HISTORIC CAMDEN
While Kershaw passed through the tempests of shot and
shell unhurt, Kennedy was six times severely wounded and
struck fifteen times by spent balls. Being robust, vig-
orous and young his recovery was always rapid and in
- time for the next important.fight. While Kershaw’s im-
munity was marvelous, equally so was Kennedy’s re-
cuperation from serious injuries. During his absence
produced by wounds, received in the battle of the Wilder-
ness, his brigade formerly Kershaw’s, was commanded
by General James Connor. When promoted to command
of this Brigade, Kennedy was only twenty-four years of
age, probably the youngest Brigadier in the Army.
As above stated Kennedy and his Brigade was de-
tached in January 1865 to join Johnston’s army, with
which it surrendered at Greensboro, N. C. in May 1865.
As a veteran at the venerable age of twenty-five he
returned to the difficulties of so called peace aggravated
by ten years of reconstruction. The State being finally
redeemed from the Carpet-bagger, after a struggle in
which he took a conspicuous part he became a promi-
nent political figure and in 1880 was elected Lieutenant
Governor on the ticket with General Hagood. It seemed
that at the following election he would be promoted to
the Governorship, but in this ambition he was defeated
by the log-rolling and intrigues of the Nominating Con-
vention of 1882, to the great disgust of a large following.
From this time until his death on April 14, 1896 he
devoted himself exclusively to the profession of law at
Camden. In 1884 he was appointed by President Cleve-
land, Consul General at Shanghai, China, where he spent
four years.
The General was of powerful physique and handsome :
countenance, of ruddy complexion, ever buoyant and
hearty. His portrait here inserted is a speaking likeness,
and beyond any words we can use, gives an impression
of him most true to life.
186
CHAPTER XVII.
SLAVES.
Fig the public mind of the South had become in-
flamed on the subject of slavery by the Abolition agita-
tion between 1830 and 1860, no resident of Camden
would have been so bold as to utter in the public print
such sentiments as those of Dr. William Langley found
in the Camden Gazette of December 1816 from which we
take the following short extract:
“The influence of slavery extinguishes the glowing _
spark of religious fervor and produces cruelty to which
is super-added its pernicious effects in a political point
of view. It begets idleness, voluptuousness and a thirst
for power. It endangers our safety and destroys domes-
tic tranquility. If it were not for slavery we should be
consolidated as a people. I would not have it under-
stood, however, as has been unjustly reported, that I am
an advocate for emancipation. I am now regretting,
and have always lamented, that the policy of our coun-
try has not been to remove, instead, of introduce, domestic
enemies.”
It will appear from the foregoing that the worthy
Dr. Langley was impressed as much by the dangers
as by the evil of slavery. His state of mind is better
understood when we learn that in July of the same year
in which the above was written, the town of: Camden
narrowly escaped the horrors of a slave insurrection.
In the Camden Gazette of July 4, 1816 we read:
“Considerable alarm has been excited in Camden and
vicinity on account of a conspiracy that has just been
detected among the slaves. Their ringleaders, to the
number of fifteen or twenty, are in custody. Their in-
tention was to have fired one end of the town distant
from the arsenal, to draw attention from that quarter
where their hopes were centered. After seturing arms
and ammunition the reader can imagine the course that
would have been pursued. The promptitude and vigilance
of the authorities have happily dissipated present dan-
gers. Several executions will probably take place.”
The same paper of July 11, states that seventeen lead-
ers had been arrested and tried and five condemned and
executed; that “upon trial every one who was most deeply
187
—
Five slg
a
ves hanged at Camden, S. C., on July 5 and July 12, 1816.
ee
EN
Lad
HISTORIC CAMD!
PART TWO
NINETEENTH CENTURY
BY
THOMAS J. KIRKLAND
ROBERT M. KENNEDY
COLUMBIA, S.C.
THE STATE COMPANY
1926 .
: Reprinted 1965
KERSHAW COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Camden, S. C.
THE STATE PRINTING COMPANY
Columbia, S. C.
"The whole community was greatly excited in July, 1815 (1816), by the discovery of an
intended insurrection of the negroes, which was fixed for the Fourth, They were so confi-
dent of success that the ring-leader had selected and named the young lady who was to be
his future wife, The jail was crowded with suspected participants and guarded by armed men
day and night for some weeks. I saw four or five of them hanged at one time and another
afterwards upon the samegallows." RANDOM RSCOLLECTIONS OF A LONG LIFE, 1806-1876, by
Edwin J. Scott; Columbia, S. C.: Charlves A. Calvo, dr., Printer, 188); p 17.
(&
?
Feb. 22 cont'd:
bed...kneels down by the side of the tomb...and points the dying pilgrim
to this endless rest. S4
Issue of Saturday March l, 1851:
ituary - Departed this life, on 12th ult. at 4 o'clock a.m., at the
aout of ed mother in Pickens District, Miss MARY P. GAINES. pong
christian patience she bore a most painful illness of pada rl —
leaves an aged mother and many relations to lament her early death. e
subject of this notice was an ornament in the church of which she was, -
for many years, an attentive member, and during her illness gave rd
idences of a strong faith in the christian religion. When much cu ~ e
she would often say: "I have enjoyed the spring of life, endured the ne
toils of summer, culled the fruits of autumn, am now passing through the
dreary winter, and am not forsaken of my God. I see the dawn of a lt
day...the first of a spring that shall be eternal, it advances to me,
hasten to embrace it. Welcome, welcome eternal spring! halleljah!
Carolina, Pickens District - JNO. MYERS and HENRY MYERS and others,
pe eee Against the heirs of ROBERT HONNEA. It appearing to pd So
isfaction that part of the heirs of Robert Honnea reside without t eats
its of this State, it is therefore ordered that they do appear and objec
to the division or sale of the real estate of HENRY MYERS.
Issue of Saturday March 8, 1851:
s - The following extract is from a letter received by a gentle-
nae ie ouad ae ekbachoud, feos his son in Texas. The young gl a
to was, we believe, the son of Col. BENJAMIN BARTON, formerly o _ ens
district, who moved to Texas several years ago. He was the descendant
of a gallant race, and died without dishonoring it. (Messenger )
s Jan. 29, 1851 ;
bare nee aeain troubled with our friends, the Indians. _They area
about two days since by killing three of our citizens within six aoe
of town; and drove off a large amount of stock. Lieut. eS a ords
Rangers, overtook, killed three and retook 70 odd mules...he ha one man
wounded. Two days after a party of the.same company, under hep :
BURLESON, encountered fifteen, and with eight men gave them —
a desperate encounter ensued in which one American was killed and six ;
wounded, (Burleson was shot in the head). But two of the a
unhurt, although but two were left dead on the ground. The woun ee er:
and will do well. The poor fellow killed was WM. B. BARTON, a - ie fe)
Pendleton, S. C. He was one of my old soldiers and a noble fellow. From
the battle of Monteray, where he was badly wounded, to the present —
he has been in active service on this frontier, and died ie Ee Ba
lantly. He is related to all the Pendleton Bartons, and I be Fie as ;
left a wife. Let a notice be written and published in the Pendleton pa
per. A part of his family reside in eastern Texas. The fight was on
this (western) side of the Nueces river.
i WALL, residing in
Dastardly Murder - On Friday last a woman by the name , :
St. lukea Parish, Beaufort District, South Carolina, was shot — =. ;
her own house by some cowardly assassin, who made his escape without hav
ing been discovered. We hope the murderer will yet meet retributive jus-
tice.
i i he Rev. T. M. WILKES,
Married - on Thursday evening the 20th ult., by t 2
the Rev. L. R. L. JENNINGS, of Pendleton, S. C., to Miss SALLIE E. STOW,
of Eatonton, Ga.
Married - On the 6th inst., by Rev. W. MC WHORTER, Mr. JOSEPH M. DEVENEAU
to Miss CAROLINE M. HOWARD.
Issue of Saturday March 15, 1851:
i N. J., on the 16th
An Aged C le - Mrs. NANCY GORDON died at Rockaway, ;
inst’, seed! ear 90. Had she lived till March 14, she would have seen
é
&
e
(March 15 cont'd;)
the seventy first anniversary of her marriage. During the whole time she
and her husband, who still survives her at the age of 92, have lived with-
in sight of Rockaway Church. This aged pair have had nine children, of
whom five survive; forty nine grandchildren, of whom thirty three survive;
one hundred and three great grandchildren, of whom seventy four survive,
and two great great grandchildren, both still living, making in number
their descendants, living and dead, one hundred and sixty three of whom
one hundred and fourteen still survive.
Issue of Saturday March 22, 1851:
South Carolina, Pickens District. In Equity - Bill for Partition and
Sale of Real Estate. ISAAC HOLDEN and wife JANE vs. JANE NICHOLSON, wi-
dow, EVAN NICHOLSON, et al. The Complainants having filed their Bill in
my Office, and it appearing to my satisfaction that EVAN NICHOLSON, JAMES
LOVELESS and wife SARAH, WILLIAM HOLDEN and wife MARTHA, WILLIAM NICHOL-
SON, MORDECAI COX and wife MALINDA, parties Defendants to the said Bill
of Complaint.
South Carolina, Pickens District. In Equity - Bill for Partition of
Real Estate. JAS. MULLIKEN and wife MALINDA vs. MARTHA NORTON, ROBERT
WILSON and wife SARAH, et al. The complainants having filed their Bill
in my office and it appearing in my satisfaction that the heirs of ZIP-
PORAH FORBES, deceased, viz. ELMINA, ADOLPHUS, NELSON FORBES and others,
and the heirs at law of MARTHA FORBES, deceased, viz: JEPTHA, ELIZA,
GOERGE FORBES, and others, reside from and without the limits of this
State.
Issue of March 29, 1851:
Married - On Thursday evening, 27th inst., by Rev. WM. MC WHORTER, Col.
E. R. DOYLE to Miss SUSAN DENDY, all of this District.
Issue of Saturday April 12, 1851:
Greenville Court - On Wednesday, ENOCH MASSEY passed through the most
terrible ordeal to which frail humanity can be subjected, he being in- S &
dicted and found guilty of murder. On Thursday...the father and two
brothers of Enoch Massey were to be arraigned as particeps criminis.
Enoch Massey was sentenced to be hung on the 27th of June next.
Issue of Saturday May 3, 1851:
Obituary - Died, at West Union, on 28th inst. at 3 o'clock A.M., Mrs.
MARTHA JOSEPHINE, wife of Maj. WILLIAM S. GRISHAM, aged twenty-one years,
two months and nine days. Her illness lasted about six weeks, and was
very severe. She has left a husband, many relatives, and numerous friends
to mourn their loss. Having lived at West Union only a few years she
gained for herself the esteem of all her acquaintances and truly they
who knew her best loved her most. In every relation of life she was am-
able, affectionate and kind; as a christian, she lived, and always re-
commended the religion she professed and enjoyed, by a pious deportment
and well ordered conversation. As she lived so she died...full of faith,
and in full assurance of a blessed immortality. Her sun sunk not behind
a cloud, but a star in midheaven she seemed, shined away by the brighter
glories of the rising sun. She often spoke during her illness of her
approaching dissolution, with calmness and with confidence that she was
going to a better world, and when the final hour came she met the King
of Terrors with becoming Christian fortitude...breathed her last with-
out a struggle, and fell asleep in Jesus.
Married - On the 30th April, by Rev. DAVID HUMPHREYS, Mr. ISHAM W. TAY-
LOR to Miss NARCISSA C., daughter of Col. JOHN MC FALL, all of Anderson
District.
Issue of Saturday May 10, 1851:
Melancholy Suicide - On the 9th inst., Mrs. MARY GAINES, an aged widow,
-
15
(May 10 cont'd:)
and for many years a member of the Methodist Church, committed suicide
by hanging herself with a hank of thread to the beam of a loom. Mrs. G.
had been for for sometime partially deranged in mind.
Sad Accident - On Tuesday, the 6th inst., Mr. C. BULWINKLE, of Walhalla,
in this District, together with Mrs. BULWINKLE and child were thrown
from a vehicle in which they were driving by the horse taking fright, and
were so badly injured that Mr. B. and his child died a few hours after
the accident occurred; Mrs. B. though seriously hurt is said to be re-
covering. Mr. Bulwinkle was an intelligent and enterprising German, one
of the chief of the German settlement, and his loss will be severely felt
and sorely lamented by his countrymen.
Obituary - Died, April 28th, 1851, in Pickens Dist., S. C., Mrs. ISABELLA
REID, relict of JOSEPH REID, deceased. The subject of this notice lived
to the advanced age of 91 years; and although unable to walk for a great
length of time, yet she was resigned to the will of her Maker, in whom
she had a good hope eternal life thro’ Christ Jesus, having adorned her
profession, as a member of the Presbyterian Church, for sixty years; tes-
tifying to the grace of God and the suffiencey of Christ's atoning blood
to save the chief of sinners. Like a shock of corn fully ripe, she was
as we trust, gathered to the garner of heaven, “where the wicked cease
from troubling, and where the weary are at rest".
Issue of Saturday April 25, 1857:
Death of Col. JOSEPH CRISHAM - The numerous friends of this gentleman
will be pained to learn that he departed this life on the 9th instant.
The sad event was not unlooked for by his family, and occurred at his
residence near Canton, Ga. His death is supposed to have been caused
from the effects of an injury received, in 1837, by being kicked on the
leg by a horse and from which he never fully recovered. Latterly, his
sufferings were very great, but it will be gratifying to his friends to
know that they were borne with Christian fortitude and resignation. He
died with the heavenly promise bright before him. Col. Grisham was born
in Anderson district, in 1789, but was, for a long number of years, a
useful and prominent citizen of Pickens. His industry and energy, com-
bined with punctuality and stricktly temperate habits, amassed for him
a large property, notwithstanding heavy losses by fire and flood. In
public affairs, he took the same active interest that characterized him
in the management of his private concerns; ample evidence of his success
in which may be seen. in the workings of our district police, at this
time. His integrity was above reproach, and his patriotism undoubted.
He was a friend to the deserving, and his charities, public and private,;
accorded harmoniously with his ability to give. It is impossible, in a.
passing newspaper article, to do justice to his life and memory; there-
fore, we leave it for more competent and appropriate hands.
South Carolina, Pickens District. In Equity - Bill for Partition, Ac-
count, Relief, &c. AERAHAM DUKE, HARRIET DUKE and RANSOM DUKE vs. JO-
SEPH DOLLESON, MELINDA DOLLESON, BENJAMIN CANNON, WASHINGTON CANNON, CAR-
TER CANNON, JAMES CANNON, MARGARET MARCHBANKS, JUDY or JUDITH KENDRICK,
ELIJAH CANNON, MARTHA BROWN and WILLIAM GILSTRAP. The Complainants hav-
ing filed their bill of complaint, and it appearing to my satisfaction
that Joseph Dolleson, Melinda Dolleson, Benjamin Cannon, Washington Can-
non, Carter Cannon, James Caanon, Margaret Marchbanks, Judy or Judith
Kendrick, Elijah Cannon and Martha Brown, defendants to said bill, re-
side without the limits of this State.
Issue of Saturday May 2, 1857:
“ citizens of Waco, Texas, and the Coroner's Jury reported that he came
J to his death by means of a rope and a gun in the hands of persons un-
WAS to Death - BILL JOHNSON, a desperado, was lately lynched by the
known.
Dead - Lieut. WM. GARDNER, of the U. S. Navy, died very suddenly in Aug-
16
(May 2 cont'd:)
usta, Georgia on Wednesday last, of disease of the heart. He was about
arge cl i i
~ +4 e of relatives and friends to
Married - on the 25th inst by W. S. GRISHAM
; _ . . » Esq., Mr. -
NEDY to Miss LETTIE ANN GILBERT, all of Tunnel Hill, es eee eat
Married - On the 26th inst by W
., by W. J. PARSONS, Esq., Mr.
Texas, to Mrs. VILANTY COBB, of Pickens District. t. JOM LARS «Se
Married - On the 29th ult. by JOHN KNOX, E
. X, Esq., Mr. WM. : i
ELIZABETH MC ALISTER, both of Pickens Diaerice. , oe ee
|
Obituary - Died, in Texas, on the 24th of March last, of flux, STEPHEN J.
CLAYTON, in the 24th year of his age. Death, at all times, is a solemn
event, but more especially does it weigh heavily, when the young and pro-
mising fall by its insatiate shaft The subj i i
i ; i : . ect of this not
native of Pickens district, and son of PHILIP CLAYTON, eia. "He ee :
young in years and full of promise; and, but a short time previous to his
- death had removed to (....torn....) there to begin life with a confident
hope of success, in the very spri i
S , pring-time of manhood. But alas! fo =
pects bright and hopes human. They, with the manly form of our ftiend4
are entombed to the grave...his dust in a strange land, and his soul, we
trust, with the God who gave it. His death was sudden, and it fell with |
peri: piercing grief upon his family here, while his numerous relatives
an riends mourn their loss; but they mourn not as those without hope.
“For th i ak
any Teed giveth and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of
Issue of Saturday May 9, 1857:
Murder - We regret to learn that Mr. WARREN REID w i
named TURNER, at ROWLAND's old store, in peecasibic Gipevine, on Satur-
day last. A knife was the instrument used, entering the body near the
eart, and causing death almost instantly. Turner was arrested immedi-
ately, and has been committed to jail. Reid was a native of Pickens
and leaves a wife and four children.
Burned - A little daughter of T. H. DeGRAFFENR
: . H. EID, of Chester, was b
to death by her clothes accidentally taking fire out in the raid at oo
She lingered but two or three hours. as
Lynched - Two men, named WM. FERGUSON and C L-
ynch e WM, . N. JOHNSON, co
tobbing and murdering Chinese in Butte county, California eon gre reg
the populace on the night of the Ist ult. ate
Obituary - Died, at Tunnel Hill, on the 24th ultimo, EDMUND } i
: : no, {ARTI
Sie 60th year of his age. The deceased was a native of Anderson aietr aa
ut, for many years previous to his death had made Pickens his home He
had been connected with the Baptist church, as a member, for forty years
and died in the full enjoyment of the christian's final hope, and re-
ceiving the rewards of the faithful Christ. For several years before he
was called hence, he discharged the responsible duties of Magistrate with
equal justice to all, and satisfaction to the public generally. He leave
a family and many relatives and fri i
iends to mourn his d
row not as those without hope. eee ee
Issue of Saturday May 16, 1857:
aioe ? Maj. WHITFIELD - We are pained to learn that Maj. J. T. WHIT-
: . — on Tuesday last, at Anderson C. H. The immediate cause of his
eat ; as not reached us, but he had lived to a ripe old age. He repre-
sented Pendleton district in the Legislature for a number of years, and
at the time of his death, was the oldest lawyer on the Western circuit.
ipa tosiys on Tuesday morning last, by the Rev. W. W. CARO-
ers, SAMUEL W. MELTON, Esq., (co-editor of the "Yorkville Enquirer’)
17
Issue of Saturday July 4, 1857:
h of LANGDON CHEVES - This truly great man died in Columbia on the
re ult., in the eighty-first year of his age. He was a native ee
beville, and entered public life when young. As a lawyer, he atte
position; then he was sent to Congress, where, during the war 0 -
he distinguished himself in debate, advocating the cause of ee ry
against our natural enemy. He was afterwards elected Speaker : the — ;
House. On returning home, he was elected Judge. And afterwards een
ted President of the United States Bank. The Carolinian says his werd
was Herculean, and his intellect massive and powerful, and he are ein
in himself Roman sternness and Roman greatness. He was one of — no
lest sons of South Carolina. She has in the last fifteen years lost a
HAYNE, a LEGARE, a MC DUFFIE, a CALHOUN, a BUTLER. ..all great men in ; e
enlarged sense of the term...and now again she is called on to = or
Langdon Cheves, one of the purest and most glorious of her sons. eace
to his ashes the Goddess of Fame leans on his tomb.
i i i Ala., Democratic nom-
His Birth Place - the Hon. A. B. MOORE, of Marion, ‘
inee for the Governorship of that State, is a native of Spartanburg, S.
C., which has still many more of the same sort of sons.
i i i i Ga. on the 10th inst.
Distressing Casuality - At Danville, Sumter county, ;
che Ferry louse, together with its contents, was consumed by fire, and
Mrs. MC KINLEY and her step daughter burned to death.
"Old Grimes Dead" - Mr. S. D. GRIMES died recently in Georgia, at the
zreat age of one hundred and ten years. He never was sick.
JOHN LAPOINT, for the murder of ROBERT WHEATON ; ISRAEL SHOULTZ for ——
ing JOHN ISHAM, and JACOB WOESLIN, for killing his wife, were |.
in the jail yard in St. Louis, Saturday, and at Ce a ;
CEO. W. SHARPE and JOHN JOHNSON were hung for the murder of BA .
Tenn., has just de-
The Largest Man - MILES DARDEN, of Henderson county, , ;
paress thie life. He was the largest man in the world. His height was
seven feet six inches; two inches higher than PORTER, the pen
Kentucky giant. His weight was a fraction over one thousand pounds!
Married - On the 25th ult. by J. B. SANDERS, Esq., Mr. THOMAS J. GRANT
to Miss ZILPHA JACKSON, all of Pickens District.
PH HUGHES,Sen., in Union
Executed - JAMES A. PRICE, who murdered Mr. JOSE i ,
LCrristrice, four years ago, was executed on the 26th ult., near Unionville,
f in presence of an immense concourse.
é
Death of Hon. W. L. MARCY - Death loves a shining mark! A belenrerac
dispatch to the Columbia papers advise of the death of Hon. W. aoa ied
Secretary of State under President PIERCE. He died at a 3 *
suddenly on the 4th of July. He was found in his room, having died a
lone...perhaps of apoplexy.
Issue of Saturday July 18, 1857:
Drowned - We regret to learn that Mr. WILSON MC KINNEY, of ge ae a
was drowned in Keowee river, near his residence, on the 12t ae t '
appears that he entered the stream for a specific purpose, — a ough
being an expert swimmer, he was unable to save himself. A la — -_
ding by at the time, but he was too small to do more than give the alarm.
i i " i Ga.) Signal'' of the llth
Shooting Affair - We learn from the Mountain (
teat. that an affray took place in Union county on the 4th between J. K.
WOODY and WM. DOCERY. Woody, who was armed with a rifle, shot his antag-
onist thro’ the breast, and his life is despaired of. The affray grew
out of a law suit.
A Ripe Old Age - Mrs. SARAH LANCASTER, 4 lady aged one hundred and one
20
%
Ed
e
i
4
(Mrs. Lancaster cont'd:)
years five months and seven days, departed this life, near the village
of Spartanburg on the 7th instant. Mrs. Lancaster came to Spartanburg
before the Revolution, and has been there ever since.
Death of Gen. HERNANDEZ - The Jacksonville News announces the death of
Gen. JOSEPH M. HERNANDEZ. of Florida, who was the first delegate to Con-
gress while in the territorial condition, a leading member of the terr.
Legislature, and on the breaking out of Indian hostilities, was made a
Brigadier General in the United States service.
Tribute of Respect - To. W. T. MC JUNKIN, deceased, by Pendleton Lodge,
A.F.M.
Issue of Saturday July 25, 1857:
Killed - Mr. B. S. MIDYETT, of Hyde Co., N. C.,.was killed by lightning
on the 29th ult., while returning from his daily occupation to his fam-
ily. Mr. Midyett was a mechanical engineer, and at the time of his
death had charge of Mr. ROSS's steam-mills.
Married - On the 12th inst., by WM. S. WOOLBRIGHT, Esq., Mr. PRIESTLY
ABLES, of Pickens, to Miss MARY KING, of Anderson.
Obituary - Departed this life, on the 22nd inst. of chronic affection(?)
after an illness of six weeks, Mrs. DILLEY CHAPMAN, in the 47th year of
her age. The subject of this notice had been, for many years, an exem-
plary member of the Methodist Church, and died in the fullest confidence
of reaping, the reward of her labors in her Master's service, and finding
a home in Heaven. Some years since, Mrs. Chapman had the misfortune to
lose her husband by death. Left with four small children dependent up-
on her exertions, she has struggled on till death has severed the connec-
tion. Before her spirit passed away, she committed them to the protec-
ting care of the "Father of the fatherless'', and may He guide and protect
them.
Issue of Saturday August 1, 1857:
Married - On the 2lst ultimo, by W. S. WOOLBRIGHT, Esq., Mr. THOMAS E.
CLARK to Miss ELIZABETH GRANT, all of Pickens.
Issue of Saturday August 8, 1857:
Married - On the 23rd ult., by Rev. J: R. HUNNICUTT, Mr. WM. RAY, to Miss
ANN DEALE, all of Georgia.
Married - On the 26th ult., by the Rev. Hunnicutt, Mr. WM. HOLLBROOK to
Miss CAROLINE HOLMES, all of Pickens.
State of South Carolina, Pickens. Summons in Partition - E. and E. M.
FIELD vs. J. D. FIELD and others. It appearing to my satisfaction that
JOHN D. FIELD, B. W. FIELD, JOSEPH DONALDSON and wife, JAMES M. FIELD
and AMOS L. SOUTHERLAND and wife, reside without the limits of this State.
(Sale of Real Estate of JEREMTAH FIELD(S), deceased.)
Issue of Saturday August 15, 1857:
Death of Hon. THOS. J. RUSK - The recent intelligence from Texas is tru-
ly astounding as well as melancholy. On the 29th ult., THOMAS J. RUSK,
United States Senator, committed suicide by shooting himself through the
head with a rifle. Senator Rusk was a native of this district. He emi-
grated to Georgia when quite young, and removed to Texas during her strug-
gle for independence, and took an active part in the trying scenes of
that period. Gen. Rusk was a man of ability, and greatly, beloved by the
people of Texas. His popularity South was also great, and his name had
been connected with the Presidency by men of position and influence. His
death, under any circumstances is to be lamented, but more especially in
the manner in which he deprived himself of life. The following is the
21
Homicide - The "Marion Star" Says that on the 26th ult., in a fracas be-
GCtween G. FORD and R. ROGERS, the latter was stabbed in the neck and died
Issue of Saturday March 5, 1859: in a few minutes. Ford is at large.
