“Question. Was there any violence of this kind before the election of last October?

Answer.  Yes, sir there were lots of threats.  You could hear rumors of threats all through the settlements.  There was Mr. Tom Ware.  The day of the election I walked up, and I had a chill on me that day.  I put my vote, and some of them says, ‘There’s Old Jack voting for Scott!’  Says I, ‘Suber’–he school commissioner at Laurens now, a colored man– ‘Did you notice how they voted; they are some going in I don’t think is right.’  Dr. Tom Ware spoke up, and says, ‘Now, the last Goddamned on of you voting yourselves into you graves.’ ”

Reference Data:

Report of the Joint Select Committee to Inquire into the Conditions of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States, by Congress and the Committee, 1872, page 1168