More on the Election Day murder

Ballots from the July 1869 election
From the South Carolina State Archives
Courtesy of the author

In the blogpost Chesterfield during Reconstruction: A murder on election day!, we discussed a murder on Election Day, Saturday July 24, 1869, at Mount Croghan in Chesterfield County, South Carolina. The Confederate veteran Archibald Nicholson was killed by the freedman Jacob Brewer. While the murder was reported in newspapers, the incident fell out of the public eye. In particular, it was unclear whether Brewer ever faced legal consequences. After a trip to the state archives, I now have a better understanding of what happened.

Recall the basics of the incident. On Election Day, Archibald and his brother John walked four miles from their home to the town of Mount Croghan. While there, Archibald decided to purchase cedar that was being sold near the polling station. While queuing in line, he got into an argument with a freedman (unnamed in press reports) who tried to push his way forward in line. Upset with the freedman, Archibald attacked him with a knife he was carrying. At this point, a race riot broke out. About thirty or forty men had come to town, and many of them began to fight, with white men trying to defend Archibald and Black men trying to defend the freedman. Jacob Brewer was among those who joined the fight, and he struck Archibald in the head with a gun he had picked up and then ran off. After the fight, Archibald went home, but his injury proved severe, and he died later that day.

Legal proceedings against Jacob Brewer began two days after the election day. The case was a major test for the legal system. South Carolina had been under military rule for several years, and the civil courts had only opened roughly a year earlier following a reorganization under a new constitution. The county jail was still under construction, so basic issues like where to imprison people were not yet resolved.

Under the newly reorganized legal system, the state official who was immediately responsible for handling matters was the magistrate, George W. Brewer. Brewer was a white farmer who had lived in the area since before the war. Little information is available about his politics, but he likely was an active Republican as he was appointed by Governor Scott. As was common for magistrates, Brewer does not appear to have had any formal legal training, but he was educated and highly literate.

Magistrates had limited authority over criminal cases, so G. W. Brewer's role was restricted to preliminary matters like ordering witnesses to testify. The grand jury hearing and the trial would be held in the Court of General Sessions in the town of Chesterfield. The presiding judge was Archibald J. Shaw. He had been elected on a conservative ticket and was the sort of man that conservatives wanted to place in office. He was a native South Carolinian who had practiced law in the antebellum and served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.

Most practical issues, like bringing the accused to court, were handled by the county sheriff, P. F. Spofford. Born in Massachusetts, Spofford had moved to South Carolina before the Civil War to work as a shoemaker in Cheraw. He appears to have embraced the state culture. Spofford had served in the Confederate army and had been elected on a conservative ticket, but he appears to have enjoyed broad support as he received a Republican endorsement in a few years later when he ran for re-election. Ultimately, he went in to serve in office for almost two decades.

The job of prosecuting the case was handled by the county solicitor, James M. Rutland. Rutland was also a native South Carolinian who had practiced law before the war, but he was one of the few prominent South Carolinians who had opposed secession and the Confederacy. However, he was also a political moderate who supported only limited political rights for freedmen. All in all, the county legal system was run by people who could be expected to prosecute the case against Jacob Brewer with vigor. 

In the case of a suspected murder, legal proceedings begin with a coroner's inquest to determined the cause of the death. The details of the inquest were given in the blogpost "Chesterfield during Reconstruction: A murder on election day!" Magistrate Brewer held the inquest, and the outcome was predictable: two physicians testified that Archibald Nicholson was killed by a blow to the head, and several people testified to having witnessed Jacob Brewer strike the blow. 

After the coroner's inquest, Magistrate Brewer recorded testimony from one additional witness, issued  recognizances to three other witnesses (binding them to testify), and issued arrest warrants for two more witnesses.

The identities of the witnesses shed some light on the proceedings. The person who gave the witness testimony was Oliver P. Edgeworth, a white farmer who had served in the Confederate army. One of the two men that the magistrate issued an arrest warrant for (Alexander Oliver) was also a white farmer, but the remaining three were witnesses were Black, and likely freedmen. Two of them, Jacob and Essick Lowry, were among those who testified at the coroner's inquest, while the third was a new witness.