Homicide in Edgefield - A correspondent of the "Augusta Dispatch", writ-
ing from Edgefield, on the 10th instant, relates the following: "A most
lamentable affair came off near the Red Oak Grove Church, in this dis-
trict, yesterday morning at 8 o'clock A.M. LEVI H. MC DANIEL was killed
Married - On Wednesday evening, February 23d, by the Rev. JAMES M. CHILES,
Mr. GEORGE E. ROBINSON, of Pendleton, to Miss SALLIE R. CHILD, of Abbe-
ville district.
Married - On the 10th ult. by A. B. BOWDEN, Esq., Mr. ELIAS BOTTOMS to
Miss POWELL, all of Pickens.
tween them for several months, and having met in the toad, the deceased |
Married - On the 27th ult. by the same, at Tunnel Hill, Mr. THOS. SMITH said he could whip Jones, and got off his horse and pulled off his coat, |
to Miss MARY D. SMITH, all of Tunnel Hill.
ked about thirty yards, fell and expired in a few minutes. The verdict
of the coroner's inquest is, that Levi H. McDaniel came to his death from
the effects of pistol balls fired by the hand of John H. Jones. Jones is
Married - On the 21st ult. by Rev. WM. MC WHORTER, Mr. JAMES A. MC KEE
to Miss EMILY E. PERRY, all of Pickens.
Married - On the 10th ult., by the Rev. WM. T. GREADY, Mr. T. J. HUGHS to
‘iss ELIZABETH J. HALL, all of Pickens. Obituary - Miss FRANCIS WELBORN departed this life on the 8th of February,
1859, at the residence of her father, near Glassy Mountain, Pickens Dis-
trict, S.C. Francis was the daughter of Col. W. £. ahd A. WELBORN, aged
sixteen years, five months and thirteen days. She was an affectionate
and an obedient child, amiable in her deportment, possessed of a meek
and quiet spirit; delighted in obedience to her parents; beloved by all
who knew her; but, better than all, she had obeyed the Heavenly injunc-
tion..."Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth",&c. She made a
profession of her faith in Christ Jesus in September, 1855, and was Bap-
tised into the fellowship of the Baptist Church of Christ at Big Creek,
Anderson District, S.-€., by the writer of this notice. She died in full
communion with Phe Church where ever she was known. She has left a be-
Teaved father and mother, brothers and sisters, and many relatives to
mourn their loss in her death, but they mourn not as those who have no
hope, but rejoice, believing that "their loss is her eternal gain"; and
when Christ, who is her life, shall appear, then shall she also appear
with him in Glory. Brother and sister, your much loved daughter igs gone
from the evils to come and Test in hope of a better resurrection, for
those who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. Blessed are the dead
that die in the Lord. W. P. MARTIN
Issue of Saturday March 12, 1859:
Married - On the 3d inst., by Rev. WM. MC WHORTER, Mr. JOHN HARRIS to Miss
CHARLOTTE JEANS, all of Pickens.
Married - On the 8th inst., by Rev. C. F. BANSEMER, Mr. WM. HENRY PIEPER
to Miss JOHANNES AHRENS, all of Walhalla.
Married - On the 9th inst., by Rev. J. R. HUNNICUTT, Mr. JAMES E. COMP-
TON, of Greenville, to Miss REBECCA BREWER, of Pickens.
Parricide - STEPHEN P. BRADHAM, of Onslow county, N. C., killed his fa-
LY ther DANIEL BRADHAM, on Thursday last, by striking him over the head with
a fence rail. The murderer made his escape.
Horrible Death - A white woman named MARY MC EACHERN, fell into the fire
at Wilmington, N. C., on Tuesday, while under the influence of liquor, and
was burned to death.
Issue of Saturday March 19, 1859:
Died, at his father's residence, in Cherokee county, Ga., on the 24th in-
stant, of inflammation of the brain, ALEXANDER H. MOSS, in the seventeen-
th year of his age. The deceased was very promising young man, of high
moral worth, a dutiful son, and an affectionate brother. He was confid-
ing in his attachments, obliging in his manners, and highly esteemed by
those who knew him. He leaves many relatives and friends to mourn his
loss. S.
Accident - We regret to learn that an Irish operative, named JAMES BURNS,
was killed at Tunnel Hill on the 9th instant. He was ascending from the
bottom of Shaft No. 3, when he came in contact with the descending buck-
et, which knocked him back, and so severely wounded him that he died in
a few hours. We learn that he failed to give the proper ascending signal
and paid thus dearly for his omission.
Died, on the 12th of February, in Elbert co., Ga., BEVERLY ALLEN HENRY,
JR., eldest son of Dr. B. A. and Mrs. MARY A. HENRY, aged five years,six
months and five days. This brief tribute is recorded for the immediate
consolation of parents overwhelmed and crushed by the sudden loss of .
their first-born...none can appreciate the magnitude of their loss, and
the bitterness of their grief, but those who have experienced the same
calamity. A bright, intelligent, affectionate boy gave promise of a hop-
ful future, and enshrined himself within the inner sanctuary of the par-
ent's hearts...when, lo! a blight fell on that boy and he withered.. .dis-
appointment and darkness settled on that household...and grief, deep and
poignant, ravaged the hearts of parents. The doings of Providence are
well nigh always inexplicable, and therefore should never be judged by
reason or sense. Revelation, which alone contains the mind of God, as-
sures us that God is the disposer...from him cometh only good and per-
fect gifts. Providence, then, are the dealings of God, as graciously be-
nevolent as they are wonderous wise. How important then to be enabled
to say, ''The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away", for then only can
we exclaim, "Blessed be the name of the Lord". A Friend (1 verse of
poetry) ;
Suicide - The "Edgefield Advertiser" States that SOLOMON ELENBERG, of °
Edgefield District, hung himself with a Tope attached to the limb of a
tree, some ten days since. The unfortunate creature was some 70 years
old, and not sound in mind.
Sad Accident - A little child of Mr. WM. HORTON, says the "Yorkville En-
quirer", was so severely scalded recently that it died soon afterwards.
Killed Himself - We Tegret to learn that the death of Mr. W. M. BELSER,
a member of the State Legislature from Williamsburg Dist. Death was caus-
ed by an overdose of an anodyne.
Murder at Little Rock - On the 10th ult., a young man named LESTER, from
Georgia, was murdered at Little Rock for his money, something less than
(Us1,060, by an Irishman named CHAS. COSGROVE; the latter was arrested,and
came near being lynched.
“Murdered - A Correspondent of the "Ashville News" that B. S. MATTOCK, of
(acon. Co., N. C., was murdered on the 24th ult. by an unknown person.
Issue of Saturday March 26, 1859: (next page)
Death of Capt. McWILLIAMS - The Charleston papers announce the death of
Capt. ARCHIBALD MC WILLIAMS, of that city. He was born in Ayreshire,Scot-
land, in 1778, and in 1795 came to this country, which has since then 59
been his home.
58
Hi nen ot WAR AMAIA Bic aaelnatiaeneaminadeaantanat
fea dice os phe | ol :
a t;,
é “
age to although powerless to aid the advancing deliverers of her caste, or to |
injure her oppressors, the simple expression of satisfaction at the
N
4 event sealed her doom. Amy Spain died in the cause of freedom. A g
ens section of Sherman’s Cavalry occupied the town, and without doing
That any damage passed through. Not an insult or an unkind word was p*
8 aid anv of the n of the F a A had itl 4 | i
pottage said to any of the women of the town. ‘The men had, with guilty i
false | consciences fled ; but upon their return, with their traditional chivalry, : t a
} c _ a . . . . ? ne
‘avalry they seized upon poor Amy, and ignominiously hung her to a syca- i
isle more tree standing in front of the court house, underneath which stood | ,
"ins | ; os
Ee Our the block from which was monthly exhibited the slave chattels that %
\ ite were struck down by the auctioneer’s hammer to the highest bidder. aq
10 g, 3 a @ iP
| ladies Amy Spain heroically heard her sentence, and from her prison .
Rtcrsal bars declared she was prepared to die. She defied her persecutors ;
and as she ascended the scaffold, declared she was going to a place | i
ven off going I
; ¢ 4 > Ps be
Spikes where she would receive a crown of glory. She was rudely inter- a
y spirit | M4
; i ‘ '
rupted by an oath from one of her executions. To the eternal dis- a
utterly ] : ;
« place grace of Darlington her execution was acquiesced in and witnessed 2
: by most of the citizens of the town. Amy was launched into eternity,
thé citi and the ‘chivalric Southern Gentlemen’ of Darlington had fully es-
Xv igs . . a . . y
Be ut tablished their bravery by making war upon a defenseless African ‘
‘simple woman. She sleeps quietly, with others of her race, near the beautiful eR a
' posi _ village. No memorial marks her grave, but after-ages will remember ‘ j
ak 4 this martyr of liberty. Her persecutors will pass away and be for- mat ry
S 5 ' i YS oaag 4 . ty a
tines gotten, but Amy Spain’s name is now hallowed among the Africans, if 4
1 who, emancipated and free, dare, with the starry folds of the flag of Hi be
i ; ; | i
the free floating over them, speak her name with holy reverence.” })
et I aM
, N. N. Isdwards i ‘
cp St
. @ | Re f e
: The Darlington County Historical Society Bulletins have made several ref- 1} A
erences to this hanging, about which there have been conflicting accounts. A | 4
ptember recent issue of The Florence Morning News (May 17, 1959) revived the con- tt hs
oti troversy. This was highly colored (probably taken from the account in L/arper’s j a
ption o fae alps! Pebis *
Weekly) and was not pleasing to the Spain family. So we feel we are fortu- t i
nate in now having positive proof of the falsity of the [arper’s IV eekly article i
of September 30, 1865 by N. N. Edwards. This proof is in letters, editorials, "
and testimonials copied from the October 3, 1865 issue of the New Era in the | i,
lér race South Caroliniana Library in Columbia, S. C. ; ‘y
was a We are much indebted to Miss June McCauley for this research. June is a
ew 2 one of Darlington’s girls and is now a senior at the University of South Caro- :
district } lina. She was a student assistant at the South Caroliniana Library this sum- AG ‘a
} Army : mer of 1959, : "
‘ i (B. W. C.) ‘al
tion by M
Yankees |
night of
syaway. | hy
ER 1 i th
‘Ss; anc nd 3
z | 365 |
}
j
i
i
!
» the matter in
nunity, and the
@
w Era October
alf a dozen citi-
ve stands at the
ty that she was
ind executed by
so far from exe-
the course of the
Dargan
rd Amy whilst in
sive her for what
ey, She told her
ierself, to go and
on was as orderly
ly be.”
4
C. Tolar
vour girl Amy in
ion in a cart. She
ageg.to your chil-
‘e punishment
- warning by her
iven her. She was
ed out from under
re were not more
veamore tree. ‘The
Amy was hanged.
]
dickinson
a copy of Harper's
‘o be a representa-
raslave, and a state-
and more falsehood
than anything of the kind I ever saw. My first impulse was to ad-
dress the publishers of that widely circulated sheet with a short state-
ment of the facts in relation to the case, as they came under my ob-
servation, but when I learned you were already preparing a general
array of the points in the case, | decided at once to turn over my
testimony to you, ‘he writer for the Veekly who produced this sen-
sational article, who is doubtless in our midst and might be pointed
out with little difficulty has, like all propagators of falsehood, given
his readers a small admixture of truth. It is true that Amy was hanged
and that she was resigned to her fate. It is also true that a section
of Sherman’s Cavalry passed through this place but there is much
he failed to tell, either because his informant was at fault or else be-
cause so large a portion of. that ingredient would not have suited his
purpose. He has failed to tell that previous to the Cavalry visit, Amy
was considered by this community, white and colored, to be a very
bad girl; that at the time of the visit she was your slave and that her
conduct on that occasion was haughty and insurrectionary; that the
citizens of Darlington, though much incensed at her course, took no
steps to punish or send her away. He failed to tell the public that
you, her owner at the time, manifested a proper interest in her wel-
fare by attending the trial, not only as her master, but as her lawyer
and by instantly requesting the pastor of your family to administer
to her spiritually. The above named writer has omitted the important
fact that the Court that tried Amy was appointed by the Military
authorities then in command and that they evidently were selected
for their intelligence and high sense of propriety, none of them being
citizens of Darlington, very few of the citizens being present at the
trial. He has not informed his readers of the fact that the presiding
officer of the Court, in pronouncing sentence, stated that it was after
a patient and -painful examination, and with much reluctance they
had decided that their instruction required them to find her so guilty
as to forfeit her life.
The writer of the Weekly has not thought proper to tell the world
‘that the above mentioned pastor, upon his own previous motion, and
at your earnest request and with the cordial sanction of the Court
did go to Amy from the Court House to the jail and spent nearly
all the time alloted to her in instruction, encouragement and prayer,
and it was during these exercises that she was asked by the minister
if some wicked person had not influenced her to do what she had
done. She replied ‘Oh no, Mr. Gamewell, I have brought it all upon
myself by my wickedness.’ She alluded with much feeling to the kind-
ness of her young mistress in reading the Bible to her, etc. She had
[ 363 ]
ne ee ne
Bete ae ae rtp en sagt Rca
, po cae arene a Mit acne 9 SE pel
a
agin
SOIREE ie Ra RN: entitles Te Rm in eS NEeepRET NMOS ie ih 6
nothing against anyone. She gave the minister a dying message to
the colored congregation not to do as she had done.
Our writer has signally failed to tell lis readers that there was a
general if not an universal expression of regret among the citizens
of Darlington at the severity of the sentence against Amy. ‘That
statement, however, would have spoiled the whole mess of pottage
hut our hero of the pen has hoaxed the Weekly with palpable false-
hood for the most part. It is false that a section of Sherman’s Cavalry
passed through without doing any damage or without giving an insult
or saying ai unkind word to any of the women of the town, Our
people, white and colored, were robbed of their provisions, clothing,
watches, jewelry, poultry, etc., and some of the most refined ladies
were insulted as much: as they could have been, without personal
violence had been offered, and if the raiders had.not been driven off
from their depredations. It is false that Amy exhibited any spirit
of defiance toward, her ‘persecutors’. I am confident that it is wélerly
false that she was rudely interrupted by an oath at the place
of execution.
What shall we say to the statement that she was hung by the citi-
zens of Darlington and that her execution was acquiesced in by most
of the citizens of the town who were present? But in a few simple
words to give it and its author the unqualified lie. And what posi-
tion shall the proprietors of a paper, who to say the very least of it,
allow themselves but too cheerfully, to be imposed upon by writers
utterly unworthy of public confidence? Let the world decide!”
Very Truly ete.
W. A. Gamewell, Pastor of the Methodist Church,
Darlington, S. C.
The following account appeared in [Harper's Weekly, September
30, 1865, ornamented by a sketch showing the author’s conception of
a lynching. .
The full text follows:
“One of the martyrs of the cause which gave freedom to her race
was that of a colored woman named Amy Spain, who was a
resident of Darlington, situated in a rich cotton-growing district
of South Carolina, At. the time a portion of the Union Army
occupied the town of Darlington she expressed her satisfaction by
clasping her hands and exclaiming, ‘Bless the Lord, the Yankees
have come!’ She could not. restrain her emotions. The long night of
darkness which had bound her in slavery was about to break away.
Tt was impossible to repress the exuberance of her feelings; and
Pant J
364 |
th gdh eal iia Sa cise
althov
injure
event
sector
any
said t:
consci:
they s
more ti
the bl
were <'
Am:
bars d
and as
where
rupted
grace |
by mo:
and th
tablish:
womat
village.
this mi:
gotten,
who, e
the fr:
The H
erences
recent
trovers*
IVeekly)
nate inj
of Sept i
and testi
South C;
We a
one of |
lina. She
her ot H
FAIRFIELD COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA.
Fairfield County Museum
Winnsboro, South Carolina 29180
guly 12,3985
Dear Mr. Espy,
Sarah McMaster vassed along your request re Sheriff
Hugh Barkley. J am unable to find any reference to his
sunposed murder in 1836. We have his will of Sept. 10, 1836,
proved Sent. 26, 1836, but I can find no obituaries in
printed material and no record of his burial vlace. In
addition we hanven to have the sheriff's records (Day Books)
for those veriods for civil cases and "Sheriff Barkley"
continues from the 1836 book into the 1837 book.
Tf he were murdered and the Hemings executed, such information
should be inascriminal court records, which are housed at
_§.C. Archives, 1430 Senate St. , P. 0. Box 11669, Capitol
_ Station, Columbia, Mio eOCLL,
Qn the page Mrs. McMaster conied for you I noticed
- the reference to an execution and so I am sending the rest
oye ES net account along.
other..legalexecutions in this county--a member of —__.
unty | Barrera colety.? who works at the pay os. e)
effort, requiring gomg through all Fairfield Court records,
Frankly, I'm overwhelmed at the magnitude of the a Nr dhs,
task you hae undertaken. Tt seems to me you'd have to
read all court records from every county and state in the
U.S. to try to find all legal executions. This seems more
to the point than relying on old newspaper stories. Then,
of course many Southern court records were destroyed during
the Civil War. Fairfield County just happened to be fortunate
among counties in S.C. TI wish you the best of luck.
T have two suggestionsthat might be helpful, aside
of course from sending a researcher to S.C. to go through
the records. 1/Y. You might try writing the S.C.Archives
and see if a researcher there will help out--but expect
it to be on their own time, and vrobably at a fee. (For
svecific names, the staff will check a few easily searched
indexes for synecific name and send photocopy orders to records
inwhich that name appears)
2) some research on the relat. bet. canital punishment and
deterrence was done a few years ago by some University professors
in Columbia, S.C. There is a remote vossibility they looked
at S.C. records and might samaex have some information that
would be helpful. Try: Bruce Pearson, Department of English,
University of S.C. Columbia, S.C. 29208. (Others did the
research, but they've since moved on and Prof. Pearson is
actively involved in an anti-death penalty group that used
the research). (Pearson home; 6248 Yorkshire Dr. Colubfnia)
T'm sorry that we do not,p~the records here to help you more.
Sincerely, (tb, pad
Kathlyn Fritz, Curator
But the governor carried out what was probably the most
difficult maneuver of his career—he contrived to dodge the
ladies. Did he go to bed and give out he was dying? Did he,
as is more likely, mount his charger (he was an officer of the
state cavalry) and gallop to the hinterland? He was a canny
man and knew when to retreat.
For the Fishers, February had wings. The two weeks of
respite dwindled. Devout men and women visited them.
Every day, the Rev. Richard Furman, Baptist pastor after
whom Furman University is named, came to the prison, not-
withstanding that it was one of the busiest times of his always
busy life. His wife had died early in 1819, leaving him with a
large family to look after, and his congregation was building
a new church, in the “modern,” which at that time meant
Greek Revival, style. But he had time for the Fishers. He
found the husband an easier subject for conversion than the
wife. At every approach of the turnkey, she jumped up, even
in the middle of a prayer, her eyes large with one question,
“The pardon?” Disabused, she broke into curses from a rich
and ripe vocabulary. Dr. Furman sighed and began his efforts
all over again.
Colonel Cleary was still kindly. No more than the ladies,
did he relish the idea of a noose around Lavinia’s neck. What
requests of hers he could grant, he did willingly. But they,
after all, were minor concerns. Deep down in the basement
recesses of the jail, that other creature of misery, the hang-
man, was locked up again.
John Blake White, a leading lawyer, was called to the jail
on professional business the evening before the execution
and accompanied the jailer when the latter looked in at the
hangman. White later wrote an account of it, and so we know
that, the door being unbarred, the man got up slowly from
the floor, growling like a beast. .
“You treat me this way,” he said, “whenever you want my
work. But give me something to drink. I must have drink and
I will be contented.”
Assured that he would have as much as he wished, after-
60
ward, he gave a ghastly smile, and the door was closed upon
him. He had no responsibilities till morning. The jailer
saw to it that everything was ready—ropes, a spade, a pick-ax,
two deal coffins of the right sizes, and the gibbet, which lay
disjointed against the wall and had to be assembled and set
up.
‘In his cell, Hayward must have heard the preparations
and shivered. He too lay under sentence of death. George
Clark, the pirate, and his shipmate, Henry Roberts, alias
Wolf, not yet sentenced but rightly fearing the worst, must
have heard them also.
February in Charleston can be vile or delightful. The
eighteenth proved sunny, with a light breeze, neither too
hot nor too cold, just the day for an outing. The gallows were
placed on the Meeting Street Road, a little without the Lines
"the fortifications built during the War of 1812—the site of
which is marked, roughly, by the present Line Street. This
district was then hardly a suburb, though now part of the city.
The exact spot where the gallows stood has been forgotten,
but it seems likely that it was near the present intersection
of Meeting Street and Lee Street. If you have ever entered
Charleston by way of the two-humped Cooper River Bridge,
that is where you made your first turn, swinging left into
Meeting Street.
The Courier had announced the time of execution as be-
tween twelve and four o’clock, and by noon the crowd was
immense. °
Staid merchants were there, inwardly surprised at them-
selves for coming, and with them were dandies with tower-
ing white stocks and extravagantly cut pantaloons; coonskin-
capped wagoners; soldiers from the garrison at Fort Johnson;
Dutch, French, and Spanish seamen; country cousins who
had come to town for Race Week and neglected to go home
again; free Negroes with their plump mulatto wives; slaves
and white apprentice boys, all gathered around the gibbet.
Little masters and little misses broke from their nurses and,
with puppydogs at heel, trudged to the hanging.
61
a
ene
Here and there were even fashionably clad women, in
dresses which still kept the exaggeratedly high Empire waist-
line but for the first time in decades were showing a fullness
in the back—the first intimation of the voluminous skirts to
be worn later on, in Victorian days. Not only clothing was on
the eve of a change, but manners—twenty years later, none
of these ladies would have dreamed of going to a hanging.
But today, when their husbands stormed that it was no place
for a woman, the wives retorted, with some logic, that the
law thought otherwise, since it was executing ‘‘Mrs. F.”
Moreover, and here they achieved at least fifty per cent of
sincerity, they wished to see for themselves the results of Dr.
Furman’s efforts. The prisoners might speak of repentance
from the scaffold. The crowd waited to be edified.
Not everyone could come, of course. Uptown, the pupils of
Mrs. Weyman (née Coolidge) sang through their noses in
the best New England manner, and downtown, more fash-
ionable girls at Madame Talvande’s academy learned
French, albeit with a Santo Domingan accent. But their
- hearts were not in it. Watchers by the sick and the sick them-
selves, unless moribund, wished mightily that they could be
present. Practically everyone else was.
The riffraff came—secretly hoping that no one would re-
call their dealings with the gang—but without strength of
mind to stay away. Dwellers in the ratruns that passed for
streets near the wharves, they blinked in the sunlight and
kept still, thinking uneasily of the watches and silk handker-
chiefs, the silver-mounted bridles and side pistols that they
had bought, at a fraction of the value and no questions asked,
to ship out of town on the next vessel. The keepers of grog-
shops and sailors’ boardinghouses in Bedon’s Alley were
there. The girls from the houses near the jail were there, on
their best behavior, which could be very good indeed for a
limited time. They too, hoped to be edified.
In the jail, at about quarter to one, the Fishers were led
from their cell. From this moment, John showed himself
better than his wife. A sneakthief before becoming a high-
62
wayman, self-confessed leader of a dissolute life, he peas
on his last journey with courage and, what is rarer under
<indness.
whe a present plight, each could have blamed the other,
for if we may believe the evidence of the legend, Lavinia,
who must first have been her husband's pupil in crime, had
become his teacher, leading him on from petty thievery to
murder. But they showed no dissent. Lavinia thought of
herself and John. John, from his behavior, thought of little
except Lavinia. The affection which had kept him in Charles-
ton when he might have escaped overseas was with him still.
Lavinia was no heroine. Told by Dr. Furman to pray, she
shrieked. Now, at the top of the jail stairs, at the sight of
the gaunt face of the hangman, she shrieked again. Though
she had not realized it, she had been walking toward him
ever.since that afternoon a year ago. Now they met.
Coolly and with skill, the man pinioned the Fishers. The
prisoners had bought, at their own expense, loose white
robes which they now put on over their other clothing. They
threw themselves into each other’s arms and told each other
goodbye.
White, lawyer by profession but an amateur painter an
sculptor, who saw the Fishers leave their cell, wrote of them,
“Two finer forms the sculptor’s fancy has seldom sketched.
The scene filled him with horror of the hangman and of
ite nishment.
a a arm, despite the ropes which bound them, the
Fishers descended the stairs and entered a coach. Two others
got in with them, Dr. Furman and the hangman. Slowly,
flanked by a company of cavalry, they were driven to the
ution.
ence Fy Sanelien that the Fishers had turned to descend
the stairs, after embracing each other, the hangman appeared
to take passession of them and claim them as his own. Seated
in the coach with them, during the slow drive to the gallows,
he gazed first at one, then at the other. Lavinia seemed to
amaze him, as if he could not believe that he had such a pris-
63
a
AA COED cuneate
oner. Clear-headed for the moment, in an unwonted state
of sobriety, he must have felt like a man who has drunk too
deeply to see aright.
The first sight of the gallows all but unnerved Fisher—
he almost sank into the arms of the hangman. But, making
an effort, he drew Lavinia to him and in a few seconds looked
up, resolute. Arrived at the scaffold, he mounted it and
glanced mournfully around at the huge crowd.
Not so Lavinia. She refused to go up. Persuasion, even
threats, could not get her to climb those steps. At length, the
constables took hold of her and dragged her bodily to the
stand. Stretching out her arms, she begged the crowd to
rescue her. She stamped in rage and swore with all the vehe-
mence of her amazing vocabulary, calling down damnation
on a governor who would let a woman swing. The crowd
stood shocked into silence, while she cut short one oath with
another and ended with a volley of shrieks.
Dr. Furman stood forward and read aloud a letter which
Fisher had written to him that same morning:
“Reverend and Dear Sir,
“The appointed day has arrived—the moment soon to
come, which will finish my earthly career; and it be-
hoves me, for the last time, to address you and the rev-
erend gentlemen associated in your pious care.
“For your exertions in explaining the mysteries of our
Holy Religion and the merits of our dear Redeemer; for
pious sympathy, and benevolent regards as concerns our
immortal souls, accept Sir, for yourself, and them, the
last benediction of the unfortunate— God, in his infinite
mercy, reward you all.
“In a few moments, and the world to me shall] have
passed away—before the Throne of the Eternal Majesty
of Heaven I must stand—shall then, at this dreadful
hour, my convulsed, agitated lips, still proclaim a false-
hood? No! then by that Awful Majesty I swear, I am
innocent. May the Redeemer of the World plead for
those who have sworn away my life.
