harpswoll, Me., 'September 6, 1909'. Commander H. R. Peury, Steamer Roosevelt, Chateau Pay. "All well. Post love. Hod ble^ ou. Hurry home. (Signed) "Jo\* Peary has succeeded. ' From out of the Arctic darfcnesst here were Hashed a few day?i ago .hose messages which stunned tfKI ' tcientiflc world and thrilled t&O mart of every layman. Frcrm ilk) >leak const of Labrador PoaTjJ age o the world the news that bo bad ittalned his goal in the Fa*r NoVtV, vhlle at the same moment In fa^ ott Denmark I)r. Frederick A. Cook it 'lrooklyn was being dined and llofized by royalty for the same aohievenent. ' ' ?????????? ' Stop It, Mr. Taft. I The utterances of one or two gov rnment officials anent the conservap ion of national resources creates* eeling of uncertainty and even aaxldy. According to the statement ol dr. TMnohot the Interests seem to o be in the saddle again, and will )e allowed to gobble up all the valuable public lam'V Jayiug around oose. In fact, it is stated that Mr. Jalllnger, secretary of the interior, vho use to be the attorney for-tbo and grabbers trust, is piaying right nto the hands of his old employer tnd granted them the prvilege to ake what they wanted in the shaft* ?f public lands. It is duo to Cho niblic, especially to all who live V. ~ ' 1 ~ " .. luv pu-ciinfd .irrigation Stales, hat that suspense be relieved, "or years it haa been a const aqrt truggle between the people an<l the :reat rorporatlona which have grow* normoualy rich because of the pracical monopoly they have enjoyed, aid the present public mood Is imH olerant of further monopolistic isurpatlon of public rights. The irogreas of the States in v^hfeh t?igatlon ia largely followed will bo bolted and their prosperity crf^)led if a few men manage to get poslession of and control the water auj>>ly. Mr. Taft should stop this raid it once, and kick his secretary of he interior out of the ofttce ho now lolds. POT the hr>ni'fit v... ~ ~ ?* - ?-v ... vi iiiuau wno ibhor printers' ink as a prime facto* o the advancement of tbeir Interests, we should state that Samnoii ? the strong party?was tho first man to advertise. He took two u>li<| columns to demonstrate hts strength, and several thousand people "tumbled" to the scheme. He brought down the house. Do you recall the incident?