The New York Herald Newspaper, March 5, 1872, Page 4

4 THE SWAMP OUTLAWS. Scuflletown, the Mulatto Capital of North Carolina. ORIGIN OF THE FREE NEGRO SETTLEMENT, First Appearance of the Low- ery Half-Breeds. THE OLD TUSCARORA BLOOD. Life and Feeling in Scuffle- town. CAUSE OF THE VENDETTA. Lowery’s Cousins Slain by Brant Harris. The Murder of Barnes and Harris. Old Allen Lowery and Bill Lowery Shot by the Home Guard. THE VOW OF REVENGE. Abortive Efforts to Make Peace. The Lowerys Exempted from the Act of Oblivion. LuMBeErTon, N. C., Feb. 26, 1872. Here 1s the place where the Lowery gang has been fm jaul, whence futile processes are issued for them, and where any of the members ever caugnt will be nanged or burned. 1t1s a town almost wholly built of unpainted planks or logs, which haye be- come nearly black with weather stains, The streets are sandy and without pavements of either brick or wood, Aboutnine hundred people reside in the place, and nearly every white man in tt and in the Surrounding country 1s scocch, The country was” settled by Scotch Highlanuers before the Revo;ution, and afierwards by a promiscuous emigration from the west coast of Scoland, About thirty miles distant, at Fayetteville, lived Donald and Flora MacDonald, the latter the savior of Prince Charles, the Pretender, the former the defeated champion of the royal standard at the be- ginning of our war of independence. These Scotch slaveholders were hard taskmasters,~ and they look with pinched and awry laces upon the hegro voting beside them. The county government 3s democratic, and so perfectly impotent to catch or Kill five outiaws that at present it is making no ex- ertions whatever. Indeed, the opinton prevails that the Sheriff's oMice has concluded a truce upon what are calied honorable terms with Henry Berry Lowery. If it can be said that these bandits are re- publicans it must also be charged that the county government is democratic, and the honors are easy between pillage and impotence, CUURT SCENES AT LUMBERTON. The Court House 1s built of brick, with a frame pediment above the eaves in the gable end, and the court room in the second story is covered witn sawdust to keep the peace while Judge Clarke, one Of the District Judges, goes through the comedy of Justice. “Make proclamation | cries he, or his clerk, to ‘Une Sherif, who stands at an open window opposite the bench, and who roars down in a stentorian way to the people assembled in the pubiic area:—“Nell MoNet!! Campbell McGregor! McLeod Duncan! come into Court, a8 you are this day commanded, or your security will be forfeited to the State !”” This kind of noise, with variations ot “Oh, yes! Oh, yes ("" goes on preity much all day, while witnesses, jurors and attached people are being summoned. ‘The court room 1s very crade, large and bare, and the Judge looks amazingiy high up benind the long gallery where they expose him. He is a queer, affabie old Judge, who has fought in the Mexican war, in the Confederate army, and commanded one of Holden’s regiments (Kirk leading, the other) against the Ku Klux, He is at present what Is called a “‘scalawag,” and says, among many other things of no consequence, that if he ever sees Lowery he wiil kill him. Ten opportunities appear good for this sort of intention. Down before the Court House, where the people of the county are congregated, there is an old pole ‘well in the public square, where white and negro fill their gourds at the dripping bucket. Around ‘the corner stands the old dray—curious velicle for such a village—on which the Lowery band uauled off a safe from the rear of a Lumvbertor. store, de- Mberately backing the dray up through an alley between two houses and leisurely setting the valu- cable casket thereon, stopping at the Court House, with # contempt of superstitions, to naul off the ‘county safe. To do all this required the opening of @ man’s stable, stealing his horse and the robbing of a blacksmitn’s snop of toois to break open the safes, as wellas the impressment of an additional pair of wagon wheels to convey the larger safe to the woods. The horse could not pall the whole load, and the county safe was dropped off within town limits. | The valiant volunteers and posse of the Sherif! marched out of town two or three miles and found the private sale rifled of about twenty-seven thousand doliars. This was money which had been placed in the hands of the sute-owner for private keeping. Strange as it may seem, tnis robbery caused a feel- ing of relief in many minds. With so great a quantity of money it was hoped that Lowery’s band might have quitted the country, and such riddance would have been cheaply purchased at the figure named. LIFE AT THE BELEAGUERED TOWN. The tavern at Lumberton is without a sign-post, and is @ weather-stained frame house, with small bedrooms, no carpets, no bar and a fair country tabie. Ifound no-milk to drink with coffee any- ‘where in the region, but plenty of eggs and chickens. ‘The jail—not vn the same site where Henry Berry Lowery was once confined, and whence several of the oatiaws effected their escape—is truly @ singular edifice. It is built in a grove of oaks and pines in the environs of the town, and constructed wholly of hewn timber, enclosed by a high paling picket fence, outside of which picket is a log guard house for small offenders. I stepped inside the jatl yard, nobody objecting, to make a sketch of the gallows where Henderson Uxendine recently met his fate stoically, no rescue attempted, only the singing of a coupie of voluntary hymns by himself, negro fash- jon. The cord supporting the drop was not severed by Lhe Sheriff, but a desperado from Onto voluntarily assumed the office, While Isat within the sloping jail yard 1 beard a banjo “tumming” in the Jali, and the negroes confined there were comparing with Pop Oxendine and the newly arrived offenders for Wil- Mington the relative quality of meals vouchsated at the two prisons. Tne Lumber River, whicn lows into the Littie Pedee, of South Carolia, and reaches ‘the sea near Georgetown, is at this time of the year little wider than a city street, and af running water, but barely fordabie and capabie of carrying logs and faite of lumber down the six score miles of its course. Hearing horribie 1mprecations made on tne otner side of the river, accompanied by cries of “Gave me my kniie! Yes, Wil cut bis heart out! £ say gv'e me my knife| My bilood’s been in. gulted. A man of hono’ can’t live alter he's { the silence with ils long forevodiny NEW YORK HERALD, TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 1872.