64
“To the unfortunate, the voice of condolence is exe
—the language of commiseration delightful—these eel-
5 . s . ,
ings I have experienced in the society of Mr.
ittl 1e name,
(Here Dr. Furman broke off a moment, omitting the
and then resumed) :
‘“_A stranger, he rejected not our prayer; po aeilale
he shut not his ear to our supplication; he has a la
our sorrows— May God bless him. He has is ae ith us—
May Angels rejoice with him at a throne et go: a
“Enclosed, Sir, is a key that secretes my little “e
Give it him, and say for me, as he deserted me ee Ww ae
living, I hope he will discharge my last Aes ane
property is to be disposed of, he will nf Fa ae
a paper within my trunk, to which 1s attac ie 7 “eub
of the whole. I only wish him to see 1t po cant ge to ed
of safety, until to whom it is given shall call for it.
hour is come! 2 si
. arewell!
Farewell, Sir, fe Ria
As Dr. Furman ceased, a buzz ran through the a ee
then the spectators grew silent as Fisher ie : 1a a
wished to address them. Calmly and composed ee ep :
tested his innocence, much as he had in the letter ek
less flowery manner, and he ended on a pak he sn
ing that he had been wrongly identified as Peoples’ assa ee
“Colonel Cleary called me and the other 4b Se
by name to Peoples,” he said, “‘so as to enable him ° nee y
me and the others—and my blood is on Colone y
os Je next breath, he begged forgiveness of those aS
crowd for any injuries he might have done them, an p
ing <, turned to Lavinia.
eee ‘was intent on one thing only—pardon. At a
moment, Francis G. Deliesseline, who had recently sag 7S :
Cleary as sheriff, pulled out a document. With a cry ot joy,
65
Lavinia was about to jump down from the scaffold, but the
ropes and the hangman caught her. He held her gently a
moment and then led her back under the gallows. ‘
The sheriff refolded the paper. In a few words, he told
her that she had no hope. We have it. from White that she
“seemed to pierce with her eyes into his very soul.” Reading
the truth, she began to gesticulate, but this time it was in
prayer.
Meanwhile, the hangman had ascended his ladder above
the two victims and was making fast the ropes. His face was
enigmatic. Lawyers might question, judges sentence, sheriffs
give orders; in the end it was the hangman who sent culprits
to eternity. His fingers handled the ropes with~a strong air
of possession and competence; he knew his trade. N Ow, ready,
he stood looking down at his prisoners.
The Fishers embraced each other again. The haneman’s
expression was sardonic. He had made his preparations and
tied the knots as he wished them. Now the caps were adjusted
over the victims’ faces. The sheriff gave the signal and the
platform fell. ;
Lavinia died without a struggle. Death, against which she
had fought so hard, could not have pained her at all. But
John kicked for minutes before he died.
The young bloods pulled out their slim French repeaters
and timed him. It was now a little after two o'clock.
So Lavinia, and John with her, passed from life and be-
came a legend. She died easily at the end of a cleverly tied
rope. John’s death one does not like to think about. Can one
hazard the guess that the man who tied the knots, the hang-
man, arranged it that way?
This despised creature had it in his hands, for once, to
show both mercy and envious malice. Lavinia’s beauty had
stood her in good stead at last. But her affection for her hus-
band, shown throughout the drive and at the end, had filled
the hangman with hatred for him. At least, this conjecture
may furnish a clue as to the reason why Lavinia died so
quickly and John so hard.
66
Disposal of the bodies was easily accomplished, in the pot-
ter’s field. This graveyard has long since been given over to
other uses—the cadets of Porter Military Academy drill there
today. Even had the Fishers’ graves been marked, they would
have been lost long before the present century.
A few days after the hanging, Cleary and a group of citi-
zens published a statement in the newspapers to the effect
that they had been present when Peoples identified the Fish-
ers, and that no names had been called out to him to assist
him in doing so.
William Hayward, who had been convicted of highway
robbery in January, 1820, was hanged early in August. Rob-
erts, who pleaded guilty to assault, was fined $1,000 and im-
prisoned for a year.
Clark, the pirate, and his comrade, Wolf, sentenced in
March, swung in May, not on the old tried gibbet which had
served for the Fishers, but, since they had committed. their
crimes on the water, aboard ship. They were hanged from
the yard arms of the United States schooner Tartar, lying in
Charleston harbor opposite Kunhardt’s wharf.
The Six Mile House was soon replaced by a new and more
hospitable inn, but its scorched ruins stood beside the road
for years. The identity of the two skeletons was never discov-
ered, or at least, never revealed to the general public.
Nor was the identity of the kind stranger to whom Fisher
left the disposition of his property ever published. The Caro-
lina Gazette printed Fisher’s letter, but the name is given as
“Mr. .
Despite the potter's field burial, a persistent story which
bobs up ever so often insists (in the teeth of all the evidence)
that a skeleton at the Charleston Museum is that of Lavinia.
Museum officials, at first indignant (‘‘this is a scientific in-
stitution, not a sideshow’), have ended by being amused
(“the skeleton of the whale in the museum does not belong
to the whale that swallowed Jonah”).
So concludes Lavinia’s history. We know how she and her
husband ended, but not their start and their antecedents,
67
RHODIE, ROMEO, SILVY and WILLIAM, Slaves, hanged at Darlington, SC, Oct., 1861
SPAIN, Amy, (Slave), hanged Darlingtén, Mar, 10, 1865 (Condemned by Military
Commission, )
DARLINGTONIANA
A History of People, Places and Events
in Darlington County, South Carolina
Edited by
ELIZA COWAN ERVIN
AND
HORACE FRASER RUDISILL
Printed by
THE R. L. BRYAN COMPANY
CorumBia, S. C.
Bs iS Be MS i
Da a besa
(carat Sb oR Re aan
: 4
t,
A Copyright © 1964 by the
a Darlington County Historical Society
i 3
)
4
uy
ay
i
»
t
mm.
% De sige sheng) bhi
iiaidghhs ab babNTc ey
oull from
© by the
Mmebead-
en
ibrary in
Possibly
ed.
! found-
31-1853;
sthe Li-
2; Caleb
s of the
nile long
ist Line
in- their
ness the
me that
rses that
, but of
ences to
a fore-
thers in
\ugust,
County
hought
on the
ltisiness
oykin,
‘torney-
ty Hill.
- house
“iesome
in the
ie was
rs were
als of
Sie
id.
Large Oak on River Road, Society Hill
medicine and teaspoon and water glass, and the young negro girls
suggested that “Ole Miss” must have taken an overdose of medicine
(laudanum of paragoric possibly it was). Upon investigation, how-
ever, it was found that she had been smothered to death. our negro
slaves confessed, a man and two of the slave girls, that they had taken
a pillow and smothered the old lady in her bed. These slaves were
tried in a court of a Justice of the Peace in the village, Old Squire
C. B. Fort, and were found guilty and were hanged.
As an interesting and tragic sequel, Capt. Geo. F. Williams, grand-
son of Governor David R. Williams, and a half-brother of Mrs. With-
erspoon, was at the Court House in Darlington shortly after this trial
in Society Hill and he overheard some slighting remark made by a
certain man there as to the unfair treatment of the negroes. He
resented the remark, words were passed, this mi
shot him dead. ‘Mhis party was quickly tried fo
and hanged “by the neck until dead” at the
in Darlington,*
i drew a pistol and
“murder, convicted,
place of public execution
Thus there were seven deaths: Mrs. Witherspoon,
the four negroes, Col. Williams, and his murderer, all growing out
of this crime.
In the backyard of this same home, when I was a boy, was an old
sunken well. The house had been occupied by the Ad
before the Witherspoons, and one of the Ad
ams family
ams men, in a fit of
* New. information indicates that the
death sentence was commuted to
banishment.
[ 43 ]
_—-_
— see
wet eee ee
~2e 2 ene
deh
lovers of the old Society Fhll haunt the dusty rooms and pull from
the shelves their favorite volumes they are not disturbed save by the
noise of speeding automobiles, and by the flash of beams from head-
lights that shoot through the keyhole and cracks in the wooden
shutters that still guard what was in its time the best library in
South Carolina, cast of Columbia and north of Charleston. Possibly
the Winyah Library in Georgetown should, also, be excepted.
The presidents of this Society of record are (1822 date of found-
ine): David R. Williams, 1829-1830; Josiah J. Ivans, 1831-1853;
John D. Witherspoon, 1854-1862; ‘Thos. Smith, 1863-1867; the Li-
brarians: Elias Gregg, 1834-1844; James McIntosh, 1845-1862 ; Caleb
Coker, 1862-1867.
Note small number of officers covering period of 40 years.
In the early 18th century one of the popular diversions of the
villages was horseracing. A straight level stretch of road a mile long
leads from the river on the Bennettsville Road to the Coast Line
railroad crossing. This was the race track where fine ladies in their
carriages and gallant horsemen were wont to gather to witness the
manly sport. ‘I’. S. Lucas is my authority for this and he tells me that
he has the names of some of the favorite racers and prize horses that
featured in these events.
‘here was an old Planter’s Club which I find mention of, but of
which I have obtained no definite information. I see references to
sermons preached before the Planter’s Club. It was probably a fore-
runner of the Darlington Agricultural Society which still gathers in
annual meetings at the Mineral Spring near Darlington every August,
and for many years during my early memory held a three-day County
Fair in Doneraile, a mile or so out of Darlington on what was then
called the new Society Hill road. :
About ten years after the close of the Civil War, my father bought
the old home of Colonel Jno. D. Witherspoon, which stood on the
south side of the street at top of the hill just beyond the business
section of Society Hill. Witherspoon married Miss Ilizabeth Boykin,
of Camden, S. C., in 1808. Witherspoon was a prominent attorney-
at-law who lived in retirement during his later years at Society Hill.
[ lived there until I moved to Darlington in 1883, and the house
burned in March, 1892. ‘This old house was the scene of a gruesome
murder.
After Colonel Witherspoon’s death his widow lived alone in the
house, an invalid attended by her slaves. One morning she was
found dead in her bed, in an upstairs bedroom. ‘Whe neighbors were
called in. They found a small table beside the bed with vials of
| 42 |
FR ES eae tata bah tennis itn a tips Meola Ba bib
mcd
Sug s
(lar
ever
slav:
a pl
trie
cert:
res
shot
and
in |)
the
of ti
iF
sun
hefe
bani
tons were found, no doubt the remains of unfortunate trav-
elers.”
After his account, two skeletons seem few indeed.
Despite the evidence afforded by the press of that day and
such legal documents respecting the case as remain to us, a
chance exists that Neilson’s account, published only ten years
after the fact, may have had some truth in it. “Authority,”
that implacable and often half-hidden force, which has sup-
pressed so many good news stories in our own time, may have
taken a hand and forbidden the newspapers to reveal the full
extent of the tragedy. If so, as almost always happens, it de-
feated its own purpose, since rumor magnified the number of
victims to amazing figures. According to one story, it was
only in June that wayfarers, poking into the ruins of the Six:
Mile House, found the entrance to the cellar and discovered
its grim contents.
But June had not yet come. After a month in prison, the
Fishers, Hayward, and Roberts on March 23rd were brought
on a writ of habeas corpus before Judge Elihu Hall Bay, a
native of Maryland but for years identified with South Caro-
lina.
The hearing had a grotesque quality. Bay stuttered badly
and had a trick of repetition, once terming an attempt to
present an alibi as “the d-d-desperate effort of every d-d-des-
perate d-d-desperado.” At this time he was about sixty-five
and deaf. The evidence had to be thundered at him.
Moreover, he was crotchety. It was Bay who in sentencing
two culprits for biting, ordered them placed in the same cell,
with the remark, “and you may bite one another as much as
you please.”
The judge bore the reputation, where a woman was con-
cerned in a case, of erring “‘in favor of the weak and lovely.” ”
He made no such error about Lavinia. Hayward and Roberts
were admitted to bail, but the Fishers were packed back to
prison, to await trial at the next sessions.
The truth was that the court, like the citizens, was weary of
seeing the law flouted. Some blamed the increase of crime
5o
on the aftermath of the War of 1812 (which had ended
only in 1815) saying sagely that there had been the same
trouble after the Revolution. Others insisted that it was an
offshoot of the growing practice of “patriot privateering,”
by which vessels were fitted out in American ports and sailed,
armed with letters of marque from any of a number of for-
eign governments, to prey on those governments’ enemies,
but too often ended as simon-pure pirates. Those who held
this view cited the case of Captain George Clark, alias Craig,
who with his motley crew, white, black, mulatto, and one
“Indian-looking” fellow, had been lodged at the jail about
a month before the Fishers took up their residence there.
Clark had commanded the ship Louisa, which flew the flag of
Buenos Aires, but attacked any vessel which he thought she
could master.
The jail, in fact, was crowded. Besides the Fisher gang and
the pirates, it held another gang, whose leader, Martin
‘Toohey, had been convicted of murdering a member of a
leading South Carolina family, James W. Gadsden. Toohey
had been chained to the iron ring in his cell but had escaped
in March by bribing a turnkey, only to be recaptured shortly.
The Toohey affair was a nine-days’ wonder, but the Fishers’
story was to cast it into the shade.
One by one, the Six Mile gang was being rounded up. A
week after John and Lavinia had been brought before Judge
Bay, a seafaring man named René Jacobs, who had robbed
the dwelling of one Philip Walker, about ten miles beyond
the Six Mile House, was taken. Found wearing some of Walk-
er’s clothes, he made a full confession.
“We understand,” said the Courier, “that he belonged to
the gang of Land Privateersmen which was lately broken up
near the Five Mile House, most of whom appear to have ac-
quired the first rudiments of their art in the school of Patriot
Privateering, to which we may trace almost all the robber-
ies, murders, &c. which have lately increased to such an
alarming degree among us.”
Meanwhile Roberts, he of the cropped ear, was in custody
51
iia 2 i ae
-
brought out his horse and galloped into Charleston to give
the alarm.
This is the tradition—and you shouldn’t believe a word of
it. But the youth from Georgia about whom it is told, John
Peoples, really existed and was described by the City Gazette
as “‘an honest, industrious young man from the country.” He
had an adventure with the Fishers, though it was a very dif-
ferent one from that which tradition relates.
Preserved in the Charleston County Court House, there
is Peoples’ own affidavit, containing no mention of break fast,
poison, trapdoor, or hole in the partition. In fact, the whole
affair took place out of doors, and not when he was on his way
to Charleston but when he was leaving it. Nor did he ride a
galloping steed—he traveled unromantically by wagon. The
incident related by tradition may have happened to someone
else, but not to Peoples.
Now for what did take place. Peoples was headed in his
wagon for his home in the country when about eleven o’clock
Friday morning, a mere two hours after Ross’ affair with the
gang, he stopped to water his horses by the Six Mile House.
While he was busy with this, a man came out of the house and
told a boy who was with Peoples to give him his bucket, which
the boy refused, saying he needed it himself. The man flew
into a rage and immediately nine or ten persons, including
a woman, came out of the house, armed with clubs, guns, and
pistols and beat Peoples, some of them flashing their pistols
at him.
“Most active” of the lot, he insisted later, was the woman
who cut him over the head and eyes with a stick. As sud-
denly as they had begun, they stopped and reentered the inn.
But Peoples had not driven more than two hundred yards
on the road in his wagon when two of the same men ran after
him, presented pistols and robbed him of his pocket book,
containing between $35 and $40. Peoples was to state later
that he did not know the names of the gang but had “just
cause to believe that among them was William Hayward,
46
John Fisher & his Wife Lavinia Fisher, Joseph Roberts and
John Andrews.”
The story of the new assault, coming on the heels of that
told by Ross, caused a furor. The hitherto lageard law stepped
in. Upon Ross’ affidavit, Judge Charles Jones Colcock issued
a bench warrant.
Colonel Nathaniel Green Cleary, the sheriff's deputy who
later was sheriff himself, and a “party of gentlemen” set out
Saturday afternoon for the Six Mile House.
That evening, the actors at the Charleston Theatre, ever
eager to profit by a topical allusion, presented “Lock and
Key” and for the afterpiece, “Forty Thieves.”
Inside the Six Mile House, the thieves were not forty but
five or six, the rest of the gang being absent. When the
“Gentlemen” were seen outside, deploying around the house,
the thieves held a brief council of war, ending in consterna-
tion. Fisher had with him, besides his wife, James McElwray
or McElroy, Seth Young and a woman, Jane Howard. The
group was armed with about ten muskets with fixed bayonets
and a keg of powder, but the force surrounding the house was
too large to trifle with. From his later behavior, we know that
Fisher had courage but we also know that he loved Lavinia.
Rather than expose her to gunplay, he surrendered.
The house was set on fire—accidentally, if one believes the
Gazette; on purpose, according to the Courier—and burned
to the ground. The prisoners were haled to the jail in Maga-
zine Street. Here they were joined by William Hayward who
had been arrested at the market while selling beef. Mr. La-
Coste insisted it was that of his cow.
Cleary directed the jailer to bring the prisoners down to
the basement one at a time, and here in the presence of some
twenty or thirty citizens, Peoples identified the Fishers, Hay-
ward, and others as the persons who had attacked him.
Identification was the more easily made because of the
striking appearance of the Fishers. Both were tall and singu-
larly gracetul. Fisher, who was twenty-eight years old, a year
47
a. a
kk Rane NR DNS
mile, to the Six Mile House. Dismounting, the leaders en-
tered the piazza and rapped on the door. They had no more
qualms at dealing summarily with the inhabitants here than
at the other inn, for the same disquieting rumors were told
of both. :
The Six Mile House stood just below the intersection of
the Ashley Ferry or Dorchester Road, leading eventually to
Georgia, and the Goose Creek Road, the highway to the
upper part of South Carolina as well as to much of the lower
part of the state. Situated thus near the forks, it was a strate-
gic point from which to prey upon the wagoners and served
as the gang’s headquarters. Nevertheless, they made -no at-
tempt to defend it on this occasion. Summoned to leave, they
trooped out, blustering but compliant.
Did any in the cavalcade recognize any in the gang, or
- were they all strangers? Did they cloak their faces on leaving?
ae yaa fallen by this time and helped to hide
em. The fact that they mig I
lurk in the neighboring see aan ier a ner ar i
g vas just what they
did do—doesn t seem to have worried the riders.
Certainly, John Fisher must have been in one or the other
of the houses, for he belonged to the gang and was one of its
leaders. Yet since Lavinia never appeared, so far as one can
determine, without making an impression, not to say sensa-
tion, and since there is no mention of a strikingly beautiful
woman fleeing from either building, it ine be that she
was absent when the riders arrived. Likely enough, she saw
them from the woods and took care that they did not see her.
‘The triumphant citizens placed a young man, David Ross
in charge of the Six Mile House, to guard it for its owners,
and returned to Charleston. No doubt they told their wives
those who were in the habit of telling them anything—that
paren had been settled once and for all. J
t nine o'clock the next morning, Friday ;
house being entered. Two men a peer caine eee
be ; ecognized
as William Hayward or Heyward, alias Howard, a fellow
with a long police record, came in. Hayward cursed Ross,
44
bis.
collared him, and pushed him out of doors. Going back in,
Ross asked permission to take away the few articles he had
brought with him, whereupon Hayward, reaching into his
shirt for a pistol, said, “You damned, infernal rascal, if you
lay your hands on anything, I will blow your brains out.”
At this moment, Ross found that he was surrounded. Two
other men and a woman, none of whom he knew, had come
up, and with them a couple he recognized—the Fishers.
Lavinia was not a person one forgot. Seeing her in Charles-
ton with her husband, Ross had asked who she was and re-
membered. He admired her immensely, this graceful young
wife, obviously high-spirited, stepping along the uneven
flagstone pavements radiant and free-limbed in her country
clothing. He had envied Fisher. Now, as Ross stood ringed,
it was to Lavinia that he turned.
But she did not wait for him to speak. As he tried to expos-
tulate, she took him by the throat, choked him, and boxed
his head, as he afterward wrote, through a “pain” of window
glass. Hayward and John Fisher struck him with loaded whips
before he managed to leap from the piazza. Two musket bul-
lets whistled past him as he ran for the woods, but he made
his getaway.
Beautiful, graceful Lavinia! The record shows her to have
been an Amazon and termagant. Had she lived on the fron-
tier, she might have fought Indians and become a heroine,
although she really was not courageous. Tradition and the
documentary evidence differ badly with regard to Mrs.
Fisher—and yet, one cannot help wondering—
Tradition declares that she poisoned the food of travelers
stopping at the inn and slid the bodies down a trapdoor into
the cellar. But one of the partitions of the rooms, it is said,
had a slit in it through which one night a young man from
Georgia saw Lavinia and her husband dividing the contents
of a wallet which he recognized as his own. Moreover, he
heard Lavinia override John’s scruples and say of her guest
that she would “attend to him at breakfast.” He did not wait
for breakfast or for sunrise, but slipping into the stable,
45
older than his wife, and stood about six feet, was slim with
a fair skin and dark hair and eyes, and would have been a
handsome enough rascal if he had not been knock-kneed. As
for Lavinia, scared, disheveled, never too well dressed to
Start with, she nonetheless appeared before the unfriendly
crowd like a glorious being—as physically she was. They
never forgot her, and their descendants have carried on her
memory.
But it couldn’t get her out of jail. Lavinia had taken her
first step toward the drunken hangman.
This creature, without relatives or friends, lived for one
purpose, to drink and forget, and had one skill, that of his
trade, in which he excelled. ““Resembling more an anatom-
ical preparation than a true and living man,” as one eye-
witness has described him, he was kept locked up in a remote
cell for days before every execution, to keep him sober, but
with the promise of as much as he could drink ‘later, if his
task was well done. On Saturday, February goth, when La-
vinia crossed the stone threshold of the jail, he was free to
wander through the city, a shunned and emaciated ghost.
The shadow of the noose fell over a wider stretch in those
days than it does now. Highway robbery was a swinging
offense, and it was on suspicion of highway robbery that the
Fishers were jailed.
Their prison, a massive brick-and-mortar structure, still
stands in Magazine Street, nearly opposite Wilson Street
though it is no longer used for prisoners. Its heavy gates and
“iron-glass” windows, as they were termed by a previous
tenant there, the editor, E. S. Thomas, satisfy everyone who
feels that a jail should look like a jail. It was built about
1803, a fact which keeps practically no one who wants to'do
so from referring to it as an “eighteenth-century bastille.”’
When the Fishers were there, the inner walls and flooring
were of strong oak, and every cell had an iron ring in the
floor, for securing dangerous prisoners. No doubt about it
the place has a Newgate look.
Within a few days, the Fishers were joined by still others
48
of their group, James Sterritt, John Smith (apparently his
real name) , and Joseph Roberts. Roberts was minus a part
of one ear—cropping was still a legal punishment, as were
flogging and branding—and he was no newcomer to the
“boardinghouse on the green” (again to take a phrase from .
Thomas). Roberts had been lodged there two years before
but had escaped by pretending to belong to a party of visi-
tors.
Fisher also had a record. He had once been sentenced to
receive thirty lashes for theft, but had been pardoned by the
governor on condition that he leave South Carolina.
As for Hayward, his record stretched back at least four
years to 1815, when he and one Elizabeth Hayward were
indicted for assault and robbery, having beaten up a woman,
Jane Francis, stripped her clothes from her back and robbed
her husband. A year later, Hayward and others were indicted
for “riotously and routously” assaulting three men, including
a member of one of the best families in Charleston, Alfred
Huger. In 1816, Hayward was found guilty of perjury. Now
we find him accused of stealing LaCoste’s cow and of joining
in the attack on Ross.
Meanwhile, Coroner Jervis Henry Stevens got busy. A
grave was found about two hundred yards from the sooty
ruins of the Six Mile House. It yielded two skeletons. One,
judged from the hair to be that of a white man, lay in a box
made of rough slabs, while the other, evidently that of a Negro
girl, was between two layers of brush. The coroner estimated
that one or both had been there at least two years.
Here again, one comes to a distinct cleavage between the
earliest evidence and the legend, which was not long in tak-
ing shape. Peter Neilson, a Scot and a canny one, who claimed
to have been in Charleston in 1820 when the Fisher affair
reached its climax, wrote in his book, published only in 1830,
that the Six Mile House gang “‘had for years carried on a-
complete trade of murdering and robbing altogether un-
heard of, except perhaps in Italy in former times, ...« On
digging around this den of iniquity, a great number of skele-
49
* fe he a pe mR
HORRY COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA,
April 1971 THE INDEPENDENT REPUBLIC QUARTERLY Page 27
THREE SENSATLONAL HANGINGS
A. Carl Sessions
(From notes presented at the April 14, 1969 meeting of the Horry County
Historical Society)
Last January President Foster Smith, Mrs. Tempe Ann Oehler, Florence
Epps and I met at Florence's home for the purpose of discussing several
historical items that would make both interesting and informative subjects
for programs. It seems at this time the subject that had top drawer rating
was the hangings in Horry County. As I was the oldest present at this forum
I was asked to take this subject. I consented to try, not because | ever
witnessed a hanging, for I never did, but because several of the former
sheriffs were my kinsmen.
Hanging has been a form of capital punishment for many years in this
country. The origin of hanging, I would say was during the last part of
the 18th century. It still exists in Del., N. H., Montana, Iowa, Kansas and
North Dakota. It waa outlawed in this state around 1910.
To be proficent in any undertaking you have to know what you are doing.
This also applies to an hangman in a lawful way. The drop must be at least
six feet deep. The condemned is placed on the trap door, legs tied, with the
arma straped to the body, with a black cap placed over the head. The most
important technique is arranging the loop around the neck, The knot must be
placed under the chin or under the ears in order to produce instant death.
If not the condemned will strangle which will eventually cause death.
There is alwaya a doctor in attendance. When he views the body and
pronounces him dead, all the ropea are released and the body placed in the
casket.
In 1959, the late A. C. Thompson, Jr. had retired as Mayor of Conway (of
his own choice). As a hobby he would write short articles for the Horry Herald
that had a singularity nature that proved to be interesting, humorous and
gometimes weird. I was more or less his right hand man in getting up the
material. One afternoon he and I interviewed a man who was versed on the first
hanging that I wil? tell you about. This interview is ver batim aa he told
it to us.
