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. 1427
Answer. Well, sir, I do not suppose there ought to be any practical difficulty in
detecting some of them, if they were from that neighborhood. I, however, had a conversation with Judge Luther R. Smith, who is a very intelligent man, upon the subject
of the outrage committed at his house in his absence, and his impression was, from the
circumstances, that it was not by anybody in his neighborhood at all; he thought the
persons came from a distance.
Question. If they came on horseback, could they not be easily traced by the horses'
tracks?
Answer. If an active pursuit was made, that might be the case; but men in the nighttime, traveling ten or twenty-five miles, by scattering through the country, might
escape detection. I have no idea what was done in the neighborhood. I have heard
a number of white people collected after the murder of the boy, and there was anxiety
to find out.
Question. It is believed, generally, that the persons concerned in these depredations are
young men?
Ansswer. I am not informed as to that, I suppose that may be the case.
Question. Whether young or old, they were all, of course, members of families, or in
the employment of people. Where should be the difficultS, then, in ascertaining
whether the persons suspected were from home on that night, and, if so, where they
were gone?
Answer. That information might have been obtained by inquiring whether persons
were from home or not; but I do not know whether that would have led to the detection of any one of them, because men disposed to engage in an outrage of that sort
would be very apt to take some pains to conceal it.
Question. Is it not true, as a general rule, that the larger the number of those concerned in a criminal enterprise of that kind, the greater the facility of detection?
Answer. Yes, sir; I think the facility would be increased by the larger number, if
active efforts were made. If those men, however, came, as Judge Smith supposes in his
case, from a long distance, it might be a difficult matter.
Question. If Abe Lyon had been a prominent white citizen of the community, have
you any doubt that his murderers could have been discovered in forty-eight hours by
diligent effort?
Answer. I do not know, sir; I cannot tell what plan these people resort to. Men who
will do things of that sort, do them in the night-time, and it is a difficult matter to
discover them. I think likely, if it had been a prominent citizen, there might have
been more activity; but I cannot tell.
At a later hour on the same day, October 27Mr. BLAIR. I desire that our record shall show the testimony given by Mr. Francis S.
Lyon, yesterday, as taken down by our reporter, as well as the manuscript he has read
this morning. I think it is all testimony. It has all been given under oath, and
should go into the record.
The CHAIRMAN. That would be a mere duplication of the record of evidence. It
was the understanding of the committee, and the request of the witness, that the manuscript he produced should be substituted as the record of his testimony of yesterday.
I did not cross-examine him upon various matters mentioned in the statement yesterday, because they did not appear in his manuscript as read this morning.
Mr. BLAIR. He can be recalled and cross-examined on those matters now. To omit
his statement made yesterday, will be a suppression of material evidence. A similar
course to that I ask was taken in the case of Judge John A. Minnis, who was allowed,
after long preparation, to produce a manuscript, which was inserted against my protest.
The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Lyon was examined at length yesterday by the minority, at
whose instance he was called. Upon the meeting of the committee this morning, he
announced that he had reduced the substance of his testimony of yesterday to writing
himself; and he requested that this manuscript be substituted for the record made in
the usual way by our reporter, inasmuch as he, the witness, had fallen into some mistakes yesterday. General Blair, representing the minority, heard that statement, and
the majority, after some remark partly in the way of objection, received the manuscript produced by his witness, and granted his request. The witness was cross-examined upon the matter contained in his own report of his testimony and nothing else,
and was then dismissed from the stand without any intimation from the minority that
it'was desired that the report made by the reporter of yesterday's testimony of Mr.
Lyon should go upon the record. Those are the facts.
In the case of Judge Minnis, he re-appeared before the committee at Montgomery,
and stated that he had not answered fully two questions propounded to him at Huntsville bv Mr. Beck, representing the minority, and he desired to complete those answers,
and had reduced his statement to writing. It was admitted, upon the ground that heo
had not completed his answers satisfactorily to himself; and opportunity was given
then to the minority to cross-examine him upon those supplementary answers.