The Bamberg Herald, 1927-12-29

Methodists Oppose Wets. While in session in Greenville, the Upper South Carolina conference at the Methodist Episcopal. Church, South, adopted very strong resolii resoliitions - tions resoliitions against any change in the pres-, ent prohibition laws and the nomine tion of any candidate by any party for president who favors repeal or modi modification. - fication. modification. They went to the root of the mat matter - ter matter in practical politics by resolving to oppose the selection of any delegates to any convention who would support the nomination of any wet president presidential - ial presidential candidate. The resolutions did not, name either A1 Smith, nor the Demo Democratic - cratic Democratic party, but nobody can readl them without thinking of the Tana* many governor of New York and the Democratic national convention of 1828. The resolution adopted at the closing session of the conference read in part as follows: "Our people are not getting the facts and one pocket flash looms larger to' ; them than barrels which have vanishr ed from their sight. "As the church then worked forth* ' ratification of the amendment and the passage of the Volstead act, so, now it should intelligently and ar ardently - dently ardently come to their support. A new, generation is to be taught why we, ' have the amendment and this act. There is important and reliable Ibk ' formation to be given our people as; to the working of both; there is much' misinformation to be conteracted. Our people are not-getting the -faets and one pocket flask looms larger td them than barrels which have vanished from their sight. The pulpit, the Bi- ( ble classes for both men and women, the whole Sunday school, the whole church should once more set them-' selves to study conditions, to get the'' facts and act upon them. ~ "The sentiment of the country to today - day today is overwhelmingly for prohibi-', tion, but it is not alert and active.1 Galled upon to express itself because * of real danger to the Volstead act it would do so. One thing the wets know ^ perfectly and that is that the 18th amendment will not be repealed; bat one thing that the prohibitionists do' not seem to realize or believe and that is the amendment can be practically nullified without being repealed. The '' sense of security is perilous. - ' "We cannot be so stupid as to ac- * cept the suggestion that the president of our country exercises very little in influence - fluence influence in law enforcement. Enough ' to say that by appointment he con controls - trols controls the policies of the departments under him. A man who does not now cooperate with the federal govern government - ment government in the enforcement of the Vol Volstead - stead Volstead act, is not likely to do so if he were the president. "Therefore, Be it resolved: that we are unalterably opposed to any ef-; fort to repeal the 18th amendment or. modify the Volstead act, and the nom- ' ination of any presidential candidate who favors repeal or modification. That to obtain our wish, we will op oppose - pose oppose the election of any Relegate, from the bottom to the top of the process, who would support the nomination of any presidential candidate who fa fa| - | fa| vors repeal or modification. That we ! call upon all good citizens to support j this resolution."

«ao taiutov oviiviug ivi i Augusta merchants wer offering to pay the tolls on the bridge for any person bringing as much as on? bag of cotton, hogshead of tobacco or barrel*of flour. Savannah had organ organized - ized organized a steamboat company of her own and low charges for freight and stor storage. - age. storage. The three commissioners for Hamburg offered it "on long credit, without interest and free of taxes, by act of the state of South Carolina.'' The property included "the original and present part of Hamburg from McBride's tavern to the bridge." The town had been handling an average of 30,000 bags of cotton each year for several years and was to be the terminus of the railroad from Char Charleston, - leston, Charleston, was at the head of boat navigation, would have a branch of the Charleston bank. This seems to have been the last effort to revive Hamburg. Men who were living 50 years ago remembered when the town's broad streets were thronged with cotton-laden wagons, many of which had come 150 miles or more, each wagon drawn by four horses and each horse equipped with jangling bells on'a yoke above its collar, mak ing a scene of bustle and prosperity, with abundance of noise. Some stu students - dents students of local history attribute the decay to refusal of the people to ac accept - cept accept the railroad from Columbia, which they were offered if they would subscribe £53,000, and which was built in the opposite direction, to Green Greenville, - ville, Greenville, and to the building of the Au Augusta - gusta Augusta canal, diverting water traffic. The Charleston railroad went through Hamburg to Augusta. The town struggled feebly through sev several - eral several years and had a bank of its own as late as 1836. Chapman's history of Edgefield says some small cotton trade was done there to the beginning of the Confederate war, but it must have been very little and entirely lo local. - cal. local. Now it has disappeared. In 1876. when the memorable riot occurred, it was inhabited entirely by negroes, most of them of the worst class and many of them refugees from Georgia law. Shultz vanishes from history with the loss of his bridge in a lawsuit and the failure of his attempt to sell his town. Chapman describes him as having attempted suicide when the bridge case was decided against him, succeeding only, in making a disfigur disfiguring - ing disfiguring scar on his face with a pistol bullet. The last glimpse of him is wan wandering - dering wandering lonely and disconsolate about the streets of Columbia while the leg legislature - islature legislature was in session there a dreary has-been, trying vainly* for some new favor, his long old overcoat dangling unheeded from one arm, dragging through the mud. And on July 2, 1827, his thousand guests had stood and cheered him as one of the regular toasts was an announced. - nounced. announced. "Henry Shultz, founder of Hamburg: His firm, independent and manly course, tempered with prudence and talents enable him triumphantly to behold his favorite offspring still prosperous and successful." And the cannon fired a salute while the band played "See the Conquering Hero Comes."