Abe Rabon Hanging
In 1856 Big Abe Rabon and his sons, Little Abe and Duke farmed in the
Poplar section north of Cool Spring about 10: miles from Conway. Another
family of Rabons, a brother of Big Abe's lived nearby. It seems that the boys
of the other Rabon family, cousins of little Abe and Duke, got in the habit of
feeding their hogs on the lands of Big Abe Rabon family. They were told to
stop it or there was going to be trouble. Little Abe's cousin, Willie and —
his amaller brother kept feeding their hogs on Abe Rabon land. So the next time
Willie and his brother were caught feeding their hogs on their land, Big Abe
told his oldest son, little Abe, to go down there and take a stick and
break hig neck or something. Little Abe went down there and took an oak
grub stick and caught Willie Rabon and beat him to death with the grub
stick. The other brother got away. Big Abe, Little Abe, and hia brother Duke
were arrested and put-in jail for the killing. The trial camup at the March
term of criminal court. Big Abe and‘ Duke were exonerated. Little Abe was
found guilty of murder and sentenced to be hanged in June.
Ay “= 9.
Samael We. Yonguo, from 1797 ta 2.125. 24 VGars
Jemos Me. Elliott, from 1828 to sib, 18 years
AW. Yongue, from.1846 to 1850, 4 voern
OR. Thompson, Grom 1850 to 1854%., 4 vears
GW. Woodward, from 1858 to 1865, 7 yaurs
6.B. Clamey, from 1865 to 1877, 12 yaars
WeH. Kerr, from 1877 to 1886 (proront date)
ORDINARIZS AND PROBATE HUDG?S
- De Evans, from as far back ap 1739, thon Sohn Buchannt froii
about 1800 to 1625; thon J.R. Buchanan, geroe 8. Stemet, G GW. Wosdenrs
end James Johnson. William Nelson was made Probete Indgs in 1670, thon 3 Fo
Noll. O.R. Thompson was elected in 1876. Joke oy les wae elected in 1078
: and still holds the offico. |
John Milling is supposed to havi trocoseded James Muse eas
ie pr bhly SY, gather ot
~... sheriff, then John Barkley, James Barkle: y, kuch Markly, Arcitteld eet
from 1820 to 18245, i1lian Moore to 1628 . , batt ponene to 182% dies pero bets)
J.Be Davis from August 1879 to December 18f!', John D. McCarley from LPO,
now in offico. Am
: 3 Jaobs
It may not bo amiss to hore reizti i the hanging of Shadrach frcobse
ta tho year 1809 or 1810, Ezekiel Wooley, « convtablo, had a state warrrtt to
errest Shadrach Jacobs, and while riding wah Capt. Andro Foaster towscas
given |
36 and near Jucobs4 recidence, Capt. Foastoz :s:3 killed by a rifle ball jiired
ty Jacobs. The account /and proved in court in 1629 or 1830, twenty
years afterwards, when Jacobs wan tried aii cuiwicted of the mrder, vis
that Jacobs had sint Foaster thinking ho inc Woslev. It sooms that Worley
uiked Feaster to chengs hornes not long beivra tho lyttor was thot, an.
o EBoretor , WStlan - Heanor featentd
10.
7 /
4% being near duak in the evening, Jacobs could not discriminate Gaetreen
\ them, Feaster riding Wooley's horse. Jacobs absconded to the wilds of
| Georgia soon alter the act wes committed, ead his whereatouts was dis-
\ coverdd twenty years after and he was arrested snd brought to Winnsboro,
| convicted of murder and hanged in 1829 by Sheriff Moora. In this instaace
. wus verified the truth of the linea translated from the Gerasns
acces: — #Phough the mijke of God grind slowly,
Yet they grind exceedingly Baall;
= And patientiy He stenda waiting, |
Till with exactness grinds He ell.®
Foaster through seek
oe
eorgia. Frais
ane
2 i dy I
FEE HEISE EE HR
ae
Sir:
hae aaa
-I was unable to locate any mention of the murder
in an of our printed sources. I am enclosing a
{the only reference to ) Hugh Barkley
ony, I am pescine ¥ youn request
ocopy_of .
uld find
Wie) ANNALS OF NEWBERRY,
beautiful one. The north branch of Scott’s Creek will run
through it, just at the base of the depot hill; along: its
southern margin will run the extension of Harrington until it
intersects Drayton street. Newberry may, like old Rome,
boast of being built on her seven hills, and may even point
to the creck winding its way through her clustering houses,
as her Tiber. But if this dream, as many of our wise ones
will no doubt call it, should ever be realized, I hope that the
town of Newberry will never be disgraced by civil dissensiong,
immoral practices, or that most hateful and disorganizing of
all business, the dram shop; but on the contrary, that she
will be blessed by a harmonious, honest. working, sober,
patriotic and religious people. If this be so, I shall proudly
point to the town where much of my life has been spent,
and to the prosperity of which I have devoted many of my
energies, as worthy of all praise and imitaiton.
It may not be amiss, too, to remark that the supposition
that the town is unhealthy is entirely without foundation.
There was once good reason to say that it was so; but since
the removal in 1831, of Farnandis’ mill pond on the north
fork of the creek, and since the Town Council have bestowed
a little care, on the cleanliness of the streets, there is no local
cause for disease; and accordingly, for several years past, it
may challenge comparison for health, with any of the towns
of the interior.
There are two meeting houses in the town.* The Baptist
was built in 1832, for the church which grew out of the great
revival of 1831. This extraordinary outpouring of the Spirit
took place under the preaching of Elder N. W. Hodges,
assisted by Messrs. Barnes, Chiles and Furman. The church
thus gathered together, where none before existed, has had
the services of Elders Barnes, Hodges, Mangum, Lindsey,
Frean, Gibson, Landrum, Barnet, and has now those of Elder
_Brantly. Mr. Hodges was a native.of Abbeville, and a gradu-
ate of the South Carolina College. He lived from December,
1831, to 1835, in the village. Under his care the church
grew and multiplied greatly. He was afterwards the agent of
the Baptist State Convention and resided at Greenwood fo.
“There are now six, besides those mentioned in the text, are the Pres-
byterian, Episcopal, Seceders, and Lutheran.
ANNALS OF NEWBERRY. 7
several years, until he was transferred to the Furman Institute,
and took charge of the classical school. In 1842 he finished
his useful labors and was gathered to his rest. His second
wife preceded him by a few weeks; their children have been
eared for by their brethren and sisters. Thomas Frean united
himself to the Baptist Church, at Newberry, on leaving the
Methodist connection, in which he had been a local preacher.
He was ordained, and occupied the place of Pastor of-the
church for a few years; indeed, until he was elected Surveyor
General, and removed to Columbia. He is an Irishman; he
has fine talents, and has very faithfully improved them. He
still lives in Columbia. Long ‘may he be spared to his family
and to usefulness. The other meeting house is the Methodist.
It was built about 1833. A very respectable body of Methodists
and pious Christians there worship God. The Presbyterian
house of worship called Aveleigh is about one and a half
miles from the town.* John Coate, (little) the original pro-
prietor of the town, and of course the first resident, did not
live within the first village, as laid off by himself. Indeed it
was not extended beyond his dwelling, (on the lot now owned
by Dr. Thompson,) until after the death of his son, Capt.
Henry Coate. I have no distinct recollection of John Coate.
He must have died between 1802 and 1804. He was repre-
sented as a very skilful mechanic, capable of executing almost
anything, as a blacksmith, or as a silversmith. He left many
children, two of whom, Henry Coate and Marmaduke Coate,
lived at different times in the village, and had much to do
with its prosperity.
~ Henry Coate was the deputy of Sheriff John Speake, the
first District Sheriff of Newberry, who was elected in December,
1800, and entered on the duties of. his office in February,
1801. Most of the business of the office was conducted by
the deputy, who was a man of business, and every way worthy of
the trust. He performed the disagreeable duty of executing the
tirst man hanged at Newberry, William Tate, otherwise called
and better known as William Tannyhill, who was convicted at
March Term, 1802, and executed for horse stealing. In con-
nection with this unfortunate man’s fate maybe stated a
Circumstance which created much excitement at the time:
* Removed to the town.
een
ELH;
pals of Dewberry
IN TWO PARBTS
PART FIRST
BY
JOHN BELTON O'NEALL, Li. D:
PART SECOND
BY
JOHN A. CHAPMAN, A. M.
COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME
NEWBERRY, S.C.
Atuut & Hovusgeayt
1892
sori] 2971 THE INDEPENDENT REPUBLIC QUARTERLY dissbatiocd
for Johnson and Charlotte Simmons for living in adultery. In the meantime
Johnson was rated as a rough man. During this time the Dead Line ran near
where he lived. He boasted he had shot two or three negroes who had
crossed this line.
At the fall term of criminal court on September 21, 1905, Commander
Johnson was arraigned to atand trial for the murder of Rev. Harmon Grainger,
with Charlotte Simmons as accessory. The verdict of this jury was Commander
Johnson guilty, as to Charlotte Simmons guilty with recommendation to mercy.
The court officials for this trial were:
Ernest Gary, Presiding Judge Wofford Wait, Defense Attorney
Monroe Johnson, Solicitor Walter Mishoe, Clerk of Court
B. J. Sessions, Sheriff Lewis Roberts, Court Crier
Immediately after the verdict was rendered, Attorney Wofford Wait made
a motion for a new trial; Judge Gary refused the motion. The next: move Mr.
Wait made was to appeal the case to the S. C. Supreme Court.
In November the condemmed was transfered to the Marion County jail
upon the petition of defense attorney for special reasons.
In March 1906, this cage was viewed by the State supreme court. The
appeal was turned down, and the condemmed was gentenced to hang in May.
In the meantime Judge Gary nol prossed the case against Charlotte Simmons
stating there was not enough evidence to convict her.
The next step made was to appeal the case to U. S. Supreme Court, but to
no avail. This time Johnson was re-sentenced again by Judge J. C. Klugh
to be hanged on Friday Octover 26, 1906 between houra 12 noon and 2 p.m.
I must say Wofford Wait was very faithful and a dedicated man to his
client, throughout these dark hours. I have hearc that Mr. Wait walked to
Marion to gee his client when he was prisoner in Marion County jail. The
chances to gave the life of this man became bleaker each day. His last hope
was to present his case to the Governor who was C. D. Heyward. Governor
Heyward was in Savannah, Georgia, on vacation, but he did honor Mr. Wait's
request to meet him in Charleston. The result of this meeting was fruitless.
On Wednesday before execution day (Friday) Sheriff Sessions sent L. H.
Burroughs and Albert Hardee (by train) to bring Johnson back and put in the
Horry County Jail to await execution.
Right after 1 p.m. on Friday, October 26, 1906, Commander Johnson paid
hia debt to society by hanging for the murder of Rev. Harmon Grainger. His
father received the body, and he was buried in the cemetary at Methodist.
Rehobeth Church. I have been told that Sheriff Sessions bought the -casket,
and fine suit of clothes for the burial.
Jury
W. M. Booth - Foreman N. E. Williamson
L. M. Indlam C. A. Williamson
W. H. King S. M. Lane
J. E. Nixon H. K. Doyle
M. A. Royals F. W. Jernigan
Charles Dusenbury IAHBE R. M. Prince
. REGULAR MEETING
‘ The Horry County Historical Society held its regular meeting at the
county courthouse on Monday night, January 11, 1971 at 7:30 P.M.
The meeting was called t. order by Allison Farlow, who recognized the out-
going officers and thanked them for the tremendous job they had done. John
Cartrette was elected Treasurer to replace Annette Coles who resigned. Allison
Farlow presented the gavel to E. R. McIver, the new president. Mr. E. R. Mclver
Page 28 THE “NDEPENDENT REPUBLIC QUARTERLY April 1971
Pe a op Re Oe che: =
Paci ee pe
i
The Judge's name was not disclosed, but the Sheriff was W. H. (Hickory
Bill) Johnston.
Big Abe went to the Judge and pleaded with him to let him take his
gon home. He told him he had a big crop to make and he needed his son to
help him to make it. The Judge granted him this privilege and set execution
day in November. On the day set for the hanging Big Abe brought Little Abe
on an ox cart and at 11 o'clock that morning he turned him over to Sheriff
Johnson. Big Abe had also brought a pine coffin he had made for little
Abe to be buried in. Little Abe was hanged at 12 o'clock that day in the
old muster field. People came in for miles to witness the hanging. After
it was over, big Abe took his son, placed him in the coffin, and drove back
home in a rain.
The person we interviewed did not know whether he was buried the same
day or the next day,
y «4
es eS <d Boms
gtt sg
=
wet ee ee ee a. SAD
< Way “e Lhe wa AK Pe odes
Set ee Fa eee er
Saban Keantae nein’
So he Fee ia:
mi Nathan Willis
= it Friday March 25, 1898, the trap was sprung and Nathan Willis was hurled
By sf into eternity. He paid the penalty for his crime on the gallows. He was
a4 taken down after hanging 223 minutes. Sheriff W. J. Sessions was assisted
x Be by John H. McCaskill and W. H. Howell.
ss: i Before the hanging the condemned negro confessed the crime, but claimed
% i that the shooting was accidental. His statements were practically those made
an before the trial. He did not make any speech to the public, but in response
er to a question said it was dangerous to prank with a gun. He was visited
a a short while before the hanging by the minister and said he was ready to go.
oa ui The hanging was witnessed by a large crowd. The corpse was laid to rest
a ea below the old Hamaker Mill. Hamaker Mill was on the site of The Conway Lumber
x Company, below the present (1970) S. C. Public Service Authority Warehouse,
3 site of the old Lumber Company's stables.
COMMANDER JOHNSON - LAST WHITE MAN
HANGED
. Now we are in the 20th Century. The next hanging that I will present is
that of Commander Johnson. This case I would say created more contentions
with equal publicity than any other criminal case in the history of Horry
County up to this time. This case was in and out of court for 16 months before
the final disposition was made. It involved three persons, Commander Johnson,
Charlotte Simmins, and Rev. Harmon Grainger. This murder took place near
Sanford (Now Allsbrook, on June 23, 1905 around 9 a.m. Rev. Harmon Grainger
was shot and killed in his field while plowing cotton. His immediate
family testified he was shot in the back twice, and fell upon his knees. with
fa ahi Ser a eee py
CU Pa SE er nA era
eet L¥ f; esi tet re Saitek Pa thay,
Saber) Aap Se ea Ges es ae
:
: Ss 2 Niet ao Sc HAAS. es
aS “peeELsSEAS Eat
aa his head falling on the round of the plow handles. He remained in this position
a ke until late in the afternoon upon the arrival of the sheriff and the coroner.
a er The sheriff was B. J. Sessions, and the coroner was Dr. H. H. Burroughs. This
; Wi inquest lasted all night until dawn next morning.
a i, As a result of the verdict the coroner's jury rendered, Sheriff.Sessions
CUS ae nee Cea a
wae sat ek
arrested Commander Johnson, and Charlotte Simmons and brought them to Conway
and placed them in jail. From what I gathered, there was malice to a certain
degree existing between these male characters. They had trouble about a timber
deal Johnson had bought, and Grainger claimed he would not pay him. Another
majer reason I would say that Rev. Grainger threatened to take out a warrant
are
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He was 59 m J 3
: 238 and was regarded as a consistent and faithful chris- 2 Death of a Charleston Merchant - The Charleston Papers announce the death
tian minister. 4 of Mr. WILLIAM CALDER, in that eity, on Saturday last, in the sixtieth
a year of his age.
Motder, - Mr. W. C. HALTREE, living a few miles below the city of Natchez,
was shot a few night since, while sitting on his gallery with his family 5 Issue of Saturday October 6, 1860:
gand instantly killed. The assassin was seen running away after the com- a
G4shission of the deed. The identity of the Villain, it is believed, will 2 Obituary - Died, near Fair Play, in Pickens district, on the 29th Sept.
| be established. a 1860, Mr. BENJAMIN MEGEE, in the 90th year of his age. The deceased was
. a native of North Carolina, but had been a resident of this district for
Issue of Saturday September 1, 1860: 2 the last sixty-six years. He: was an honest upright man, and had been a
consistent member of the Baptist church for near sixty years. Mr. Megee
was the first corpse that had ever been in his house. He leaves a dis-
consolate widow and children, and many friends to mourn his loss.
Married - On the 22d inst., by J. N. ARNOLD, Esq., Mr. JOHN MARTIN, of
Ireland, to Miss FRANCIS MC ALISTER, of Pickens.
Issue of Saturday September 8, 1860: Departed this life on the morning of the 3rd inst., Mrs. MARTHA JANE KEL-
LEY, wife of CHARLES W. KELLEY, and daughter of JOHN and REBECCA ADAIR,
of this district; aged 19 years, 11 months and 15 days. She bore her af-
fliction with christian fortitude. Well might it be said, "The ways of
the Lord are mysterious in taking His children from their troubles to a
perfect home in Heaven". The life of the deceased was a life of true
piety, and was much beloved by all who knew her. She has gone, no doubt,
to rest; for she said she was prepared to die. She is not here...she
Married - On Ist August, by J. JAMESON, Eeq., Mr. JOHN R. SMITH co Miss
SUSAN BLAKELY, all of Pickens.
Married - On the 8th August, by the Same, Mr. WM. CHAPMAN, of Pickens,
to Miss NANCY BLOODWORTH, of Franklin county, Ga.
Married - On the 26th of August, by the same, Mr. H. E. ELLISON, of An- is gone: Christ called for Martha. Husband and connection, He will call
derson, to Miss LUCRETIA YOUNG, of Pickens. = for you. Try to meet Martha in Heaven, where you will meet to part no
. 2 more. (1 verse poetry)
Married - The same evening, by the same, Mr. BAILUS SCLETON to Miss SAR- s
AH SMITH, all of Pickens. a Issue of Saturday October 13, 1860:
Married 7 On the 2d: inst]. by Rev. WM. W. REID, Mr. ANDREW GRAY, of Cher- 3 Married - On Tuesday evening, 2d Oet., 1860, by Le Nn. ROBUENS | Esq) Mr.
Ooxee county, Ga., to Miss SUSANNAH ELLINBURGH, of Pickens. a ISAAC STONE to Migs ELIZABETH DAWSON, all of Pickens.
issue of Saturday September 15, 1860: Married - On the 16th Sept. Ult., by Rev. A. CHASTAIN, Mr. C. C. ADAMS
to Miss C. D. BARTON, all of Gordon’ co... Ga.
Married - On the 13th August last, by H. J. ANTHONY, Esq., Mr. ANDERSON
ROPER to Miss SARAH WATSON, all of Pickens. ' Obituary - Departed this life September 20th, 1860, in Gordon county,
ve Se : a : a Ga., ANDERSON BARTON, infant son of JOHN C. and JUSTINA A. COOK, aged
“arried - On the evening of the 2d inst., by J, E. HACOOD, Esq. , Mr ob) 7 eighteen days.
G. STANSELL, JR., to Miss ELMINA BANKS, all of Pickens.
Terrible Tragedy - Mr. STOVALL, a respectable citizen of Fosterville,
issue of Saturday September 22, 1860: A Rutherford County, Tennessee, while laboring under insanity, the result
x 2 wa : : : of financial embarrassments, murdered his wife and four children, on
Married - On Sunday the 9th inst., by J. B. SANDERS, Esq., Mr. WILLIAM | Saturday night last, by cutting their throats, and, after cutting his
NORRIS to Mrs. MARY HALL, all of Pickens. 7 own throat, leaped into a deep spring, where his body was found.
Gbituary - Died, in Pickens District, on the 10th September, MARY JOSE- : Issue of Saturday October 20, 1860:
PHINE, eldest daughter of Mr. A. P. and Mrs. CAROLINE COx, aged 16 months.
Married - On Tuesday evening the 2nd inst., by Rev. A. F. MC GILVRY, at
Departed this life on Friday the 21st of August last, STEPHEN CLAYTON, +g the house of the Bride's Father, ALLEN MC DAVID, Rev. VAN BUREN A. SHARP,
tHfant son of Capt. ROBERT F. and MALISSA MORGAN, aged 10 months and 24 "14 of the S. C. Conference, to Miss ANNIE MC DAVID, of Greenville District.
days. The subject of this memoir was one of an interesting pair of twins :
who strikingly resembled each other, which circumstances rendered its : Dead - Mr. JOHN E. MURPHY, Inspector of Naval Stores, died in Charleston
loss the more painful to hig bereaved parents. But God in his wisdom : on Sunday evening.
has taken him ere he had known the sorrows of this world, and transplan- 2
ted him in the regions of eternal bliss. Farewell, dear child, you can : Issue of Saturday October 27, 1860:
never again return to us, but we have the blessed assurance that we can :
g0 to him. "Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not, : Married - On the 23d imst.;, by Rev. V. A. SHARP, Mr. JOEL T. O'NEALL to
for such is the kitgdon of Heaven". (3 verses poetry) 4 Miss MARY A. MC WHORTER, all of this district.
Dead ~ CHARLES WILLIAMS, Esq., of Laurens District, once a member of the 4 Obituary - Died, at the tesidence of his father in Lauderdale County,
Legislature, died on the 6th inst. g Miss., on the lst inst., SAMUEL RIED, infant and only son of JAMES T.and
CAROLINE D. RIED, of diptheria, aged 17 months and twenty five days.
Issue of Saturday September 29, 1860:
Issue of Saturday November 1860:
Married - On the 20th inst., by Rev. H. M. BARTON, Mr. R. Y. H. LOWERY ;
to Miss MATTIE C. PHILLIPS, all of Pickens. = Married - On Sunday morning the 15th inst., by J. B. SANDERS, Esq. Mr.
: JOHN M. SMITH, of Spartanburg, to Miss ARTEMISSA DODSON, of Pickens.
Hung - ROBERT TUCKER, a notorious horse-thief was hung at Poluxy Springs,
Mo oe the other day. He made a confession, implicating many citizens | Married - On the 25th ult., by Rev. JOHN S. PRESSLY, Capt. ABEL ROBINS,
fof fair reputation. 3 of Pickens, to Mrs. ELIZA FELTON, of Anderson.
86 | 87
’
j Qa, % lor. 71S 60
Obituary - Died, in Calhoun county, Alabama, on the 29th of September,
1860, of fever, JOHN BLACKBURN, aged about forty-seven years. The de-
ceased was a native of Pickens district, and emigrated to the west in
eatly life. He was an honest man, respected by his neighbors, and loved
by his family and friends. He had been a member of the Presbyterian
church for seventeen years and much of that time ruled as elder of the
church; and gave ample evidence in his dying hours that he had lived a
christian, proving his faith by his works. His loss to his bereaved fam-
ily is great, but they mourn not as those without comfort...knowing, full
well, that their loss is his eternal gain. May his soul rest in peace.
Drowned - JESSE WATKINS and JOHN WATKINS, his nephew, were drowned near
Salisbury, N. C., on the 8th inst., while attempting to cross a ferry
while drunk. The body of John, when recovered, bore a bottle of whiskey
in one of his pockets.
Lumpkin, Ga., October 26- Dr. J. S. PORTER was shot and killed, by Mr J):
M. CAIN, in Lumpkin, Ga., on last Tuesday, in a personal rencounter.
yExecution of Criminals in Texas - Two young men, late of Ft. Smith, Ark-
f ansas, FRANK RIVERS and BOB MONTGOMERY, were hung near San Antonio, Tex-
as, on the 30th ult., for horse stealing.
Issue of Saturday November 10, 1860:
Married - On Sunday evening, November 4th, 1860, by L. N- ROBINS, Esq.,
Mr. T. P. GARRET to Miss ELIZABETH STUART, all of Pickens.
Married - On Sunday evening, lst of April last, by £. UL COX, Esq. , Mr.
JAMES A. HEMBREE to. Miss C. A. COX, ail of Pickens.
tried - On Sunday evening, 15th of April last, by the same, Mr.
BURKET to Miss RACHEL MOORE, all of Pickens.
tr}
EG
Married - On Sunday evening, July 29th, by the same, Mr. WILLIAM M. ADDIS
to Miss MARY N. E. DAY, all of Pickens.
Married - On Sunday evening, 21st October, by the same, Mr. BRAXTON R.
JOHNSON, of Pickens, to Miss MELVIRA J., youngest daughter of ROBERT W.
and LOUISA KING, of Anderson. : :
Issue of Saturday November 17, 1860:
Inquest - Mr. Coroner GANTT held an inquest, on Sabbath, over the dead
body of a young man, ARCHELAUS HAMMETT, who fell dead suddenly early that
morning. The jury returned a verdict, that the deceased came to his
death by the visitation of God. The deceased had been subject to fits
of a serious nature.
Issue of Saturday November 24, 1860:
Married - On the 1lth inst., by Rev. FLETCHER SMITH, Mr. JOS. W. HOLLE-
int as Miss EMMA E. WHITE, only daughter of J. B. WHITE, Esq., all of
ickens.
Obituary - RICHARD BURDINE was born August 6th, 1773 in North Carolina
and died at his residence in this District, September 18th, 1860. The
deceased was well known to many of the citizens of his own, as well as
in adjoining Districts; and what is much better, he was known as a faith-
ful and consistent christian. In early life he engaged in the service
of his Heavenly Master, having joined the Methodist E. Church at the age
of six years, from which time to the day of his death he was known as ~
the self-denying and humble follower of the meek and lowly Jesus. For
many years he was a faithful and efficient class-leader in the church of
his choice, and his labors in this direction only ceased when his stren-
gth was insufficient to the task. His work was not confined to any par-
ticular neighborhood, but he "went about doing good". Perhaps no man has
@ greater impression upon the mind of those with whom he had to do. He,
was I believe, universally respected as one in whom there was "no guile".
To him the life of a christian was no small thing; consequently, he
88
lived a life of consistencey, so that every one with whom he came in con-
tact "took knowledge of him that he had been with Jesus". No one after
having spent a days' time with him would have been surprised to hear
that he professed the christian religion. While he was able his seat
scarcely ever vacant at church...a place which was dear to him to the
very last...one of his complaints in his weakness being that he could
not go to church. For the last few months, however, he was able to get
to church several times. In July he was permitted to attend a revival
meeting for almost every day in the week, at which meeting he seemed to
catch new life; and several times he exhorted believers to be steadfast,
mourners to look to Christ, and sinners to flee the wrath to come. His
presence and labors at that meeting will never be forgotten by those in
attendance. It was at this meeting, he said, that he was almost gone,
and that he had as well fall there as anywhere else. He was liberal...
always ready to respond to the calls of the church and poor. As a hus-
band, he was kind and affectionate; as a father, indulgent, yet firm in
his purpose; as a neighbor and friend he was unsurpassed. Thus lived
this man of God for 81 years...an exemplary member of the church. When
will our District be visited with his equal? To an aged widow, to child-
ren and grand children, we say, live as he lived, and bye and bye you
will meet to part no more. V.A.S.