—-TRIPLE SHEET been kicked oat 0’ that court roomi" &¢., &0,, 1 was relieved to find that it was merely a negro laa, rejolcing in his rights as a freeman, who wanted to escape, Lowery-fashion, from hia mother and brother, ang vent bis whiskey courage upon somebody. There are many negroes, as I found, Whose freedom taxes the form of boasting and cursing. I failed to perceive tn the attorneys and merchants of Lumberton any particular crudeness or tnert- ority. Judge Leech and several others were repre- sentative men of good sense, but of strong, unman- ageable political and social prejudices, and they have succeeded in segregating and solidifying the negro vole, $0 that the iwo races may abuut be satd to make the two poitical parties, Here, in the large aud motley crowd assemmied to attend Court, were to be seen the rival elements of this provincial population, Tne whites generally wore butternut, copperas-colorea or gray homespun stutl and large-rimmed, flat, suf telt hats. Many ot them were very ignorant aud could not read, and locker upon the Court as the very judgment seat of “You just stand ap and when your name is called you say ‘guiity’ und vay your money,’ [ heard a lawyer say to & boor. The boor looked as if it re- quired vast heroism to say even a4 much, THE SCUFFLETOWNERS AT COURT. Here, also, were the Scufletown mulattoes—that curious race~imposed upon for many generations by master and slave, their husbands cuckolded their women debased and intimidated, their free. dom not worthy of the name. Had Robeson county exerted decent endeavors to protect these imme morial tree people, when slavery was the law and the horrible radical had not yet subverted “ihe con- stituuon’—which few of the tolks who weep for it ever read, or, reading, respected—this existing out- jawry would have been preciuded, Scuttletown, over Whose name and etymology there seems to be debate, possibly got its name from the long scuitie gt the whites and the slaves to reduce it to peonage and make [reedom, under the condition of color, contemptible among the mulattoes, Nobody in the whole region could account for this free negro settlement—one of two large aggrega- tions of yellow men which has existed in North Carolina since the organization of society. There were many theories, but no reasons at hand for them. I conceive that these negroes might have been the slaves of tories driven from the State at the close of the Revolution, or of the emancipatea slaves of the Quakers, and that they increased and multiplied by accessions {rom runaways, by the birth rate of force exerted on them and by the ne- cessity Of union or the sympathy of all neighboriag free negroes with a homogeneous settlement. ‘The comely mulatto women, the strange mulatto men, both sexes decently clad, were plentitul in town— some arriving on mule back, some in short, home- made carts, many on foot, ere Was @ good deal of drinking among the men and of covert courtship and ogling among the girls. Virtue was evidentiy not uniformly high in Scuitletown. SCUFFLETOWN TOPOGRAPHIOALLY. The Rutherford and Wilmington Railroad runs westward (rom Lumberton for many miles up tae general line of the Lumber River. Eight miles northwestward it strikes the station of Moss Neck, Seven miles from Moss Neck it strikes the station of Red Banks. These two stations bound Scuite- town, which spreads besides three or four miles on both sides of the track, und 18 surrounded on three sides with swamps, which send branches of swamp up through it, and in wet weather each of these swamps receives or suppiles “bays,” bottoms, or pools, which permeate the mulatto fortress, In jact, it @ pars of the great swamp district of North and south Carolina, below the terrace of ils, and yet 18 notming particularly frightiul, even to a stranger, and quite unlike our notion of the swamps of Florida and Louisiana. These swamps enciose the rivers and their arteries laterally tor a tew yards, and often, or generally, as the stream winds, there is swamp on one side and low clay or sandbluits opposite. 1t is mean country for troops to trespass vpon, out not an impregnable country. J believe 1 am sate in saying that no Northern society would plead this region as excuse Jor not lollowing up and anuthi- lating such a crowd as Lowery’s band. THE LAND OF LOWERY, Taking the ratiroad as the axis of reference, and looking away trom Lumberton northwestward, wo see Kalt Swamp leave the river first, and after six or seven miles incursion northward, send oif, parallel with the railroad on the right, Burnt Swamp, Yanther Swamp and Richiand Swamp, extensions of each other. On this side of the track Lowery's band have never committed a murder, uniess they killed the McLeoda. ‘Iwo or three miles above Raft Swamp—the river bending to the right of the track—the Lumber River, itself swamp girt, sends of at opposite sides Bear Swamp (or Juck’s Branch), which encloses Moss Neck and Buie’s stations, and Back Swamp, which lies about parallel with the Lumber for twenty miles, and projects to the southward Ashpole Swamp aud Aaron Swamp. Here, then, are four series of swamps, counting the swampy Lumber River, The swamps are only @mile or two apart, and their teeders dimiuish the distance, On Back Swamp the Lowery band keeps its ambush and secret camps. The Lumber River is 118 line of defence from the raiiway. The Swamps around Moss Neck are the scenes of 1s boldest assassinations, The house of Heury Berry Lowery, tif ieader, is beyond Back Swamp, tive miles from Moss Neck station, and covered in vhe rear by Ashpole and Aaron Swamps, and atl" Scutlietown 1s ¢ his _ political ally and “boozing ken.” The operations directed agatnst him start irom Lumberton on the east and Shoe Heel on the west, twenty-one miles apart, and each twelve miles from fis fastness, Farther tn his rear, on the South Carolina side, the Livtle Pedee River, aud the Great Peaee as well, seud up paraiicis of swamp. Florence, a great prison pen for federal troops in the war, is nity miles vebind him. As old Aunt Phove said io me at Shoe Heel, “Boss, Henry Berry Lowery is de king o’ dia coun- uy! SCUFYLETOWN AS A DEFENSIVE TRACT. The tree negroes settled upon the Scuffletown tract because the poverty of the soil and the half inundated condition of the region brougnt it within their means and debarred it from the rapacity of white men. lu wet weather, after rains, when the Lumber River aud its tributaries rise, this region is almost flooded, and then the only means of inter- communication are small paths, known only to the innabitants, which connect the Islana-like patches and afford labyrinthian mazes for escape to any who keep the clues. The Lumber River has brisiges at but one or two points, and, being swift and deep, must ve crossed by scows or ratta, In summer @ luxuriant undergrowth Covers all the swamps and low places, and even the prairie pine and, so that one cannot see hig own length, while in winter the streams are full of water and the sWamps more extensive. The gallberry tree, awect gums, post oak, hickory, cypress and all the pine Varieties, grow In the swamps and on their margins, and the bamboo vine, stretching ot eccentrically ty profiigatcly, makes a nearly impenetrable abatis, The serpents are numerous and often dangerous, including every variety of the moccasin, the rattle- snake, and tie largest specimens of water and black snakes known in temperate regions. Lizards live in the decaying logs, and snapping turtles ap- pear in the pools, creeks and bays. The woods are pientifully supplied with wild cats, which kill pigs and lambs; and tne silence of the night in the reptilian region is broken by the great ill-omened owl, which utters no mere *tu-whit,” but appals note, like the very demon ot the woods mourning for prey. A TOUR OF SCUFFLETOWN, The stranger who expects to see in ScuiMetown any approach to a municipal settlement will be als- appointed. It is the name of a tract of several miles, covered at wide mtervals with huts and log cabins of the rudest and simplest construction, sometimes @ half aozen of these huts being proxi- mate. Two or tiree places to sell a low character Ol spirits exist where the dwellings are densest. The people have few or no horaes, bul often keep a kind of stunted ox to haul their short, rickety carts, aod a man with such a bovine nubbin and a pair of od wpgels Js esteemed rica; yet, living Ua such jJand afd for so mady years, the mulattoes of Scuttie- town would have esieemed themselves well to go had tney enjoyed any security from their white neighbors. They had litue more equity before a jury than