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OLD SERIES, VOL. LXXVIII.
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WBtU »AT MOLM.Vu, FKBKI AK« 1L
Fen Photograph of an Kxtraor
dinary Bullock!
To "His Excellency," Rufus li. IluUock: |
sh ; dignity of your office and the sacred
right* of a noble people, mourning utider
your wicked rule, cm alone excure me to i
my elf-reapect lor breaking the silence in j
wliich I have, with the profouodcst con- '
tempt, observed your ministerial course. !
It has bean a theory of our government j
that the personal vice* and private revenge j
of a man elevated to the highest office I
which he might hope to reach, will, at
least, ha cheeked by the desire to leave)
behind him an honorable name. Tested j
by this theory, your Excellency has still |
higher aims and political aspirations And
as personal depravity is the shibboleth of
your party, you need not despair. Since
Mickies has gone aboard, a foreign ap
pointment may be in store fur you, when
nepotic Grant shall have finished the
vulgar list of his prolific kin.
When, under Radical usurpation and
tyranny, a choice was to be made for Gov
ernor of Georgia, had her intelligence,
wealth ar.d virtue been free to speak, you,
of ail her citizens, would have been the
last selected for that offiae. For her peo
ple, wi'ii, perhaps, one comparatively
recent (xoeption, have chosen as their
Executive men of intellect, education, re
finement and personal virtue. When you,
who affect all and possess noither, was
announced as candidate for Governor, the
news was received by the public as a cruel
jest. With natural capacity, manners and
education adapting you to the rank of
butler to a gentleman of moderate means,
oven your Excellency must have staggered
under the appalling announcement* But
your peculiar capacity was underrated by
the people of your adopted State (for,
thank Go.l, you afo not a Georgian). A
corrupt party demanded a fair exponent,
and it required the acumen of your inti
mate companion—“the man and brother”
—who is proverbial for his quick per
ception of every vice iu men to discover
your latent genius for evil- He scrutinized
the galley of rogues with a master’s eye,
and, without dissent, proclaimed you
leader.
History furnishes no parallel to the ef
fect produced by your elevation to the
office you have so elaborately disgraced.
Israel did nut gaze on tho trazen serpent,
rai-ed in the wfideraess, with more joy
than enraptured the breast of every prison
felon in ihe laud when you received the
baptism of "His Excellency.” Like the
circling of an advanoe vulture, your Ex
cellency’. petition gave assurance to all
your kind that a fat carcass lay at your
feet. F.-.itn Skowhegan, through Sing-
Sing, to moral Chicago, they Hooked to
your side Ike iron filings attracted by a
magnet. As long as there were offices to
bo filled, at "roat personal sacrifice, and
tho treasury was not empty; while the
State Road was able to run by itself, and
bolbro its Superin'cndent developed his
exhaustive, absorbont capacity; wnile
the pn.tr: I;-m and prayors ol the
Executive, vfhieF Justioo and Legislator ■,
were gratuitously offered to secure, at four
prices, fur ati ungrateful people, that
huge mes-ang—the Opera House —from
tho reluctant Kimball, whoso philan
thropy was devoted to “developing tho
resources of Georgia,” and while Kimball
liaii money and wine, harmony prevailed
and riot reigned. How discord ever en
tered the happy family, we may see here
alter. But in this preface I must not an
ticipate t he matter of your biography.
That 000 so unfit should have aspired to
bo Governor excited wonder in the minds
of all who did not know your character-
An Express agent raised in a night to the
dignity, the power, the opportunities of
Governor I VVho wonders that everybody
wondered? Coxcomb though you be, no
one knew better than your Excellency that
you possessed not one qualification for the
office. Iu legal attain men’s you did not
know Blaekstone from the Georgia J ustioo,
t or a fieri facias from a ca. sa., except by
persona! contact with the latter; while the
distinction between a dnlimus and a mitti
mus might have boon expounded to you
through tho kindness of a custodian in the
pi' son ot sumo learned bailiff. Through the
taoilo counsel of an occasional Chief
JusMoe who, before the election, could see
noeffico for the Dcgrn in the Constitution,
but alter his appointment and confirma
tion found a plain provision for ono iu tbe
Code ; and by the aid of a full faoulty of
rhetorical doctors under tho name ot
private secretaries to purge here, ampu
tate there and dissect everywhere, yonr
Excellency has boeo partially able to oon
cv:d your diminished head. Tho remain
der of tho ostrich, except the head
has always been offensively in view.
Your capacity, compared with your office,
finds a happy illustration in the picture
of Hop O’My Thumb strutting in the
Ogre’s seven league boots. Had your
Exo ilency stuck to your agency, by the
use of your faithful mirror, through whose
ud you nave brought that angelic smile to
such charming perfection, you might
have acquired credit for the single merit
of amiability. Bui now that shallow
artifice in longer has power to decieve.
Its res imblance to your ancestral prototye,
who could “smile and smile and be a vil
lein," is so striking that even “treachery
will not trust” you.
And yet it may be an interesting ques
tion in ethics, to the curious, whether
your Excellency is so deserving of per
dition syour deeds imply. The man is
but the child grow i up—you were born
a monster not of, due time, and you are
hut the child acting in the man. Upon
this theory alone, can vour present
eminence be exi Lined? You were by
nature rotten, and you had to rise. And
unless the antiseptic of public virtue shall
arrest the corrupt current of tbe times,
your Excellency continuing to rise, be-
cause you continue hourly to rot, may
drill into the Presidential chair in 1872.
IVrhape your warmest supporter did not
suppose when you assumed your present
i thee that yru content; lited the perpetra
tion oi one-bait tho crimes which have
made your name so infamous. Bat oppor
tunity is fruitful of conception. You be
gan ith fraud in the count of the election
returns and, through an accomplice jrain- j
ed for the work, proclaimed yourself Gov- j
crnor on a minority vote, and have already |
at trued an honorable-distinction among
Loll worthies as Nero, Jonathan Wild*
a' and Benedict Arnold. You contederated
wit!; brutal negroes and every thieving ad
venturer from the region of your nativity,
to destroy the peace and prosperity of
ibose wh- , in your days of obscurity and
need, had received you with an unreserve
- urpassing tar the confidence inspired by
~) ur Eager to do them wrong, but
u*o stupid to conceive the pilau, you be
came the vile tool aud political pimp ot
euDDicg knaves, through whose devices
aud jour opportunities, you have made
your name classic in tho annals ot crime.
History has recorded the name of but one
Erastiatus- But your Excellency has
eclipsed his fame. It was reserved to
your genius to destroy yourself in attempt
»ng to destroy the temple. The aspect
you prsscnt to the world is pitiable in the
last degree. With every opportunity to
honor your name and your unfortunate
offspring—whose greatest crimcjis their pa
ternity—you have perverted your feeble
abilities ’m one senseless, persistent effort
to make rogues respectable. Even your
deep, personal interest in the success ol
the vie endeavor, cannot palliate the base-
ot the intent.
My purpose in addressing you is not in the
hope lo mitigaia your abhorrence of a vir- 1
tuous act. The leopard can Dot change his :
spots- Nor do I expect to produce any puri
ty iu your administration- Hercules, with a
tboui-and rivers, could cot diminish its in
crusted filch. Au;ji(z istud stahulum re
purgare would De as futile as your daily
attempt to hide the vulgar jackdaw under
the plumage of the peacock. Nor need I
look for one sensitive emotion. The blood
of a man who can ruthlessly oppress the
down trodden, promote vice, honor ras-
i caV, insult women, malign the good, and
i glory in the prostitution of Executive
privilege, is too thick and too dark to tinge
his cheek with even the aurora ol a blasb.
Bat I have a purpose which, unlike your
reformation, ii not entirely hopeless. It is
to assist you in your determination to live
|io history. You need not quake and cry
out for your military guard. I have no
intention, however much desired by some,
'to hasten your apotheosis, i wish to re-
I serve you for future sittings as the hap
piest subject, living or dead, for an artist’s
brash. And as nothing Put good should
be said of the dead, were your Excel
lency translated, u-y occupation would
be gone. Virtues arc recorded for im
itation. And vice, when so gross as to
shock the sense of the most abandoned,
loses all power to corrupt, and should he
held upas a ueaeon to posterity. Without
embalming, y >ur suicidal name will soon
decay ; but I hope, with the abundant
spices of our vernacular, to save it from
the sewerage cf history. For the present
generation the work would be surperfluous.
With them its charnel perfume will never
pass away. But with even the proudest
triumph of the last Egyptian art, in roy
bumble effort, posterity must still mourn
the loss of the chiefest charm of the
creature while in life. I need hardly say
I mean your Excellency’s practiced an
gelic smile- They will, notwithstanding,
be measurably compensated for the loss by
escaping the Joab-blade which now fol
lows that sweet smile as surely and quickly
as the bolt succeeds the electric flash. The
evil you have done will outlive your im
perishable ignominy ; but Georgians will
rtjuice that your malice, though surviving
the grave, will be impotent to oppress and
malign the children of your former bene
factors. Nemesis.