Died, on the 5th day of June, 1860, of inflammation of the lungs, ROSAN-
NA ABI, eldest child and only daughter of ANDREW J. and LUCINDA M. C.
PENDLEY, of Pickens District, aged 3 years, 2 months and 12 days. E.H.
(1 verse poetry)
Issue of Saturday December 1, 1860:
a
Married - On Sunday evening the 4th ult., by Rev. M. CHASTAIN, Mr. MAT-
THEW GILLESPIE, of N.C. to Miss RACHAEL HENDRIX, of Pickens.
Married - On the 8th ult., by Rev. SUMPTER DANIEL, Mr. J. C. C. FEATHER-
STON of Anderson, to Miss E. A. SULLIVAN, of Laurens.
Married - On the 20th ult., by Rev. J. B. HILLHOUSE, Col. D. C.. TEMPLETON
to Miss ADDIE DAY, all of Laurens.
Obituary - Died, of Flux, in Bellview, Rusk county, Texas, October 26th,
1860, MARGARET E. H., daughter of NATHANIEL and MARGARET GEURIN, aged
six months and four days. J.A. (1 verse poetry)
Issue of Saturday December 8, 1860:
Married - On the 6th of November, last, by H. J. ANTHONY, Esq., Mr. AN-
DERSON ROPER to Miss SARAH WATSON, all of Pickens.
Married - On the 2d inst., by Rev. W. B. SINGLETON, Mr. R. A. COOPER to
Miss Licena Childers, all of Pickens.
Issue of Saturday December 15, 1860:
Married - On 2d inst, by T. H. Boggs, Esq., Mr. WM. H. PILGRIM to Miss
AMANDA E. MC KINNEY, of Anderson.
Married - On Thursday evening the 6th of December, inst., by Rev. D. C.
BOGGS, Mr. WM. A. BARRON to Miss MARY ELIZA, second daughter of Mr. WM.
H. STRIBLING, all of Pickens.
Married - On the 9th inst., by J. N. ARNOLD, Esq., Mr. JAMES W..-POWER to
Miss MARTHA B. FANT, all of Pickens.
Issue of Saturday December 22, 1860:
Married - On the 4th inst., by Rev. JOHN ARIAIL, Mr. LEANDER JONES to
Miss LOUISA JAMESON, all of Pickens.
Married - On the 13th inst., by the same, Capt. JOHN H. BOWEN to Miss
MARY E., eldest daughter of R. E. and ELIZA HOLCOMBE, all of Pickens.
89
’
oo
Issue of sau January 5, 1861:
Matried - On the 20th uit. , by E. BH. COX, Eeq., Mr. ELIBU F. MILLER
Miss BELINDA F. HAL, all of Pickens. ‘ =
Married - On Sunday evening the 23rd ult. by J. £. HACOOD Es Mr. ELIAS
HINKLE to Miss ALSEY A., daughter of Mr. JAMES LEWIS, all OE Pickens.
Issue of Saturday January 12, 1861:
Married - On the 18th of December last, at the residence of S. W. AGNEW,
Esq., by Rey. J.C. WILLIAMS, Mr. ALONZO M. FOLGER, of this District, to
Miss M. ELIZA AGNEW, of Abbeville District.
Married - On the 3d inst., by A. C. HUGHES, Es -, Mr. ABRAHAM GILSTRAP
to Miss LOUISA CRANE, all of Pickens. :
Issue of Saturday January 19, 1861:
Married - On the 10th inst., by R. A. GILMER, Esq., Mr. JEFFERSON DAV
to Miss SAFONSBA NIMMONS, all of Pickens. \ a
Married - On the 20th ult., by the Rev. C. H. SPEARS, Mr. A CIBSON
Miss MARGARET CAPEHART, all of Pickens. ae aia i
Issue of Saturday January 26, 1861:
Married - On the 23d December last, by Rev. B. WALL. Mr. WILLIAM LYLE
to Miss MATILDA BROWN, all of Pickens. e : 7
Married - On Thursday evening 10th inst., by J. E. HAGOOD, Esq., Mr.JOHN
C. KNOX to Miss ELIZABETH, daughter of Mr. ELISHA ALEXANDER, all of Pic-
Kens.
Martied = On the 1/th inse., by Rev T. B. MAULDIN, Mr. JOHN KEATON
Miss JANE SANDERS, all of Pickens. oe
issue of Saturday February 2, 1861:
Married - On the 20th December last, by Rev. W. B. SINGLETON, Mr JAMES
A. GRIFFIN to Miss ZILPHA ALLGOOD, all of Pickens. ae
Married - On the 24th inst., by Rev. V. A. SHARP, Mr. J. D. MASTERS to
Miss SARAH MARGARET, eldest daughter of Mr. WM. A. LESLEY, all of Pick=
ens.
issue of Saturday February 9, 1861:
Death from Vaccination - We Tegret to learn that Mr. SAMUEL LOOPER. a
worthy citizen of this district, died last week from the effects of vac-
cination. He had exposed himself more than was prudent, which is prob-
ably the cause of his death. Mortification took place on his arm.
Married - On 16th December last, by L. ROGERS, Esq., Me. W. BR. DB. Cal-
HOUN to Miss SARAH C. ROGERS, all of Pickens.
Married - On the 3d December last by the same, Mr. J. W. CANNON t i
a , 1e, Mr. : : omM
SARAH BRYCE, all of Pickens. i
Married - On the 24th January last, by the same, Mr. JAS. ROCHESTER t
Miss ARMINDA PEARSON, all of Pickens. :
Married - On the 3lst January last, by Rev. BENJ. HOLDER, Mr JESSE M
CLAYTON to Miss MARTHA A. BOWEN, all of Pickens.
Married - On the 21st ult., by Bev. J. E. DU BOSE, Mc. ELIAS E. WHITNER,
of Anderson, S. C., to Miss EMMA A. WILLIAMS, of Bell Air, Fla.
Obituary - Departed this life, at her husband's residence, in Pickens
90
District, S. C., on the 23d January, 1861, Mrs. EMILY M. DAVIS, wife of
THOMAS R. DAVIS, aged 41 years, one month and 23 days. The deceased
leaves a kind and affectionate and now sad and heart broken husband, two
children...one boy and one girl...an aged father and mother, numerous re-
lations and many devoted friends to mourn their loss; but we trust and
believe, her eternal gain. The deceased had many prominent traits of
character; she was industrious, economizing, truthful and scrupulously
honest; an affectionate and devoted wife; a loving and indulgent mother,
and a true and sincere friend. The large weeping crowd that attended
her burial, was unmistakable evidence of how her neighbors and friends
respected her. A Friend (1 verse poetry)
Issue of Saturday February 23, 1861:
Suicide - We regret to learn that Mr. JONATHAN S. HOLCOMBE committed
suicide at Pickensville, on the 14th inst., by cutting his-throat with
a tazor, in a fit of Mania a potu. The deceased was kind-hearted, gen-
ial by nature, and warm in his friendships.
A Melancholy Occurrence - Our heart is pained by the intelligence of the
death of another one of our noble volunteers. JAMES C. ALLEN, of Abbe-
ville District, a member of the company from that section, received an
injury on Tuesday afternoon, which was followed by almost instant death.
The company, of which this gentieman was a member, is quartered at the
Moultrie House, on Sullivan's Island. He and some of his comrades were
engaged in harmless diversion during an interval of leisure. They were
chasing each other from room to room, and while running with all speed
along the long corrider of that building, Mr. Allen came in contact with
a bayonet on a gun in the hand of one of his companions. The weapon en-
tered the right eye and penetrated the brain. The unfortunate young man
survived only a few moments. Mr. Allen was but nineteen years of age.
His character was without a spot, and he was greatly beloved by his bro-
ther soldiers. His remains will be conveyed to Abbeville this morning.
This melancholy accident has cast a gloom over the cheerful hearts that
were prepared to lose their friends in noble warfare, but were not ready
to see one so promising and so blessed with virtues thus rudely and sud-
denly smitten with the hand of the destroyer. "Charleston Courier"
Obituary - Died, near Pendleton, S. C., on the 5th inst., Mrs. MARGARET
FITZGERALD, wife of ELI FITZGERALD, deceased, after a severe illness of
several weeks duration.
Married - On the 14th inst., by Rev. WM. MC WHORTER, Mr. R. R. STRIBLING
of Franklin county, Ga., to Miss LOU W. DENDY, of Pickens.
Issue of Saturday March 2, 1861:
Killed - We learn that ANSEL CRANE was killed in Jackson county, NG...
on the 20th ultimo, by JOHN CALHOUN, JR. The act, we are informed, was
done in self-defense. Calhoun surrendered himself to the Sheriff of the
county, and afterwards obtained bail.
Frightful Tragedy - On the evening of the 25th, near Memphis, Scotland
county, Mo., THOMAS H. RIDGLEY killed his wife and two small daughters
with a knife and axe, knocked down a son 18 years of age with a billet
of wood, wounded a smaller son with a knife, and completed the shocking
tragedy by cutting his own throat from ear to ear with 4 razor. No
cause is assigned for the act except a supposed fit of insanity.
Obituary - Died, on the 20th February last, after a lingering illness of
chronic affection of the bowels, NATHANIEL LYNCH, SR., in the 7lst year
of his age. The deceased was a native of Pickens, and was distinguished
for his high moral and religious character. He had been a consistent
member of the Baptist Church for twenty-five years, and felt the conso-
lations of religion in his expiring hours. In the character of citizen,
neighbor, husband and father his life was exemplary; and, whilst we de-
plore the loss of one so honest and upright, we are nevertheless cheered
by the belief that our loss is his eternal gain. * March 1, 1861]
Issue of Saturday March 16, 1861: (next page)
91
Thursday December 25, 1879:
Married - On the 4th of September, 1879, by Rev. L. D. SEUELL, Mr. W. A.
MC WHORTER, formerly of Oconee County, S. C., to Miss LAURA J. NEAL, of
Franklin County, Ga.
Married - On the 18th inst., by Rev. FLETCHER SMITH, Mr. T. C. DODD to
Miss IDA COMPTON, all of Oconee county.
Married - On the llth of December, 1879, at the bride's father, Rev. H.
N. HAYES, by Rev. B. HOLDER, Mr. THOMAS DODD, of Pickens county, to Miss
ROSELETTE HAYES, of Oconee.
Locals - Mrs. POLLY KIZER, of our town, who has been in feeble health
for several months past, died on last Friday morning. Her remains were
deposited in the Baptist graveyard on Saturday afternoon, Rev. Mr. GRES-
HAM conducting the services.
Thursday January 1, 1880:
Death of Mrs. Dendy - We are Pained to announce the death of Mrs. ELIZA-
BETH DENDY, relict of the late JAMES H. DENDY, Esq. This sad event oc-
curred at her home in this county on Thursday night, the 25th of Decem-
ber. Mrs. Dendy was a native of this county, and was in the seventy-six
year of her age at the time of her decease. She was widely known as a
useful member of society, and her death is a source of almost universal
sadness and grief. We are not sufficiently acquainted with the charac-
ter and virtues of the decease to do justice to her memory. We leave
that sacred trust for the hand of friendship and affection.
Terrible Homicide Near Fair Play - We learn that TURNER OSBORNE, JR., and
DAVID BRADBERRY, in Passing the residence of RICHARD COMPTON, on Friday
evening last, near Fair Play, in this county, had a difficulty with Comp -
ton in reference to his dog. Compton and his wife were in their home
when one of these Persons fired a pistol at then. The ball struck Mrs.
Compton in the abdomen, producing death the next day. Osborne was arres-
ted and made his escape on Saturday morning. Bradberry has been arrested
and is now in jail. We learn that Osborne fired the fatal shot. Efforts
are being made, we learn, to re-arrest Osborne. Trial Justice SEABORN ,
acting Coroner, with a jury, held an inquest over the body of Mrs. Comp -
ton. The jury returned as their verdict that she came to her death by
a shot fired either by Osborne or Bradberry.
Married - On the evening of the 25th of December, 1879, by H. A. H. CIB-
SON, Esq., Mr. LEWIS WILSON to Miss AMELIA RICHIE, all of Oconee.
Thursday January 8, 1880:
Death of Mr. Thomas M. Stribling - We regret to state that THOMAS M.
STRIBLING, and old and esteemed citizen of our county, died at the res-
idence of his son in this county on Wednesday, the 31st ultimo, in the
seventy-fourth year of hig age. Mr. Stribling through a long life had
iniformly borne a character for industry and integrity and was counted
mong our best citizens. No one could point to a single blemish in his
haracter, while at all times he was found among those who strove to pro-
Cc ONOMy and integrity, he accumulated a fair Property and brought up a
arge family. Mr. Stribling had been on the decline for several years
ne Baptist Church for several years and died in the bright hope of the
hristian. Hisremains were interred in the family burying ground on his
id homestead with appropriate funeral services.
artied - On the 5th of January, 1880, by H. A. H. GIBSON, Esq., Mr. E.
- KIRBY and Miss ELIZABETH HILLIARD, all of Oconee.
arried - At the Tesidence of the brides'father, Mr. THOMAS CAIN, Decem-
146
ber 15th, 1879, by J. W. HAULBROOK, Mr. JAMES BEARDEN to Miss EMMA CAIN,
both of Oconee.
Married - December 23d, 1879, by J. B. SANDERS, Esq., at the residence of
the bride's mother, Mrs. E. A. PRITCHARD, Mr. H. J. MYERS to Miss E. A.
PRITCHARD, all of Oconee.
Married - At the Westminster Baptist Church, on Sunday evening, 4th inst.,
by Rev. E. L. SISK, Mr. A. P. FREEMAN and Miss CORDELIA SISK, daughter of
the officiating minister.
Married - On January 4th, 1880, by Rev. HUTTO, at the residence of the
bride's mother, Mr. C. L. G. ELROD to Miss A. J. PRITCHARD, all of Ander -
son county.
Married - By Rev. E. L. Sisk, December 31st, 1879, at the residence of
Mr. PICKENS COLE, Mr. JOSEPH BATES to Miss LULU PRITCHARD, all of Oconee.
Locals - Mr. COLUMBUS SCRUGGS, formerly a resident of West Union, died at
Seneca City on Wednesday, the 3lst instant, of disease of the heart.
JIM CHAPPELL, was killed in a cockpit at Newberry, on Christmas night by
a man named BILL HARP. A nephew of the murdered man, PRESS CHAPPELL,was
also shot in the mouth by the same party and will probably die.
Columbia, S. C., December 27- An old gamecock raiser and fighter, named so
Thursday January 15, 1880:
Married - At the residence of the bride's father, Mr. DAVID ELROD, Tues-
day 23d of December, 1879, by Rev. H. N. HAYES, Mr. WM. ELROD and Miss
MARY ELROD, both of Anderson county.
Married - At the residence of the bride's father, Mr. EDWARD HONEA, Thurs-
day evening, January 8, 1880, by Rev. H. N. Hayes, Mr. ROBERT HAYES and
Miss FANNIE HONEA, both of Oconee county.
Thursday January 22, 1880:
a”
y
Long article on the killing of JOHN BARNES, an old man, by MILTON W. W.
NICHOLSON in White Water township.
Married - On the 11th of January, 1880, at the residence of the bride's
mother, by the Rev. YORK GOODLETT, Miss LAURA NORTON to Mr. ANDERSON
EVANS, colored.
Thursday January 29, 1880:
Locals - Article on the shooting and murder of JESSE HORN, laborer, by LY
THOMAS O. PARKER, son of W. F. PARKER, and about 18 years of age. J
Thursday February 5, 1880:
Married - On the evening of the 29th of January, 1880, by WM. J. STRIB-
LING, Esq., at the residence of the bride's father, Mr. ROLAND WATKINS
to Miss MARY PUTMAN, both of Oconee.
Thursday February 12, 1880:
In Memoriam - Mrs. ELIZABETH KNOX DENDY, wife of JAMES H. DENDY, deceased,
was born August 29th, 1804, and died December 25th, 1879, of pneumonia,
at her residence, near Richland Church. She and her husband were among
the original number who founded Richland Church nearly fifty years ago.
She is, with one exception, the last one of that number that passed away
and constituted the last link which bound the church of the present with
the past. Even previous to the Organization of the church she had con-
secrated herself to the service of her blessed Redeemer..... She was the
mother of twelve children, of whom eight survive her, having reared her
own children, her step children, her grandchildren and lived to see her
great grandchildren. ....... (lengthy eulogy)..... For more than a year
her failing health........ signed by "S.L.M."
147
d48 ANNALS OF NEWBERRY.
Since O'Neall wrote his Annals, and especially since the war,
great changes have taken place at May binton, as in other parts
of the county. The parts of the county which were richest,
when the old system of labor was destroyed, suffered most.
Maybinton section did not entirely escape, though there is still
a considerable degree of prosperity, and the people are slowly
but surely recuperatiog. There, as well as everywhere else,
we find that there is life in the old land yet. Maybinton is
near the birthplace and one home of the celebrated Emily
Geiger.
Pomaria.
Continuing our circuit review of the county I conclude with
a brief sketch of Pomaria and of its people. The Pomaria
Postoftice in the Southeastern part of the county was estab-'
lished about the year 1840. The name was given by Mr.
William Summer, the founder and proprietor of the Pomaria
Nurseries, which were so long and so favorably known through-
out the country. Mr. Suisinor, if I mistake not, was the first
Postmaster. About the year 1850 the Postoffice was moved to
where the present town of Pomaria now is on the completion
of the Greenville and Columbia Railroad to that point. Wil-
liam Summer was Postmaster and Thomas W. Holloway (who
is, in 1892, P. M.) Assistant.
pie * Folk & Sons did a large business as merchants at
Pomaria until the year 1855, when they were succeeded by
Thomas W. Holloway and his brother-in- law, H. H. Folk, who
continued until Secession and the war.
After the war Thomas W, Holloway and Hayne D. Reid
formed a copartnership and carried on a large and lucrative
business, until the murder of Reid and the burning of the
house with the body of the murdered man in it by the assassin,
Thompson, on the 24th of December, 1875. Thompson confessed
the crime and was hanged. The burning of the house and
the goods in it entailed a heavy loss upon the firm. .
The next mercantile house established at. this place was
that of D. A. Dickert and David Hipp. They were succeeded
by D. Hipp & Co. E. R. Hipp, now (1892) of Columbia, rep-
resented the company. Upon the dissolution of this firm Mr.
ANNALS OF NEWBERRY. otf
Ww. T. Hat‘on took the place of E. R. Hipp, and the firm
name, D. Hipp & Co., still stands.
A store house was built by Thomas W. Holloway and _ his
son, J. B. O'Neall Holloway, in 1878, and they carried on the
mercantile business together until the fall of 1889, when the
stock of goods on hand was sold to FE. R. Hipp, son-in-law of
the senior member of the firm. The junior member, having
married in Orangeburg, moved to that county, near Fort Motte,
and engaged in farming.
Mr. Hipp continued the business until the I4th of January,
ISV1, when the store was burned with a large stock of goods,
entailing a heavy Joss on Mr.. Hipp.
J. William Stone in 1889 built a store house in the town
and was carrying on business there, when his’ house and goods
were burned at the same ime.
Among the earliest’ settlers of Pomaria and the neighbor-
hood was the family of Summer. John Adam Summer-——[_
think is the name—came across the country from Pennsyl-
vania. The country traveled by him was then almost an un-
broken wilderness peopled by several different tribes of Indians.
Wherever he went, whatever tribe or family of natives he met
with, he always received the heartiest and warmest welcome.
And when he reached his destination, the natives there were
waiting for him, éxtended him a friendly greeting and made
him feel at-home. Rumors of kindness he had shown to some
Indians in Pennsylvania preceded him, and runners were sent
on ahead to tell the tale and to give notice of his coming.
Jobn Summer was the father of John, ,Nicholas, Henry,
Adam, William, Thomas and Miss Catharine P. _ These are all
gone, except Miss Catharine. John and Nicholas I never knew.
Nicholas was killed in the Seminole war in Florida; John
went down tuere to bring the body home and he took sick
and died in Florida without being able to accomplish his mis-
sion. Elsewhere in this book an interesting anecdote is re-
lated of Dr. King and Nicholas Summer. Henry was a lawyer
at Newberry whom everybody knew and respected. Towards
the close of the war of Secession, Kilpatrick raiders burnt his
home in the lower part of the county, with his valuable libra-
ry, and hung him up by the neck to the limb of a tree in
the effort to make him tell where he had his money con-
og )
o88 ANNALS OF NEWBERRY.
As State Senator he represented the county for several terms,
always holding an influential place in the councils of the State.
The last several years of his life he spent in retirement, hay-.
ing declined re-election in 1844, after serving as Senator for
twelve years. As Senator he was always at his post, and kept
himself fully informed as to every measure brought up. He
once published a statement giving the population and wealth
of the different counties of the State. He was a good and use-
ful man, and from 1831 to the time of his death he was a
member of the Newberry Baptist Church.
On the 29th of December, 1863, he attended the funeral of
Judge O'’Neall, and occupied on that Occasion, and for the last
time, his usual seat in the Baptist Church of Newberry. On
the following morning, December 30th, 1863, having already
expressed a willingness to go whenever the summons came, he
was stricken with apoplexy, and died in a few hours. He
was born October 22nd, 1794.
Mrs. Higgins was born July 19th, 1803,-at the place where
her uncle, Major John Caldwell, was killed by Cunningham in
1781. Her father was William Caldwell. Her mother was
Elizabeth Williams, daughter of Major John Williams, member
of the Provincial Congress which met yn Charlestown on the
llth of January, 1775; who also served in the American army
during the Revolution.
was held as a prisoner eighteen months at St. Augustine, in
Florida. After the war he was at different times State Sena-
tor and Judge of the County Court for Newberry District.
Two of her brothers became distinguished men, Joho Cald-
well, member of the Legislature and an eloquent and eminent
lawyer, and Patrick Calhoun Caldwell, lawyer, legislator and
member of Congress,
She was happily married on the 12th of October, 1820, to
Francis Bernard Higgins, of Newberry. In 1835 she joined
_ the Baptist Church at Newberry, having been previous to that
time a member of the Associate Reformed Church at Head
Spring. It is thought that none are now living who welcomed
her into the Baptist Church at that time. Mrs. Elvira Ruth.
erford, who recently died at Newberry, was the last of these.
Mrs. Higgins save a son to the Palmetto Regiment in the
ANNALS OF NEWBERRY. 58
Mexican War, who was a lieutenant in Captain ». H. Williams’
company, and another son to the Confederate army, who was
killed during the war. She will long be remembered for the
amiable and kindly features of her character. She was a Chris.
tian woman. She died on. the 2nd of May, 1889, in the eighty-
sixth year of her age, in the house at Newberry, now owned
by Dr. Jas. McIntosh, in which she had lived continuously for
about sixty-five years.
Captain CuHEsLey W. HERBERT,
Son of Isaac and Frances Herbert, was born June 10th, 1832.
He was prepared for college at the old Cokesbury Conference
schoo], and graduated from the South Carolina College in De-
cember, 1855. Was married on January 10th, 1856, to Eliza.
beth S., eldest daughter of Daniel and Emily Goggans.
When South Carolina seceded he volunteered at the first call
for troops, and left home for service in Company C, Third
Regiment, South Carolina Volunteers, on April 13th, 1861, the
day Fort Sumter surrendered. His regiment was shortly after-
wards ordered to Virginia. He was badly wounded at the bat-
tle near Gettysburg, July 2nd, 1863. On the retreat ‘to
Winchester he was captured by United States cavalry, but was
recaptured in a short time and furloughed until again fit for
duty. Was again wounded, and this time seriously, by a shot
through the left knee at the battle of the Wilderness, May 6th,
1864. He was brought from Virginia to South Carolina ona
litter, and after months of suffering returned to the army, and
was discharged just previous to the close of the war, because
of lameness, which unfitted him for further military service.
His tragic death is briefly described in a letter written by
the late General Garlington to Governor Scott: “Did you hear
of the murder of the gallant Herbert, by a negro who had.
stolen his horse, and had been arrested by him, and who was
sharing his bread with the culprit by the roadside?’ ‘As he
was lame, the negro in some way obtained the advantage of
him, struck him on the head with a heavy stick, and, while he
was insensible, took his pistul from his pocket and shot him
through the head, killing him instantly.
The tragedy occurred near the Lexington line, on March Sth,
1866, while the victim was making his way toward his home in
this county.
762 ANNALS OF NEWBERRY.
Cavin Crozier.
Calvin Crozier, a Confederate soldier from Texas, who met
death at Newberry, deserves more from the historian of the
county than the mere mention of his name. From gome
cause, I know not what, he was delayed at Newberry——travyel
was not very expeditious at that time—he had been delayed
elsewhere so that it was September, several months after the
cessation of hostilities before he arrived at Newberry where he
was compelled to remain the night of September Sth, 1865.
Some ladies were under his care and they concluded that. it
would be as well to pass the night in the car, a common
box-car, in which they had come from Alston. Late in the
night some colored soldiers belonging to the 33d U. S. Regi-
ment, commanded by Col. Trowbridge, which had arrived at
Newberry that day on their way to some other station, in-
truded themselves into the car and made their presence very
unpleasant to the ladies. Mr. Crozier requested them to leave
and they refusing to do so a difficulty occurred when one of the
soldiers was slightly wounded by Crozier with a knife. The
regiment to which these colored soldiers belonged was
bivouacked in a grove not far from the depot, and it was .
not long before a number of them assembled at the. depot.
Not knowing Crozier and mistaking their man they seized
upon a railroad employee, Mr. Jacob S. Bowers, who had
just come in, and despite his protestations of his innocence,
they were about to lynch him, when Crozier, learning that
another man was about to suffer in his stead, presented him-
self and declared that he was the man who had wounded the
negro soldier. He was seized at once, tied and taken to the
camp in the grove, where he was shot to death by the soldier
mob, who danced upon the shallow grave into which they
had thrown the body. The white officers of the regiment,
before the shooting, were appealed to in vain, and Trow-
bridge, the Colonel commanding the regiment, was heard to
declare after the shooting that he took upon himself all the
responsibility for the act.