negroes, and it was no great offence to violate their asylums and court their wives and daughters. The whote Lowery war afterward began with Brant Harris’ keeping in & sort of servile concubinage some girls courted by the Lowerys. To visit a ScumMetown shanty, representative of the whole, is to pass by acow lane or foot track up through @ thicket and suddenly come upon a half-cieared fleid of old pine and post oak, enclosed by @ worm fence without a gate. A litle oid lever- eil of the crudest mechanism—seldom of the dignity and proportions of aspole well—stands in ‘iis lot, the male proprietor of which is siting on the worm fence, and he replies to your neighborly salutation witout changing his position. Advanc- ing to the cabin it is found built of hewn logs, morticed at the ends, the cninks stopped with mud, tne chimney built against one gable on the outside, of logs and clay, with sticks and clay avove, where it narrows to tue smoke hole, There 1s, beside the large chimney place, a hait barret, sawed off, to make lye irom the wood ashes, and the other half of the barrel 15 seen to serve the uses ofa washtub, A mongrel dog ts always a feature of the estabushment. The two or three acres of the lotare generally ploughed aad planted in potatoes or maize, both of which come up sickly, The yellow woman commonly has a baby at the breast, and from half a dozen toa dozen playing outside on the edges ofthe swamp. ‘The 1d 18 made on the floor; there are two or three stools; Only One apartment comprising the whole es- tablishment. LOWERY’S CABIN, Just such a place as the above is the house of Henry Berry Lowery, the outlaw chief, except that, being a carpenter, he has nailed weather strips over the interstices betw the logs and made himeell a sort of bedstead and some chairs, His cabin has two doors, opposite each other, in the sides, and it has been 80 many times shot through and througa with rifle pails that his wife can now stand fire as weil asher busband. ‘Ihe Scufletowners go out to work as ditchers for the neighboring farmers, who pay them the magnanimous wages of $6 @ mouth: As Many of them are intemperate a neighvoring trader with a barrel of molassesjand a barrel of ram speedily gets the $6 from the whole party. ‘The above picture, While truc of the majority of the ScuMlerowners, 18 not Justiy descriptive of ail. The Oxenaines are all weil to do, or were vefore tus bloody leud began, and the Lowerys were in- dustrious carpenters, Whose handiwork 18 seen at Lumberton, Shoe Heel and all round that region. Great crimes in Scuffletown were rare before tue war, Petty stealing and pufering of chickens and an occasional pig were not unknown, The whites hated the settiemont because it was a bad example tuthe negroes, but moat of the people were Bavusts or Methodists, and near!; - lym ta, y all owned their home RISE OF SCUFFLETOWN, By tho censns of 1860 Robeson county contained 8,459 whites, only three free blacks, all mules, and the extraordinary number of 1,459 free mulattoes. There were only 113 foreigners, But one county— Halifax—contained so many free mulattoes, and that Was the county whence the grandiather of tne pres- ent Outlaws of Robeson emigrated In 1860 there were 2,165 mulattoes and 287 {ree blacks in Halliax. Wake county had next below Robeson, 1,196 mulat- toes, and after Hertford county, with 1,020. There were no counties in all the State with more than a few hundred; the average was not above filty to each county, At the same ume Robeson county had 126 slave mulaitoes and 5,329 slave blacks. Altogetner the county contained 15,489 souls, the free population making almost two-thirds. . It stood considerably above the average counties of the State in slaves and population, and out ol the full-blooded Indians (1,158 in number) ascribed to North Carolina, none were set down either to Robe- son or Haltiax couniy, The antiquity of these free hegro settlements might be iferred from the fact that by the census of 1850 only two slaves were manuimitted that year. In 1860 there were manu- mitted 258, or one cut of every 1,283, In the latter year there were 5,262 fugitives from North Carolina to 17,501 from South Carolina. Where did the Syuth Carolina tugitives hide’ Perhaps no inconsiderabie portion of them sought the swamp counties on the southern tier of North Carolina, and begged the charity of this large free negro setuement, THR INDIAN RACE OF" THE LOWERYS. The question ensues, whence came the Indian blood oj the Lowerys ? who are by general assertion and belief partly of Indian origin, Why should they and their blood relatives show Indian traces winle Scutiietown at large 18 mainly plain, uuro- mantic mulatto? ‘here were two sets of aborigines in North Caro- lina—the Cherokees of the west, mountainous Caro- lina, Who removed at a comparatively recent period to the Indian Territory and of whom several rem- Hants remain in the extreme western corner or pocket of the State, numbering 1,062 in Jackson county alone. Judge Leech, of Lumberton, says that he saw a Cherokee once who resembled Patrick Lowery so closely that he called out, “Is that Pauick 7" Besides the Cherokees there was the Atlantic coast confederacy, led py the Tuscaroras and abetted at the great massacre of 1711 by the Hatteras Indians, the Patmiicos and the Gothechneys. These Indians, after @ determined resistauce to the wnites, which resuited in scartng the Baron de Graif, the Swiss founder of Newbern, out of the New World, accepted a reservation of lands in Halifax and Bertie counties, near the Roanoke River. They emigrated to New York and joined the Five Nations a tow years alterward, being thought worthy in prowess to be admitted to that proud contederacy, but they held the fee simple Of their tands in North Carolina until after the year 1840. Some persons of the tribe must have re- mained behind to look after these lands, and among these, as will be seen hereatter, was the grandfather of the Lowerys. ‘The pride of character of the ‘us- caroras was such that the Cherokees, Creeks and Other tribes joined the whites to subjugate them, and Parkman says that the Tuscaroras were of the same generio stock with the Iroquois @nd conducted the southern campaigns ot those Five Nations. Hildreth says that they were reputed to be remnants of two Virginia tribes, tue Manakins and Mauahoacs, hereditary enemies of Captain John Smith's Powhatan. They burned the Surveyor General, who had trespassed on their lands, at the stake, and were in turn partly suvjected to slavery by the militia of Soutn Carolina. Eigot hunared of them were sold by their Indian enemies to the whites of the Carolinas at one time, and in 1713 most of those ab liberty retired through the unsettled portions of Virginia und Pennsy:vania to Lake Oneida, New York. ‘ne act of South Caro- lina, Which was the basis of its slave cove, was passed to meet the issue of accepting these Indians ag slaves; It was imitaved in North Curouna nearly at the same time, and remaimed the vasia of the criminal code against both white and Indian slaves, ‘This criminal code, enforced against Allan Lowery, the father of Henry Berry Lowery, the outlaw, has had the result of making Robeson county the seat of a flerce wariare tor revenge, Persons curious about the severity of tnis code may see a digest of itm Hildreth, Colontal series, vol. 1, pp. 271-275. The ‘Luscaroras, in their prime, had 1,200 war- riors in North Carolina, In 1807 they bought a tract from the Hoiland Land Company with the proceeds of their North Carolina lands, and it was about at this period that the ancestor of the