February 9th, 1871.
*Though your faithful imitation of this
hero’s virtues almost preeiuae the thought
of your ignorance of his history, I beg,
nevertheless, to introduce him to your ac
quaintance, through the esurtesy of two
respeotabie authorities; “Ha was the
greatest rascal, coward, traitor, tyrant and
hypocrite,” &c. — ( Thackeray .) “A pic
ture of complete vice, unrelieved by any
thing of human feeling, aud never by ac
cident deviating into virtue.”— (Scott.)
Your Excellency may very justly spurn
the ac (uaintancu, because ol your superior
attainments. But you should not decline it,
as the difference io you. favor is only in
degree. Should you seek the society of
equals only, you must end your solitude
by suicide.
Another Letter from Judge
Stephens.
Wo find in the Constitution , of the
11th, the following able and cogent letter,
written by Judge Stephens to a friend in
Atlanta. This letter was not intended for
publication, hut the gentleman to whom
it was addressed has done tbo people of
the South a great favor in giving it pub
licity :
Sparta, Ga., February 8, 1871.
Dear Sir : You letter, expressing your
enthusiastic smypaiby with me ia the
iniquitous prosecution which is now pro
ceeding agaiost me, and your thorough
endorsement of the great Constitutional
truths set forth in my speech, is profound
ly gratifying to me. But be assured that
tho gratification arises muoh less from
personal than public considerations. I
opposed secession chiefly on two grounds.
One was, that tho same considerations
of "mutual interest” which ltd to the
association of these independent and sov
ereign Amerioan States into ono Union
had not oeased to require a continuance of
that Union. I thought that “interest”
required a continental government for
contincntal and common purposes.
Secession, as a remedy for apprehended
evils, has proved a practical failure; and
tho failure has united the South in the
opinion that a continental government, for
continental and common purposes, is at
once a necessity, and the highest interest
of all the oomponont part3 of tho Union.
All moil know that tho fortuno of arms
has not changed, nor in the slightest de
greo modified, men’s opinions, either as to
the right of secession or as to any other
right whatever. Arms may change men’s
professions, but nevor can change their
convictions a* to rights; although they
may change men’s convictions as to the
practicability of maintaining rights, or
the expediency of asserting them. The
result of the war has satisfied the great
mass of our people that secession as a
remedy for evils, existing or apprehended,
is impracticable and inexpedient. This
faot affords to reasonable and just men of
the North, thestrongest possible assurance
that tho people oi the South are now
thoroughly “loyal” to tho Constitution
and the Union under the principles of the
Constitution. Any other loyalty would
be as suspicious as it would be degrading.
Those who demand of us an acknowledg
ment that jve aro rebels and traitors, are
aotuated not by a desire to receive reliable
assurances for future fidelity to the Con
stitution and the Union on our part, but
simply by a spirit of venom and hatred,
which would find delight in our self-abase
mont. All reasonable and true men know
that tho hypocrite who professes repent,-
anoo without a realization of his error, will
ever be hunting for a “ way” to carry out
his secret “will.” The only assurance
which will bo satisfactory to such men is
the assurance that actual experiment has
changed our convictions, both as to possi
bilities and as to interest and expediency.
The highest assurance which any man
could ask for the perpetuity of the Union,
would be the general conviothn of the
people that its dissolution is impossi !e,
and that its continuance will promote the
bests interests of all its component, parts,
without the slightest regard to theories,
either in favor of or agaiost the abstract
right of dissolution. This assurance is
just precisely what the South now gives to
the North, and all candid men of tho North
accept it and confide in it.
The other of my chief reasons for op
posing secession, was that it involved a
separation of the constituti mal forces just
when their concentration was most de
manded. The people of the South were
deluded into the belief that secession was
the best mode of preserving the principles
ot the Constitution. The failure of seces
sion has now satisfied them that, the
only mode is the concentration ot ail the
torces which are resolved to maintain the
Constitution in its purity, and the princi
ples of self-government, against all usurpa
tion and all centralism. In other words,
tho great issue now presented is, whether
this shall be a Government of the people,
or a Government of the bayonet ? and in
this issue, war Democracts and all other
Democrats, and all Republicans, can coc
| sistently unite in support of the truth and
j of tho Constitution, except only the small
| band of negrophilists, who are traioriously
j resolved to use reconstruction and their
1 maniacal ideas of pegro equalby as the
| instrument of overthrowing th.e fairest
fabric of republican, constitutional libertv
which has ever been seen by the world.
| You are at liberty to make what use you
j please of this letter ; indeed, I shall thank
j you to have it published.
. Yours, very sincerely,
Linton Stephens,
The New Yrirk Express says: “The
price of breadstuff’s since the fail of Paris :
does not satisfy the speculators, and we j
are glad of it. These persons ought to j
have known that the fall of Parts, which ,
was to come about the tirno it did, was ’
loug ago discounted in both the money
and grain markets of the country. Be- j
sides, No. 2 Spring wheat is more than 40
cents higher than it was a year since, and !
with stock January I, IS7I, 122,000 hbls. !
larger than the previous year, and with
receipts for January, IS7I, 52,000 bbl?. lar
ger than in January, 1870,.the exports
have only increased 6,500 bbls., leaving
an apparent discrepancy in stocks on hand
February 1, of 167,500 bbls. against us,
compared with last year. In wheat there
is a failing off in the January exports of
162,000 bushels-
Since Postmaster General CreswoU’s
disgraceful connection with the Chorpen
ing fraud has been exposed, other transac
tions not creditable to him are coming to
light. A correspondent of the Vi ashieg
ton Patriot writes:
"There is a small item I have a desire to
let you know, which will assist yon in de
veloping the very honest manner in w hich
the Postmaster General administers the
duties of his office, namely : A party
from New York offered to convey the
mails to Galveston for twenty-four thou
sand dollars once a wfek■ Another party,
from Baltimore, offered to do the same
once a foitnight for thirty-six thousand
dollars. The Baltimore party got the
contract, Why ? Let it be investigated.”
The New Jersey Senate ratified the 15th
Amendment.
[CO MMUNICATEI). ]
SANDERS YILLE, Ga., Feb- 11, 1871.
Gen. A. R. IF r ight, Augusta:
Dear Sir—A number of the citizens
of Sandersville, met at the office of J. N.
Gilmore, Esq., for the purpose of taking
action ia regard to J. C. Gallaher, who
recently left these parts; when it was
Resolved, That the annexed communi
cation be sent to the Chronicle & Sen
tinel for publication.
Editors Chronicle <t Sentinel:
Wc beg the use of your columns for the
statement of a few facts in relation to one
J. C. Gallaher, who, writing over the
signature of Enquirer , in the Atlanta Con
stitution and over his own signature io the
Macon Telegraph & Messenger,hos made a
false and cowardly attack upon one of our
best and most highly esteemed citizens.
Judge Twiggs.
V here this fellow Gailaher is known,
he |= incapable of injuring any one, hut as
he is a comparative stranger in this State,
a fr.w facts about the man’s character will I
thow how totally unworthy are any state
ments coming from him.
Gallaher came here about one year ago,
a total stranger. He claimed to have been
a Major in the Confederate Army,and that
he lost an arm at the siege of Vicksburg.
This was all he chose to disclose of his
past history.
He brought with him a woman, whom
he claimed as his. wife, and so introduced
her into such society as he could gain ad
mittance to. Soon after he settled here,
claiming to be a lawyer, he began to stir
up suits and engender strife among our
people. Being a good talker and, withal,
exceedingly plausible in his stories, he
very soon obtained, to some extent, the
ear and good will of some of our citizens.
Things went on yery quietly until our
Spring Term of the Superior Court, which
sat in April, when, having a little ease
appealed from a Justice Court, agaiost
one of our oldest and leading citizens, he
took occasion to abuse him in the most
scandalous and vulgar manner.
This speech of lawyer Gallaher caused
our people to begin an inquiry into his
character, and it soon became whispered
about that be was not exactly what he
ought to be.
Among others Judge Twiggs, then a
practicing lawyer at the bar in this
place (and whose experience, like that of
other attorneys, only confirmed and
strengthened tho distrust which began
to be entertained by the public generally),
commenced some inquiries in regard to tho
past history and antecedents of Gallaher ;
and very soon a letter was received from
one of the most respeotabie citizens of
Eufaula, Alabama, giving a very fuff
history of Gallaher’s career while a resi
dent of Alabama, besides conveying the
intelligence that Gallaher had deserted
his wife then living in Tennessee, where
he married her, and had courted and
seduced, while living in Abbeville, Ala.,
a young lady from Marianna, Fla., by
whom be had a child born, and that the
person with whom he was living here was
the same.