‘'oo seldom, indeed, do we find such deeds of heroic self-
sacrifice as this that is here recorded of Calvin Crozier. He had
escaped, and he might have gone entirely free and might have
reached his home in safety could he have permitted another
land
ANNALS OF NEWBERRY. 163
man to suffer in his place. What ever he may have been
otherwise I know. not; but this I know that. such a death
works forgiveness for many misdeeds and the place where he .
died and where he sleeps is holy. If any spot on earth is
holy surely that is where one freely gives himself to die for
another.
Prince Rivers, who was then an officer in Trowbridge’s
regiment, wishing to save the life of a brave man, went to
him after he was bound and helpless and begged him to say
that he was not the man who had the difficulty with the
negro soldiers, and Mr. Crozier refused to do it saying, “Loose
me and I will show you whether I am the man or not.”
In 1891 the citizens of Newberry had the remains of Crozier.
removed from the Village graveyard to Rosemont Cemetery
and erected a monument to his memory.
beautiful one and the citizens of Newberry have honored
themselves in erecting this monument to the memory of Crozier.
The monument is a
Murper or Cuestey Herperr.
This community was greatly shocked when it was known
here that Capt. Chesley W. Herbert, a man much beloved by
all who knew him and highly esteemed for his truth, bravery
and uprightness of character, had met with the shocking
death of murder. Capt. Herbert was born in the county, son
of Isaac Herbert and grandson of Walter Herbert, Esq., a
member of one of the old Quaker families of Bush River,
but who, after the Quaker exodus, united with another denomi-
nation of Christians. Chesley Herbert was Captain of a com-
pany at the close of the war, a rank well won by his faithful
service as a soldier. He was a man of education, a graduate
of the South Carolina College, of devoted piety and blameless
in all the relations of life. His would seem to have been a
sad ending. His death was brought about in this wise: A
negro man, whose name I have never heard, stole a horse
from him one day at Newberry; he pursued and captured
the thief and property some where in the neighborhood of
Lexington C. H., and started on his return to Newberry.
The next that is known of him his dead body was found
near @ spring a few miles from Lexington C. H. and near
oO ANNALS OF NEWBERRY.
The murderer was afterwards captured, but escaped jail: was
recaptured by I. H. Boulware and A. B. Cromer; was tried,
convicted and hanged. Before his execution he ‘confessed to
having stolen the horse and also to the murder of Captain
Herbert.
Captain Herbert was at the time of his death Superintendent.
of Sunday School at New Chapel Methodist Church, and was
and always had been a true friend to the colored race.
He left a widow, who is still living, and four children. The
eldest, D. Oscar Herbert, is now (ISU?) a lawyer in Orange-
burg. The eldest daughter, Emma F., marricd William L,
Glaze, Tsq., of Orangeburg, S. C., and is still living. One
daughter died in infancy, and another, Minnie E., entered into
her heavenly inheritance on her birthday, June 2Ath, 1SSS,
aged twenty-seven years.
Tae Fork Fanry.
Jacob Folk came to this country from Germany in 1740 or
1741, and settled at Old Granby, three miles below Columbia.
He was a tanner by trade, and lived with a man by the name
of Cary in partnership for five years. When his term of part-
nership was up he came to the place at Pomaria and married
the daughter of Adam F. Epting. settled there, and commenced
the tanning business on his own account. There were born to
him seyen children, four sons and three daughters. The eldest
died in the Revolutionary war; the second son was killed by
a tree falling on him: the third son, John Folk, lived at Po-
Inaria until his death in 1844. Jacob Folk died on the 20th
of June, 1774, and lies buried at the old Folk burying-eround,
I’rom him have sprung numerous and honorable descendants:
John Adam, Henry Middleton, W. H. Folk, a lawyer in good
practice at Edgefield; Edward H. Polk, also a lawyer at Edve-
field; Captain H. H. Folk, of Newberry; David Folk, of Texas:
L. FE. Folk, of Newberry; Dr. J. W. Folk, of Annandale, George-
town County; Charley Folk, of Lexington; Christian J. Folk,
of Barnwell, and Jacob Folk. who moved to Colleton County
in the year 1803, and there left a large family, and J. Wesley
Folk, of ‘Pomaria, whose son, Dr. L. B. Folk, is a practicing
physician in Columbia, S. C.
No doubt there are many others descended from Jacob Fol ks,
Whose names I have not been able to learn. .
ANNALS OF NEWBERRY. ol
Tue Wercu Fawury.
William and Williams Welch, who were brothers, came from
Iredell County, N.C, during the first quarter of the present.
century. They were of Quaker parentage. William was a
worthy, guileless man, but of an impatient and restless temper.
He died in 1853, aged sixty. Williams was the younger. He
was of a generous and impulsive nature; aman of clear judy-
ment and abounding in energy. Though he came to this coun-
try a poor boy, he accumulated a fortune in the pursuit of
agriculture, besides rearing and educating a family of eleven
children. He died in 1Sv4, in his seventy-second year. Pro-
fessor C. W. Welch, late Principal of the High Sehool. Hous-
ton, Texas, and now (1892) Professor-clect in Clemson College,
and Williams Welch, the portrait painter, also Professor-elect
in Clemson College, both natives of Newberry, are his grand-
sons. ;
Mrs. Luey Sharp was the sister of William and Williams
Welch. She came to Newberry from North Carolina in 1So0,
and died in 1856.) She was a woman of unusual industry and
very kind and generous in her nature. She left two children,
William, one of Anderson's best citizens. and Mrs. Neville, wife
of Rev. Mr. Neville of the Metho-tist Episcopal Chureh, Sonth.
Tacos K. ScHUMPERT. 3
Born 26th of October, 1807; died 14th of May, 1SSo.
He was the eldest son of Frederick Schumpert and Mary
Kimard his wife. Jacob K, married, in the year 1833. Harriet
Abney, of Edgefield County, who died November ad, 1884.
They celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage in
ISS3, in the presence of their children, three sons and three’
daughters, and a host of grandchildren, at the old homestead,
Elin Grove, seven miles northwest from Newberry Court House.
The following childreh survive them: Dr. John 1. Schumpert,
who lives in Louisiana: Mrs. E. M. Kingsmore, who lives at
Birmingham, Ala, Mrs. C. T. Wells, O. I. Schumpert and F.
A. Schumpert, at Newberry, S. C., and Mrs. EF. A. Cassity, wife
of Rev. Mr. Cassity, Presiding Elder of the Methodist Episco-
pal Church, South, whose home at present is Mansfield, Lou-
isiana.
Jacob K. Schumpert was a man of. vieorons constitution.
HISTORIC CAMDEN
implicated manifested the greatest apparent innocence,
but upon conviction acknowledged the correctness of
the Court’s decision, nor did they evince the least com-
“punction for having conceived and matured the design.
It is melancholy to reflect that those who were most
active in the conspiracy occupied a respectable stand
in one of the churches, several were professors and one
a class leader.”
The foregoing is confirmed by the original record of
the trial of these slaves which we found among some old
documents. From this it appears that an inquiry was
held July 2 by the Town Council, then consisting of
Abram Blanding, Intendant and R. W. Carter, John Reed,
William Langley, and Wyatt Stark. Several of the sus-
pected slaves were apprehended upon warrant and sub-
jected to examination by Council; a transcript of their
testimony in Blanding’s handwriting, is in the record,
of which we here give a condensed abstract.
“sam, a negro fellow belonging to William Lang: About a
fortnight ago Jack, a fellow belonging to Thos. Lang requested
him to join to raise an army and fight the white people. Said
they were to fight with guns but did not tell him where they were
to be got. I promised to meet him at his master’s on Satur-
day night last, but did not go because I did not wish to join them.”
“g1m, a fellow of Thos. Lang: Isaac, belonging to Thos. Lang
asked me if I had heard that the black people below wanted to
rise against the white people. I told him that it was of no ac-
count. I said I will have nothing to do with it. He said they
were to meet last night at the old yard where Mr. Lang used
to live. I asked him who they were but he would not tell me.
“tsaac, Mrs. Sarah Lang’s, a drummer for Captain Levy’s
company: March and I were at the brick-yard. He asked me
to join them. I said for what. He replied that a party of them
were a-going to take the Magazine. I said I would have no hand
in it. He would sometimes stop black people and take them
aside and talk to them.”
“sportswooD (McRae’s): Mr. Lang’s Isaac said he had a notion
to get a parcel of men and go and fight the white people. I
don’t recollect whether I agreed to join or not. Isaac said if
I told he would have me killed. Told me to speak to as many
as I could and get them to join.”
“isaac (Thos. Lang’s), drummer for Captain Levy: He never
engaged in any plan for rising. It has been mentioned to him
by others. I have said to George, Cameron and Sam (Mr. Levy’s),
188
SLAVES
that I thought it would be a good scheme if they would get through
with it, but that negroes were so deceitful that it would not do.
“CAMERON denies that any person ever talked with him about
any scheme of rising.”
“JACK (Thos. Lang’s): Says he never heard anything about
a rising. He never mentioned it to Wm. Lang’s Sam, never
spoke with Levy’s March about te
“MARCH (Chapman Levy’s): Said he never heard anything
about rising until now.”
The drumhead Court, composed as provided by law,
of Justices’ of the Peace, Thomas Salmond and John |
Kershaw, Justices, and five freeholders, Benjamin Bine-
ham, Joseph Brevard, Burwell Boykin, Benjamin Carter:
and Thomas Whitaker, met at the jail on July 3 and
proceeded to trial with the following results: MARCH
was first tried and convicted, being doubtless the ring-
leader. He, together with CAMERON, JACK, ISAAC and
SPOTTSWOOD were hung on July 5 and one NED on July
12. STEPHEN was condemned, but pardoned just betore
execution after all preparations had been completed.
BIG FRANK was condemned to be imprisoned in irons for
a year and sent out of the Country. Nine were dis-
charged.
It is a matter of family tradition, confirmed by record,
that this plot for insurrection was revealed to Colonel
Chesnut by one of his slaves who came to the Colonel’s
room and warned him that his family would be murdered
the next night. Colonel Chesnut’s residence was then in
Camden not far from the Arsenal. The State Legisla-
ture by statute in 1817 appropriated eleven hundred
dollars to purchase the freedom of this slave whose name
however is not mentioned, and granted him a yearly
stipend of fifty dollars. ;%
William Langley’s warning is again heard in a pre-
sentment of the grand jury signed by him as,foreman at
the November term 1816, from which the following is
quoted:
“We present the abuse of retailing spirits to negroes;
also the pernicious tendency of introducing into our
state the slaves of another. It is unnecessary to recur
to the evils arising from an overgrown black population.
The history of South Carolina furnishes abundant proof
of the impolicy of encouraging a great numerical in-
crease of that class of people. The affair of July 4th
189
1819
Lovely Lavinia and the Drunken Hangman
By Beatrice St. J. Ravenel
een years after the trial of John and Lavinia Fisher,
they were already the center of a legend, one which has
come down to the present day and probably will continue to
be told so long as a Charlestonian remains alive to tell it.
John may be forgotten eventually, but the memory of La-
vinia is there to stay.
True enough, the tale has been both blurred and embel-
lished. The man in the street will name the wrong house as
the scene of the crimes, and the number of murders he will
ascribe to Lavinia and her friends is excessive. Moreover—
and we think this is serious—no one can say for sure whether
this fascinating creature was blonde or brunette. Of course,
there is compensation in this vagueness—it leaves everyone
free to describe her according to his fancy.
Unlike many legends, that of the Fishers is founded on
hard, sordid fact. One may as well begin the story as the
enraged citizens began it, with a show of weapons and a clat-
ter of horse hoofs on Thursday afternoon, February 18, 1819.
The cavalcade set out from Charleston, vested with no legal
authority (the Courier termed the affair “Lynch’s Law’),
but they were grimly conscious that the community was be-
hind them. This was no private quarrel—the city’s interests
were at stake. The rich wagon trade was threatened.
Moreover, who likes murder on his doorstep?
41
| me tne ee -
ee
pe
ek ae, Soi tans
‘
Regional
MURDER SERIES
EDITED BY
MARIE F. RODELL
Vol. I NEW YORK MURDERS
Vol. II CHICAGO MURDERS
Vol. HI DENVER MURDERS
Vol. IV SAN FRANCISCO MURDERS
Vol. V LOS ANGELES MURDERS
Vol. VI CLEVELAND MURDERS
Vol. VII CHARLESTON MURDERS
In Preparation
DETROIT MURDERS
BOSTON MURDERS
Ror ear eres Tees errr TT) EUsRSVESH TECH OUND Sopee ter ree ey re ty P ea SCT ee
Charleston
MURDERS
(~
(
»
;
Sgavagyn
aHSIa
by
SAMUEL A. COTHRAN
FRANK K. MYERS
THOMAS K. PECK
SAMUEL GAILLARD STONEY
ROWENA WILSON TOBIAS
THOMAS R. WARING JR.
and
BEATRICE ST. J. RAVENEL, editor
‘IT ysngny 6°) °s SuoqseTaeyD pesuey SueTTITM
*s SucqseTzeyg pedsuey Setutaey pue uyor %y
2 A i i atl
NEW YORK
DUELL, SLOAN AND PEARCE
/ IP7
OcgT
OZgT ‘QT Aaenaqey £*9
e
©
Those who think of covered wagons as belonging exclu-
sively to Western pioneers have forgotten the early days of
the nineteenth century, when these vehicles came creaking
out of the back country, bound for the Atlantic seaboard.
Laden with hides and cotton, they rolled to Charleston from
the Carolina Upcountry and from Georgia as well. Tobacco
sometimes came in a way of its own—packed in a large cask
with a sort of spindle through it, and drawn by a horse, in
this way trundling two or three hundred miles to market.
Once at the city, the drivers sought out wagon-yards,
built at the upper end of King Street by the merchants
with whom they dealt. Here they stabled their teams—often
four or six horses or mules to the wagon—found food and
lodging for themselves and sold their produce, which the
merchants resold at a profit to the foreign trade. With coon-
skin caps, homespun or fringed leather hunting jackets, long
rifles and just as long smoothbores, the wagoners gave the
city its last glimpse of the frontier.
Within a few years, steamboats on the Savannah River
were to capture the Georgia cotton for Savannah, a move
which led Charleston to build a steam railroad in an effort
to wrest the trade back, but all this was still in the future. In
1819, the wagons were essential to Charleston, and the wagons
were being halted. The wagoners, a brawling lot given to
playing tricks on other folk, were having tricks played on
them. Travelers nearing the city were learning to carry their
rifles ready in their hands, on the lookout for highwaymen.
The members of the cavalcade had plenty to discuss as
they jogged along. They did not as yet know the names of
the lawbreakers they were seeking, and there is no hint in
the Courier that they suspected a woman was prominent
among them. But when it came to the injured parties, they
could cite names and figures. James Addison had been
knocked down at dusk by a white man mounted on a white
horse and robbed of $10, all that was in his pockets. John
Brown had been deprived of $140. Others had been lured
(though of the amount of allurement necessary one has no
42
idea) into inns where they were mulcted in crooking oe
bling games, or if too knowledgeable for that, had a
pockets picked. Added to the complaints was that of te-
phen LaCoste, who had gone to his pasture to call home his
cow, a valuable animal, and found her missing.
Furthermore, a rumor, vague but compelling, was going
around that human beings had disappeared.
The accumulated effect of these stories had been too much
for the citizens. They meant to find out the truth.
They rode north along what roughly corresponds to a
present Route 52. On their way they passed the Four Mile
House, the old frame building which nowadays is frequently,
but erroneously, pointed out as the scene of the Fishers ae
ities. All was quiet there. As a matter of fact, this pic hears .
ment was a reputably run inn. During the course of time the’
Four Mile House has acquired stories of its own, but they do
not include this one. With friendly waves to its landlord as
he ran out to watch them pass, the riders jogged on.
A mile farther, they drew rein. The rumors had marked
the vicinity of the Five and Six Mile Houses as the danger
spots on the road. Though they brought no warrant or anid
legal document, they had obtained permission from the
owners of several small houses thereabouts, including the
Five Mile House itself, to treat the property in any way found
necessary. The gang of highwaymen had moved in pent a
“by your leave,” and the owners were glad of a chance to get
rid of them. It is doubtful, however, that in granting per-
mission to “proceed against the premises in such manner as
circumstances might require,” they had expected the houses
to be burned. ‘
‘The people found at the Five Mile House—unfortunate y;
we have no description of them—were given fifteen minutes
in which to vacate peaceably, but they showed fight. Im-
mediately, the house and several outbuildings were set on
fire and burned to the ground, the occupants fleeing into the
woods.
The horsemen did not pursue them but rode another
45
bs Tog | ad . :
. DARLINGTON, SOUTH CAROLINA EXECUTIONS. 2,
1. William A. Powell: Charged with "inveigling, stealing and
carrying aWay a slave", He was White; a
in the same year, 1847,, James Carlisle
(not a Darlington name) was charged with
the same offence and sentenced to Death -
but there is nothing to show if the execu-
tion Was ever carried ont.
2. Cyrus Coachman: Darlington County has no loose sessions papers
: before 1866 and the first 3 years of these are
fragmentary; and our journal for 1859-1869 is.
missing, so we have no official record of this
man. He Was alluded to several times in 1870
newspapers, so we know that he was Black and that .
he Was executed for Murder. The Sheriff in 1869
was a Negro, IT. C. Cox (mulatto).
3. Alex. Dewitt: Our Sessions records show date of execution as
Aug. 9, 1878 whereas yours shows Aug.15th. I do
not know which is correct. Dewitt, a Black, was
convicted for the murder of William Warren, a White.
4, Gaddy Graham: This is the last execution in the county; there is
one man living who remembers attending the event.
Graham, Black, Was charged with the murder of P. F,
Moody, White, overseer on the McIver Williamson
’ Plantation.
HHH ERR RH ' f
Our Court House was burned in 1806, so We have virtually nothing
| ‘prior to this time in any record group, nothing in Sessions. From
records at the South Carolina Archives Dept. I have learned that
the following Darlington District Slaves were executéd:
Bristoe: Executed for Burglary in 1810. Slave of Andrew Muldrough.
Tom: Executed for Rape of a White woman in 1825. Slave of Jesse
Gilbert.
Lewis: Sentenced to Execution for Nov. 1863. Escaped. Slave of
William Vann. . “a
Bob & Cyrus: Sentenced to Execution for a "capital crime" Apr. 1790.
Slaves of Evan Prothro and Solomon Morgan.
Tom: "found guilty of a felony and sentence to die“ c. Fb. ly/5. save.
of John McIntosh. , !
BE HE IE TE FE HE SE aE OE Ie HE SEE EE EH EH HE EE
William ) "they were convicted and all hung that same day" c. Oct.
Rhodie ). 1861. This quotation from a private letter alludes to the
Romeo ) murder of Mrs. John D. Witherspoon in Sept. 1861 in Society
Silvy ) Hill, Darlington District. She was confined to bed, and was
suffocated therein by her own house servants. This is men-
tion in the "Diary from Dixie" by Mary Boykin Chesnut.
Amy S$R¥XH Spain: A Black. Executed by Confederate military aut horiéies
in Feb. 1865. See attached account from “Darlingtontana .
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declared that. ‘the ~ German, ‘Subma-
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Last ‘Thursday's seins:
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‘tor: ‘xorcide, was’ “elect Tost ad ‘At.
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Sunday The News and Courier/The Evening Post January 11, 1987, Charleston, S.C.
3 given death penalty in Chas. County in ’86
By RICHARD GREEN Jr.
Post-Courier Reporter
» Five death penalty trials in Charleston
County in 1986 added only one person to
the condemned population of Death Row.
Two of the cases were retrials, sent
back to General Sessions Court here by the
S.C. Supreme Court because of errors.
Both people were convicted and sentenced
to death again. Of the three other defen-
dants, two got life sentences and one was
sentenced to death.
In first case, a jury sentenced David M.
Moorer Jr. to life in prison March 6 for the
murder of 72-year-old Odell Williams.
The state contended that Moorer, 24,
broke into Williams’ house early June 15,
1985, beat the man in the head repeatedly
with a hammer and took money.
Though the jury refused to impose the
death penalty, 9th Circuit Deputy Solicitor
J. Stephen Schmutz said then that he was
happy with convictions for burglary and
murder because the case was built strictly
on circumstantial evidence. Moorer’s fin-
gerprints on windows were the only proof
that Moorer was near the house, and no
evidence showed that he entered.
The defense argued that police got the
wrong man. Moorer’s prints were there
because he was there several days before
the incident, lawyers said.
Moorer will be eligible for parole after
serving 20 years with no time off for any
prison programs.
The second trial of the year was a re-
peat. A jury again found Leroy Joseph
Drayton guilty of kidnapping, armed rob-
bery and murder, and again sentenced
him to die. The 31-year-old man was con-
victed first in October 1984 for the kidnap,
robbery and murder of 19-year-old Rhon-
da Darlene Smith, but the S.C. Supreme
Court overturned the conviction because
of what it said was a procedural error by
a judge.
The defense again argued that Miss
Smith voluntarily left the service station
where she worked, gave Drayton money
from the business, and was killed when
Drayton tripped and accidentally shot her
between the eyes. A second jury didn’t be-
lieve the story and sentenced Drayton to
die.
-
In June, Joseph Ernest Atkins returned.
to court to face the death penalty again
for killing someone in his family, but it
wasn’t a retrial. In May 1970, Atkins had:
been convicted of killing his brother, and-
he was paroled in 1980. In October hs,
he killed his 75-year-old father, Benjamin:
Frank Atkins, and a 13-year-old neighbor,
Karen Patterson. ie!
He was convicted June 26 of two counts:
of murder, burglary, and two counts; of.
assault with intent to kill for shooting’ at
the young girl’s parents. The jury decided.
that the 39-year-old man didn’t deserve’
another chance for life and recommended:
two death sentences. cor
See Cases, Page 2-B
...Cases
Continued From Page 1-B
The defense said Atkins was an al-
coholic who was drunk that night and
he didn’t know what he was doing.
The state failed a second time to
get the death penalty in 1986 on Oct.
8, when a judge sentenced Herbert
Lee Parker to life plus 10 years in
prison for murder and robbery. A
jury convicted Parker of beating and
robbing a drunken David Joseph
Middleton and leaving the 31-year-
old man tied by a necktie to a fence
downtown early Nov. 23, 1985. The
weight of Middleton’s body strangled
him.
To seek the death penalty, the state
must show that certain aggravating
circumstances accompany a murder.
Schmutz sought to use kidnapping —
the tying of Middleton to the fence —
as an aggravating circumstance. But
9th Circuit Judge Richard E. Fields
rejected that argument, saying the
action that caused Middleton’s death
couldn’t also be considered a sep-
arate circumstance of kidnapping.
The jury never got a chance to rec-
alten. tie
ommend a punishment, and the judge
gave Parker a life prison sentence.
. The defense was pleased with
Fields’ ruling but maintained, as it
had throughout the trial, that the 28-
year-old Parker is innocent.
Parker will be eligible for parole
after serving 20 years with no time
off for any prison programs.
This year, Frank Middleton Jr. ap-
parently will face the death penalty
for the third year in a row for the
same crimes, because of errors by
the judge and prosecutor. Middleton,
now 23, was convicted in February
1985 in the sexual assaults and mur-
ders of Janell M. Garner and Shirley
Mae Mack. But the S.C. Supreme
Court ruled that 9th Circuit Solicitor
Charles M. Condon and 9th Circuit
Judge Lawrence E. Richter Jr. made
“numerous errors,” including trying
both murder cases at one time. The
high court ordered new and separate
trials.
As in the first trial, Middleton’s de-
fense was that he was guilty but men-
tally ill, but he was convicted again
in November and sentenced to death
in Mrs. Mack’s case. A court date has
not been set in Ms. Garner’s case.
“TMwariasen s
Prosecutor plays:
a central part */””
in death penalty ~
By RICHARD GREEN Jr.
eporter
Post-Courier Ri
Some people must face the death
penalty because of “popular political
perception” instead of the merits of
otential capital cases, Says
Charleston’s chief ublic defender.
“But it’s not just here,” says Joseph
Kent. “Prosecutors are elected ev-
erywhere. Prosecutors decide who
live and die in some cases.”
Solicitor Charles M.
Condon decides in Charleston and
Berkeley counties, and he says he
seeks the death penalty aggressively.
“Assuming it’s the appropriate
capital case when we evaluate, we
prosecute,” Condon said. The solici-
Ninth Circuit
tor said he does not believe in letting.
defendants plead guilty in return for
life sentences if the case is an appro-
priate capital case.
Charleston County leads the state
in sentencing people to die for mur-
der. Five of the last 22 people sent to
Death Row committed murders in
Charleston, according to statistics
from the S.C. Department of Correc-
tions. Seven of the 47 people on Death
Row at the end of 1986 were sent
there from Charleston — more than
any other county.
Statewide, 13 people
tenced to die in 1986 — the most in
one year during the past decade.
The only two people who have been
executed since 1977 were convi
in Richland County. Joseph Carl
Shaw was executed in January 1985,
and James Terry Roach was ex-
ecuted in January 1986. Both were
convicted of the murders of two Co-
lumbia teen-agers i
Condon said he
tonians are more
recommend the death penalty now. If
not for that perception — suppo
by recent jury verdicts — the pros-
ecutor said the death penalty might
not be sought in as many cases here.
When given the chance, Charleston
jurors have chosen the death penalty
in seven of the last nine local cases
since October 1984, including re-
trials. Condon said thorough investi-
gations by local police have made it
were sen-
wee
oes
ea
We <
ee
ea poe
mm,
igs
la TOM Lee:
fogs ;
t
«
i
Ve
by
ae ee ME ee
at ca
eRelated story ... 1-B eee
gd story. I art to hear the case again last
get so many:
th sentences. “f
sions are being applied eth .
increasing chances a case ‘be
turned because of error, sé
The most likely to be retried this:
year is Earl Matthews
victed in May 1985 in the robbery an
tencing.
At the time of the first trial, the .
§.C. Supreme Court didn’t allow tes-
timony concerning a defendant’s fu-
ture adaptability to prison. After the
trial, the U.S. Supreme
in a similar case
adaptability was a
Garner and
the S.C. Supreme
and separate trials because errors
by the judge and prosecutor. A
A jury again convicted M
die for Mrs. Mack’s death. '
trial for the murder of Ms. Garner
expected this year.
