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. 1703
Question. Was Houston at the time very ddious in this community?
Answer. He was; nothing more so than he was then.
Question. You speak of some instances where houses had been fired into by individuals supposed to be negroes?
Answer. Yes, sir.
Question. Did you understand in such cases that they were suspected because they
had been maltreated themselves?
Answer. No, sir.
Question. Have you not thought it surprising that, considering the scourging
and maltreati'ng to which the negroes have been subjected by individuals, they should
not seek revenge sometimes?
Answer. No, sir; it has never been a matter of surprise to me.
Question. If your own hoase were raided upon, fired into, and you compelled to take
refuge in the woods, or in the out-houses, night after night, for the protection of your
life, would it excite no revengeful spirit in you against the men who were hunting
your life?
Answer. Certainly it would; but not against those whom I could not connect with
the transaction at all.
Question. You would feel very much like taking the life of the assailants?
Answer. I would; and probably, if I had an opportunity, would do so. It would
not excite revengeful feelings in me toward those whom I could in no way connect
with the transaction. If any negro who had been outraged could obtain revenge on
the person perpetrating it, I would not be at all surprised at his doing so; but I
would be surprised if he should, from that fact, make an attack upon a person he could
not associate with the act.
Question. Have you kept a list of all the homicides you gave in evidence yesterday,
to know how many have been committed in this community?
Answer. No, sir.
Question. About how many do you think they would sum up?
A:nswer. I cannot form an idea; the ones I made a memorandum of yesterday I met
casually in glancing over my files. There are doubtless others if I would examine
closely. Perhaps others occurred of which I had no information.
Question. I have heard it said that since the surrender seventy homicides have been
committed in the county of Sumter. What is your opinion upon that subject?
Answr'. My opinion is that there has not been half as many; that that would be a
very large estimate. Certainly never half as many that I ever had any information of.
Question. The examples you gave yesterday were gathered from your files?
Answer. Yes, sir; such as I met in turning my files.
Question. You did not examine them closely, exhaustively?
Answer. No, sir.
Question. Were you in the habit of recording in your paper all acts of violence or
disturbances of the peace that came to your knowledge?
Answer. All of which I got information. I gave special attention, more than country
papers usually do, to local matters. It was appreciated by my readers, and I devoted
rather more than ordinary attention to that. I would like to state, also, that I never
failed or hesitated to speak as I thought the occasion demanded of occurrences happening in the county; and where I could get the names of perpetrators I gave them,
black or white.
Question. Recurring to the early part of your examination, have you not read, in your
exchanges, of numerous instances of men going about the country, banded together and
in disguise, in the night-time, on errands of violence?
Answer. Yes; I have read of such instances.
Question. Did you have any reasonable doubt of the truth of what you read?
Answer. I did not at the time, I presume. I found it just as stated in the papers. I
gathered it in my exchanges. I had no opportunity of testing their accuracy.
Question. Had you ever any state of things in this community similar to what you
read of in other communities?
Answer. I have read of the existence of a state of things in some communities such as
we never did have here. I have read the statements of organized Ku-Klux in some
parts of the State, a thing I do not believe ever had an existence in this county.
Question. Wherein did this band, which you think were impromptu and without any
system or connection, differ from such bands as you have read of in you exchanges that
inflicted violence?
Answer. I cannot tell what difference there may have been or may not have been.
So far as acts that they committed were concerned, they, on occasions, committed acts
similar in character; and so far as their deeds were concerned, I could not see any difference. The mere fact of a man being masked and riding through the country, or a
band of them, would amount to nothing as long as they committed no violation of law.
When they did commit a violation of law, of course the peculiar