It was also discovered from a lawyer of
high standing in Macon that Gallaher had
been detected in some short comings, in re
gard to money matters in the latter place.
These facts, we are informed, were com
municated to Gallaher by Judge Twiggs,
who begged in justice to himself and to
the community, that he would make to
the people of this village some explana
tion of these charges. Gailaher thanked
Judge Twiggs for his candor in making
known these facts to him, and asssured
him that they were entirely false and
without foundation—that he had never
married any woman, other than the one
with whom he was then living as such.
That the charge about the Macon money
affair was false, and gotten up with a
view to injure his character by a personal
enemy. From that day to the present
Gallaher has entertained the most bitter
hatred and spite towards some of the
citizens of the community, and particular
ly towards Judge Twiggs ; and although
he pretended to invite scrutiny into his
history and assumed an air of injured in
nocence only to be counterfeited by one
inured to vice, and hardened by evil as
sociations, he constantly watched Ibr op
portunities to injure those whose just
son ic of social security and propriety had
led to a doaorvod onposure of his crimes.
For a time hs protested so earnestly and
with such apparent truthfulness his eatire
innocence of adultery or bigamy with the
woman he brought here as his wile, that
some of the citizens thought that he must
be slandered, and continued to receive so
cial visits from himself and wife.
Some time in the early part of last fall,
further evidence was received here from
different sources and by divers persons,
not only of Gallaher’s former marriage,
but of attempts by him to marry other
women, and that by his former marriage
he had two children, one a blind boy, some
ten or twelve years of age. In confirma
tion of these facts, gentlemen in Macon
statid that while there Gallaher had made
inquiries about the mode of getting chil
dren into the Blind Asylum located there;
was by them introduced to the Superin
tendent ot the same, who he informed
that he had a blind child whioh be wished
to have admitted. These facts were also
communicated to Gallaher, and he denied
them entirely—stating that the child was
that of another Gallaher of the same
initials, whom he was befriending, and
whose child be sought to benefit by his
efforts. When told, however, that the
Gallaher who had the blind child bad lost
an arm aud was a lawyer, he replied that
the facts were singular he knew, but that
they were strange coincidences, and insist
ed that the mother of these children was
not his wife and that he never had a blind
child, boy or girl. These statements he
has made over and over again to several
gentlemen of this place (which will be
verified by them), ever declaring most pos
itively that the persoD with whom he was
then, and still is, living, was the only one
he had ever married, and that his child
(an infant), was his ODiy child.
Enquiries were continued, and in a few
months resulted in the receipt of the fol
lowing letter from two prominent gentle
men of Marysville, Tennessee:
Marysville, Tenn., Dec. 31, 1870.
Dear Sir Your letter of the 28th
inst. jurt received. I have shown the
letter to W. D. McGinley, an old lawyer
of this place, who together with myself,
know all about the Maj. John C. Gal
laher you speak of, as ivell as the family
into which he married. McGinley lived
for a number of years with the family of
John Ambrister, deceased, and was well
acquainted with Mary Ambrister, before
she married Galiaher and knows that she
did marry John C. Gallaher, who was at
one time a carpenter by trade, afterwards
studied law, atd was admitted to the bar.
John C. Gallaher was a major in the
Southern army and lost his arm while in
the service, we are informed; he left here
with , '’' rn Neither of us desire to
make an affidavit about the matter, unless
there should he some legal proceeding in
stituted, but if legal proceedings should
be instituted, it could be proved that he
was married before he left here to Mary
Ambrister, and that he has the blind
child at his brother-in-law’s, Asa Ambris
ter's, at Lenois Station, Tenn., and that
his wife is living at his brother-in-law’s,
Asa Ambrister’s. Yon will not be likely
to get an answer from Asa A t mbrister, be
j cause he knows all about the matter, and
, the way|Gallaler has treated his sister, and
| dees not wantto have anything todo either
: for or agaiustGallaherjhe does not wish his
rister to knoA anything about the conduct
, of Gallaher thinking that he has treated
I he r badly eiough by his desertion, to say
| nothing of marrying a second time.
| If you ffsire to do so, you can get a
! certified copy of his marriage license to
i Mary Ambrister by addressing R. 0.
: Tucker, cleik of the county court at this
place, togeter with the return of the Min-
ister of theTospel who married them.
T ery respectully,
F. M. Hood,
YV. D. McGinley.
The contots of this letter were also re
! peated to Gllaher, and he still protested
that the chrge was false, and that if had
reference t a John Calhoun Gallaher,
who had m-ried the lady referred to and
5 not himsei[ During the time these in-
yestigationwere going on, Gallaher still
thrust the voman living with him upon
our continuity as his wife, and was al
ways open bold in his assertion that
she was b only and lawful wife. The
community felt outraged at this ard at
other condit quite as venal in its nature,
and as youave already heard, some dis
guised pates, unknown to us, took him
one night-om his boarding house and
carrying in just beyond the village
shot him.
As soon ahe recovered from his wounds
he left for [aeon, reporting there that
some of ouEading citizens were implica
ted with th crowd which mobbed him.
and even we so far as to insinuate that
Judge Twig was privy to the act. He
has, we are iformed, been industriously
circulating iMacon and Atlanta all sorts
ot falsehood against Judge Twiggs and
some of ouiest citizens.
AUGUSTA, GA., WEDNESDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 22, 1871
Pursuing our investigations with regard
to Gallaher’s character still tnrther, a
gentleman ot this village wrote to Asa
Ambrister, his reputed brother-in-law,
and below we send you his reply, as well
as a certified copy of a marriage license,
which shows that his marriage with Mary
A. Ambrister was sojemized with all the
formalities and requirements of law.
To place his identity beyond question,
his brother-in-law had the foresight to en
close the photograph of the man who mar
ried his sister (which we transmit here
with), and it is wholly unnecessary to say
that it is a most excellent and striking
picture of the man Gallaher who is the
object of this notice, and who fortunately
has left our community.
Lenoirs, Tenn., January 9th, 1871.
Leae Sir — Enclosed you will find a
certified c ipy of the marriage license ol
J. (J. Gallaher and Mary A- Ambrister,
which will be sufficient proof to satisfy any
one that he is the same gentleman.
You wish to know who this lady is.
She is my rister ; has been living with
me siDce the year 1863, soon after her
husband, J. C. Gallaher, had enlisted in
the war. She has two children, the eld
est a little blind bov—fcis name is Edd;e
F. Gallaher, about 12 years old—and the
little girl’s name is Bianch, about 9 years
old.
You wished me to give a description of
J. C. Gahaher. He is about five feet ten
inches high, black hair, his right arm off
—lost at the siege of V icksbnrg. Twill
send you a photograph, which was sent
to me from Abbeville a few years ago ;
probably you can trace some resemblance
between the original and this photograph ;
if not, return it to me. I believe 1
have said all that is necessary and you
have sufficient proof in this to convict
him, which I think is nothing but right,
that he should be handled bv the law. He
has not been to see his wife since the year
1868 —spent about two weeks. He has
not written to his wife in a little over
twelve months. We never knew where
he was until we received your letter. If
this is not sufficient evidence, and you
wish my presence, I will come and his
wife also, if it is necessary.
Very respectfully,
Asa Ambrister.
We have been requested by a meeting
of the citizens ot' this village, to make
this expose of Gallaher, as he is now ac
tively engaged in trying to injure us
through the columns of the newspapers
and by verbal street corner slanders.
Much more might have been said, and
other facts detailed of this man’s history,
which are in our possession, and which
are revolting in their nature, but we think
the brief outline given will be sufficient to
answer the purpose for which this is writ
ten, and to warn other communities which
may be imposed upon in a similar man
ner.
Our people have felt that it is due them
and to Judge Twiggs, who has taken an
active part in exposing Gallaher’s charac
ter, that it should be ventilated, as he may
otherwise be able to do muoh harm. Your
paper circulates very largely in the coun
ty, and, I believe, lias a general circula
tion in the State, and, we therefore, ap
peal to you to aid us in giving publicity to
the foregoing facts.
CommittccsofUic Agricultural Congress.
Office Pres’t Agric. Congress, )
Bartow, Jefferson county, Ga., >
December 31, 1870.)
Under a resolution of “ the Agricultural
Congress,” for that purpose, I appoint the
following committees:
On Immigration—B. 11. True, of Geor
gia.
On Pisciculture and Entomology—John
R. MeCrady, of South Carolina.
On Sumac—W. H. Tappy, of Virginia.
On Miscellaneous—A. R. Wright, of
Georgia.
On Horses, Hogs and Cattle—R. J.