William Gibbs has.
is
Hyman, 39,
waited the longest for another’
chance and probably will wait a little
longer before he gets it. Convi
October
consk next
S. Circuit
pe
he should be sen
tenced again. “
The court said that the trial judge.
See Death penalty, Page 2-A
Jr, 21,cm ©
Court decided
that future.
dmissible, forcing have
trial for sentencing only, Mat
73?
Death penalty
oe d From Page 1-A
-an error in instructing the j
it the state: appealed ang the US
‘preme Court: ordered the appeals
ath. Either side could appeal the
he al
zend decision after it is cand If
re it
Pre oe:
ary Lamar Washington, 25, of Ba
Manor, who is accused of the
- Aug. 15 murder of James W. Beach
» Jr" iggy gtore man was found —
Da 4p. a lot between Fishburne
fas found on a bicycle path 4
ie ae River early Sept.
ria Brown, 20, of Martin
Lysine Hang Deve: Demetrine Gath
= oo Endo Drive; and Zandell
i ayes, 18, of Cornege Street ©
prvsencng charged with murder and
a sexual conduct. Those _
poms gs were drop against a
= man, Esdavan Hardrick, 17, of :
ak Forest Drive, in an agreement to
gobo the state.
k pleaded guilty Dec. 17°to
failing to report a felony and to an \'
mrelated burglary charge and is
| guaranteed a Youthful Offender A
on = Sentence not to exceed six years if he
testifies truthfully for the state.
in November and sentenced him: sh" "
Another Condon said another possible death y
—_ 7 trial could be that of 20-year-
¢ Carlton Ray Johnson of
— Avenue. He is charged
ni murder and burglary for the
ug. 27 stabbing death of Marquin-
in ette Fields, 17, at her home |
1979 for murdering. Tegus: tree Street. on Peach- .
Soe
x r
ee pe
te
_ How Roberts felt, what arguments he used, we may
imagine. Fisher stood firm. Tuesday night found the two
men still lurking in Charleston. Governor John Geddes was
offering a reward of $500 for Fisher, and the citizens were on
the alert.
About eleven o’clock Tuesday evening, William Bull, who
kept late hours in his grocery on South Bay (now part of
South Battery) , happened to glance outside. He saw two men
come to shore in a small canoe. One of them strode off into
the darkness but the other entered the store. Although the
stranger proceeded in a normal way to buy a few small items
of groceries, something alarmed Bull. When the customer
left, he followed him until he saw the man slip under a boat,
used for carrying wood, which lay overturned on a wharf.
Bull called an acquaintance to keep watch and ran to inform
the city guard.
Dragged ignominiously from under the boat, Fisher and
Roberts were marched back to jail. Their pockets yielded
gold coins and several watches. The records do not make
clear whether they had been busy since their escape, Or
whether they had kept a cache somewhere. The latter seems
the more likely.
They were heavily guarded now. No hope of another flight
was possible. The grand jury at its next meeting complained
bitterly of the weak state of the jail, and a talented Charles-
ton architect, Robert Mills, later to be known nationally for
his Washington monument, was told to draw plans to remedy
this condition.
January, 1820, came and with it the Constitutional Court.
On the seventeenth, the Fishers were brought before it. Stern
Judge Colcock presided. Motion for a new trial was made and
rejected.
Both Colcock and stuttering Judge Bay made addresses—
described by the newspapers as “very impressive’—to the
prisoners. ‘This done, the Fishers were condemned to hang.
Only the governor of South Carolina could save them now.
The date set was Friday, February 4th. But matters were
58
not to move so fast. With a signature scrawled at the foot of a
brief document, Governor Geddes respited them.
The reason given was a pious one. The Courier of Febru-
ary 4th informed the public that the Fishers, “imploring an
opportunity for repentance, and asking for time to meet.
their God,” and with several of the “Reverend Clergy” back-
ing up their request, had been granted two weeks of life.
Godly folk approved. But the cynical hinted that not only
were the clergy responsible for this respite, but also a bay
filly, a gray colt, and a chestnut gelding! February 4th fell in
Race Week, most important sporting and social event of the
year. It was excitement enough to see Beggar Girl show her
heels to Envoy and Corvisart, in two out of three heats, with-
out having a hanging as well.
Suddenly Lavinia received unexpected support. Accus-
tomed (though lately she had been disillusioned about her
powers) to having the men on her side, she now found her-
self an object of concern to the most fashionable women in
Charleston. These amiable ladies, the most straightlaced of
their sex, somehow got it into their heads that the execution
of a ‘white female” would be a reflection upon all woman-
kind. They prepared petitions for pardon, to present to the
governor.
John Geddes was the idol of the merchants and the work-
men of Charleston. The old plantation-owning families were
said to hate him, although they respected his honesty and
attention to business and consented to accept his lavish hos-
pitality. They admired the magnificence with which he had
entertained President Monroe, fitting up St. Andrew's Hall
to receive him, though they guessed rightly that Geddes had
crippled his resources in so doing. They smiled, however,
at his trick of addressing the members of the state house of
representatives by military titles whether they possessed
them or not. Now they smiled again at finding their wives
and daughters driving furiously about, collecting signatures
and preparing to descend upon Geddes in a flutter of silks
and merinos—to go on their knees to him, if need be.
59
nae Me
prison. Toohey had swung, but after a while his body was
cut down and given to his friends, for this black-browed,
pockmarked Irishman with the hangdog look, who had
stabbed his victim as he might have stuck a pig, yet had
friends. They had tried to revive him. They had failed and
their vain efforts somehow added another horror to the story.
From the hangman’s quarters came shouts and crackling
laughter. He was royally—triumphantly—drunk. Toohey’s
friends had worked hard over his corpse, but the hangman’s
labors had not been undone, and the hangman was celebrat-
ing.
On Sentence Day, June 2nd, John and Lavinia again were
taken to the court house, and brought before Judge Charles
Jones Colcock, as colorless a personage as Judge Bay was
picturesque. To the Fishers his very impartiality seemed in-
human and his unperturbed voice sounded like the click of
a jail door.
Correct, unbending, Colcock listened while Heath pre-
sented a notice that a motion for a new trial would be made
at the Constitutional Court. He made no objection.
John and Lavinia drew long breaths. The Constitutional
Court (a forerunner of the Court of Appeals) would not
meet until January. They could count on eight months more,
imprisoned but alive. Again the iron gates clanged behind
them.
Late in June came news of Hayward. Upon being released
upon bail in March, pending his appearance for trial at the
May term of the court of sessions, he had disappeared, fail-
ing to show up for trial. Now came word from Columbia, the
state capital, some 120 miles from Charleston. The Columbia
Telescope announced that “Hayward or Howard, one of the
five-mile-house fraternity, who had been bound over and
admitted to bail in Charlestown, arrived in town on Sunday,
and took lodgings at Mr. Frazier’s Hotel. His known phiz,
however, being recognized by a gentleman of the place, he
was taken before James T. Goodwin, esq. who, after due
examination, thought proper to commit him to the safe-
54
keeping of the jailer of Richland District, where he now
awaits the further disposition of the proper authority.”
The Telescope’s rival, the Columbia State Gazette, added
that Hayward had with him two Negroes, a man and a
woman. In examining them, the law ran into difficulties. The
man, a native African, gave his name as John and said that he
had been stolen by Hayward from a gentleman in Charleston,
but who the gentleman was, no one could make out, because
of the difficulty the man had‘in pronouncing his master’s
name.
Brought back to Charleston, Hayward wrote a letter to the
City Gazette, asserting in part:
“IT seen in your paper on Saturday last, to my unspeakable
anguish, myself stiled as one of the leaders of the robbers that
was tried at the last Court of Sessions; and in the manner I
was brought here—but it was by my own request that I
came, and for the sake of my coming to be tried by the next
Court, I paid $250...”
He went on to say that he had not wished to be tried to-
gether with persons already convicted.
—"As to Fisher having any farther correspondence with me
than dealing in my store, I deny; but as a stranger, what he
bought he paid for. . . . The only flaw I ever had on my
character, is as a gambler, which I resigned for more than
three years...”
Hayward’s police record indicates that he was underesti-
mating his flaws. The newspaper printed his letter, but the
jail held him as it held the Fishers. The prison had an exist-
ence—monotony varied only by crisis—a life apart from
that of the city, from which, however, by one means and an-
other, news reached them. Thus it is safe to assume that they
knew that, alarmed by the increase in crime, the authorities
were erecting additional street. lamps to light with their
smoky, oil-fed flames some of the more important thorough-
fares. The Fishers knew also that they had missed the excel-
lent opportunities for theft afforded by the crowds which
had flocked to see President Monroe when he visited Charles-
55
ogmagnrneytttting
wee:
again, charged with threatening the life of Frederick
Schwach, a butcher. When he saw the police coming, Roberts
tried to escape on horseback, but so prosaic a thing as a sewer
excavation stopped his flight. He broke his horse’s neck jump-
ing a ditch in Queen Street.
Nor was Hayward to remain long at liberty. But before he
was nabbed again, the Fishers were brought to trial.
On May 1oth, they were taken down to the court house—
“big, solid, square and lofty,” as the novelist, William Gil-
more Simms, was to describe it—the same building that,
enlarged, is in use today, at Broad and Meeting Streets, cat-
ercornered from St. Michael’s Church. With Hayward (who
was not present, having jumped bail) , they were indicted for
assault with intent to murder and common assault, the
attack upon David Ross being the case in point.
The jurors who brought in the true bill were William
Hart, foreman; Luke Bowes, William Wheelen, David Mur-
ray, J. S. Packer, William Owens, I. Gespeale, William
Mathews, James Fogartie, Joseph Tyler, William Brisbane,
Caleb Walker, Peter Gaillard, John Davis and John Wilson,
all solid citizens, some of them Charlestonians and others
belonging to the neighboring countryside. Mathews was a
planter, Tyler a merchant, Walker a carpenter, Davis a mar-
iner, and Wilson was the state engineer, a responsible posi-
tion concerned with internal improvements.
The case was heard May 27th. The attorney for the de-
fense, John Davis Heath, appeared and “traversed,” that is,
denied that his clients were guilty.
Heath was a comparatively obscure lawyer, although he
had been admitted to the bar at Charleston in 1807 and thus
was possessed of twelve years of experience. Judge John’
Belton O’Neall, who chronicled the lives of South Carolina
judges and lawyers, did not even include him in the col-
lection.
Against Heath stood a man later to be revealed as one of
the ablest American orators of all time—Robert Y. Hayne,
who was to be Daniel Webster’s opponent in the ‘Great
52
Debate” of 1830 in the Senate. Hayne it was who formulated
clearly the principle of “tariff for revenue only” and defined
fully and with force the doctrines of states’ rights and nulli-
fication.
In 1819, however, nullification was in the future, and
Hayne was state attorney general, a position the duties of
which included serving as solicitor in the Eastern circuit, to
which Charleston belonged. Not yet twenty-eight, he already
had made his mark, and as the Fishers were brought to trial,
the court room spectators craned their necks for a glimpse of
his large-limbed, compactly formed. figure with its broad
chest and shoulders. They knew that his rather heavy face
could become animated when he reached the nub of an argu-
‘ment and that his light gray eyes, ordinarily expressionless,
could kindle. They had seen him in action in the Toohey
case, where Hayne had obtained a conviction.
Heath did his best, and his references to Lavinia, who was
in tears, were particularly effective. But Hayne’s polite and
conciliating way with witnesses, absolutely devoid of any
attempt to browbeat or bully, but always accompanied by
explicit questions which demanded straight answers, drew
damaging testimony from even those persons who felt sym-
pathy for the young woman.
It took Daniel Webster to stand up in debate against
Hayne—and Heath was no Webster.
The jurymen nodded involuntarily in agreement as Hayne
scored point after point. The judge preserved judicial solem-
nity, but it was more solemn than usual.
Before the jury returned with the verdict, a feeling of chill,
electric with excitement, had settled upon the court room.
Guilty of highway robbery!
Back to the jail went the Fishers. Deep in its recesses, the
gaunt hangman was locked up securely. Martin Toohey was
to hang next day, and the sheriff was taking no chances on the
executioner’s getting drunk beforehand. The hangman was
a prisoner no less than the doomed man, or the Fishers.
On the evening of the 28th, a whisper ran through the
9
5$
"al
ee peat — q
Wasting
merges
. ei ten) peo TOOTS
Tg Cp
ag tad
mee ee
8 ie he
ton in April and May. They missed the excitement attendant
on the fire of July 6th which devastated part of Meeting and |
Market Streets. They were missed, in turn, by the yellow
fever epidemic which ravaged the city in the fall.
But they were not altogether idle. Having instigated a
motion for a new trial, they were not relying too much on
getting it. They thought—dreamed—worked, with one idea,
escape.
Once free, they would take no chances by remaining where
the law might catch up with them. They would leave not
only the state but the country. Their thoughts turned to Cuba
with which Charleston maintained a constant and valuable
trade. From Cuba came sugar and lumber and the pineapples
which filled stalls at the city market in such profusion that
one silver bit—twelve and a half cents—would buy one. From
(Cuba came the guitars young ladies learned to strum, and
the diminutive greyhounds they petted. Dark tales came too,
of oppressive masters; and sailors brought back stories of
wide-open port towns, more brawling even than Charleston.
John and Lavinia felt that they could find an opening on that
island.
Visit the moldering “Old Jail” today and you will find im-
pressive wrought-iron gates, close-barred windows, and a
Gothic trim, as solemn as it is pseudo. There is nothing
pseudo about the walls of well-knit brick and mortar. Deep
within the structure, now used for storage by the city’s
housing authority, you will be shown an inner cell, some-
what below ground level, without light and without air
except that which comes from the dank corridors. Tradition-
ally, this cell housed the Fishers, and so it may have been for
a time.
But Lavinia was a woman and lovely. Colonel Cleary had
a kinder heart than was good for him. Before long, the Fishers
were installed in an upper story, in the less rigorous part of
the building reserved for debtors. Near at hand was Roberts.
The law does not imprison for debt now, but neither does
it crop ears nor hang for highway robbery.
56
aa
Up here, the Fishers could look around a little. But the
view from the barred windows was depressing. The jail
stood on a tract which had once been the public burying
ground, and the district had grown up slowly with miserable
houses inhabited by those who could ill afford better.
Within the last year, these poor folk had found themselves
with new and disturbing neighbors, an influx of the most
sordid kind of riffraff who had been systematically dislodged
from their former haunts, which were being demolished to
make the City Hall Square. It had seemed unlikely that the
jail district could change for the worse but it had happened.
Near at hand stood the “Sugar House,” the prison for Ne-
groes who were held for minor offenses, such as being out after
curfew—more serious criminals of their race being kept in the
county jail with the whites. Also in the neighborhood were a
hospital for sailors, and a poor house. The poor house inmates
ran a manufactory, and the courtyard was neatly stacked with
their products—coffins.
The prisoners had no employment. There was little to
break the monotony except meals, which surprisingly were
adequate, a typical dinner consisting of good soup and three-
quarters of a pound of beef per person. A dietician might
demur, but as prison fare it was superior.
The Fishers had plenty of time in which to perfect their
plans for escape. Nor were they under strict surveillance.
The debtors’ apartments were nothing like so strong-
built as the rest of the jail. On the night of Monday, Septem-
ber 13th, John Fisher and Roberts forced a hole under one of
the windows and let themselves down by a rope made of the
blankets which served them as mattresses. Roberts descended
first. When Fisher followed, the line broke. He was about
twenty feet from the ground but, catlike, landed unhurt.
Lavinia, however, who was to have come next, found escape
barred.
John’s plan had been to board a schooner lying in Charles-
ton Harbor, about to sail for Matanzas, Cuba. Without La-
vinia, he would not go.
57
80 ANNALS OF NEWBERRY.
Two physicians, (one of whom was afterwards a man of much
distinction,) determined on possessing themselves of the body.
The poor culprit, at his request, was decently interred, and he
had also made arrangements to have his grave inclosed.
The doctors succeeded in disinterring the body, and dis.
secting it. One of them, who, then lived at Dr. Biellers,
(now Chancellor Johnston’s plantation, at the mouth of Bush
River,) put the bones in a bag, and actually carried them
home, more than ten miles, at night. Just as he reached
Geo. McKinsey’s (now Dr. Bobo's present residence,) his bag
became untied, and he lost a part of the skeleton; he roused
McKinsey from his sleep, got a light, and to the horror of
the stout farmer gathered up the disjecta membra, (the
scattered bones,) and pursued his homeward way. The report
got out, that he boiled the bones in Bieller’s still, and many
a whiskey drinker turned with loathing from the after runs
of whiskey there made. The doctors were indicted for this
sacriligious invasion of the rest of the grave; one, the most
guilty, fled the country, the other remained, and against him
the prosecution was allowed to fall.
After this episode, which is longer than the main discourse,
I must be allowed to return to Capt. Coate.. He commanded
for many years the company of cavalry, originally raised by
Maj. William Craig and Frederick Nance, and finally com-
manded by Capt. John Cappleman.* He was the surrogate
of the Ordinary, Samuel Lindsey, Esq., (except a brief inter-
val, which was filled by John Gould,) to his resignation, in
LE:
* This company, originally a very fine one, dwindled down to a very
poor troop. The horses and accoutrements of the troopers were very
remarkable for their lack of every thing to constitute cavalry. I remem-
ber very well to have seen the squadron reviewed in 1808, south of the
Academy. One of the men belonging to Cappleman’s troops was McCart;
he had neither cap nor other cavalary equipment, except a long dragoon’s
sword; he rode a very small pony. In one of the charges he was fully
100 yards in the rear, accompanied by a dog, nearly as large as his
charger. One of the students defeated McCart’s file coverer by throwing
a stone at, and hitting the poor dog, and sending him yelping from the
field. It was on that oeeasion that the reviewing officer drawing up his
command in line before the Academy, said to Cappleman’s company, -
“Gentlemen, if I was in your places I would be ashamed of riding such
little rat tail ponies, which I could take by the tail, and sling over the
Academy at one jerk.”
Be es
ANNALS OF NEWBERRY. Sl
1815. He was also the deputy of Sheriff Long, in his brief
sheriffalty of 1807. After his marriage to his first wife,
Elizabeth Long, he ceased to reside in the then village.
Atter her death, he married her sister, Mary. He died in
1827. Of him, I may well say, that he had many, very many
excellent qualities.
Maj. Frederick Nance was, I presume, the first settler at
and within the limits of the village of Newberry. He was a
native of Amelia County, Virginia; he was born the 13th day
of August, 1770, and died the 10th of February, 1840. He
lived in the house now owned by his daughter, Mrs. Dorothy
B. Pratt.* He married Elizabeth Rutherford, the daughter of
Col. Robert Rutherford. Maj. Nanco was the deputy of Wm.
Malone, the first G@unty Clerk of Nowberry, from May term
"91, till February, ‘04, when he ceased to be the deputy and
Wm. Satterwhite was appointed in his place. At. May term,
‘04, Wm. Malone resigned, and Maj. Nance was appointed
County Clerk in bis place. When the County Courts were
abolished in January, 1800, and the Circuit District Courts
established in ’98 and ’99, went into operation, he was recom.
mended and appointed by the Governor, Clerk of Newberry,
and continued in office until 1807, when he resigned, and Y.
J. Harrington, Esq., our present excellent Clerk, succeeded
him.t The writer had not that sort of knowledge in 1807,
which would enable him to speak with accuracy of the dis-
charge of the duties of Clerk by Maj. Nance; but judging
from his records, and then reputation, it is due to him to say
that no one could have better discharged the duties. Indeed,
few men had the influence which he had while in that office;
he was pretty much the legal adviser of all the citizens. f
The process of arraignment of a criminal is a very imposing
one, when properly carried out. The fine person of Maj.
* Mrs. Pratt is no more.
T Mr. Harrington died fall of 1850.
f He was also a merchant and laid the foundations of the wealth which
he realized in the successful pursuit of that business. His direction to
Xs te Harrington, who was in 1799 his clerk; and who then had little
acquaintance with the people trading at Newberry, is so creditable to
our German population that it ought to be generally known. He said to
him, “Whenever a Dutchman asks for credit, you need not hesitate about
it, and without consulting any one, you may give the credit asked.”
1 ¥
235 ANNALS OF NEWBERRY.
yet at the time whea he saw death was inevitable, ha drew
from his pocket a purse of guineas and handed it to his wife. -
This was so strange a fact, and so much at war with the
present practice of the Court of Sessions, that “Q.” hesitated
to state it. “Q.”, as well as “Abbeville,” regrets, and, proba-
bly, from the same feeling of nationality, that Love was an
Irishman: but the fact is indisputable. In Laurens, New-
berry, and, he presumes, in Abbeville, many of the Irish were
Tories. They had received land on the King’s bounty, as it
was called; and hence, on a principle of gratitude, they were
loyalists.
If “Q’s.” conjecture is right as to the authorship of “Ab-
beville,” he knows that the author has much of the same
means which ‘‘Q.” has of preserving some memorials of the
Revolution; and he hopes that the traditions which were
poured into the ears of “Abbeville,” by a tongue too dear to |
be forgotten, together with the rich gleanings which may be
gathered from the records of Ninety-Six, may be given to the
public.
Matrruew Love.—In a late number of “Annals, Historical,
Biographical,” &c., published in the Newberry Sentinel, over the
signature of “Q,” understood to be written by a distinguished
member of the Judiciary, there appeared a very interesting
account of the circumstances connected with the execution of
Matthew Love, at Ninety-Six, soon after the Revolutionary
war. This account corrects, in several particulars, “the very
inaccurate statement” of this~transaction, which has been
recently published in “Johnson’s Traditions of the Revolu-
tion,” and concludes with the remark that “the records of
court, at Ninety-Six, in the clerk’s office at Abbeville, contains
a precise account of this transaction, and it is hoped some
one will copy; and give the entry to the public as a matter
of history.”
The desire on our Sat long entertained, to know the pre-
cise state of facts, in reference to the high- handed seizure and
execution of Love, by the patriots of the Revolution, has been
quickened into activity by this reference to the “records in
the clerk’s office at Abbeville”; and, in order to obtain correct
information upon the subject, as well for our own gratifica-
tion as for the benefit of all concerned, we have looked into
the record.
We find that the record contains no account whatever of
the tumultuous proceedings, which, we are informed by tradi-
tion, occurred after the discharge of Love by the court, but
it does contain a pretty good account of the judicial proceed-
ANNALS OF NEWBERRY. 239
dings against him. We suppose the clerk considered—and if
so he considered rightly—that it was not his duty to place
upon the records of the court any thing that occurred after
the discharge of Love. The supplement was clearly extra-
judicial. The proceeding at the Post-Oak was a matter for
the records of history, but not the records of the court.
It seems that the distinguished author of the “Newberry
Annals,” notwithstanding his usual accuracy, has been misio-"
formed in common with the whole community, in several im-
portant particulars, in reference to this remarkable transaction.
It does not appear, from the record, “that Love was tried at
Ninety-Six, between ’85 and ’87, while Gen. Moultrie was
Governor, before Adanns Burke, Esq., for horse-stealing, com-
mitted during the Revolutionary war.” This has been the
common opinion, but it is erroneous in several particulars.
There has been a slight mistake as to time. Matthew Love
was before the court at Ninety-Six, (he was never tried at all,
as we will presently see,) at the fall term of 1784. There is
no records of any court held at Ninety-Six, after the Declara-
tion of Independence, before spring, 1783. On the 26th April,
of that year, the Hon. Thomas Haywood, Jr., seems to have
held what, in the “Record of General Sessions,” is termed the
“Spring Assizes,” for the first time, at Ninety- Six. The
Journal of the proceedings of that term, commences as if it
were the first court held there after the war, as we have no
doubt it was. It begins in solemn phrase—“At a court of
General Sessions, of the peace, held at Ninety-Six, for the
District of Ninety-Six, the 26th day of April, 1783,” &c.
The preliminaries of peace between the United States and
Great Britain, were signed on the 30th November, 1782,
although the definitive ‘treaty of peace and friendship—the
treaty “of Paris—-was not formally signed until after this court
was held, viz: on the 30th of September, 1783. On the 30th
April, “the court was adjourned to the 26th of November
next.” The “November Assizes, 1783,” was held by the Hon.
Aidanus Burke, who, after a session of twe days, adjourned
“the court of the 26th of April, 1784.” The “Spring Assizes,
1784,” was held by the Hon. Henry Pendleton, who continued
the court until Saturday, May Ist, when “the court adjourned
to the 26th November next.” The record of the ensuing fall
term commences as follows :—‘‘November 26th, 1784, the “court
met agreeable to adjournment; present the Hon. Adanus
Burke, Esq.” This is the term which has been made famous
by the execution of the Tory Love, in violation of the treaty
of Paris, and in opposition to the law, and in contempt of
the court and its officers. It commenced on the 26th Novem-
ber, and ended on Tuesday, the 7th of December, 1784, which
last seems to have been the day of the discharge and execution.
Benjamin Guerard was Governor of the State at. this time,
318 ANNALS OF NEWBERRY.
SENTENCE OF MOTLEY AND BLACKLEDGE.
Thomas Motley ads. The State—Murder of a Slave.—Whitner,
Judge. Motion for new tusial dismissed.
William Blackledge ads. The State—Murder of Slave.—Whitner,
Judge. Motion in arrest of judgment and for a new trial dismissed.
His Honor, Judge. O’Neall, pronounced on the prisoners the follow-
ing eloquent, impressive and affecting sentence, worthy, in its gen-
eral character, aud especially honorable sensitiveness to true Southern
character and sacred regard for the right of humanity, to take ts
place by the side of that of Judge Wilde, many years ago, in the
case of Slater, when the murder of a slave was punishable only with
& pecuniary mulct: :
Thomas Motley— William Blackledge.—Two months have passed
away siuce you stood before me, in the midst of the commuuity
where the awful tragedy, of which you have been convicted, was
performed. I hope this time has been profitable to you, and that in
the midnight watchings of your solitary cells you have turned back
with shame and sorrow to the awful cruelties of which you were
guilty on the 5th of July last.
Notwithstanding the enormity of your offence, you have no reasou
to complain that justice has been harshly administered. On the
circuit and here you have had the aid of zealous, untiring counsel—
every thing which man could do to turn away the sword of justice
bas been done; but.in vain. Guilt, such as yours, cannot escape the
sanctions of even earthly tribuuals.