We can some get some additional insights from looking at the recognizances that were issued. The terms of each agreement was that the witness swore that, if they failed to appear as a witness before the court, then they were indebted to the state for a substantial amount of money, typically two hundred dollars. The witness did not actually provide the sum of money, but it was expected that they owned enough in land and other goods so that the state could recoup the debt. In case there was concern over whether the witness could cover the debt, a third party could cosign the agreement. Thus the existence a third-party co-signature suggests both that (1) the witness had limited financial means and (2) enjoyed a positive relationship with the third party.

A. M. Lowry cosigned for Sandy Gordan, Jacob Lowry and Essick Lowry. The common last name ("Lowry") suggests that A. M. may have enslaved Jacob and Essick before the war, in which case the two were likely still farming on A. M.'s land. In general, A. M. was heavily involved in the legal proceedings. He also served as foreman on the jury for the coroner's inquest and made the complaints that provided the basis for the arrest warrants issued for Chester McKenzie and Alexander Oliver. Likely this reflects A. M.'s strong engagement with local politics. A. M. was a successful small farmer who served in the state legislature during the antebellum. He would go on to lead efforts to "redeem" the state government and was elected to the legislature on the conservative ticket in 1872.

Over the course of summer and fall, Magistrate Brewer and Sheriff Spofford would work together to gather additional witnesses. They secured agreements to testify from all the witnesses from the coroner's inquest (Benjamin Blackeney, Edmond Moore, and Hardy G. Hendrick), the two men the magistrate had issued warrants for (Chester McKenzie and Alexander Oliver), and O. P. Edgeworth.

Criminal proceedings against Jacob Brewer should have begun at the August session of the Court of General Sessions. However, shortly before the July election, the judge issued a letter that he would not be holding court that term. Thus legal proceedings first began in January 1870. 

The record of what transpired is confused. There is no mention of the case against Brewer in the criminal journal of the court. However, incitement papers state that the grand jury issued a true bill of indictment  against Jacob Brewer. Based on the indictment, the judge issued a warrant for Brewer's arrest, and the solicitor was able to present the case against Brewer at a jury trial. 

It appears that the sheriff was unable to locate Jacob Brewer, but the jury trial against him was held in May term. The petit jury found him guilty of murder, and a second bench warrant was issued for his arrest on May 9. The sheriff reported on September 4 that he had been unable to locate Brewer, and the judge decided to sentence Brewer in absentia that month. The exact terms of the sentence are unknown as the records were sealed, but a second arrest warrant was issued on September 17.  The sheriff spent the next few months searching for Brewer, but reported on December 31 that he was unable to find him. This brought matters to anti-climatic end. Presumably, Jacob Brewer, recognizing that he was facing serious criminal charges, had fled the county. Certainly, in the chaos of post-war South Carolina, it would not have been difficult for him to leave without the sheriff noticing.

The fact that the legal proceedings against Jacob Brewer went unrecorded in the criminal journal of the Court of General Sessions is worth inspecting further. This likely reflects simple incompetence on the part of the court system rather than an intentional effort to conceal operations. Other important legal cases also went unrecorded. For example, records of the state penitentiary show that two men (A. Roberts and E. Simmons) were found guilty of crimes during the January court term yet those legal proceedings also went unrecorded in the criminal journal. Moreover, the crimes were very serious. One man (A. Roberts) was given a life sentence for murder, while the other (E. Simmons) was given a ten year sentence for burglary, larceny, and horse stealing.

The citizens of Chesterfield County themselves appear upset with the legal system. Each term, the Grand Jury issued a presentiment in which they described problems with the county government. In a typical presentment, the Grand Jury might describe problems with infrastructure like bridges and roads or the poor house or the county jail. The Grand Jury organized for the January term singled out for criticism Magistrate Brewer's handling of the election: "We present Mr. G. W. Brewer for not discharging his duties as magistrate in not attempting to preserve the peace at Mt. Croghan on or about the 24th July 1869 at which time and place there was a considerable riot." 