Spurr, of Kentucky.
On Labor—James Lyons, of Virginia.
On Irrigation and Ditching—C. W. How
ard. 1 1 Georgia.
Oa Hemp—J. L. Tracy, of Missouri.
On Sugar—R. B. Johnson, of Missis
tiippi.
On Horticulture, Fruits, Wines, &c.—
P- A. Berckmans, of Georgia.
Oa Agricultural Education —Lawronoc
Sangston, of Maryland.
On Fertilizers —John Merryman, of
Maryland.
On Cotton and Sheep—Morys Ilagar, of
Texas.
On Apiary, Grasses and Cattle —Lee R.
Snryock, of Missouri.
On Potatoes, Turnips and similar crops
—J. H. Miller, of South Carolina.
On Rica —W. M. Lawton, of South Ca
rolina.
On Botany, in its relations to AgricuU
ture —Dr. A. Means, of Georgia.
On Mining and Manufacture of Iron and
other Minerals —Mark A. Cooper, of Geor
gia.
On Agricultural Education —R. T. Ful
gham, of North Carolina.
On Cotton —Philo B. Sheppard, of Ala
bama-
On Cotton, Wool and other Textile Fa
brier—Wm. Sehley, of Georgia.
On Ramie and other textile Crops—ll.
D. Oapron, of D- C.
‘On Tobacco—John P. Branch, of Vir
ginia.
On Turpentine, Rosin, &c. —H. C. Rock
well, of North Carolina.
Oa Fertilizers —Mark A. Cooper, of
Georgia.
On Cereals —R. C. Foster, of Tennessee.
On Manufactures in general—M. R. Nel
son, of Alabama.
On Labor—B. T. Harris, of Georgia.
On Tobacco—Barnes Compton, of Maty
land.
On Cattle and Sheep—J. S. Woodward,
of North Carolina.
On Cotton Culture—J. B. Turner, of
Georgia.
It is proper to say tha‘ I have expe
rienced much embarrassment in appoint
ing the committees, from the fact that I
am so little acquainted with the delegates,
and having failed to receive the assistance
of the Vice-Presidents, as I expected. It
has been my purpose to equalize the com
mittees among the States represented in
the Congress, as nearly as possible, in view
of the number from the several States. I
have also taken the liberty of appointing,
in some instances, a committee, from more
than one State, on the same subject, with
the view of eliciting information deemed
most important to the objects of the Con
gress.
(Signed) Herschel V. Joiinson,
Pres’t ot “the Ag’l Congress.”
Committee to prepare an amended Con
stitution and By-Laws :
Sam’l Barnett of Georgia.
M. L. Bonham, of South Caroline.
Edward Lloyd, of Maryland.
James Lyons, of Virginis.
A. A. McCoy, of North Carolina,
Office Seo’v “A r,vTm’r Cdnurese,” 1
Milledgetille, Ga., Dec. 30, 1870. j
It will require a contribution of $5 or
more from each organization represented
in the Congress to meet the expenses of
this office in the way of stationery, pos
tage, printing, etc., (including the printing
of the minutes) which I will publish so
soon as means are put in my hand to de
fray the expenses. I also propose to pub
lish a number of copies of each report if
the manuscript is furnished me in time, to
gether with means to pay bills, so that a
printed copy of each report may be laid up
on the desk of each member when the Con
gress assembles in Selma—besides having
a large number for distribution. All
moneys placed in my hands will he
i economically disbursed and faithfully ac
counted for.
Respectfully,
L. Carrington, ’
Secy’ of "the Ag’l Congress.”
may be made by P. 0.
money order or in registered letters.
Better Stop lx. —We can see no pos
sible good to be derived from the quarrel
now going on between the Constitution
and tbe Sun about tbe proclamation
printing and the proposed sale of the
State Road. We have carefully abstained
from admitting the statements of either
party into our columns, and shall.continue
to pursue that policy.
The Fair Grounds.— The grounds of
the Fair Association are in very fine con
dition, and no where can an hour in the
evening be spent more pleasantly. Not
withstanding the recent heavy rains the
walks-and drives are dry and hard, which
speaks well for the system of drainage
employed on the grounds. Several hun
dred trees have been planted recently, and
the planting of shrubbery has been com
menced. The race, which was to have
taken place to-day, has been postponed
until Tuesday. The entries are numerous
and fine sport may be expected.
Bi ARD TS. corker.
We continue the publication of the
testimony in this case, as follows :
John S. Moore, Wilkes county, sworn
and testified—That his name was John S.
Moore; resides in Washington, Wilkes
county; was in Washington, Wilkes coun
ty, Georgia, on the 9th of December last ;
was at the depot of Washington Branch
Railroad at the time Harris was killed,
and Radley and Washington wounded;
saw a difficulty there between Ratley,
Harris and Irvin on that day ; was stand
ing on the platform on crutches, talking
with a gentleman near the steps of the
platform, nrar the water tank ; Radley
was standing about six or seven feet in
front of me; Mr. Lach Anderson was
standing rather between us ; Radley was
near the edge of the platform ; Mr. Chas.
Irvin came by us and said “Stand back,
give the way he was going towards the
cars ; as he said this he threw back his
hands and ran down the steps ; Mr. An
derson said “look at that yellow boy (Rad
ley) pulling his pistol out at Mr. Irvin ;”
Radley stepped down off the platform ;
had his left land hold of the lapel of his
coat, and his right hand inside the left
breast of his coat, as if he was holding a
pistol; did not see a pistol at that time
in his possession ; he followed Mr. Irvin
so far as Mr. Callan’s door, and there
stopped ; some several minutes after Mr.
Irvia came back across the platform the
same way ; Radley wa.s then standing on
the bank near the railroad; I saw Mr.
Irvin go to him, and in a few seconds
saw Radley make a motion as if to draw a
pistol from his side pocket; did not see
the pistol; saw Mr. Irvioe then strike
him with his fist; then I saw a negro man
named William Harris, standing on the
railroad, shoot at Mr. Irvin; saw him
shoot a second time ; that was the part of
the fight I saw ; the cars had arrived
before the fight commenced ; was stand
ing on the platform at the time when the
cars arrived near the same place that I
before referred to ; I suppose I was about
twenty-five or thirty feet from the rear
end of the last passenger coach when tho
fighting commenced between Radley and
Irvin ; did not see Mr. Irvin hit Radley
at the t ; me he threw his arms back and
ran down the steps ; I took the remark
he first made (that is Ir-ine), to be ad
dressed to the crowd ; Irvin and Harris
were about tWenty-five or thirty feet
apart when Harris first fired ; there
was a larger crowd than usual
of colored people there that day,
b”t not of white; saw Frank Arnold,
Wm. Binion, A. Franklin, Ben. Jordan,
Zich- Anderson, Chas. Irvine, and Ed.
Hill, all whites, there that day; there were
a good inanv black people near where
Radley and Irvin began their fighthiDg;
there were eotre three or lour whites also;
think Ance Wiley (colored), Bob Wash
ington (colored), Wm. Binion (white),
Mr. Ed. Hill (white), were amoDg those
standing near; can’t remember any oth
ers; did not see Irvin shoot at Harris or
any one else that day; Wm. Harris shot
the first shot that was fired that day; don’t
know what kind of a pistol Harris used
that day; think it was a repeater from the
way he shot; did not see any one shoot
that day beside Harris; heard several pis
tols fired that day besides those I have al
ready testified tc; did not see any portion
of the difficulty in or near Keough’s mill
lot ; did not hear any such remark as
“D—n Bryant, if he is on the train
we will pick his teeth;” never heard
a word said about Bryant’s teeth; heard
someone say that Beard got his
teeth knocked down his throat in one
of the lower counties of this District, while
making a speech a few days before ; I said
“ Bryant nor Beard would either of them
be hurt if they should come here to speak;”
saw two tall white men there that day,
l aving grey coats on ; one was Zacb. An
derson, the other William Binion ; did
not see cither of them rush into the train
when it came up to the depot; did not see
either of tttem have anything to do with
the difficulty that day ; did not see any
one strike Radley that day besides Irvin,
before he fired ; did not see a crowd fol
lowing Irvin when he went out towards
Radley ; did hot see any one strike Radley
during ths difficulty besides Irvin; if
there had been a crowd standing about Ir
vin at the time be and Radley began
their disturbance I should have seen it:
diJ not see any considerable number of
whites rush into tho train immediately
upon its arrival; William Harris was
standing on the railroad by the pump,
about eight cr ten feet from the end of the
train, when he fired ; saw Osoar Booker
when the train first came up ; he was
coupling the cars; a crowd got over me
and knocked me down, aud when I gath
ered myself up again they were all gone
except a few stragglers ; did not see Har
ris struck that day but once.