'Two females - m those times women and girls invariably were spoken of in all newspapers as "fe "females" - males" "females" and never mentioned by name except when they* died, married or were arrested .for felony - arrived at Hamburg July 30, 1827, traveling through the country in a gig, and re reported - ported reported that near the town they had been robbed of their trunk by a young white man and young negro. , The story was carried to Shultz, as general boss of the communty, and he and his friend Boyd, who had ben vice president at the big dinner, and several others sallied forth to in investigate. - vestigate. investigate. They found and captured the two men, who had been described with the minute accuracy of the ob observant - servant observant country women, and both were identified promptly. The women ogered to waive prosecution if their trunk were returned. What happened then gives us graphic pictures of the defects and nob.lites of Shultz's character. He be began - gan began by whipping the negro unmerci unmercifully, - fully, unmercifully, attempting to extort confession of the whereabouts of the stolen prop property. - erty. property. Afterward he took the two to his own house, according to the testimo testimony - ny testimony and talked to the white man kind kindly - ly kindly and affectionately, urging him to tell where the trunk was. The stub stubborn, - born, stubborn, sullen denials and refusals were explained more than a year later, when an old negro found the trunk bidden in a thicket, broken open and empty, suggesting the probability of another female, undisclosed, for whom the theft of the finery wa3 com committed. - mitted. committed. Failing to obtain information, Shultz and his friends took the white man out of town, stripped him and undertook to make him talk by whip whipping - ping whipping him with grape vine and briars. Infuriated by continued defiance, Shultz pushed his victim's head into a ditch filled with muddy water and when the man, half drowned, stran strangling, - gling, strangling, and tortured, became insensi insensible, - ble, insensible, fell into a passion of remorse and self-reproach. The unfortunate thief was taken to Shultz's own house, at attended - tended attended by two doctors and cared for by Shultz himself, but he died ins three or four days. Doctors testified at the trial that death was partly due to bilious fever, but that the whipping and other ill treatment were; the direct cause. Shult was arrested promptly. Feel Feeling - ing Feeling against him in Edgefield coun county, - ty, county, of which Hamburg then was part, was hot. The officers who made the arrest tied their prisoner hand and foot with cords. This caused re revulsion - vulsion revulsion of feeling among Hamburg people and they demanded that the cords be taken off. Shultz, however, besought his neighoors not to interfere. He deserved the treat treatmen - men treatmen the was receiving, he insisted, would make no attempt to give bail and. would submit patiently to what what«ver - «ver what«ver penalty the courts might inflict. He assumed all the guilt for the man's death, saying the other par -