Lowerys removed irom Halifax eounty to Robeson county. THR LOWERYS SRITLE IN ROBESON, The following statement of the origin of the family 18 derived from the notebooks of Colonel F. M, Wishart, which were entrusted to me to look at by Captain F. H. M. Kenney, of Shoe Heel:— Jumes Lowery, the grandiather of H, B. Lowery, came from Halifax, N. C., and settled at what is called Harper's Ferry (in the centre of Scuffletown, two miles from Buie’s store), bullt a bridge across Drowning Creek, and kept it asa toll oridge; also kept a pubiic house for the accommodation of travellers. me Was wealthy and tairly respected by all, and owned slaves. He married a woman by the name of and had three sons, George Travis Lowery, Allen Lowery and ‘Thomas Lowery. Allen Lowery, the father of the bandit leader, married @ woman by the name of Mary Combes and settled On the soutn side of back Swamp, in a des- ert-looking wilderness, anit was the father of Pat- rick, Purdie, Andrew, Stuclair, William, Thomas, Stephen, Calvin, Henry Berry and Mary. Old Allen Lowery was & good, peaceable citizen, and weil liked, He was a great hunter in his young days. With his neighbors—Barnes, McNair, Moore and others—he was willing to share his last cen, All his boys Were inechanics with him, and the fam- ily got on smoothly and iudustriously until the sum- mer of 1864, when three “Yankee” prisoners es- caped among many from the pen at Florence, 8. U. They made their way to the house of Allen Lowery and were comparatively safe, as nearly all the white eople were in the Confederate army aud the State laws would not allow the mulattoes to enlisc in tne ranks. The Scuitletowners were mustered tn only as cooks, &c., or conscriptea tu Work on the breast- works about Wilmington, There is @ story current that the Lowerys in the Revolutionary War were tory bushwhackers, but it is also alleged that one of the family received a United States pension up to the day he died. Some of the boys were willing to enter the Confederate army, as their fatner had kept slaves, but heir proud spirits recoiled from working on the fortifica- tions among the negroes. As the war progressed and the Lowerys got to understand it they sympa- thized with the North, and entertained at their cabins its escaped soldiery from Florence, A DEMOCRAT’S ADMISSION, Mr. Bruce Butler, an earnest democrat and a prominent lawyer in Wilmington, said, im reply, to an interrogatory:— “{ don’t think politicshas anything to do with this outbreak. It began in the war, When our impress- ing ofMcers made a requisilion upou the free negro settlement and pulied away these outlaws or their relatives to work on our fortifica- tions. They complained of the food, the treatment, the work, and so fortn, and, I believe, the chict outlaw himsell ran away. ‘Then there was hunung made for nim and he got to lying out in tae woous And swamps; next to stealing, next robbery, Mur- der and outlawry followed in time—bad begun grew worse—that’s my understanaing of it.” OLD ALLEN LOWERY. One evening at Lumberion I sat in the office of Judge Leech, half adozen gentlemen present, and they descrived old Allen Luwery. ‘ne disposition generally manifested by the white people of Robeson county i8 to put littie stress upon the murder of Unis old man, but to ascrive the crimes of Henry Berry Lowery’s band to lighter causes and to separ. ate the motive of revenge altogether trom his odences, “The Lowerys,”’ said one of the persons present, “were always savage and predatory. By conduct- ing @ sort of swamp or gucrtila war auring the Revo- lution they accumulated considerabie property, and at the close of that war were landholders, slave- holders aud people of the soil. Then they grew dise sipated during the time of peace, aud their land was levied upon to pay debts. Being Indians, with an idea that their ancestors held all this land in fee simple, they could’ not understand how it could be taken from them, and for years they looked upon society as having robbed them of their patrimony.” “Yes,"’ said one present, “Allen Lowery brought me & case aj aust an mee, wished to sell a piece of property he formerly owned, and he couldn't be made tg understand that the man had a good title for it. When they were holding the examina. tion, just before they shot him, in 1865, the old man leaded in extenuation of the plunder found tn his ouse, that he had never been given fair play, but had been cheated out of his land. He sald that nis wranafather hai been cut across the hand in the Revolution, fighting for the State, and that the State had cheated all bis family. He had the Indian sentiment deep in him, of having suifered wroug, and imparted it to all his sons, Here is Sink. (Sinclair) Lowery with the same kind of notions to tng day. He said a little while ago, ‘We used to own all the country round here, but it was taken from us someuow.’ ” “le was @ good carpenter,” said another, “and brought all Lis boys up industriousiy. He built this office in which we sit, He had a peculiar kind of eyes; they would prowl around your face until you got of your guard and then he would give youa piercing 100k through and through, He had a heap of mixed waite and Indian pride, but I believe he was bse Y' atthe whipping post once for pliler- ing; but that was so far back 1 his youth that no- bouy remembered it except by tradition. His son, Sinclair, married a white woman, The Lowerys and Oxendines were generally accounied the highest fumulies in Scuietown.”” “Well,” chimed in another voice, “he was con- sideravie of a heathen and never went much to church except very lave in life, when he became a Methodist ciass-leader. Old Allen married a girl early in life and had one child, but beimg indifferent or disappointed avout her, he wandered off two years to south Carolina, and When he returned, without divorce 01 ice of any roe he married a diferent woman. Taking example from him the first wire aiso married anew mau. By (he second wile old Alien Lowery had ali these children. Nobody ever vad any complaint to make of him or his boys until the murder of Barnes, eight years ago.” THE FIRST MURDER, Henry Berry Lowery grew up with his father, a carpenter and a hunier, He was noticed to be & boy of good appearance, quiet address, pleasing and modest enough, but also to cherisi deep resent- Tents and to readily take affront, His eyes had hidden in them, wnd prompt to come forth on pro- vocation, the hazel Indian lights, ana when he was ordered to the sand pits, below Wilmington, to do laporer’s Guty, at the age of seventeen, he ran away, and returned to ScuMewwn, where he was repeatedly hunted, and by none more than by John A. Barnes, his father’s next neighbor, and vy J. Brant Harris, a white man of bad character, who domimeered over Scuflietown, He remained tor many months vetween the sWamps apd tne shanties, and was joined by Steve Lowery and other relavives aud acauaiatances, Unabie to work for @ living under these conditions, the party had to for- age upon the whites, and thus, insensibly, formed vagabond and desperate habits, in which, there 1s reason to believe, they found apt tutors in some escaped Union prisoners who had made their way from Florence, S, C., by the light of the North Star, straignt into Scuffietown, and who, to avoid cap- ture, hid in Back and Lumber Swamps with the young Lowerys, Strongs and Oxendines. Bloody example, the self-rellauce of an outcastand dis- taste for peaceful pursuits soon overcame Heary Berry Lowery, and he ‘ew to hate the slave- holders and to taentify himself ideally with the wrongs of all the mulatto