JohnL. Wingfield, sworn and testified —
That he resided in Wilkes county;
by occupation was a farmer; since
the close oi the late war has been a
Judge of the County Court; during the
late Congressional election in Wilkes coun
ty was one of the election managers ; it
was the intention and determination of the
managers to conduct the election in such a
manner that all cit zens should have an
opportunity of freely voting under the ex
isting election laws of the btato, and that
was carried out, I believe, as strictly as
possible; I suppose that an election of
three days’ continuance could not have
been carried on more peaceibly and quiet
ly ; it was a subject of general remark ;
do not know of any voter who was com
pelled to vote against his will in any in
stance ; do not know of any voter who was
prevented from voting as he wished ; do
not know of any voter that was cut, beat
or shot or in any way maltreated and pre
vented lrom voting according to his wish
es ; do not know of any persoD who was
prevented from polling on account of not
having paid the poll taxes aisessed against
them ; the number of votes polled at the
late election was, to the best of my
recol'ection, 1,995 or i,996 ; the whole
number of voters in the <cunty, to the
best oi my knowledge, was about 2,100 ;
do not know of any armed >ands of des
peradoes who acted in the iiterests of the
Democratic party and against Republicans
during the three days of tie election or
previously.
James H. Rogers, testified—
That be resides in Hancocx county, Ga.,
and by occupation a farmer; hold the
official position of Sheriff ot.tbe county ;
was at the Court House in l.aneock coun
ty, in the dkcharge of the dutiesi ot official
position during the late CongESsional elec
tion for this District; I mads the arrest
of the three members of the first boaad of
managers; made it by authority of war
rant; I took the managers tefore a No
tary Public; they had a trialand were or
dered to give bail or to go tj jail; there
were some ten or fifteen white men and
five or six hundred negroes followed us to
the jail; the greater part of the white
men belonged to my pcsso; none of the
negroes did; there were threats of a res
cue made by one John Jack, a Republican,
who 6aid that Gondor, Ridle and Moss
would have to come out of jail, and that
he would die before theyshould be iu jail;
also that there were met who would help
them to take them out.; he negroes began
to yell and call out “ let us go to Dixie,
where we can get our irms!” I saw no
guns exhibited at the jal by Democrats;
Dixie is about one-fourtl of a mile out of
fciparta; it io a settlement composed of
colored people to the nunber, I suppose
altogsther, some two hunired inhabitants;
Henry Harrison lives ttere; he was a
Republican candidate for the Legislature
at the late election ; these were no guns
drawn upon the managers when they were
arrested; I don’t thick that it was possi
ble for any to have been drawn without
my knowledge; I saw some guns on the
street in the hands of Democrats, not
drawn upon any particular person ; those
guns were drawn about five or six
minutes after the tninaga-s had been
locked up; it was abou; the time
the excitement above referred to amoDg
the negroes was ?.t its grea:est pitch ; I
went to the men with guns ana told them
that they did very wrong in oringing out
arms, that it was against the law ; I asked
them to put them up, and they obeyed
very readily ; did not see anj Republican
voters, white or black, driver away from
the polls during the election saw no one
intimidate Republican voters in any way
daring the election ; after the new Board
of Managers was chosen, I did announce
from the Court House door that the Re
publicans had a perfect right to vote as
they pleased for tbe candidates; the ofc
ieotion made to voters on account of non
payment of taxes i’or year 1869 was made
to both parties (Republican and Democrat)
as far as I know. I told the Republicans
that if they would send two or three men
to me, I would prepare seats for them in
side the Court House, and they might
challenge Democrat votes if they
pleased, as they had as much right
to do so as the Democrats; they
(the Republicans) were urged repeat
edly to go up and vote as they pleased
by Democrats; was candidate for the office
in Hancock county of Sheriff at late elec
tion in December last; the election did
proceed quietly and peaceably after the 2d
board of managers was drawn until its
close; so far as I know the right of suf
trage was not denied to anyone on account
ot color or party ; th e arrest of the man
agers and all subsequent proceedings were
just such as I take in executing-all crimi
nal proceedings; there were on the public
square and about the Court House during
the eptire election, a laree number of
colored men ; nothing was done by any
one as far as I know to molest or trouble
them; nothing of the sort could have
happened about the public square or near
the Court House without my knowledge.
The Hudson River Railroad Horror.
We devote a geod deal of our space this
morning to an interesring account of the
last railroad horror, taken from the New
York World :
A freight train, mainly made up of oil
cars, started from AibaDy in the evening,
on the down track. There were twenty
five cars io this trsiD. Before starting
they had been duly inspected, and, so far
as human prudence could guard against it,
accident seemed impossible. Almost at
the end of the wooden bridge over Wap
pineer s Creek, at New Hamburg, an axle
of the tenth oar in the train, an oil car,
broke, tipping it sideways, and letting it
doa n upon the ties. For a few yards
further, to the entrance of the bridge, it
dragged, then, striking a timber, was toss
ed over on the up-traek, and instantly ah
the ears behind it were piled on it, a mass
of wreck. It was the work of an instant,
and while the echoes were still but half
awakened bv the awful crash, upon this
chaos glared the head-light of a passenger
train —the Pacific express —dashiug on
ward with lightning speed on the up-track.
Yards, pot even rods, measured the space
which it devoured in a breath—before
there could be a motion to check its ad
vance, before even there could be one
warning shriek from the locomotive; be
fore one on the doomed train could leap
into the black peril of uncertainty on
either hand, or even see the horrid fate
ahead. Then, with a terrible noise, as of
an earthquake, the locomotive at its fu
rious speed plunged into the mountain of
ruin heaped upon the track. Down on it
came thundering all the cars which
followed in its wake, each with an
infernal crash, mingled with the wild
shrieks of its terrified inmates- The
locomotive had burst open the oil tank
of that fatal tenth car the instant of strik
ing it. From the fire-box of the locomo-
tive the flames leaped up to the Heavens.
The oil, dashed high in air by the shock,
ignited there, and, where it fell there lay
a sea of fire. Another and another oil
tank exploded and gave their boiling,
flaming contents to feed the swelling fury
of the fire. Up, up, round the cars, and
down over the timbers of the bridge, lap
ping all with tongues of flame, blinding
the maddened ones who strove to escape,
shrouding the awful death-cells where,
from their sleep, the miserable ones had
no time for any thought but wild affright
and agony, were hurled into eternity.
From the bridge into the waters of the
creek, eighteen feet beneath, plunged the
engine of the express train, down upon it
fell the tender, a baggage car, and an ex
press car, then the Buffalo sleeping-coach,
whence none escaped alive, and over these
poured the liquid fire rained down from
the bridge, as it, too, fell, with its load of
the remaining cars of both trains. So
fierce was the fire that nothing could be
(lone to save those so instantly enveloped
by it. It wrapped two more cars so
quickly that few escaped from them un
injured by it. Down beneath the ice,
drowned, lay some, fortunate that their
death had been less horrible than that of
those engulfed iu the fire; others, still
more fortunate, had known no pain, but
in the sudden crash had taken, all uncon
scious of its cause, the short step from
mortal life to immortality. In two ot the
sleeping-cars immediately following the
Buffalo coach the loss of life and injuries
were great. From those behind, most of
the passengers escaped—few without se
rious injuries—broken hones, burns, and
bruises, but. with life, and how fervently
they thanked God lor that. Looking be
fore them they saw, wrapped in fire, tho
chaos of wreck ; in their, ears, mingled
with the roaring and cracking of the
flames, resounded the shrieks of the poor
wratahes iu tlieii death uguuy, fhr beyond
all human aid, in that infernal fumaoe.
Thoy stood upon tho ice, scantily clad, for
most of them had been half undressed,
preparing for sleep when the disaster
came, and the eager wind was down to
zero, but they forgot these things in their
great thankfulness that they bad escaped
with mere life. As the ice melted, the
cars upon it sank down into the water
beneath, and with them the burning tim
bers of the bridge. This destroyed all
iaint hopes, which the more sanguine had
cherished, of giving'any succor to these
in the cars which had been in the flames.
Nothing could be done for even the
rescue of their remains, thus preserved
from total destruction, until morning
light, and how painfully long the night
seemed, can only be appreciated by those
who waited for she gray dawn to aid them
in that horrid search for the dead. For
hours the furious flames revelled in their
work of ruin. Their lurid glare reddened
tho skies ; the ice and snow brought out
in keen relief the branches of the tall pines
and made blacker the shadows behind
them on the snow-clad sides of this awful
gorge—this valley of death. Near the
wreok lay a human body, upon the ice.