The whole incident seems to confirm the opinion Wilmington Evening Star that "Riots and murders seem to be the order of the day." However, while the newspaper blamed lawlessness on "radical [Republican] rule," few, if any, of the individuals responsible for maintaining law and order in Chesterfield were radical Republicans. While there were valid complaints against the new Republican state government, the difficulties also strongly reflected problems with South Carolina's historical criminal justice system. In the antebellum, South Carolina's legal culture was distinctive for being weak and inefficient. Many in the state lived in rural areas, on farms or plantations, and a majority of residents were enslaved people who enjoyed few if any legal rights. The state government gave planters and farm-owners broad discretion in how they maintained order on their lands (enslaved workers could be beaten for arbitrary reasons), and disputes between planters were often resolved informally. This system became unsustainable following Emancipation and the collapse of the planation system. Events in Chesterfield show that the new judicial system created by the 1868 state constitution only had a limited ability to maintain order, but given the poverty, disorder, and destruction that was pervasive within the state, its hard to imagine how any newly legal system could have achieved more than a limited success.

Testimony of Oliver P. Edgeworth

After being duly sworn says that he was at Mount Croghan in the County of Chesterfield in the Lancaster Road near Mr. Burch's field. Mr. Archibald Nicholson standing near the field and saw person person [sic] run up and strike Mr. Nicholson was a stout man and struck with a gun holding it in both hands and struck a hard lick and believes the person to be one Jacob Brewer and he ran off immediately after he struck the blow he also states that one Edmond Moore told him at the time the blow was struck that it was Jacob Brwer that struck the lick inflicted upon Nicholson

this July 21 1869

Oliver P. Edgeworth

Witnesses

Chester McKenzie (b. 1829) Virginia. Black. Chester McKenzie was a farmer in Mount Croghan. He was still living in Mount Croghan in 1900. 

Sources: Year: 1900; Census Place: Mount Croghan, Chesterfield, South Carolina; Roll: 1523; Page: 6; Enumeration District: 0024

Alexander Oliver (b. 1849) White farmer living in Mt. Croghan.

A second possibility for "Alexander Oliver" is: 

Alexander Oliver (b. 1833) White. Alexander Oliver was a farmer in Cole Hill. 

Bondsman

A. M. Lowry

Albert Robinson

Heinson Jordan

S[amuel] D[avis] Watts

Simon P. Burch: 42 year old Black farmer in Mt Croghan.

A. D. Watt

Richard Oliver

January Term Grand Jury

Malcolm McColeman (foreman)

Lat. C. Burch

A. H. Blakeney

Jackson Copeland

D. G. Campbell

John Ellerbe

Wm. Ganzy

Robt g. Griffith 

David Hancook

Alfred Johnson

James C. Lee

Thos. F. Malloy

James Massey

Lewis Melton

W. J. Rivers

Geo. W. Spencer

Frank Wilk

May Term Petit Jury 1

Richmond McMeans?

Adam Eubanks

Wm. Cassady

John Agerton

Evis Bittes

Lal McLead

Josiah Murmmlyan

G. W. Davidson

L. M. Hough

Frank Pate

W. A. Courtney

Sam Williams

May Term Petit Jury 2

L. C. Evans

Albert Evans

R. E. Evans

George Blackwell

Jack Baken

Chaos. Gathings

John Highlands

Alex Roninson

B. A. Evans

Alex Linton

Lee Brewer

Levi McFarlands

Voter intimidation in 1870s Chesterfield County

In Chesterfield County, following the 1870 election, conservatives and Republicans accused each other of election misconduct. The conservatives' accusation received a great deal of attention, likely because conservatives largely controlled the regional press. Here we take a closer look at the Republicans' claims.

