Report of the Joint select committee appointed to inquire into the condition of affairs in the late insurrectionary states, so far as regards the execution of laws, and the safety of the lives and property of the citizens of the United States and Testimony taken.

ALABAMA —SUB-COMMITTEE. 15G7
here, we want a light." Says I, " That's all right." They were not prepared to do
anything of the sort, and when the negro struck this man with the — tot, for I might
as well call things by their right names, they run in with double-barreled guns and
pistols to shoot him. I remarked to one of them, " What in the name of God are you
going to do? Are you going to shoot every man in the cell? You don't want anybody but him. Are you going to kill all the three or four that's in there?" One of
them says, "Stand back." Another says, "Doc's all right." I said, "I don't know.
I don'tknow anybody here." When they called for the light. I went down stairs and says,
"Mother, give me a candle." There was a little flickering light in the fireplace, and I
stuck the candle into it, and walked up to one of the men, as close as I am to that gentleman [three feet] with the light. He had no mask on, and I looked at him close, and said
I, " Here's the light." Said he, "That's all right, Doc," and it passed off. I went back
into my wife's room; this negro was hallooing "Murder!" all this time. After they
got up there, they pushed this prisoner, this negro boy, Lewis, into the cell, and made
him pull the negro Zeke out. They pushed him in until he got him by the leg, and
they catched him and hauled him out. I heard them tramping down the stairs, and
just as I came to my wife's door, going out into the passage, they came down to the
basement floor of the jail where I staid, in the lower story. There they struck a trot
with him, and as the last one passed out- let me correct a little thing there. There
were two men right there, one on either side of him. They had him by the neck, going
out with him. These struck a trot, and as the last manr went out, I went out and said,
" Where's my keys?" lie says, " That boy up stairs has'em." I went up stairs and
says, "Lewis, are all the prisoners right, but Zeke?" Said lie, "Yes." Said I, " Did
they get Zeke?" " Yes," lie says, "they got him." Says I, " Have you locked the
cells?" IHe says, "Doctor, I have locked the lower lock, but I can't fix up the other
one, to save my life." I went up and found the same key I had found wvhen I first
went up, and locked it. The negro and a white man that was in there, outside of the
cells, were exceedingly frightened. They asked me what to do. I said, "I suppose they
didn't want you or they would have got you," and I locked the door and went down
stairs, and locked the lower door and went out of the front door and locked it after
me, and walked around the house to the back door, and saw the side-gate of the yard
open. I went to that and shut it. When I came back to the back door, it was barred,
and I had to knock some time before my own family would let me in. One of them
raised the window, and asked who it was; 1 said, " It's me." I got into the house, and
my wife or some one else asked me, " Are they gone? " I says, " I can't find anything
of them. " I am satisfied it was not two minutes and a half before they left. I went
into the house and put on my pantaloons. It was a mighty cool night. I had a fever
and felt unwell, and I went bare-tooted over to a neighbor of mine, Mr. Parrent, and
asked, " Did you hear that hell of a row? " No," he says, " what?" I said, "A party
of disguised men have come there and taken out Zeke High, and they are gone." There
were three gentlemen sitting there, and I asked, " Did you hear that nigger holler?"
IHe says, " No." Well, I found I could do no good there, and'I went back home, and laid
awake most all the night; and that, gentlemen, was the end of their taking himl out
of jail. I can tell you where I found him, and how I recognized him anld knew it to
be the same negro: The next morning it was all over town, of course, and created a
great deal of excitement. I took a crowd of men, next morning-I knew it was not
worth while to take a crowd that night —but h tafter I get through my evidence, I will
explain that. I took atont twenty or tlilty mlen. I said, "I want you to hunt this
swamp; I am satisfied fronu the way thlese fcllows acted they would kill him in ten
minutes, for one prisoner toll me this morning that he wanted to put on his clothes,
and they told him it was not wortlh while-tlhat they wr uould kill him in ten minutes."
Well, some of them found him over here, in sight of this place. There is an old steam mill
there. They had taken hlim down betweel that mill and the river, and shot him. He
was shot worse tlban any piece of flesh I ever saw. He was shot, really, from the top of
his head, plrumb to the soles of his feet. Whlo they were, oi wlhere tL,y came fiom,l if
I was in the presence of my God I couldn't tell you, for I didn't know a single one of
them. Those that pese I pesume ld have known, wer a e inkask(d. There were several of them who were not masked. As I told y on about the catdle, I was right up to
one of them, and he was a man that I never saw before. I cal't tell you how they
came there, or who they were, or where they were fi'oU, or ainythlili) about it. We
found the negro, and held an inquest over him, and hle was buried; and everything
has beenl remaining as it is now, since.
Question. Is that the only rescue that has been made from the jail since you have
been sheriff?
Answer. No, sir; there was one before, soon after I came into the sheriffs office.
Question. IBelore coming to that case, I will ask some questions in relation to this
affair. How many people were concerned in the capture of this prisoner?
Answcer. That I have just stated about?
Question. Yes.