Its entrails were torn out, its head and
legs crushed. The ghastly horrors of the
scene could have had no more vivid cli
max. Such an object in the foreground
made complete a picture which will never
fade from the rememberances of those
who &azed upon it;
MORNINO LIGHT
only enhanced the awful horror of the
scene. The fire had died out, leaving all
where if had touched charred and black
ened. Half-buried in the ice and water of
the creek lay the shattered, partially
burned cars, hideous coffins of an un
known number of the dead. Oa the ice
and upon tho banks stood a crowd of
rescued passengers,_ people who lived near
tho scene, and railroad employes, their
faces blanched with the realization of tho
fearful catastrophe. Over all this arose the
cold, grey light of dawn, while through
the gorge came the icy wind, keen and
strong, lading its wings with the sicken
ing odors of the still smoldering embers.
The voices of men were bushed, but the
tall pines sighed mournfully in the breeze
a t rcquiem for the dead. Few of the pas
sengers remained near the scene of the
catastrophe any longer than they were en
abled to got away. Few of them bau
been able to save anything in their flight
from the burning cars ; even their over
coats were left behind, and several were
in their stocking feet. As well as possible
under the circumstances, their necessities
were supplied by residents of the neigh
borhood, and then they hurried away,
some to Albany andboyoad, others return
ing by the first down train to the city.
SEEKING FOR THE DEAD
begaD with the first clear light of day.
The intense cold made the work very
severe. The thermometer stood below
zero, and ice was forming rapidly over the
surface of the chasm in the ice where the
cars had gine down. That removal of the
dead from the wreck was a soul-sickening,
horrible work. Each corpse brought to
light, instead of inuring the spectators to
the ghastly hideousness of these poor
remnants of humanity, increased their
painful, sympathetic anguish and filled
them with dread of the possible horrors
still to be encountered. Mangled by the
the wreck, mutilated by the fire, their
features, where at all preserved, stamped
with an ineffaceable expression of ago y
and perror beyond the power of depiction
in words, those ghastly corpses were things
of terror in themselves. The charred
body of a mother, still clasping tho shriv
elled remains of her two children to her
blackened breast, was drawn forth, and
then the headless body of another woman,
the body of a man with the extremities
consumed by fire, a mangled mass of j
shapeless, distorted fragments of a man,
once the engineer, now so dreadfully dis
figured that its once having been a human
being seemed a doubt, then more bodies
with arms, heads, and legs burned off,
frightful things, beyond recognition. .But
why continue here this dreadful recital;
let it be left in part, at least, to imagira
tion. None can coDjare up in their minds
a pictnre more full of vivid horrors
than this scene presented, one which
will not fall short of the reality. The
dead, as they were extricated from
the wreck, were laid upon the floor of a
baggage car brought up for the purpose,
and afire was kept up near them to thaw
out the frozen garments of those upon
whom any clothing remained, in order to
prosecute the search for means of identifi
cation. Most of those found io the wreck
of the Buffalo coach were in a mass at the
lower end, that plunged down deep in the
mud and water, and seemed to have been
making an effort to reach the door, to
escape, when death seized them. The
dead were : G. F. Thompson, of 47 Wall
street; Dr. Nancrede, and George Staf
ford ; five railroad employees ; Peter Vot
burgh, conductor of the sleeping car ; E.
Benedict, editor of the Cleveland Herald,
his wife and two children ; A. A. Gillett,
ot Buff riu; Rev- Morrell Fowler, wife,
and three children; L. A. Root. David
Simmons, engineer; Laurenoe Mooney,
brakeman ; James Yosburgh (colored),
porter of the Buffalo sleeping car ; and the
following list of surnames, found in tbe
pocket-book of ri osburgh, the conductor :
Fowler, Pease, of Buffalo; Germanuel, of
Rochester ; Sorhis, Curry, Forbach, and
Rosenthal
STARTING FROM THE DEPOT.
The “Pacific express” train had acquired
a national reputation. It was started soon
litter the completion of the great iron
! band which binds the continent from the
Atlantic to the Pacific coast, and its ob
ject was to convey passengers with the
utmost speed over the first thousand miles
ot their journey from the metropolis of
the east to the metropolis of the west. It
surpassed all competitors in the endeavor
to Carry the busy, impatient travellers of
the country over that distance in the
shortest possible time, and for many
months it bore the laurels for attaining
the extraordinary acliievemert of convey
ing passengers from New York to Chicago
in twenty-nine hours. The express lett
JNew York daily at 8 o’clock, p. m., and
there are very few persons comparatively
in the cty who have not seen the leng
tra “ ?f palace cars roll out from the depot
at Thirtieth street aud disappear on its
long journey to Garden City. Each night
previous to the starting ot the train, the
scene at the depot was most interesting.
Amid the noise ot the coaches and car
riages bringing in thoir couLibutions to
make up the quota of passengers, the din
ot the numerous railroad men shouting
instructions, and the rattle of tranks over
the plank, friends were taking a long fare
well, some in tears; and every one who
went aboard the train carried the bless
ings of someone dear to the heart, and a
solemn prayer that no accident should in
terfere to make the voyage a dangerous
one. And then when one looked in and
saw the voyagers comfortably ensconced
in their small but elegant drawing rooms,
with a. supply of newspapers, the latest
magazines, &c., all at hand, one was al
ways constrained to believe that ail the
annoyances of travelling had finally be
come. things of the past, and that to ride
in this manner through a wide and diver
sified country was nothing else than a
luxury.
ON THE ROAl> TO DEATH.
All these scenes wera re-enacted on
Monday evening last. The express train
emerged from the long, dark and, pot, and
soon was speeding away along the shore of
the rigid Hudson. The night was clear
and intensely cold, as every one who ex
posed himself to the chilling blast will re
member. As the passengers sat by the
windows and gazed out across the grifet
river at the bleak mountains crowned with
snow, the clear sky all studded with stars
that shone like diamonds—for a clearer
atmosphere has seldom been known in this
vicinity—it was probably difficult to de
cide whether the majestic stream with its
towering borders was ever more charming,
ven in the inid3t of blooming spring or
green summer. The cold moon threw her
silvery ravs down slantingly on the sheet
of ice, and they were reflected on the shin
ing armors of sleet which clad the side of
every valley on the other side and the top
of every ancient bluff. Now and then the
miniature figure of a cottage, with its
lighted window, could be seen dotting the
spowy field on the opposite side of the
river, each one affording a subject for
thought to the dreamy voyagers- On, on
sped the steaming train, its wheals grind
ing the frosty rails, and its shrill vrhistle
making the whole frigid valley resound
th i echoes for miles around. Cottage,
hamlet and town appeared and inst antly
receded from the view of the swift liying
travellers. At last weariness overtook the
dreamers gliding past these weird, arctic
scenes, and they began to turn their small
parlors into snug f-lecping rooms. Mean -
while the never tiring iron horse drew
them on with the fleetness of wings
INTO THE JAWS OF DEATH.
A great black shape, with one dazzling
eye, was crawling along the track in the
opposite direction, miles the point
now reached by the express train. That
object was death. It wound its long form
around a curve, and while passing under
a dark bridge, just after leaving tho village
of New Hamburg, it prepared the weapon
of destruction. The black oil-tanks were
partially covered with a sheath ofi.ee, and
all the iron wheels and axles were brittle
with tbo intense frost. One of the axles
snapped and dropped down, so that it
grated on the track, and dragged along
over the sleepers. When it came to the
trestle-bridge over the mouth of Wapping
er’s Creek, which runs down from the
hills on the eastern shore of tho Hudson,
and which, at its ccnfluence, becomes so
broad and deep that it has the appearance
of an inlet, the broken iron dropped
down and began to root up the wood-work,
boon there was a sudden jerk, for the
iron fangs had got a strong hold. The
entire oil train stopped suddenly, and a
portion of it toppled over upon the other
track.
THE HORRIBLE COLLISION.
A flash of light danced upon the
track, the shriek of a whistle was heard,
and on came the Pacific express with its
lightning dasb. The engineer, peering
out behind the reflector, saw a mass of
blac* l " matter on the track before, and
pulled the lever, sounding the signal for
“down breaks-” The brakes wero ap
plied, but not in time to check the terri
ble momentum of the train. It rushed
into the face of the wreck, and the en
gineer’s assistant, seeing death inevitable,
sprung from bis post, at the same time
calling upon tbe engineer to follow. Tbe
engineer replied, “I’ll go with my train.”
The lccomotive plunged into the black
wreck, there was a tremendous crash, fol
lowed by death-shrieks, and then an ex
plosion that was heard for miles, and
next the devouring flames. The engine
of the express train was the first to go
down and bury itself and its driver in the
swollen river beneath the ice. Then followed
the coal-tender, the baggage -car with its
contents, the heavily-laden express car,
and lastly, the first drawing-room, or
sleeping-car, with its freight of human
lives. To bury them out of the reach of
hope, the ugly oil-trucks fell upon them
and then a hellish fire was kindled over
the pregnant grave.