Chesterfield Republicans claimed that conservatives had suppressed the Republican vote in the precincts of Cole Hill and Alligator through intimidation. The claims were sent to the state board of canvassers and then the senate committee on privileges and elections and its analogue in the House. Presumably, they deliberated on the claim, but there was never any substantiative public vetting. The board of canvassers accepted the election returns for the Cole Hill and Alligator precincts without giving a justification. The senate committee found that the evidence provided by Republican leader R. J. Donaldson was "very general and unsatisfactory," and recommended that he give additional testimony, but he never did so, and the matter was dropped.

The response by the house committee to the voter intimidation claims was a fiasco. When it came time for the nine-person committee to issue a report, the two different reports were issued, one recommending that the board of canvassers decision be upheld, the other recommending that it be overturned. Each report was signed by four members, with one member abstaining from signing either report. After a lengthy and contentious debate that include one committee member advocating voting against the recommendation of the report that he had signed, the House voted to overturn the board of canvassers decision. 

What can we say about the Republican claims of voter intimidation. There are only a few pieces of evidence available to us. In its report, the county board of canvassers gave precise numbers on voters. In Alligator and Cole Hill precincts, the number of Black voters was 19 while the number of white voters was 202. These numbers indeed suggest misconduct. State-wide, Black voters almost uniformly supported the Republican party, and in Chesterfield, Republican candidates usually received the majority of the Black vote plus a small number of votes from white Unionists. The returns from the two precincts are consistent with this: the number of votes received by the Republican candidate is almost identical to the number of Black voters (21 versus 19). However, the number of Black voters is suspiciously low. Black residents made up about 16% percent of precincts, but they made only about 8% of the voters.

Some additional information is offered by the affidavits submitted to the General Assembly. The exact text is given below. One person (Rodrick Outlaw) claimed that Republicans had been threatened with violence if they voted for their party, while another person (Willis Copeland) stated that he knows three voters who voted the Democratic ticket because they were told that otherwise they'd lose their jobs (likely sharecropping).

We can try to get some more information out of the affidavits by looking into the people named. Unfortunately, the most useful resource, the 1869 militia enrollments, is currently unavailable (the website is down). Looking at census records, Rodrick Outlaw Jr. appears to be a small farmer who had been in the Alligator / Cole Hill area since before the Civil War. Expectedly, Outlaw was a white Confederate veteran. Since we only have a name and a rough location to go by, it is conceivable that I could have misidentified, but the use of the generational title "Jr." is further evidence that Rodrick was white because enslavement tended to work against the sort of family relations suggested by the generational title.

The trial justice that Rodrick went to, B. C. Cassidy, was someone he likely knew. Cassidy was a white South Carolinian who had been farming in Alligator / Cole Hill since before the Civil War. Although he never held a major elected office, he had long been active in local government, serving as a constable, an election manager, and a magistrate (an antebellum office similar to that of trial justice) during the antebellum. Cassidy appears to have become supportive of the Republican party, although unfortunately there is no records of his political development.

The other affidavit was handled by the trial justice Frank H. Eaton. Eaton is well-documented. Originally from the northeast, Eaton came to South Carolina as an officer in the 25th Regiment in the last months of the war, when the regiment was sent to Darlington to participate in the post-war occupation. He remained in the state after leaving military service. By 1870, he had moved to Cheraw and was serving in several state and federal positions. In addition to his position as a trial justice, he served as an assistant federal tax assessor and as a U.S. commissioner (a position similar to a modern magistrate judge).

I haven't been able to find about Willis Copeland, the person who had Eaton write out the affidavit, or the three men he refers to (Jacob McGoogin, Samuels Evans, and Henry Sellars). Copeland's statement suggests that the three men were likely freedmen who were working as sharecroppers for conservative former planters.

The senate committee's evaluation that the two affidavits were "very general and unsatisfactory" seems fair. Neither affidavit included enough information to change the election results, but they certainly invited further investigation, an investigation that was never performed. Absent new evidence, we can't verify the affidavits, but certainly, other developments in South Carolina clearly demonstrate that the Republican vote was often suppressed through threats like those that the affidavits reported.

