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.

1482 CONDITION OF AFFAIRS IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.
house of Mrs. Nutting, who was Dr. Blackford's mother-in-law, and to visiting his roomthe room where he was found with this negro woman.
Question. Did you hear of the circumstance of one or two men riding up to a negro
meeting, about the 19th of August last, and ordering the colored people there assembled
to disband, to disperse and go home?
Answer. Can you state the place? The question is so general; if there was anything to lead my mind to the point perhaps I might recall it.
Question. This was in Hale County, some ten or twelve miles from Greensborough.
The men afterward shot into a crowd of negroes?
Answer. I never heard of that, sir.
Question. Have you heard of any negro men being whipped in Hale County?
Answer. I have heard of fights and difficulties between white men.
Question. I mean whipping by bands of men, not by individuals.
Answer. No, sir; I do not recollect any instance of this. I do not think I have heard
of any.
Question. Did you ever hear of the case of Philip Green, a colored man, having his
house burned by a body of disguised men, in Hale County?
Answer. I never heard of any colored man or white man of that name; there may
be. There are a great many there whose names I do not know. I have never heard
of that case, or if I have it has escaped my recollection.
Question. Is there a place in Hale County called Pinhook?
Answer. There is a place called Pinhook and New Prospect, also; it is called by
different names.
Quetstion. Did you ever hear of two negroes being found dead near Pinhook about in
August last?
Answer. I do not know whether it was near Pinhook or not; there was a negro man
found dead in the neighborbood. I think it was more in the neighborhood of a place
called Hollow Square; found dead near the house of a Mr. Monette; he was, as I was informed, found lying prone on the ground, on his face, with a double-barreled gun in his
hands, one barrel of which was discharged; he was shot in the head; it was about
seventy-five or a hundred yards from the house. I heard this in connection with
that. He was found, I think, on Sunday morning. On the Saturday night before Mr.
Monette had one or two friends staying at his house, and one of them was out bathing
in the yard, it was late on Saturday night, about 9, preparatory to retiring, and some
persons unknown to them, whether white or colored they never stated, but they suspected they were colored, fired into the house a volley or two, and they returned the
fire; this young man, who was in the yard, fled for his life; he got into the house, and
just as he got into the door a discharge of shot or ball struck the face of the door.
Next morning this negro was found.
Question. Did you understand this attack was by a band?
Answer. There was quite a number of shots fired, simultaneously, and they thought
it was by a number of men.
Question. Were they said to be disguised?
Answer. No, sir; there was no disguise upon this one that was found.
Question. But upon the men who made the attack?
Answer. They did not see them, as I understood; it was some distance from the
house; it was a dark night, I think; I did not hear, and I ought to state in that
connection, that a night or two before that a negro prayer-meeting had been fired into
not very far from Mr. Monette's house, but not in the immediate vicinity of it, and one
of the parties, who was there, was wounded slightly in the leg, and there was some
impression or suspicion among the colored people of that vicinity that Mr. Monette or
some of his friends were connected with it, though not positively proved. There never
was any judicial investigation instituted in regard t the firing into the prayer-meeting. There was a coroner's inquest, I think, held on the body of this dead negro, and
a verdict rendered, if I am not mistaken, that he came to his death by the firing of a
gun in the hands of a party unknown to the jurors.
Question. Have there been any prosecutions instituted against any person or persons
for any of those outrages you have described?
Answer. Well, sir, as I stated a while ago, Peyton McDonald was prosecuted.
Question. I refer to the men who attempted to release him?
Answer. Well, sir, I have never heard the names of one of them mentioned yet. I
think the grand jury of Hale County were very vigorously engaged. I was informed
by the solicitor, contrary to his sworn duty not to disclose what is in the grand jury
room, and he is a very energetic officer in the prosecution of such offenses; he is a son
of Judge Young, of this county; a nephew of Judge Brooks; he is very earnest and
energetic in the prosecution of these offenses; he stated to me in general terms, that
the grand jury were engaged for several days in the investigation of the parties
attempting to release Peyton McDonald, as was supposed. They found nothing
definite to go upon, and therefore returned no true bills.