THE FLAMES SHOT UP
as if some devilish power was in them, ex
ulting over the victory. Tho great light
was seen for miles around. Presently the
clear night air was filled with the dismal
pealing of church bells from the villages
far away. A fire engine came to the scene
with hose t> engage in the useless attempt
to extinguish the flames. Hundreds of
people flocked to the scene of carnage, and
the sight was one that can never be
effaced from the memory of all who saw
it, anl one, the recurrence of which, ail
pray may never come.
Last night the sccdcs in tho vicinity of
the sickenmg disaster were dismal in the
extreme. There was the yawniog gulf
which had enveloped the dead, ever it was
a frame of charred timbers, and half a
hundred men carrying lights were moving
about above the wrecs. The sound of the
axe, saw, and hammer of the workmen re
pairing tho bridge was heard. Two locomo
tives drawing trains, had approached the
brink, one on each side, and stood with
their great lights glaring down into tbo
abyss. The night was dark, and the scores
of people on the field of ice surrounding
the wreck ec u and just be discerned. All the
villagers had been at work on the ice and
in tho water as long as the light of day
lasted, and were nearly frozen. To keep
from perishing, many of them had resorted
to spiritous liquor, and in the evening
they were half intoxicated. In carrying
the passengers from the trains around the
wreck on the ice, they ran, cursed, and
shouted at the very brink of the grave.
A few tall masts, with their crossing spars,
stood close by the side of the tomb, like
monumental crosses erected to commem
orate the disaster.
Commercial Fertilizers.—Tho plant
ers have not yet commenced the purchase
of guano and other crrmmercial fertilizers.
The railroad men say that up to the pres
ent rime the shipments have been remark
ably light. The indications are that the
low price of cotton has injured the planters
so muoh that they will not be able to make
heavy purchases during the present season.
Another Constitutional Amend
ment. —A resolution has been introduced
in the Senate amending the Constitution
so as to exclude from the right of suffrage
all persons betting on elections, or who
shall promise to give or receive a 'valuable
consideration for his vote.
Cincinnati, February 15.—The com
mittee to urge Congressional action
against Kentucky, and in favor of tbo Cin
cinnati & Southern Railroad, left topflight.
NEW SERIES, VOL. XXIV. NO. 8.
Jefferson Superior Court.
JUDGE TWIGGS’ CHARGE TO THE
GRAND JURY.
Mr. Foreman and Gentlemen of the Grand
Jury :
When I adjourned this Court in Novem
ber last, I did not expect to again occupy
this bench until its next regular session. I
did not suppose that your county would
be called upon to defray the expense in
cident to an extra and special term of
your Court; that its citizens (would be
interrupted in organizing their business
for anew year, and particularly that your
farmers would be disturbed in the prepara
tions they are making to meet the exigen
cies so necessary, at this busy season, to
successfully equip their farms, and prepare
for the coming crop.
I deeply regret, however, gentlemen,
that the condition of your internal affairs,
so full of social disorders, has rendered
the necessity imperative to call you to
gether. I regret that this inconvenience
and expense has been entailed upon jou
by the most flagrant and insurrectionary
violation of law, tending to tbe alarming
promotion of personal and social insecu
rity in your midsr.
Since I met with you last the civil laws
of your State have been most wantonly
outraged, and set at defiance, by an armed
mob of lawless men ; your County Jail has
been violently entered; its inmates ab
stracted; one of their number shot to
death in the very precincts of this build
ing, and the remainder—eight in number—
most horribly and inhumanly mutilated.
The commission of this outrage was unat
tended by the slightest shadow of excuse
or reason, and stands to-day an example
of unparalleled and unprecedented atrocity,
without a single paliating circumstance.
The unfortunate men who were the
victims of this lawlessness were not at
large, disturbing your community, nor en
dangering its interests; in truth, so to
fepeak, they were hostages for security to
yourselves and your property, for they
afforded wholesome examples of the penal
ty which is the result of violated law, and
were undergoing the punishment imposed
by your statutes. I have called you
together as the conservators of that law,
and as the representatives of the public
under the sanctity of your oaths, to know
whether you are prepared to sanction the
prevalence of such outrages in one ot the
oldest and most enlightened counties in
your State, or whether you intend to place
the seal of your condemnation boldly and
fearlessly upon these men and measures.
It is for you now to determine whether
the good and law abiding people of your
community shall he subjected to a reign
of terror, inaugurated by a few bad men;
your society disturbed and demoralized,
and the value of your real estate depre
ciated, or whether to maintain the law
and protect your citizens, your county
shall be garrisoned by troops and martial
law proclaimed in your midst.
The time has arrived when these dis
orders must cease, and it is unnecessary
for me to say that if the civil law becomes
a dead letter in this section of the State,
and the civil officers become weak-kneed
and intimidated, I fear that other and
sterner remedies will be invoked to check
the growth of evils, pregnant not only with
solemn forebodings to yoqr safety and
tranquility, but destructive to the vital
interest of your people.
The law in itse'f is adequate to afford
protection, both to yourselves and your
property, and ample to meet every require
ment and emergency; and when it be
comes insufficient to meet an emergency
like the present, it is only the machinery
which is defective. The government un
der which we livo is ODe formed and con
trolled by tho people, and is created for the
protection of those fundamental rights
which underlie its structure —tbe right to
life, liberty and property. Tho only safety
to those rights is secured by the sound ad
ministration of tbe law, and the civil
courts, composed .of judges, grand and
special jurors, clerks and sheriff’s, arc the
organio tribunals of the government to
maintain the laws and afford this prolec
| tion. You have been selected by reason
of your superior intelligence and upright
ness and form the most powerful coordi
nate branch ot the judicial machinery, in
the correction of crime and the punish
ment of criminals. It becomes my duty
( o-day, gentlemen, to declare to you se
riously that, in the present crisis, the
safety, the tranquillity and security of the
people of your county, and the preserva
ti on of your property, absolutely rest in
your hands, and depend upon your fearless
and inflexible determination to discharge
your duty, in searching out aud bringing
to justice the parties engaged in the out
rage committed in this place on the 14th
January last.
My experience has taught me that, in a
great measure, Grand Juries are the media
through which publie sentiment is con
veyed. They reflect, with singular accu
racy, the sentiments, the prejudices and
peculiarities of the groat mass of the
people fiom whom they arc choseD, and
whom they, for the time being, represent.
In my judgment the law is upheld or dis
regarded in the same proportion as it is
sustained and respected by the sentiments
which prevail in the public mind. At
every successive session ot our courts this
experience is strengthened and confirme
for a noticeable fact that, though the
Grand Juries are specifically charged and
instructed as to their various duties, the
renal statutes are, time without number,
violated in the very presence of the men
chosen, selected and sworn to present all
violations of law that comes to their
knowledge.
While the language of the oath which
they take, and which you have taken to
day, relates to matters touching the pres
ent service, it is a great mistake to sup
pose that the duties imposed are restricted
to such violations of law as may come to
their knowledge after they are sworn. Sec
tion 3849 of the Cede is in these words :
"Whilst Grand Jurors are bound only to
take notiee or make presentment of such
offenses as may or shall come to their
knowledge or observation after they shall
have been sworn, yet they have the right
and power, and it is their duty as Jurors.
to make presentments of any violations of
the laws which they may know to have
been committed at any previous time,
which are not been barred by the statute
of limitations ;” and yet, notwithstanding
this duty of Jarors, the most flagrant vio
lations of law are suffered to go unpunish
ed. And why ? Public sentiment, the
lever of wonderful power in controlling
mankind in every sphere of action, and in
every department ot duty, not only is the
directory of their views out of the Court
House, but it goes with them into the
Court House, and even after they have
sworn to do their duty, it sticks to them
like the “ shirt of Nessus.” Asa neces
sary corollary to what has been said, you
will find in those sections of the State
where moral depravity prevails the most,
fewer criminals are punished and brought
to justice, and I tell you an enlightened
public sentiment, properly sustained by
wholesome laws, will never fail to drive
out by mere force of moral power, reflected
through Grand Juries, evils like those
which have been prevailing in your com
munity.
The theoiy of our government is that
its power is derived from the consent of
tire governed, and law can only be en
folded when the people, by whom these
lawi’ are promulgated, gives them their
support and approbation. You will
readily, therefore, realise and appreciate
tbe solemn and overwhelming responsi-'
bilities which rest upon your shoulders as
guardians of the law, as citizens,and as the
representatives of the public sentiment in
the community in which you reside.