stages, regardless of consequences and true to his trust." The statement continues that Till Tillman - man Tillman had gone to Florida as agent for Shultz and on important business and had died at Pensacola of bilious fever. He had been confidential agent and manager at Hamburg since 1824 and had made himself personally liable on obligations for Shultz's ben benefit - efit benefit and advancement of Hamburg and, consequently, like Shultz him himself, - self, himself, "became embarrassed in pecuni pecuniary - ary pecuniary circumstances." They had made solemn compact that Shultz, if he outlived Tillman should assume hon honorably - orably honorably and faithfully all just de demands - mands demands against the latter. Therefore, all having any claims against Till Tillman - man Tillman were directed to forward them tc Shultz in Edegfield jail.. Editors of the Edgefield Hive, Augusta, Charles Charlestjn - tjn Charlestjn and Savannah newspapers, Th? Pendleton Messenger and the Green Greenville - ville Greenville Republican were asked to insert this notice until further instructions and send their accounts to Shultz. So far as obtainable files show, all editors complied with this request. The points where publication was re requested - quested requested indicated the extent of Shultz's financial operations - from Greenville and Anderson (then Pen Pendleton - dleton Pendleton district,' in South Carolina, to Charleston, Savannah and Augusta. If Shultz sought help of some kind in Florida he was baffled by Tillman's death. If having cast in his own fortunes and those of his town with Savannah, he hoped for aid there, he was defeated by a late outbreak there of yellow fever, which had been rag raging - ing raging in Charleston all summer, by long continued low water in the Savannah, making steamboat traffic impossible and by a depressed cotton market, prices falling to 9 and 10 cents, these conditions giving Savannah business men abundant troubles of their own. Shultz was tried for murder at Edge Edgefield - field Edgefield October court. Mr.. McDuffie and Waddy Thompson of Greenville were his counsel. Colonel Butler and Gener General - al General Glascock had been engaged to as assist - sist assist the prosecution, but did not think it necessary to appear. Shultz practi practically - cally practically submitted himself to the judg judgment - ment judgment of the jury, conceded that the witnesses for the state told the truth and again assumed the entire respon responsibility - sibility responsibility for the fatal whipping, urging that those who assisted him acted under his orders and should be freed. Confessing that he had done wrong and violated the law and should be punished, he only argued in his own behalf that he had not intended 'to cause death and had done all possible to avert it. He was convicted, Octo October - ber October 4, of manslaughter and sentenc sentenced - ed sentenced to a year in Edgefield jail, there being no state prison, and to be branded on the brawn of his thumbs, presumably with "M" for manslaugh manslaughter - ter manslaughter or murder. His fellow prisoners

muuuijf nibuvub xiiwt-i iiui ic* w f aim iwu iwubery, - bery, iwubery, even murder, was rampant when the better element of the prisoners sent a committee to Major Wirtz to ask that something be done. The southern officer suggested that the prisoners elect a chief of police with a force and appoint a court of judges to hear the charges against those arrested. This plan was carried into effect and disorders were ended, the court in six instances executing the sentence of death for murder. 5*eace and order was restored to the camp and a religious movement sprang up, the prisoners erecting a chapel in which to hold services.. Ser Sergeant - geant Sergeant Corbett, who was later to fire the bullet that killed John Wilkes Booth, was one .'of the preachers and singers. Among the remedies resorted to for scurvy which was killing so many, were raw Irish potatoes and corn beer. Major Wirtz was a graduate of three European colleges and held a medical degrees from two, and he often intro introduced - duced introduced "home" remedies in the absence of medicine. "Major," a prisoner remarked to Wirtz one day, "I have always notic noticed - ed noticed that you never wear a sword in the prison." "T'he poor fellows have other re reminders - minders reminders of the war," the major re replied, - plied, replied, "without my parading with sash and sword." Major Wirtz was assigned as a sub subordinate - ordinate subordinate commander of Andersonville under General John H. Winder after he had received wounds at the Battle of Seven Pines that unfitted him for duty at the front. He was cited for bravery in action during that battle. When the Confederacy fell he was arrested on charges of conspiring with Jefferson Davis, Howell Cobb, and other prominent southerners, to withhold medicine and food from the prisoners. Wirtz was the only one to be brought to trial and was sentenced to be hanged. During his trial a letter written by a Union prisoner, confined at Ander Andersonville, - sonville, Andersonville, appeared in the New York Daily News of August 9,1865, stating that the same rations were issued to both prisoner and guard at Anderson Andersonville - ville Andersonville and that, while it was not of the dietary scale to which they had been accustomed, it was the ordinary diet of the Confederate army and that "they had nothing else to give us." Another testified that during the last days of the struggle, the commander replied to pleas of soldiers with tears in his eyes - "God help you, my men, I cannot." According to signed statements by Wirtz's attorney, Louis Schade, and Father F. E. Boyle, a Catholic chap chaplain - lain chaplain at the prison, they were both ap approached - proached approached with offers from a cabinet officer who agreed that if Wirtz would implicate the Confederate president, then in Portsmouth prison, his life