settlement, BRANT HARRIS. ‘This fellow was a bluff, swaggering, cursing, red- faced buily, entrusted by tae rebel county authori- es with keeping the peace in scuitietown and hunt- ing up deserters and conscripts, and ne meanume gained a penny vy ‘farming a turpentine orchard,” | selling rum, &c. He looked like a slave dealer, and was the terror of the poor wretches of Scuffietown, whom he used to flog, uoroof and insuit at will. Being a libidinoas wretch he took possession of some of the lightest damsels in the setuement, and one Of these was courted honorably by @ cousin of young Henry Berry Lowery. Seeing the white man so much at the hut of his girl one of the young Lowerys threatened among his people to kill Brant Harris {f he did not let her aloue, ‘This being reported to Harris he was seized eltber with apprehension or rage, knowing, per- haps, the Indian gualities of the Lowery lads. He therefore put Qimself in ambush to kill the lad who threatened him, but by mistake shot the wrong Lowery, the brother of the voy he hunted, ‘This mistake made Brant Harris aware that his present peril was greater than before, for he had now raised tie savage ire Of all the Lowerys and their Indian kin, He therefore seized both the brothers of his victim as persons who owed military service on the fortifications of Wilmington, and waa deputed to march them from Scuitietown to Lumber- ton, On the way this monster deliberately murdered both boys, and one of the three, at least, was found with Mis skull beaten in by a bludgeon. A fourth brother made hig escape to the Lowerys and joined Henry Berry Lowery, who vowed to Kull Brant Har- Tis at sight. ‘The foregoing is thus ingeniously paraphrased by Colonel Wishart in his book said to be designed for publication, part of which, in manuscript, | had the privilege of examining:— “A man by tne name of Brant Harris, who had been @ sutier and turpentine mercnant at Ked Banks, had a dispute with the Lowerys (cuarged vo be avout stolen chickens) and he finaily killed three cousins Oa Berry Lowery, named Jarman, George and Now, there 1s no record that the Lowerys in ques- tion were not as respectable as brant Harris, and it was several years before Henry Berry Lowery’s vic- tims amounted to three, Brant Harris weighed 230 ponnds, His character may be inferred from the fact that some of the females of his surviving family have given birtn to mulatto children. THE MURDER OF BARNES. Before the fugitives in the woods and kinsmen of the Lowerys had dealt out retribution to Brant Harris toe family of Allen Lowery had become em- broiled with their nearest neighbor, a bachelor named Jono A, Barnes. This Barnes was a tine hunter and could track the 1ugitives with his prac- tised eye through the swamps, 80 that he was an obstacle to them as well as anenemy. The follow- ing is Captain Wishart’s version of this assassina- beder ioe rst in pointof time committea by Lowery’s aud: — After the escaped prisoners from Florence reached the ScuMletown district they made the acquaintance and sought the hospitality of Allen Lowery’s tam- ily. Henry Berry, Stephen and William Lowery, Wishing to give their pew {friends good table fare, went to the neighboring farm of Mr. Barnes, their oldest acquaintance, and stole two of nis best hogs, two miles distant, carted thém home and salted them nicely away for long consumption. Barnes followed the cart track to Ailen Lowery’s house, saw the remains of the butchering and cleaning, and, getting out an officer and a search warrant, swore to his mark on the ears of the hogs, as found On the rejected heads among the offal. ‘the three young Lowerys—Henry, Steve and Bul—were nou- where to be found. Barnes requested old aan Lowery and all his boys hencelorth to keep off nis land or he should nelp to forward them to the batteries 10 work involuntarily. Here the struggle commenced and threats passed and repassed, Op the 12tn day of December, 1864, while James P. Barnes was going to Clay Valley Post Oftice, a dis- tance of one mile (the Post Office at the store of Captain W. P. Mores), he was wayluid half way by H. B, Lowery, bill Lowery aud (as supposea or charged) by the Yankees and shot. He tell with twenty buckshot in fis breast and side, and then Heury Berry Lowery deliberately walked up to him with wu shotgun, and although Barnes cried, “‘Don’t shoot me again—l am a& dving man,’’ the young mu- latto Indian, then not more than sixteen or seven- teen years 01 age, replied:— “You are the man who swore to shoot me,” and fired another load into his face, shooting off part of the cheek. The whoie party then crept into the Swamp and alsappeared. Some of the neighbors, hearing the shooting and hallooimgy hurried up and heard the dying state- meat ol Barnes that Henry Berry Lowery was his murderer, THE FIRST BURGLARY. Soon alterwarvs these young menu went to the house 0. Widow MacNair lor te purpose of rov- bing a vonfederate colonel, The sick soldier there lent his pistol to the widow, who wounded one of the robbers, and they carried him off to Colonel Drake's, some distance away, and ordered Widow Nash, the only person in the nouse, to attend to bun tul well, on pain oi deat. the man recovered in perlect secrecy, THE SECOND VICTIM, it now became Brant Harris’ wurn. The young Tuscarora who had taken the first Ife without a shudder—and that the life of a man generally re- puted to be a good neighbor and uselui man—built tumseif a “blind,” or curtain of brush and old logs; aud as Brant Harris rode by in his buggy, near Bule’s store, in the early part of 1865, ne was rid- died with bucksnot. His horse ran away and carried him @ considerable distance. Few people sympathized with Harris, although all were nuw aware Of tue existence Of a savage band of outlaws in the swamps, Who resisted and battled all means to oring them in. Belore any eflicient means couid be adopted to atrest young Lowery and his brothers and associates in the intricacies of Back Swamp the army of Gen- erai Sherman, making the grand march, swept on by Cheraw and Rockingham vo Fayetveville, and the foragers or “bummers,”’ who strayed out on we flanks, pounced upon Kobdeson county, ALLEN LOWERY’S OFFENOE, At ScufMetown they found in the Lowery’s guides, informants and entertainers, who posted them as to the status of the leading rebeis of tne county, the wealthiest homesteads and such other matters asa Shower | soldiery would wish to know. Some vf the Lowery boys went out with these troops aud brought home part of the spoils, At this period an execution nad been levied on old Allen Lowery, and his son Bill was, at law, proprietor of the house and Lae where the Old man and his wife resided. ill had probably had association with that part of the family Which had fed to the swamps, but there is poor testimony tnat old Alien had ever committed any robberies. His son William, the new master of the place, governed the old man, who was now sixty-five years of age. DEATH OF THE OUTLAW’S FATHER, When Sherman’s army hud passed on to Fayette- Ville and Kaleigh the malignant rage of the peopie of Roveson county turned upon this old citizen and the helpless part of his family. They lite kuew what a youug demon they were to arouse tor seven ensuing years in the wild poy who resided in the swamps, and whose motto was to be infexibiy, * Blood for blood !” ‘Yney resolved that the Lowerys were then com- mitted adherents of the Yankees, that the blood of Barnes and Harris Was unaccounted for, and that it Was necessary lo Make an example of somebody in Scuihetown to teach them that the end oi slavery Was not yet the