At the same time, conservatives did not need to have suppressed the Republican vote to win the election. The official election returns had conservative candidates winning the election by approximately one-hundred and twenty votes, and the demographics of it only cost them about twenty votes.

The best summary of Chesterfield election was perhaps offered by legislators Lawrence Cain, Prince R. Rivers, and David Harris. In a complaint submitted to the General Assembly, they stated that the evidence showed that the election had been carried out in an illegal manner and recommended holding a new election.

Affidavit One

South Carolina

Chesterfield Co.

Personally appeared before me B. C. Cassidy Trial Justice in and for said county state Rodrick Outlaw Jr who being duly sworn deposes and says that on the 19th Oct 1870 at the General Election he was afraid to vote the Republican ticket on account of previous threats that Republicans would be shot or their houses burned over their heads that he voted the democratic ticket through fear and to his personal knowledge many other voters were threatened and kept away from the polls through fear.

Rodrick Outlaw Jr [marked with an "x"]

Sworn before me

1st Nov: 1870

B. C. Cassidy

Trial Justice

Affidavit Two

State of South Carolina

Chesterfield County

Personally appears before me Frank H. Eaton Trial Justice in and for said County and state Willis Copeland a legal voter of said county and being duly sworn declare on oath that he is intimately acquainted with Jacob McGoogin and Samuels Evans and Henry Sellars who are legal voters of said County. That he knows that they each intended to vote the Republican ticket on the 19 Oct. last but their employers threatened to turn them from their homes if they voted for Donaldson that under these threats he knows that each of the voters named voted the Democratic ticket contrary to their desire + purpose  and he further says that each of the voters named are now afraid to testify to the fact lest their live be so dangered.

Willis Copeland [marked with an "x"]

Sworn to before me

this 19th Nov. 1870 

F. E. Eaton

Trial Justice

Dramatis personae 

Samuel Evans (b. abt. 1829)

South Carolina. Black

Occupation: farmer. 

Samuel Evans was working as a farmer in Jefferson township in 1870. He remained there until sometime between 1900 and 1910 when he moved to Union County, North Carolina.

Sources
1.Year: 1870; Census Place: Jefferson, Chesterfield, South Carolina; Roll: M593_1491; Page: 314B
2. Year: 1880; Census Place: Jefferson, Chesterfield, South Carolina; Roll: 1225; Page: 347B; Enumeration District: 006
3. Series: Militia Enrollments of 1869 (S192021)

4. Year: 1900; Census Place: Jefferson, Chesterfield, South Carolina; Roll: 1523; Page: 1; Enumeration District: 0022

5. Year: 1910; Census Place: Buford, Union, North Carolina; Roll: T624_1134; Page: 10b; Enumeration District: 0119; FHL microfilm: 1375147

Jacob McGoogin (b. abt. 1844)

South Carolina. Black

Occupation: farmer, laborer. 

Jacob McGoogin (or McGoogan or McGuigan) was working as a farmer and a laborer in Chesterfield township in 1870. He and his family had moved to Old Store by 1880.

Sources
1.Year: 1870; Census Place: Court House, Chesterfield, South Carolina; Roll: M593_1491; Page: 307A
2. Year: 1880; Census Place: Old Store, Chesterfield, South Carolina; Roll: 1225; Page: 396A; Enumeration District: 008
3. Series: Militia Enrollments of 1869 (S192021)

Rodrick Outlaw (b. 1825; d. 1897)
South Carolina. White.
Occupation: farmer. 

Rodrick (or Rodrick) Outlaw was born in Kershaw County, South Carolian to unknown parents. He first appears in the historical record in the 1850 census. That year he was living in Chesterfield in the household of Jane Holloman and working as a laborer. He had started his own family farm by 1860. He served in the Fourth South Carolina Infantry during the Civil War. After the war ended, he returned to his farm. He was still living there in 1870 and in 1880. Rodrick died in 1897 and was buried in Pleasant Hill Church Cemetery.