I do not believe that I am tcriay ad
dressing the representatives of a vicious or
depraved public. Your citizens are re
cognized as amomp the most enlightened
and law-abiding in tbe State, and I am
sincere in expressing tho belief that Zhe
shocking occurrence of tbe 14th January
meets with their heartiest and most un
qualified condemnation. In view, there
fore, of the confidence which I entertain
in the integrity, courage and elevated tone
which I believe tbe people of Jefferson
to possess, I shall look to you to use eyery
effort to bring to speedy justice and
punishment these destroyers of yonr peace
and security, and the would be detractors
of your character and virtue. It will not
do to say that thirty or more men, some of
whom I am informed were not even dis
guised, can boldly ride your thorough
fares, enter yonr county site and commit
an atrocity, at which all refined and
humane people shudder, and cooly dis
perse to their homes, without some being
known at least to a number of your citi
zens. These troubles and disorders, which
seem to be to a great extent confined to
this section of our State, will ultimately
entail ruin upon yonr people, and, unless
speedily checked, will beootne the fruitful
source of disasters, both social, material
and political, among yon. Apart from
other considerations, they are bound to
depreciate the value of your property.
No man cut J>e pnrsuaded to come into
your midst to select a home and bring his
tamily and his capital into a community
where the dearest interests of society are
invaded, and tbe civil law set at defiance.
But further, already lias the details of the
outrage (which is the occasion of your pres
ence here) been read from one of your own
journals iu the House of Representatives
at V* ashington. and truly is a most potent
weapon in the hands of a committee ap
pointed there to investigate and report
Southern outrages. For nearly six long
years we have been struggling to regain
our political equilibrium, and standing as
we are upon the threshhold of admission
to all our privileges, and the prospect of
rest from the and 'moralizing uncertainty and
suspepse which has been depressing our
energies and weighing liko an incubus up
on our materia! interests, our own people
seem to be inviting political intervention
and reconstructien.
1 hope, gentlemen, that I have suc
ceeded in impressing you with the import
ance of your action io one of the most re
sponsible duties which has ever devolved
upon a grand jury in this State. You
have ample power, by compulsory prccess,
to bring before you any person or persons
you may wish to examine, and I am here to
sustain and aid you ic your investigation,
by all the means known to the law. I shall
patiently await the re-ultof your delibera
atioas, and will keep this Court open as long
as any hope remains of accomplishing tho
object which has breught us together.
You may now retire to your room.
PRESENTMENTS OF THE GRAND
JURY.
GEORGIA, JEFFERSON COUNTY.
We ooncur with his Honor, J udge
Twiggs, in expressing our regret that there
should have existed a necessity for calling
a special term of this Court. ' There have
been marked violations of law, and we re
gret it. Unthinking, unwise, imprudent,
iawless men have committed acts which
has cast a stigma upon the fair name of
our county, and we are pained to confess
it. On the 14th of last month, in the
still, quiet hours of the Dight, when all
good men should have been in their beds,
a band of disguised men visited this vil
lage, entered the Jail of the county, re
leased its inmates, after the infliction of
severe and cruel punishment, and then
disappeared as mysteriously as they had
assembled together; all this we reluctantly
acknowledge, Who perpetrated this great
wrong we have not been able to ascer
tain. Reports have been made us that
some of these men were not disguised, yet
their faces were recognized as strange
ones, that away out in the confines of tho
county, early in the night, and just before
daylight the noise of passing and returning
horses were heard. These reports lead us
to hope that these violators of our peace
and good name came not from among us.
If they did come from distant parts we
send them greeting, hoping that for the
luturo they will find enough to do at homo
correcting tho evils of their own house
holds, never again meddling or making
matters which do not concern them.
But, unfortunately, if they are of our
own people, we disown them, for they
have tarnished our name, invaded our in
terests, demoralized our labor, and less
ened materially the prospects of our
county. What could have been their
motives is only left to conjecture. We
are aware that of late years crime has
rapidly increased, mainly because the
Legislature of the State has so modified
the penal statutes that there is hardly
any adequate punishment for any kind of
crimes. The punishment for all grades of
crime has been so lessened that the law
is no longer a terror to evil-doers. A tew
years back a party convicted of stealing
atoned _ for hjs transgression by under
going imprisonment for a term of years
in the Penitentiary ; now a few weeks or
months at best m tho County Jail is con
sidered an ample punishment. What
the law punished five years ago as felonies,
are now adjudged as only low grades of
misdemeanors. The natural consequence
of this unwise and criminal legislation is
that the door leading to crime is flung
wide open, and all the avenues con
ducting to it are thronged with travel
ers. Now and then some great, glar
ing violation of law is committed,
the penalty for which, even corrupt
and ignorant legislation has not dared
lessen, and the offender is tried, convicted,
and sent to the Penitentiary. Yet most
frequently, after a short imprisonment,
gubernatorial clemency intervenes, and the
violator of grave laws is again turned loose
upon the community, his trivial punish
ment only encouraging him to dare greater
wrongs. Good people have been greatly
discouraged, for their old and tried friend
and protector, the law, is become cold and
indifferent, no longer giving them adequate
protection. Planters are in trouble, and
are perplexed with annoyances only sur
passed by the plagues of Egypt. The
raising of stock is almost abandoned, ard
only those commodities are produced
which, from their nature, cannot be con
veniently stolen. We know that, for these
reasons, of late years the opinion has been
entertained by some —yea, by too many—
that if the law will not adequately protect
our property, that for the sake of self
preservation other means should be resort
ed to. As Grand Jurors, we utterly repu
diate this heresy. The laws must be
obeyed and enforced, even when passed by
corrupt Legislative Assemblies and set
aside too frequently by a venal Execu
tive.
No community is safe when its in
terests are overlooked and cared for
by men who in secret sit in judg
ment, and in the dark hour of night
execute their sentence. When crime is
committed, when evils are abroad, let
ho esty and manhood come forward in the
open, broad noon day’s sun, and in courts
of justioo bring these evil-doers to condign
punishment, and ii the laws arc deficient,
inadequate, let true manhood exhibit it
self by enduring injuries rather than in
perpetrating wrongs. Public opinion
eventually controls everything—most gen
erally after the unsuccessful termination ot
disastrous civil wars, public opinion is
fettered, and great confusion and much
wrong is the result. The only remedy is
patience, long forbearance. Asa people,
we have borne many grievances, and en
dured unnumbered wrongs, with a calm
ness, and a fortitude which has written man
hood in indelibh characters over all our
proceedings. Now, that the day star of
redemption is dawning, and our evil days
are drawing to an end, how thoughtless,
how exceedingly foolish, lor a few unwise
and misguided men, to throw away their
good names, unmindful of their glorious
past, and perpetrate deeds which will
tarnish that lustre which has been kept
bright only by the united virtue and man
hood of an entire people
We would not be understood as in any
way apologising for the unlawful proce
dures which has convened this Court.
“Two wrongs never made a right.” We
openly and avowedly condemn these acts,
and our indignation is enhanced because of
our inability to discover any clue by which
the mystery which envelopes these men
can be unravelled. Though our body has
adjourned, the investigation is not ended.
We hope that every good citizen will join
with us, not only in ferreting out these
lawless men, but that by their words and
acts they will set soeh an uumistakable
seal of condemnation upon lixe procedures
that in future bo idea or knowledge of
similar wrongs will ever be known, except
through a painful atid unpleasant recollec
tion of the past.
In taking leave of his Honor Judge
Twiggs, we take pleasure in thanking him
for his able and appropriate remarks to us,
giving his reasons for convening this
Court. We fully concur wjth him in all
the opinions he expressed, and hope that
he will oblige ns and the county by having
his charge published.
To D. J. Alexander, Solicitor General
pro tern., we are under obligations for the
usual courtesies.
We recommend that these presentments,
with the charge of the Court, be published
in the Augusta Chboniole & Sentinel.
J. 11. WILKINS, Foreman.
Wm. H. Pugesley, Chas. Russell,
Jab. O. Spann, A. J. Williams,
A. B. McDaniel, L. G. Attaway,
R. J. Boyd, W. H. Beall,
Joshua Minton, N. McDaniel,
L. D. Farm ei:, A. J. Cook,
R. J. Peterson, J. F. Wise,
T. E. Swan, Rue-ha Bostick,
Wm. Rollins, Thos. Nesbitt.
A true extract from the minutes of the
Superior Court, February 9th, 1871.
Nicholas Diehl, Deputy Clerk.
febl4-tlAwl
The Irish exiles unanimously resolved
to appoint a committee, with full powers
to deal with questions of organization.
The following committee was appointed :
Rossa, Mulcachy, Bourke, Power, St. Clair
and McClnrc. The committee organized
with Kossa as Chairman, and McClure,
Secretary. By the resolution, the com
mittee assume coutrol of the various Irish
organizations in America, willing to place
themselves under the committee’s guid
ance. The committee asks societies to
continue their organizations ia their pres
ent form, until the committee’s plans are
matured. Reports of the strength and
efficiency of each society Is requested with
out delay.