colored man’s triumph. Blind, ta- considerate, brutal ill-will and cruelty were at the boitom of this Movement. It started between Floral College and what is now called Shoe Heel, A member of the gang was @ Presbyterian preacher named Coble, or Cobill, an old apostle, exhorter and #harisee Of slavery, and one of the leaders in it was Murdoch MacLain, who, six years afterward, tumbled out of 08 buggy, shot through and through by Henry Berry Lowery. These, amoug twenty others, marched upon old Allen Lowery’s cabin, and uragged out the old man and his wife, and two Oo! the sons, found on the premises, Sinclair and Bill, Searching tue cabin, they found several articles said to have been Hiched from the waite neigabors. This was jusuti- cation enough, They carried the old people off to a safe nook and there went through ihe farce of examining them. ‘The devii’s own priest—Coble or Cobili—got a prayer ready to make at the execution, and to make his holy vole hypocritically consistent, he pleaded tor the life of Sinclair Lowery. The negroes vay these white Ku Kiux made the condeuned people of the famuly dig their own graves, rhey stood the old man, at sixty-five years of age, up beside Ms son, both of them enduring the ordeal with Indian stoicism, and, by the light of blazing Lorches, @% one account relates, shot them to death with duck shot and ball, Coble or Colill got off tis prayer and perbapa his guu. Before they shot the father and son iney endeavored, with blanched fear of the vengeance oi the North, to make the poor old wite of Alien Lowery confess to some Justification for their act by pointing their pieces at her and firing voueys over her aead unui she was nearly paralyzed wito fear, From @ thicket near at hand Menry Berry, the son of Alien Lowery, saw the voliey fred which laid ats prother and father bieeding on the ground. There he swore eternal vengeance against the perpetra- tors of the act. Fourteen citizens have paid part of that penaity in the succeeding seven years. He has beea the greatest scourge tue soulh ever kaew and nas developed a uviy and courage Some have from one of the tferior ra cunning, bioodthirstness, a unmatched in the justory of his race, compared Din with Nat luraer HENRY BERRY LOWERY AND NAT TURNER, The insurrection of Nat Turner took piace in Southampton county, Virginia, August, 1s: just over the line from Halifax county, Norta © where the grand{fatier of the Lowerys lived. in Southampton county, as in Halifax, abode Indians, afew of Whom still remain—the Notvoways. Nat ‘Turner was the senor ot Henry Berry Lowery, and was thirty-one years Ol age and & slave. lie was a praying ignoramus and veneved himself inspired to KUL Of the whites, which he commenced, with four disciples, by kuling filty-five men, Women and cinidren, | ‘The insuvrece tiou lasted only two days, and alter hiding several weeks the leader Was caught and nanged. Henry Berry Lowery has never veea caught and held, je 18 & bloodthirsty, remorseless, avie ban- dit leater. ‘i In my next leer Sohal take up the cataiogue of his crume, MAYOR HALL. Commencement of Earnest Proceedings. ORGANIZATION OF THE BOARD OF AUDIT. How the Finances of the City Were Disposed Of. THE STOLEN VOUCHERS. Deputy Comptroller Storrs on the Stand. SIXTH DAY OF THE TRIAL. After four days spent in swearing in a jury in the matter of the People of the State of New York vs, Mayor Hall and one aay spent by counsel Jor the Prosecution in opening the case, 1¢ was with a feel- ing of relief and anticipation that something of in- terest would succeed that the audience at the first opening of the proceedings yesterday heard the burly Deputy Comptroller called to the stand. Counsel on both sides were early in their places, and busied themselves, before the arrival of the Chiet Justice, with peering into the contents of huge bundles of legal documents ana chatting among themselves. THE ATTENDANCE ‘was not over numerous, the apartment of the Com- mon Pleas being only comfortably filled. whe at- most quietude prevatied throughout tne progress of the proceedings, no interruption by outsiders, by way of applause or otherwise, occurring to disturb the dignified equanimity of the legal gentiemen- ‘Ine Mayor appeared bright and placid, ana con- versed with Mr. Peckham, the opposing counsel, in @ Way that the sensation mongers despised, At eleven o’clock Chief Justice Daly took his seat on the bench, when the Crier of the Vourt of Com- mon pleas opened and adiourned that tribunal till Monday next. The Crier of the General Sessions then formally opened that branch of the judiciary, and the business of the day was proceeded with. TESTIMONY FOR THE PROSECUTION. Richard A. Storrs, sworn and examined by the Mr. Peekham—Am Assistant Comptroller, and have been such in the Comptroller’s ofice since 1867; have been Weputy Comptroller trom 1864 to Septem- ber last. Q. Have you searched in your office for any papers relating to the Board of Audit of 1870? Mr. Burrill objected, on the groung, first, that 16 ‘Was not in the oraer of proof as observed in crimi- nal cases, and, in the second place, that it assumes the existence of a Board of Audit, which has not been proven, or any connection proven between the delendant and that Board. Mr. Peckham said he wanted to prove the exist- ence of the records of the Board of Audit, and on that view the Court held it was proper. Witness—I caused a search to be made in the Comptroller's oftice, and this paper now in my hand Was given to me by Mr. Connully, who was then Comptroller; this was last summer; the body of this paper ls in the handwriting of the Mayor, and it 1s also signed by him ‘und signed by mr. W. M. Tweed and Richard B. Connolly. Paper hanued in. Mr. Burrill objected, but was overruled by the Court, who granted an exception, 80 as to reserve the right to the defence to move to strike out all the evidence on account of iis irrelevancy and imma- Mr. Peckham then read the paper. It was a reso- lution drawn up by the Mayor that all claims and abinties against the Courts be collected from tne appropriate committees of the Supervisors, to be paid on signature of the clerk of the committee or the President. Q Do you know of any meeting of the Board of audit under that order? Objected to, on the ground that it has not been proved that the witness had such # means of knowl- edge officially of the meeting of the Board as to enable him to state the fact. By the Court—Have you any general knowlege of any meeting of the Commission referred to in this paper or of the gentlemen composing it? A. I have no knowledge of it. By Mr. Peckham—Do you know of any record in the @omptroller’s office having any reference what- ever to the meetings or business of that Commis- sion? A, No; @ search was made tn the office of Soke Vettes for such, if it existed, but none was foun Was there any account found there of any claims purporting to be audited by that Board or Commission and paid by the Comptroller? Mr. Burrill again objected to the evidence, as no foundation had yet been latd for its introduction. He contended that no record in the office of the Comptrolier could be binding upon the defendants. ‘This. Board of Audit, of which he was a member, ‘Was not @ component part of, or in any way con- nected with, the Finance Department of the city government or with the Comptrolier; nor had the gentleman holding that office any such, jurisdiction Over ,the Board of Audit or connection with It as suthorised him to bind the members of that Board by any record he might think proper to draw up. And any record, or account, or book, Kept