Sources
1. The National Archives in Washington D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M432; Residence Date: 1850; Home in 1850: Chesterfield, Chesterfield, South Carolina; Roll: 851; Page: 133b
2. The National Archives in Washington D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M653; Residence Date: 1860; Home in 1860: Chesterfield, South Carolina; Roll: M653_1217; Page: 123; Family History Library Film: 805217
3. Year: 1870; Census Place: Alligator, Chesterfield, South Carolina; Roll: M593_1491; Page: 242A
4. Year: 1880; Census Place: Alligator, Chesterfield, South Carolina; Roll: 1225; Page: 259B; Enumeration District: 001
5. South Carolina Department of Archives and History; Columbia, South Carolina; South Carolina Death Records; Year Range: 1925-1949; Death County or Certificate Range: Lancaster. Certificate Number 014522

B[enjamin?] C. Cassidy (b. abt. 1828; d. September 9, 1878)
South Carolina. White.
Occupation: farmer

B. C. Cassidy (or Cassady) was born in South Carolina. He likely first appears in the historical record in 1850 as "Benjamin C. Cassady," a farmer in Chesterfield County. In the antebellum, he served several minor roles in the state government: as a constable, a magistrate, and an election manger. After the war, he appears to have become supportive of the Republican government and received an appointment as a trial justice by Governor Scott. He died in 1878.

Sources
1. Book1
2. Book2
3. Book3
4. Book4
5. Year: 1870; Census Place: Alligator, Chesterfield, South Carolina; Roll: M593_1491; Page: 240A
6. The National Archives in Washington D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M653; Residence Date: 1860; Home in 1860: Chesterfield, South Carolina; Roll: M653_1217; Page: 121
7. The National Archives in Washington D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M432; Residence Date: 1850; Home in 1850: Chesterfield, Chesterfield, South Carolina; Roll: 851; Page: 124b

Frank H. Eaton (b. July 14, 1843; d. August 2, 1887) 
Connecticut. White. 
Occupation: assistant assessor, clerk, U.S. commissioner. 

Frank (or Franklin) H. Eaton was born in Hartford, Connecticut to Jeremiah Sewall and Harriet Eaton. The family moved to Portland, Maine when Frank was a small boy so that his father could serve as pastor at the Free Street Church, a Baptist church. As pastor, Sewall was very outspoken in opposing slavery. Sewall died in 1856, but the family remained in Portland. By 1860, Frank was working as a store clerk. 

Frank enlisted in the Union army in late 1862. He first served in the 25th Maine Regiment and then in the 29th. He left the service with the rank of sergeant major. 

Frank began living in South Carolina after the Civil War ended. He likely first moved to the state with the 25th Regiment went it was sent to the town of Darlington to participate in the post-war occupation.  By the summer of 1867, he was living in Marlboro County. That July, he was one of nine men appointed by the military government to serve on the county board responsible for registering voters, including newly enfranchised freedmen, and organizing a ballot on whether to hold a constitutional convention.

Frank had moved to the town Cheraw by 1870. There he served as an assistant assessor. Around this time, he also received a federal appointment as a U.S. commissioner (a position similar to a modern magistrate judge). 

He moved to Columbia, SC in 1875. There he continued to work as a U.S. Commissioner and also practiced law. He provided legal representation for the Union veteran Charles J. Stolbrand. Stolbrand ran as the Republican candidate for U.S. congressman of the 3rd district. The conservative Democratic incumbent (D. Wyatt Aiken) claimed electoral victory, but Stolbrand tried to contest the outcome. He was unsuccessful and the incumbent remained in office for seven more years. 

Frank was lost his position as U.S. commissioner in 1881. He was removed by Judge Bond for cause, although the details of Bond's reasoning weren't publicized.

Frank died on August 2, 1887. He is buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery in Philadelphia.

Sources

1. The Abbeville press and banner. [volume], April 13, 1881, Image 3

2. The daily phoenix. [volume], July 26, 1867, Image 3

3. Check mom's diary.

4.  testimony on 1876 election.