10 then we got the news; and Mr. Quick he took and made a box for us, and he loaned us a wagon, and we went after him that Saturday. THE BODY FOUND. Q You found his body ? A. The buzzards had eat the entrails; but from the body down here [indicating] it was as natural as ever. His shoes were tied just as I had tied them The skull bone was on the outside of the grave, and this arm was out slightly and the other was off. Some we didn’t find. We picked up the rings of the backbone. We got the pocket-book, and there was the hat hanging up, and this ring was put on the tree and the black one was on the ground; this one. By Mr. Bayard : Q. Did you ever take an oath before ? A. No, sir. Q. Do you know the meaning of taking an oath? A. No, sir. Q. Do you know what the consequences are of swearing falsely ? A. No, sir. ASSASSINATION OF SENATOR CALDWELL. An equally horrid crime was the murder of Senator Caldwell and his brother, at Clinton, Christmas night. A history of the events of that evening is given by Mrs. Caldwell, which we here quote in her own words. Mrs. Margaret Ann Caldwell (colored) sworn and examined. By the Chairman : Question. What is your name? Answer. Margaret Ann Caldwell. Q Where do you live? A. In Clinton, Hinds county. Q. Was Mr. Caldwell, formerly senator, your husband ? A. Yes, sir. Q What was his first name ? A. Charles. Q. When did he die ? A. Thursday night, in the Christmas. Him and his brother was killed. Q. You may state to the committee what you know of his death. A. I know when he left the house on the Thursday evening, in the Christmas, between dark and sundown. In the beginning of the day he was out on his fox-chase all day. The first commencement was an insult passed on his nephew, and he came out home. STORY OF HIS ASSASSINATION. Q. Who was that ? A. David Washington ; he is in Washington city now. He is there in business; watchman in the Treasury Department now ; has been ever since October, I think. So they picked a fuss; Waddy Rice in George Washington’s blacksmith shop in A. John Jones. Q. Who else? A. My other brother, Lewis, and brother William, and my mother and little children. Q. How many children ? A. Five of them. Q. Have you any children yourself? A. Yes, sir; I have two. Q. Did these men come in the house ? A. Allen Grafton and John McNeir came in. The rest staid around the house. THEY FIND HODGE. Q What was done ? A. They made my brother come out from under the bed—my brother John— and asked where Square was, and said, “Is he in the room ?’ ’ and I did not tell, and said I did not know, at first. Then he asked if they had been at the Clinton riot, and I said that I did not know. Then he said, “ If you don’t tell, I will shoot your God damned brains out.” They made him come out from under the bed, and started to shoot under the house—mother put the children under the house ; she was scared and put the children under the house, and they gone around. There is two doors in the house They had pistols pointed under the house, and I told them that nobody was under but the children. Then they came into the house, but could not find Square, and they went out right where he was, and snatched off the weatherboards, only one in the room, and the other went outside the door and snatched the weatherboard and turned back the bed, and made him come out, and called him a damned son of a bitch, and said he must come with them. Mr. Quick says, “I told you this; if you had listened to me you would not have come to this, and they told him to put his shoes on, and I got them and said I will put them on ; and I had to put them on and could not tie them very well; and some one said, “ Let the God damned shoes be ; he don’t need any shoes.” I put my brother’s coat on him, and they carried him before them. Q. On the horse ? A. No, sir ; he walked before them away toward Raymond. Q. Now what happened? A. Nothing else. 6THEY KILLED HIM.” Q. What became of your husband ? A. They killed him. I never did find him for a week, until the next Saturday. Q. Where did you find him ? A Near about a mile and a half to the last bridge to Raymond, in the swamp Q. Who found him ? A. A colored man who was running off, keeping out of the way of the rebs, too, and he come across the body, and went and got a spade, and dug a hole and put a blaze ©n the trees all the way out, and
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