AN IRISHMAN’S SUFFERINGS IN SOUTH CAROLINA.
By Editor
THE Northern newspapers have recently republished a brief paragraph from The Charleston Mercury, announcing in a very nonchalant style, that a workman engaged on the State house, in Columbia, S. C., was recently seized by a mob on account, as was alleged, of holding anti-slavery opinions, and that he received twenty-nine lashes, and that he was tarred and feathered, and escorted out of the State! It took a very few lines to tell this story according to the style of the Southern press; for it is a trait of Southern chivalry, first to practice cruelty and then to suppress the facts. We have seen this unfortunate man and heard his story, and looked at his wounds. His name is James Power. He is an intelligent young man about twenty-three years of age, a native of Wexford, Ireland, and a stone-cutter by trade. He went from Philadelphia to the South, and obtained employment in Columbia, where he had worked for nine months. The only opinion he ever expressed against slavery was that it caused a white laborer in the South to be looked upon as an inferior and degraded man. But this was enough! The remark was reported to the vigilance committee (composed of twelve members), who immediately ordered the police to arrest him. He was seized two miles away from town, in attempting to escape. He was brought back and put in a cell, where he remained for three days, during which time he was denied the use of a pen and ink, and all communication with his friends outside. At length he was taken before the mayor. Four persons appeared and bore testimony to the remark which he had made. The evidence was conclusive. He was returned to prison and kept locked up for six days. During this time, he was allowed only two scanty meals a day and the food was carried to him by a negro. He was then taken out of jail in the custody of two marshals, who said to him, “You are so fond of niggers that we are going to give you a nigger escort.” He was led through the main street amid a great crowd, hooting and yelling, the marshals compelling two negroes to drag him through the puddles and muddy places of the street, and of the state house yard! As he was taken past the state house, three members of the legislature, including the speaker, stood looking on and laughing! The crowd gradually increased until it numbered several thousand persons, headed by a troop of horse. After a march of three miles out of the city to a place called “the junction,” the procession was stopped, and preparations were made for punishment. The populace cried “Brand him!” “Burn him!” “Spike him to death!” and made threats against his life by pointing pistols at his head, and flourishing sticks in his face. The vigilance committee ordered him to strip himself naked, and forced a negro to assist in taking off the clothes. A cowhide was then put into the negro’s hands, who was ordered to lay on thirty-nine lashes (not twenty-nine, as reported), and to draw blood at every stroke. Our informant describes the pain of this infliction as exceeding in severity anything which he ever suffered before. His back and lower limbs are still covered with the scars of the wounds! A bucket of tar was then brought and two negroes were ordered to rub it upon his bleeding skin, and to cover him from head to waist. His hair and eye-brows were clotted with the tar. After this part of the ceremony was concluded he was covered with feathers. His pataloons were then drawn up to his waist, but he was not allowed to put on his shirt or coat. He was conducted in this exposed condition amid the shouts of the populace, to the railroad train, and was put on board the negroes’ car. The engineer blew a continuous blast on his whistle to signalize the performance. A citizen of Charleston on the train who saw the poor fellow’s unhappy condition, stepped into a neighboring hotel, before the starting of the cars and brought a cup of coffee and some biscuits to relieve the sufferer’s faintness. It was a timely gift and gratefully received. But the Southern chivalry gathered around the Southern gentleman, and threatened him with summary vengeance if he repeated his generosity. The exasperated crowd detained the train and called for more tar and feathers, for a further infliction upon their bleeding victim. More tar was brought, but more feathers could not be found; and after fresh tar was applied cotton was stuck upon it instead. When the train started for Charleston, the mob bade him good-by, and told him that when he reached this city he would receive 130 lashes. At every station between Columbia and Charleston, the engineer blew a prolonged whistle, and gathered a mob to add fresh insults to the wounded man. At length, on arriving he was met by the police, conveyed to prison, and detained in his cell for an entire week. Here he received for the first time, soap and water to wash off the tar, and oil to soften his sores. A mob several times threatened to break into the prison to carry him out into the street, and make a public spectacle of him the second time. But he was kept closely confined. A physician called to see him to examine his wounds, who told him that his case was a mild one comparing it with that of a man who was then lying in the city hospital from the effects of 500 lashes which had almost put an end to his life. On Saturday morning last, at seven o’clock, the poor workman was taken from prison and conducted quietly on board the steamer for New York. He arrived in this city on Monday last, where he is still staying, recovering from the effects of his ill-treatment, and looking for work, which we hope he may find. We have only one comment to make on this case. This man informed us that in common with the great mass of Irishmen in this country, he had always voted with the democratic party. He had long known in Philadelphia that the democratic party upheld slavery, but he never learned until he went to South Carolina that slavery crushed the white laborer, and that the democratic party in upholding slavery is therefore the enemy of Irishmen, who are a nation of laborers. In the Southern states work is looked upon as dishonorable and workmen as degraded. This is what an Irish stone-cutter learned while cutting stone in South Carolina. We hope the lesson of his experience may reach the ears of his countrymen.—N. Y. Independent.