Page:Journal of Negro History, vol. 7.djvu/372

 I have the honor, in reply, to say that the information received by me respecting the matter referred to is, in substance, that, on the night of the 11th of February, some twenty-five or thirty mounted men, in disguise, went to the house of James Perry, living near Ridge Spring, in the County of Edgefield; that they found in the house Freeman Gardner, his wife, Julia Brooks, a woman between seventy and eighty years of age, and Zilpha Hill, a young woman—all colored; that this disguised band took all four of the immates of the house to a point of about a mile and a quarter distant and then stripped and whipped them all; that after the whipping was over, the woman, Patsey Gardner, was severely and systematically burned by the application of liquid sealing wax or burning pitch to her back and limbs; that the young woman, Zilpha Hill, who was pregnant was also beaten and severely abused, to such an extent as to endanger her life; that the only pretext for this conduct was given in a remark of one of the disguised band about John Gaston's goods.

This is the account given by the victims of the outrage, and the condition of the woman, Patsey Gardner, seems to indicate the truth of her statements as to the injuries inflicted upon this woman.

This is the substance of the information in my hands at the present time.

Mr. Hayne said:

Mr. Chairman—Perhaps no member regrets this outrage more than I do, for in the last campaign it was my earnest desire, yea, the height of my ambition, to bring about not only purity in my party, but harmony between the two races, and therefore my regret. I am disappointed, almost discouraged, for it seems as though 'tis love's labor lost. But, sir, just so long as the newspapers of the country continue to exert their influence in this direction will our State be disgraced by these foul outrages. They fire up the hatred of the hot headed, indiscreet youths of the State by their incendiary articles, and make them believe that to slay and scourge all who differ from them in opinion are doing God and their country a service. They never heap the ashes of charitable oblivion upon the coals of prejudice and hate, but continue to replenish it with the most exciting and fiery appeals. The Edgefield paper makes