teir, a clear,stream of drinking water coursed its way through the grounds, and, according to a Yankee prisoner whose profession was civil engineer engineering, - ing, engineering, the Confederate officer who se selected - lected selected Andersonville gave evidence of his being an engineer of. no mean cali caliber. - ber. caliber. "It was testimony," the prisoner wrote, "that in his profession he was above mediocrity. I do not believe that in the whole state of Georgia a bet better - ter better choice could have been made. ' "The stream running through the ground was clear, with quite a rapid current, with a fall of about five feet to the mile, and was not the 'sluggish muddy stream, without the least per perceptible - ceptible perceptible water motion' as some have describ&l it. At this time the stream furnished an ample water supply." In August of 1864, however, the prison became overcrowded. Food sup supplies - plies supplies throughout the south were al almost - most almost exhausted and medicine had been made contraband by the federal army. Efforts to exchange prisoners were met with Secretary or War Stanton's statement that "We do not propose to reinforce the rebel army by exchang exchanging - ing exchanging men. In a desperate effort to remedy the situation, the prisoners of Anderson Andersonville - ville Andersonville were permitted to elect three of their members, who were provided military escort to the federal lines to carry a . plea to Washington. Failing to bring about an exchange in that manner Colonel Ould, the Confederate commissioner of exchange, offered to turn over to the northern army "be "between - tween "between ten and fifteen thousand sick and wounded soldiers without one man in'exchange" if a boat would be fur? nished for transportation. Fever, scurvy and ' dysentery were raging in the camp and the stream of water had been reduced to a mere« trickle by a drouth, and the great number of soldiery who depended on it for water. Disease-crazed and in delirium the prisoners would scratch in the ground with their bare hands in an effort to reach water. But fever weakens the strongest and digging in dry dirt for water when there is no water will eventually bring to the digger a real realization - ization realization of the futility of further ef efforts. - forts. efforts. Weakened and despondent, they sank to their knees and with faces turned heavenward, supplicated their .God to send them water to cool their parched throats. . While they were praying, an elec electrical - trical electrical storm broke over the camp, dur during - ing during which a stroke of lightning hit the hill between the fifteen-foot dead -

VlV4j/MtlVU AAA V»*V »» O v J " "**0 «r men misled by his bad exam example. - ple. example. He had borne many extremes of fortune with fortitude and perse perseverance, - verance, perseverance, he said, and would so con continue. - tinue. continue. "Thus," moralized the Augusta Chropicle, "goes to igominy and bon bondage - dage bondage one who for many years has as astonished - tonished astonished thousands by the powers of his industry, enterprise and exer exertions." - tions." exertions." The same newspaper of Au August - gust August 5, 1827, said many Hamburg men wept openly as Shultz was led away. Our warmest po'itical fights of re recent - cent recent ears are as syllabub compared with the ferocity of the battle between Jackson and Adams a century ago. Shultz having given the dinner at which McDuffie made one of the strongest pro-Jackson speeches of the four years' struggle - for the cam campaign - paign campaign of 1828 began in 1824, immedi immediately - ately immediately after Adams had been elected, with Clay's help, by the house of rep representatives - Shultz's - resentatives - Shultz's representatives - Shultz's crime was a sweet morsel for the Federalists. Just as in the summer of 1876 Republican

line ana i-ne log wan ui me cttiiip, anu from the cleft in the earth a cold stream of pure water gushed forth. Pine boards were obtained and a trough across the dead line and into the confine of the camp was made. The holes dug by the prisoners in their mad and frenzied search for water are encircled with iron picket fences today, but hear no tablets to tell their origin. An old negro man, discovered at the spring by the writ writer, - er, writer, identified the holes, and, in com commenting - menting commenting on the story of the spring, said that some of the white folks claimed at the time that the spring was an old one that had been covered up with dirt slides and that the bolt of lightning had merely cleared its outlet. While this story of the spring is the one generally believed and related both by natives of today and those who were prisoners at the time, a different version is given by Lieutenant James Madison Page, an officer of company A, Sixth Michigan cavalry, who was confined in the prison. He recognizes the other story, however, as being the one most popular. "About the middle of August," Lieutenant Page wrote, "a heavy rain rainstorm - storm rainstorm swept over the camp, the rain