there or found there, of claims purporting to have been aud- dled by that Board of Audit, would be, he submitted, no evidence whatever against the defendant. In 1870 an account was kept called the county liabili- ties, Which represented the payments made on this class of audit, The latter part of the answer was stricken out, on the motion of Mr. Burrill. Cr Were there any vouchers of claims purporting to have been acted apon by this Commission ana ior which warrants had veen drawn and paid in ex- istence in the office of the Comptrolier Mr. Burrill—This question is irretevant, as the witness has no knowledge of the contents of the papers, r. Storrs—4 knew of 2 package of papers repre- senting the county liabilities which was kept in the County Auditor’s office. Q. What package of papers or vouchers were these, and what do you know about them? Objected to and excludea. sy ° Q. Do you know of anything that occurred in the Comptroller's office in relerence to se vouchers about the ith September? A. Yes; they were stolen from the office; they have not been recovered since; I am not able to state tne number of vouch- ers that were stolen; the Comptroiler was ap- prised of the tneft of the vouchers as soon as pos- sible after; he acquainted me, and I went at once to the ofice; the pigeon holes where these voncn- ers were kept were then empty; the leck of the outer door had been forced and poruons or the glass broken; the Comptrolier, the Auditor and some otner gentlemen connected with the office were preseat; Mr. Lyons has been Co-Auditor since tue death of Watson. Q At the time these vouchers were stolen or dts- appeared was there any examina:ion going on at the Comptrolier’s office in that conaectiont Objected to and excluded as irrelevant, Q. Were there any papers found there which had reterence to the action of the Board of Audit or Commission? Objected to and waived, Q. Do you know that the vouchers which were stolen nad any reference to claims acted ‘upon by the Board of Audit? A. Yes; those were the vouch- ers that were stolen. Q. Were the vouchers which were stolen the claims of A. J. Garvey? Mr. Burrill objected. The existence and contents of those papers or vouchers had not yet been proved. Knowing {uli weil that the paper wassbe- yond their reach and control, without any rauit of theirs, any general evidence of the contents of those papers, a8 now offered, 1s not competent, and its admission would be detrimental to the legal rights of the detendant. Q. Prior to the robbery of those vonchers did you know Of the existence vi those vouchers of claims of A. J. Garvey? A. Yes: lor subsequently to the rob- bery 1 knew of more; I made a search, not a spe- cific search, for these particular papers; | give my statements of what I know from what | have been told by the officers in charge of that bureau, CROSS- EXAMINED, By Mr. Burrili—I had no connection of any kind With the Commission of Audit; the vouchers that were stolen were not in my charge; never had con- trol of them; they were loceted in the office of the County Anditor, and Were uncer his special control; 1 had nothing to do with the arvey account beyond What appears upon the record; | Knew that was the account to which they were charged, and knew ina general way that they were audited by the Board. @. Did you ever see those vouchers before July, 1871’ A. 1 think ft was abvont that time I first saw them to note them; it was then 4 came Lo know that they were county ilavitities, ‘To Mr, ieckliam—At that time I took np the pack- age aud made a casual examination of tne papers; Timight have looked at them in ageneral way; | noticed that they Were expenditures on county count, and that they related to the Commission o! Audit; wey were accompanied by @ certificate ot audit from the Comnussion, bearing the iy Of each; the papers-were partly printed and partly written; each claim was done up separately, | What. 8 the oficial form of a voucner, and o what does it consist? A. ‘The official mode of head- ing these ciaims and vouchers 15 to attach a re ceipt to every voucher ; the voucher 18 presented by the claimant, examined by the County Auditor and audited ; @ warrant is prepared for signature and presented to the Comptroller, after which the signatare of the mayor 1s obtained and an entry of the payment is made; the clalm is generally paid by ihe ‘County Auditor ; the #ignatures to warrants are those of the Mavor, We Comptrolier and the linia nee of the Board of Supervisors’; jitmant the first instance presents his bill, ‘cae Hy per yey it is then given vo tae un it; he examin and cer- hes ore correctness, Dad si re you tnat ase ULEOURH he Heard nG class OF clade county clalms in general that are Presented? 4.1 am, sir. Witness tuen again described t} senting and paying claims; the warrant tae gn pay. wens cy Lge og ae Gomprroli then by tae jayor and Lasi erg és pervisors. of the Board of #a- A recess was then taken. RK RECESS Mr. Storrs’ examinilion was resu i To Mr. Pook her aie county liabilities: y the county bookkeeper, Mr. Lynes; the book audit ts diferent [rom that; it is a detur oe tee accounts from day to day; the other book is register of the youchers; at the time I noted these vouchers the Garvey claims were in the lot, ang they were of the general form that I have described; the blanks were Kept in the office for anybody who wo a sar Ni jaimain the; 'o Mr. Burrill—Noc ur passage (rom Com Ng, Bante) office to Uus Commission of Audie passed through my hands, and were not im my my charge; the Courty Auditor had charge of the audit book, and the county nookkeeper kept the records of the county labilities, an I had no direct contro! of them; warrants were ‘entered on the books of the Comptroller after they were returned signed and complete; that 18 to say, complete so far as Lhe signatures of the oicers signing them; war- rents were generally filled up by the county’ book. keeper vader the direction of the County Auditor; the examination | made in the Comptroller's office of certain packages of vouchers was ouly a casuat one, and 1am not able to identify any one of the claims or bulls included in those packages, ‘* ‘Yo Mr. Peckham—lI noticed the names of Andrew J. Garvey, Ingersoll & Uo., George T. Miller and B, D. Boliar were on some of the bills I looked at in @ general way, Stephen C, Lynes, Jr., sworn and examine: by Mr, Peckham—I{ was county bookkeeper in the office ef the Comptrolier from 1858 to 1870; Mr. Watson in January, 1871; 1 was acting auditor up to apout the 12tn of May, and then on the 12th of May I was appointed County Auditor by the Comptroller; I went away the last of Septemoer or the 1st of Go- tover, 1871, on account of sickness, aad while I was. away my position was filled; I knew Mr. Watson, K. A. Woodward and Mr. Young; Woodward was Assistant Clerk of the Board of Supervisors for eight or nine years; I know some! about the routine of business in the Comptroll oMice; the Auditor, Mr, Watson, would me the bill, with instructions for me to attach biank certtf- cates Co it for the Board ofAudit tosign, and the blagk order for the County Auditor to draw the warrant; then I woula give them back to the Auditor; them they would come back to me with the certiicates om them, sigued by the members of the Board of Audit, and I would draw out the warrant; Wm. M. Tweed's name would be written acroas the face of the bill. Witness idenufied certain blanks which are used. in drawing out bills and warrants in the Cemp- trolier’s Department, Q Atthe time these bills would be handed to, you by the Uounty: Auditor was there