Had it been known before they were allowed to go that one of the supposed dead was only assuming death the number freed would have been reduced to twenty-seven instead of twenty-eight, for it was the decision of the mob that nothing less than eight lives should be taken in retaliation for the life of young Meriwether. Pompey Curry, who was selected among those to be shot fell dead at the first report of the guns and remained motionless and apparently breathless throughout the examination of the bodies and their disposal by the mob until the whites had all gone home, when he crawled through the high weeds which were near by and made his escape in the woods with only a slight wound in his leg. Among all the witnesses for the government in the prosecution of members of the mob which followed the conflict, none was of the importance of “Pompey Curry” as he knew by name a large number of the men and could point them out on sight. He discharged his duty as a witness in the celebrated trial, but a short time afterward he suddenly disappeared and no one knows or appears to know whatever became of him.
The success of the mob in thus attacking and annihilating a company of the government’s own soldiers and ruthlessly putting to death peaceable citizens in defiance of the law, without judge or jury, gave the greatest encouragement to the hopes of the whites. It was really of more far-reaching consequences in influencing their lives and fortunes than any incident ever occurring before or since in the history of South Carolina.
The direct opposite effect which it had upon the Negro and upon the people of the North, where it occasioned the bitterest comment, resulted in Congress appointing an investigation committee and the substitution of white Union soldiers to fill the places made vacant by the resignation of the Negroes from the ranks. Their resignation resulted from the fear they had of the whites and sincere desire to work in the interest of peace. They were also encouraged to resign by such men as Chamberlain, whose record as Governor, although placed in power by the votes of Negroes, is one of the most honorable of any Governor who ever filled the office of Chief Executive.
This tragic episode took from the Negro his last hope of being able to control the elections which followed in the fall. It gave to the whites all the freedom they desired to follow the doctrine of General Mart Gary to vote early and often. By doing so, they changed a Republican majority in Edgefield County of 2,300 to a Democratic majority of almost 4,000!
As an example of the perfect contempt with which Gary and his mobs treated the authority of not only the officials of the County but of the State may be cited his refusal to obey General Ruger’s orders to have the court house at Edgefield vacated by the whites. At this time he openly defied the military power of both the State and National government when he with his Red Shirt regiment, which he organized, captured the Chamberlain meeting on August 12, 1876. In a fiery speech to the Negroes at that time he announced in no unmistakable terms that no power above or below earth was sufficient to prevent the success of the Democratic Party at the polls that year nor in any succeeding year. He told the white men that an ounce of “Fearnot” was worth a ton of “Persuasion” and exhorted them to put the ballots in the boxes and he would see that every one was counted.
CHAPTER IX.
Great Judicial Farce.
The reign of lawlessness resulting in the torture and wanton murder of the blacks following the Hamburg riot went unrestrained in spite of the presence of white Union soldiers stationed in those sections where the greatest outrages occurred after the Negro troops had been partly mustered out.
The reason for this was not want of ample power close at hand for the enforcement of law and order and respect for the rights of every citizen, white and black alike; but inefficiency or culpable neglect on the part of the military authorities to assert any authority at all. Through the leadership of Gary and Butler and some others, including Hon. B. R. Tillman, Luther Ransom and George W. Croft, a prominent citizen of Aiken, the whites were allowed to run rough-shod over the Northern white soldiers just as they had succeeded previously in intimidating and “cowing” the Negro militia.
With the crazed white people swearing vengeance against every northern man or woman known to be in sympathy with the movement for the improvement of the Negro race, and the Negro and white soldiers having demonstrated such poor ability or better stated, none at all, in securing any decent respect for them and their work, the condition of Martha Schofield’s school at this period is better imagined than described. Located in the thick of the great white heat of the conflict the principal and students were subjected to insults and indignities that could be committed with impunity in times of great peril only. A few nights before the trial at Aiken for the taking of testimony in the case of the Hamburg rioters a number of armed men entered the yard and some of them occupied the porch of Miss Schofield’s home. Taking a whip in her hand she went out on the porch with a light in the other hand and inquired as politely and calmly as she possibly could, what the gentlemen would have, and if she could do anything for them. No one made any reply but all immediately arose and departed in an orderly and quiet manner.