anvtl Written ou the tace of the bill? A. W. M. Tweed! name would be written across it, 1 think. Q. In his own handwriung? A. Yes, sir. q. Would anything else be written across it, be sides that and the items of the bill? [The question Was objected to on the ground that it supposed one Particular bill, and was amended so as to apply te Une genera! routine of bilis passed by the Board of Audit.! A. W. M. Tweed’s name would be writ across a vill as chairman, and that and the items the bill would be all, 1 think; there might also be am. affidavit attached to the pill of its correctness. A blank form of a bill was produced and tdentifiea by the witness, Q. Look at the stamp on the pack of that form and say when that would be put on ? Alter we Auditor had examined it, before the bill would be sent to the members of the Board of Audit for theiz signature, Blank torms of a certificate to be filled in with the signatures of the Board of Audit, and of the direo- tion to the Comptroller by the Auditor to draw @ warrant, were identified by the witness and marked by the Court, . Q. Do you know what was done with the bill with the blanks attacned by you? A. ‘They were pi over to the County Auditor, and would ve returned to me sometimes in two or three days and some- times longer. When they came back they would have tne blanks filled in with the signatures of the Mayor, Comptroiler and the otner members of the Board of Audit in their own handwriting. Q. Who calculated the interest on these bilis? A, Sometimes the Auditor, sometimes myself; the in- terest would be added to the bill in red ink and be made part of it. Q. When they came back to you signed what was done? A. I would nave @ verbal direction from (he Auditor to draw @ warrant, aud would do it. A blank form ot the warrant drawn by witness was identified by witness, Q What then would be done? A. 1 would attach it to the papers and hand it back tothe Auditor. Q. What next would be done? A. The warrant would come back to me signed by the Mayor, troller and the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors; § would then enter it on the audit book; the warrant would be accompanied by all the papers in the case, ‘The audit book was then produced. Q. Look at this book and say if that page is in your handwriting? A. Yes, sir. Q. 18 that audit No. 904 and all along that line fiz your handwriung? ‘This question was objected to on the ground that it was already covered by the previous question. ‘The Court heid the objection good, f Q. After you got through entering the warrant im that book, what would be the next thing done? A. The warrants would be ready for delivery an@ would be gtven to the County Audtior. Q. When the warrant was delivered would there be a receipt taken? A. Yes, sir, and the receipt would be attached to the rest of the papers, whom would then be a voucher., Q. State all that constitutes a voucher? A. The of e Were kept , Dull, the stamp of the County Auditor, the certificate ofthe Board of Audit, the order of the County Auditor to draw the warrant and the receipt, Q. What was done with the vouchers? A, Filed away in pigeon holes in a closet with folaing doors. Q. Do you know of anything happening to those vouchers la September last? A. There was @ rob- bery there, “ Q. How many? A. Nearly all weré taken. Q. Were any claims of Garvey not taken? A. f think not; if I recollect right ‘there were only six or seven of Keyser’s vouchers left. How was it that the Keyser vouchers were not alltaken? A. They were taken out at the time of the robbery for some purpose, and were in a differ- ent place for examination. Q. No vouchers were left then except those that were in a different place? A. I could not state post- tivoiy; {looked for the others after the robbery, but did not find them. q. When was the robbery first discovered? A, It happened on Sunday, the 10th of September, and was discovered early on Monday. Q. Did you know of any meeting of the Board of Audit This question was objected to by the defence, and Mr. Tremaine answered that the object of the ques- tion was to show that the accounts were never audited at all. ‘The question Was, by consent, suspendea, as the discussion tt would involve would greatly proiong the altting of the Court, and it was already a quar- ter past tnree, Q. (A Warrant produced.) Is that your writing? A. Yes; the signatures of Mayor Hall and gf Comp- adios Connolly ana of Mr. Young are, 1 thiuk, au- thenuc. : Q. is there any mark to show whether it has been paid? A. There is @ mark on it, whico 18 the usual sign of its having been paid; the warrant is sent te the bank, from the bank to the Chamberlain ana from the Chamberlain to the Comptrolier’s office ain. Q. What is the bank? A. At that time the bank was the broadway Bank, . Is the filling up of that warrant in your nand- writing? A. Yes, sir, Mr. Peckham explained that tne warrant now pro- auced was the warfant in the particular case charged in the indictment. The voucher had been lost, but the warrant was still in existence and was now produced. Mr. Burrill objected to tne warrant being putin evidence, on the ground that no foundation ior tte production had been latd by the proof of the con- tents or by the evidence of the existence of any claim. The warrant did not advance them one 4 toward showing whether this particular claim or had not been audited by the detendant. Judge Daiy—Why ts it not some evidence of the existence of such @ claim, inasmuch as it is the off cial evidence of the payment of the claim? Mr. Burrill replied that it was the duty of the de- fendant to sign all Warrants, whether the claims came before the {Board of Audit or not. The war- rant itself, therefore, did not prove that the claim haa been passed upon by the Board of Auait, Some discussion followed, and it was finally ar- ranged that, for the present, the warrant should be considered ‘merely as primary evidence, Out thas the prosecution would reserve the right to subse- quenuy again ny eo Fema evidence for the consideration of the jury. The Court then adjourned to this morning, at eleven o'clock. Bioanal THAT CLEVER CAPTURE CA eee The Thief and the Receiver of the Stolen Goods Hela—An Owner for the Velvet Cloaks and the Furs. The “clever capture” case which appeared In fan in these columns yesterday came up before Juage Hogan, at the Tombs, about twelve o'clock yester- aay, All the compiainants, including Mr. James M. Cox, of Philadelphia, from whose store the silks and laces were stolen, were in attendance. an owner for the two velvet cloaks and the fur capea also appeared, in the person of Mrs. Ann Cogswell, of 164 Kast Thirty-second street, whose house WAS BURGLAROUSLY ENTERED on the night of the 29th of last mouth and these ar. ucies carried off. The lady fully identified eacn of the sks and capes as hers, ana sald the largest cloak cost her $400 and the smaller one $175, while the two {urs were worth between three hundred and jour hundred dollars. These are the articles, it will be remembered, that Page claims were brought to his place, No, 1 Washington place, by eot Walker, alias Waiter Warren, a ine The examination, which occupied but a few minutes, resnited in Mr. Page being neld in the sum of 5,000 ball in each compiaint—Mrs, Cogs- weil’s and Mr, James M, Fox’s—ana Walker, or Warren, being committed in default of $25,000, om complalat of airs, Cogswell, to appear next Monday for further examination. Page refused to give any explanation as to how he Came tn possession of the Silks ang laces, simply deciaring that he got them Jo the usual Way Of DuyLag aay mQoUse