My duty now is to pass between you and the State, and announce
the law’s awful doom! Before I do so, usage and propriety demand
that I should endeavor to turn your thoughts to the certain results
before you. Death here, a shameful death, awaits you! I hope it
may be that you may escape the everlasting death of the soul.
It may be profitable to you to recall the horrid deeds, which you
jointly and severally committed, in the death of the poor, begging,
unoffending slave. I will not repeat the disgusting details of the
outrages committed; the public are already fully informed, and your
own hearts, in every pulsation, repeat them to you. I may be per-
mitted, however, to say to you, and to the people around you, and to
the world, that hitherto South Carolina had never witnessed such
atrocities; indeed, they exceed all that we are told of savage barbarity-
For the Indian, the moment his captive ceases to be a true warrior
(in the sense of which he understands it) and pleads for merey, no
longer extends his sufferings—death, speedy death, follows. But
you, fora pight and part of the succeeding day, rioted in the suffer-
ings and terrors of the poor negro, and at length your ferocious dogs,
set on by you, throttled and killed him, as they would a wild beast.
Can’t you hear his awfal death ery, “Oh, Lord!’ If you cannot -
hear it, the Lord of Hosts heard and answered it. He demanded
then, and now, from you, the fearful account of blood!
ANNALS OF NEWBERRY. 319
You have met with the fearful consequeuces of the infamous busi-
ness iu which you were engaged—hunting runamays with dogs, equal-
ly fierce and ferocious as the Spanish bloodhounds, With one of you
(Motley) there could have been no excuse. Your father, young man,
is a man of wealth, reaped and gathered together by a life of toil and
privation; that the son of such a man should be found more thana
hundred miles from home, following a pack of dogs, in the chase of
negro slaves, through the swamps of the lower country, under a
summer's sun, shows either a love of cruelty, or of money, which is
not easily satisfied. To the other prisoner, Blackledge, it may be
that poverty aud former devotion to this sad business might bave
presented some excuses. :
The Scripturés, young men, with which, I fear, you have not been
familiar, declare, as the law of God, “Thou shalt not kill.’ This
divine statute, proclaimed to God’s own prophet, amid the lightning
aud thunder of Sinai, was predicated of the law, previously given to
Noah, after one race of men had perished. ‘‘Whoso sheddeth man’s
blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made
he man.” In conformity to these divine commands, is the law of
the State under which you have been condemned. No longer is the
blood of the slave to be paid for with money; no longer is the brutal
murderer of the negro to go free! ‘Life for life’ is demanded, and
you, poor, guilty creatures, have the forfeit to pay! A long expe-
rience asa lawyer and a Judge, makes it my duty to say to you, and
to the people all around you, never have Tknown the guilty murderer
to go free! If judgment does not overtake him in the hall of justice,
still the avenger of blood is in his pursuit: still the eye, which never
slumbers nor sleeps, is upon him, until in some unexpected moment
the command goes forth, “Cut him down,”’ and the “place which
knew him once shall know him no more forever.”” Since your trial,
one of the witnesses, miuch censured for participation, in some sort,
in your guilty deeds, has been suddenly cut off from life.
I say to you young men, “You must die.’’ Do not trust in hopes
. of executive clemency. It seems to me, however much the governor’s
heart may bleed to say ‘‘no” to your application, he will have to say
it. Prepare yourselves, therefore, as reasonable, thinking, accounta-
ble men, for your fate Search the Scriptures —obtain repentance by
a godly sorrow for sin. Struggle night and day for pardon. Remem-
ber, Christ the Saviour eame to save sinners, the chief of sinners.
Learn that you are such, and he will then declare to you that,
“though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool,”
The sentence of the law is, that you be taken to the place whence
you last came, thence to the jai! of Colleton District; that you be
closely and securely confined until Irid ‘y, the third day of Mareh
next, on which day, between the hours of ten in the forenoon wud
two iu the afternoon, you and each of you will be taken, by the S ver-
iffof Colleton District, to the place of public execution, and thvie be
240 ANNALS OF NEWDERRY.
as appears from the following circumstance :—One Jesse Vann
had been sentenced at a previous court to be hung for horse-
stealing, but was pardoned by Gov. Guerard. The pardon
was spread upon the records of the court at. this term, and
bears date 6th May, 1784. Benjamin Guerard was: governor
at the time Love was executed, but. G%n. Moultrie sue-
ceeded him the year after, in 1780, and possibly may have’
“issued a proclamation for the apprehension of all concerned.”
As to this, however, we are wninformed by tradition or other-
wise. If such a proclamation was ever issued, it would be a
most interesting document, and it is hoped that some one will
hunt it up and give it to the public.
It does not appear that Love was ever charged with the
offence of horse-stealing, but the charge upon which he was
committed was that of “Sedition and Murder.” Nor does it
appear that he was tried and acquitted. No indictment was
ever given out against him upon any charge. The original
documents have been examined, and no such indictment eau
be found among the records. Matthew Love's name first ap-
peared, along with many others, in a report of the Sheriff,
styled “A Return of Prisoners in Ninety-Six Gaol to Novem-
ber, 1754.” Such a return seems to have been made to every
court for the purpose of a general jail delivery. This return
contained: the names of the prisoners, when committed, by
whom committed, and for what offence. By this return, it
appears that Matthew Love was committed to ‘the jail at
Ninety-Six, October 3d, 1784, upon information lodged by one
William Moore, for “Sedition against the State.’ The record
shows that most of the prisoners named in the Sheriff's list
were tried during the term, and nearly all of them convicted.
It seems that Tuesday, the 7th day of December, was the last
of the term, and sentence day. All the prisoners who had
been tried and convicted were brought up and regularly sen-
tenced. The sentences of His Honor are recorded at length
in each case; and then a separate supplement order is made
in two cases, one against two men by the name of Lochorn,
and the other against Matthew Love, indicating clearly, as it
seems to us, that they were in jail, but had not been tried.
The Attorney General supposing, probably, that after the
treaty of Paris, he could not convict them for offences of a
political character, committed “fagrante bello,’ had not given
out indictments against them. The record stands “verbatim ef
liberatim,” as follows:
“Ordered that the following prisoners be bronght up in
Court :” :
The State vs. Stephen Lochorn and Jacob Lochorn —Hue
and Cry from Georgia. Ordered that they be discharged by
proclamation. Sworn off as to fees,
‘
ANNALS OF NEWBERRY. 241
The State vs. Matthew Love—Sedition and Murder. Ordered
to be discharged’ Sworn off as to fees.
“Ordered, that the treaty of peace between His Britannic
Majesty and the Uuited States of America, be recorded on the
records of this court, which is as. follows, to wit ~The whole
treaty is here inserted at length, commencing thé definitive
treaty of peace and friendship, &e. Signed at Paris, the 3d
of September, 17835,” Ke. :
There is no mention upon the records of any disturbance
whatever, or of the fate of Love. After the sentences were
passed, and Lochorn and Love were discharged, it is stated
that “the court adjourned to the 26th day of April next.”
If we are not mistaken, we have seen somewhere the letter of
Judge Burke, giving an account of what occurred after Love
was discharged by the court. We would like to see it again.
Who will have the kindness, also, to, hunt up this paper, and
give it to the public as matter of history? . te
The “Records of General Sessions,” of old Ninety-Six, an:
mencing in the spring of 1783, and ending in the fall of Lig,
contain much rich and racy matter. They are a perfect mine
for the antiquary and judicial historian. ‘Tt seems that horse-
stealing was the great offence of the time, and it was not
checked until many, very many, had been hung for it. Dur-
ing the term at which Love was before the court, tive persons,
viz: James Mitchell, John Glover, Philip Campbell, James
Irwin and William York, were tried, convicted, and sentenced
to be hung on Christinas day, 1iS4. The es dante J.
Mitchell, for “uttering counterfeit money,” and al! the others
for “horse-stealing.”
It is said that Matthew Love. was an Irishman; we are
really sorry to hear it, and hope that further inquiry will
show that there is a mistake, also, in this particular. Love is
reported to have been eruel, bleod-thirsty and revengeful ;
these are not characteristics of an Irishman. The Trish were
generally good Whigs, almost from necessity. They hack left
oppression in their own Emerald Isle, and therefore, inieN —
value of liberty. They had Jong known our enemies, the:
British, and entertained for them a hereditary hatred—a’
hatred arising out of long political oppression, and made more
intense by difference of disposition, manners, race and religion.
An Irishman could not be a bloody Tory, without doing
violence to the generous, merciful impulses of his own nature,
and all his political antecedents, associations: and prejudices ;
in other words, without ceasing to be an Irishman. W ¢ BY
cerely hope it will turn out that Matthew Love was not an
Irishman by birth—he certainly was not by nature. John
Randolph once said he had yet to see that “rara avis in
ferris,” an Irish Tory.
1 P
320 ANNALS OF NEWBERRY.
hanged by the neck till your bodies be dead, and may God have merey
on your soul.
TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF EX-GOVERNOR JOHNSON.
A meeting of the bar was held in the chamber of the Equity Court
of Appeals, at half past 9 o’clock A. M., yesterday, to pay a tribute of
respect and regard to the memory of the late ex-Governor Johnson.
' On motion of J. L. Petigru, Esq., Isaac W. Hayne, Esq., Attorney
General, was called to the chair, and Thomas J. Gantt, Esq., (Clerk
of tbe Court of Appeals and the Court of Errors, on the nomination
of the deceased,) was appointed Secretary.
The Chairman stated the object of the meeting in a few appropriate
remarks.
The Hon. Mitchell King then rose, and introduced the following
preamble and resolution :
The State of South Carolina is again called to mourn the death of one of
her most distinguished citizens. On the 7th day of this month, at his res-
idence at Limestone Springs, the venerable and venerated David Jobn-
son paid the debt of nature, and his ashes repose in Union District, near
the place where he first saw the light. The sympathies and affection of the
commnnity gather around his tomb. Every man feels that he has lost an
enlightened friend. But the Judiciary, of whom he was long the presid-
’ ing officer—who were so long associated with him in their high duties, and
who were bound to him by the strongest ties of mutual kindness and con-
fidence—and the bar, who sustained before him the toils of their laborious
and anxious profession, have the deepest cause of sorrow.
We shall leave tothe biographer the duty of commemorating the domes™
tic and private virtues of our departed friend; and well, in them, will he
deserve a faithful chronicler, for no kinder and more generous man, accord-
ing to the full measure of his ability, ever lived. In every relation of life
he strove to perform his duty: His heart overflowed with the best feel-
ings, and was governed and guarded by his enlightened intellect. To speak
of him as a lawyer and a judge is the special privilege of the bar ; and if
the voice of friendship mingle in our commemoration, it is because we
cannot well separate our love for him as a friend, from our admiration of
him as a jurist.
David Johnson was indeed one of nature’s noblemen. He was no less
remarkable for his presence than for his virtues. His frame was large,
well proportioned and athletic ; his countenance grave, thoughtful and
benevolent; his whole bearin,s and deportment conciliated esteem and
commanded respect; his form was a fitting abode for his masculine and
powerful intellect.
He studied law under the direction of the learned and upright Abraham
Nott. After some years’ successful practice at the bar, he was in 1815
raised to the bench, and from that time until in 1846 the spontaneous voice
of the people, expressed by the votes of every member of both branches of
a Snr gree en ee
ANNALS OF NEWBERRY. 321
our Legislature, called him to the gubernatorial chair, he continued as-a
Judge at law,a Judge of the Court of Appeals, or as a Chancellor in
Equity, to perform his judicial functions in the highest tribunals of the
State. To the execution of these functions he brought a mind well stored
with legal lore—unwearied industry—invincible patience and persever-
ance—great natural abilities and stainless integrity. No man was freer
from prejudice—none firmer in his opinions, or maintained them with
more urbanity and consideration for the opinions of others. Truth was
his object, and he never, against his convictions, or to show his intellectual
strength, contended merely for victory. Tho most inexperienced member
of the bar, in addressing him, was sire of an encouraging hearing and a
fair, impartial consideration of his arguments, while he enforced the rules
and maintained the decorum and dignity of the court. His manner was
so mild, and his firmness so gentle, that the most sensitive feelings were
not wounded—the most irritable could not take offeuce. The examination
of witnesses before him was always conducted with a due regard to the
cause of truth and justice. The modest, the diffident, and the candid
were protected—the reluctant, or equivocating, subjected to the full rigor
of a searching scrutiny.. Nothing could exceed the impartiality with
which, as a Judge at law, he laid the evidence in a cause before a jury, or
the candor with which, as a Chancellor, he determined on it for himself.
In all ordinary business of the court he was prompt and decisive. In cases
of complexity or difficulty, he was patient and slow in coming to his con-
clusions, but when they were once formed he adhered to them with great
firmness, This, however, was the firmness of a clear and self-relying mind,
devoted to the right; and, in any matter that he had adjudicated, brought
again on appeal before him, no Judge ever lent a more willing ear to the
arguments urged against his own opinion, and if, on full reconsideration,
he was satisfied he had been in error, no Man was ever more magnanimous
in acknowledging that error, and in giving his reasons for changing his
opinion, and agreeing to the reversal of his previous judgment. He was
seldom wrong, but he claimed no patent of infallibility, and was not only
willing, but glad to correct a mistake. When, after tasking all the ener-
gies of his mind, he remained satisfied that he was right, no power on
earth could have induced him to let go his integrity. He was tried, well
tried, in times of the deepest excitement, when many of his nearest and
dearest friends, who held opinions different from his own, and with whom
he might have been happy to agree, pressed their views earnestly and
zealously upon him, he had formed his opinion on the clearest dictates of
his own conscience, and to these dictates he unostentatiously and inflexi-
bly adhered. He knew that, before his country, when excitement had
passed away, and finally before his God, he must be tried on the truth
and purity of his own correctness; and he has reaped his reward. The
respect of the good and the wise clustered around him, His country
spontaneously crowned him with her highest honors; and when advancing
age caused him to withdraw from public life, followed him to his retreat
with her cordial well-done and best wishes.
He has been taken from us, and has gone to receive the recompense of
1 U
o34 ANNALS OF NEWBERRY.
his death, which happened in about 1848, she married J. D.
Heuston, with whom she is still living in Brunswick, Ga.”
SaLtupa Op Tovwy.
“It is only a matter of conjecture with the writer how
the place came by the name; but he has the impression
that there was onée an old Indian town there, and beine
one of the oldest towns on the banks of the Saluda River
it was accordingly called Saluda Old Town.
_ “Judge O’Neall, in his Annals of Newberry, makes men-
tion of the fact that there was once an old Indian trail
leading from the settlement at Old Town on the Saluda
by way of Long’s Bridge on Little River, the point hoes
the C. & G RR. crosses that stream, Silver Street and
Seun’s Mill, to another settlement which they had on En-
oree. The writer remembers that part of the old trail from
Little River to Senn’s Mill as being for many years the
dividing line between the 38th and 39th Regiments of South
Carolina Militia; persons living on the southeast side went
to Levers and those on the northwest side to Teacue’s
old field to regimental muster. :
“When the writer first knew Old Town it was the property
of Robert Dunlap and was even then very much on the wane.
Old people, however, used to say that at one time it was
quite a noted place. The old Charleston road, by which
the people for many miles around carried their produce to
Charleston, crossed the Saluda at Old Town, which was the
only crossing place, with the exception of Island Ford, for
many miles. This road, after crossing the river, ran down
the Edgetield side, and nearly parallel with the river for a
good many miles, having first, about a mile beyond the
river, joined or united with another old road leading up
Saluda from the lower country, and known as_ tho old
Charleston and Ninety-Six Road. It Crossed the road now
known as the Higgins’ Ferry Road, or Kinard’s, just at the
old brickyard beyond where A. P. Coleman, commonly called
Dandy, now lives, A Major Moore lived on the road a
short distance below Old Town. I suppose it was on the
place now owned by General Hagood, or the Bonham place
where he carried on quite a large mercantile business.
ANNALS OF NEWBERRY. 530
“As ferries began to. be established along the Saluda,
thus opening up newer and better roads, Old Town began
to decline, and I think before it passed out of the hands
of Mr. Dunlap the ferry had been discontinued, and in a
few years if a stranger had been told that Old Town had
once been a considerable thoroughfare he would have been
forced to believe that the speaker was trying to hoax him.
“Old Town remained in obscurity for some time, but in
the year 1852, after the G. & GC. R. R. passed there, a
depot was built at the place and a ferry across Saluda
was re-established. But it did not succeed well as a place
of business. It did not grow and flourish as a town, al-
though a mineral spring, giving forth water of highly cura
tive powers, was discovered in the immediate neighborhood,
and a fine hotel was built for the accommodation of visitors.
The spring dried up, the hotel failed and was sold, and
~ bought by Col. M. W. Clary and removed by him to his
Southern Saratoga, down in Edgetield near Cannon’s Ferry,
where it was soon afterwards destroyed by fire.
“At present Saluda Old Town is a station with a depot
on the G. & C. R. R. There are also some stores at the
place, if I mistake not, where some business is done. Just
across the river on the Edgefield side is General Hagood’s
Grass Farm, which is well worth a visit. It is a pleasant
sight to ride through it when the grass is just ready for
the mower.
“At Saluda Old Town there was once undoubtedly a large
Indian town, as many Indian arrow heads, pieces of pottery
and other relics are found, or used to be found, in the
neighborhood.”
In addition to the foregoing I may add that it was en-
acted by Hon. Wm. Bull, Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-
in Chief in and over His Majesty’s Province of South Caro-
lina, by and with the advice and consent of His Majesty’s
Council and the Commons House of Assembly of the said
Province, and assented to on the 7th of April, 1770, that
a public ferry be established over Saluda River at the place
called Saluda Old Town, at the lands of Charles Carson on
the south side of the river, to the opposite shore at the
Jands of William Turner; and that the said ferry shall be
eee |
THE
ANNALS OF NEWBERRY,
HISTORICAL, BIOGRAPHICAL AND ANECDOTICAL;
; ALSO
Sen
RELIGIOUS, MEDICAL AND LITERARY:
PART SECOND,
BY
JOHN A. CHAPMAN, A. M.
’
NEWBERRY, S. C::
Auxtt & Hovusrau, PuBLISHEnRs.
1892.
532 ANNALS OF NEWBERRY.
Tae Murper or Davin Waters.
“David Waters lived on the road from Higgins’ (now
Kinard’s) Ferry to Newberry Court House, about one mile
from Deadfall, on the place where the widow of Edward
Stephens now lives. He was a thoroughgoing, energetic man,
and at the time of his death was, I suppose, the wealthiest
man in that section of the county. He was murdered on
the night of the 25th of February, 1819, as he was re-
turning from a cotton gin where he was having his cotton
prepared for market. The murder was committed on the
side of the road between where Mr. G. Henry Werts now
lives and Mr. Jeff Waldrop’s, and very near the residence
of the latter. The writer was then only about five years
old, but he remembers as if it was but yesterday hearing
the messenger, who came after his father that night, tell
that David Waters had been killed. The messenger was
James Wadsworth, a free negro who lived in the same sec-
‘tion for many years afterwards, and may still be remembered
by a few old people yet living.
“For a man to be found murdered at this day and time
seems to attract but little attention; but at that time it
must have been very different, for by daylight next morning
I suppose every grown man within five miles of the place
was on the ground, and each man constituted himself a
committee of one to discover the murderer. The inquisition
which was held on the next day; 26th February, 1819, by
Powel Cooper, coroner, with David Thomas foreman of the
jury, failed, however, to get any clue to the perpetrator;
but it was not many days before the whole thing was
brought to light. It was ascertained that he was killed by
one of his own negroes, named Jerry, and that two others,
Will and Jim, were accessories before the fact. The negro
man, Jerry, was hung and his body burned a_ few yards
from wcere the murder was committed. Will and Jim were
terribly whipped and then cropped and branded. The wag-
oner, a negro man named Ned, was also given one hundred
lashes. But I have always thought that in his case tho
punishment was wrong. It seems that Waters and _ his wag-
oner, Ned, left the gin at the same time about dark.
Waters rode on ahead and when Ned saw him lying in
ANNALS OF NEWBERRY. 033
the road he turned out into the woods and drove round
him. His explanation was, that some time previous tc that
be had found a man lying in the road drunk one night,
and that he had taken him up and laid him to one side
and then drove on; and that when he told his master,
Waters, of the circumstance he gave him a severe reproof,
and told him never to touch nor go near affy person whom
he might see lying in the road after dark. This story has
always looked reasonable to me, and so I have been im-
pressed with the idea that his punishment was not justly
inflicted. At the sale of the property of the estate of
Waters, Ned was’ purchased by a Mr. Morgan, and was
killed some years afterward by Mark Morgan, one of his
young masters. It appears that they were engaged in
building a chimney, as was then quite common, with sticks
and clay, when some dispute arose and Morgan struck him
with one of the sticks and killed him.
“One of the negroes, Will, who was implicated in the
murder, was bought by Daniel Clary, the father of Col.
M. W. Clary, now of Edgefield, who lived at the place on
Saluda River where Cannon’s Ferry now is. Will lived to
be rather an old man, and died with dropsy after a long
illness and much suffering. The other negro who was im-
plicated in the murder was purchased by Mr. John Taylor,
who then owned and lived on the place now owned by
Col. John R. Leavell on Bush River. I do not know what
became of him, but I recollect that it was said to have
been through his agency that a circumstance happened which
distressed the family very much and made quite a scandal
in the neighborhood.
“David Waters’ wife was a Miss Elleson, by whom he
left four children, William, David M., Daniel and Elizabeth.
The widow married Edward Stephens and died some years
afterwards with consumption. William Waters was killed by
a kick from a horse, and David died a few years after-
wards. David M. Waters will be remembered, I suppose,
by a good many of the people of the county. He removed
to Tennessee about the year 1844 or 1845, and was there
-killed in a row some twelve or fifteen years afterwards.
“Elizabeth Waters married James M. Davenport and after
Even among Charlestonians, those indefatigable climbers of
family trees, no one has claimed kinship with the Fishers.
No one even has insinuated that anybody else was related
to them. Genealogically, they might have existed in a vac-
uum.
But the end of Lavinia’s story was not the end of her legend
—it goes on and on. If she was not really so beautiful as tradi-
tion asserts, who will grudge her this flattery? No matter what
garbled version is told, her beauty, somewhat lethal but
always charming, brightens an otherwise harsh story.
Nor was beauty her only recommendation—she could be
obliging. At least, one may judge so from her last public ut-
terance on the scaffold, before she knelt in repentance:
“If you have a message you want to send to hell, give it to
me—I’ll carry it.”
68
1889
The Killing
of Captain Dawson
by
Thomas K. Peck
Thomas K. Peck was born in Utica, New York,
and moved to New York City at an early age. A
graduate of Trinity School, he started his news-
paper career on the New York Herald Tribune.
Then came two years as reporter and photographer
for The Buffalo Times. He joined The News and
Courier as a news photographer in 1936, and be-.
came telegraph editor in 1943. The photograph
used on the jacket is Mr. Peck’s.
}
GAZETTE
The following issues are of the South Carolina Gazette and
variant titles presently housed in the American Antiquarian Society,
Worcester, Massachusetts.
Issue of July 10, 1792
Charleston, June 28. On Monday last was executed, pursuant ld
to his sentence, John Feller, for attempting to pass a note,
knowing the same to be forged. He declared his innocence of the
crime for which he died, with his latest breath. He died with the
greatest fortitude.
FOS 012-1625
a
te pUewS lA.
Issue of September 15, 1792
Fredericksburg, August 16. On Wednesday evening the 8th-in- _ OL
stant, Mr. John Brock jun. was murdered near his house in Spot- ~> ee
4 sylvania county. His body was found the next day, lying in the ai
road, with a contusion on the back of his head, and several attempts
had been made to cut his throat. Four negroes, the property of
his father, have since confessed themsélves the actors in this
tragic scene and are committed:to gaol. He has left a wife and
several small children to lament his unhappy end.
Issue of October 6, 1792
Columbia, Oct. 6. Lately died in Philadelphia, Mrs. Smith,
consort of the Hon. William Smith, member of Congress from this
State.
On Monday last died, near Winnsborough, Mrs. Eliza Winn, wife
of John Winn, jun. Esq.
VICES FXRA
Issue of October 13, 1792
Columbia, Oct. 13. The Earl of Guildford (late Lord North)
died in London on the 4th of August last, in the 6lst year of his
age.
On the same day died, after a few hours illness, Lieutenant-
| General Burgoyne.
I So PoZc baer.
SOOT ELV Heros I179L. Ess
t
¢
Issue of November 10, 1792
Columbia, Nov. 10. Sir Richard Arkwright died at Cromford,
Derbyshire, England in August last. (eulogy)
Saturday last died, greatly lamented, at the saw-mills, Edisto,
Colonel Richard Hampton, of the Congaree.
yse¢
7
Issue of April 9, 1793
A short time since died, at his plantation on Pedee, greatly
lamented, William Wilson, Esquire, a member of the Senate and one
of the Justices of the Quorum.
(4
=
ex DERI A/®
Soot CAROLE
Ct SABLA,
Issue of May 21, 1793
Winchester, April 15. About three weeks ago, Thomas Ross,
Postrider, fell a sacrifice to the Indians in the wilderness.
Ross had undertaken to come in, accompanied by only two other
persons, who when the attack was made, were both wounded. The
savages decapitated him, fixes his head upon a stake, left it by
the side of the trace, and carried off the mail, which it is said
1
Apr RAE
JOf$ 20 EBIL
e
J
GAZETTE
Issue of June 3, 1803
Married, on Thursday the 19th May, at Savannah, by the Rev. Mr.
Holcombe, Judge Trezevant of this state, to Mrs. Henrietta Morel,
relict of the late honorable John Morel, of Georgia.
Married on Sunday evening last, Mr. Michael Moore, merchant,
to Mrs. Rebecca Lunsford, both of this town.
Died at Philadelphia, half after eleven o'clock, on Monday
the 9th of May, General Stephens Thomson Mason, one of the sena-
tors representative of the state of Virginia, in the Congress of
the U. S.
Issue of August 5, 1803
Died on the 30th day of last month, Mrs. Jane Wilson Rogers;
wife of the Rev. James Rogers, of Fairfield district...in the 25th
year of her age. (eulogy).
Issue of September 2, 1803
Married on Sunday evening last, in the village of Granby, by
the Reverend Mr. Dunlap, Lieut. Peter Lumpkin, to the amiable Miss
Charlotte Caroline Seibels, daughter of Mr. Jacob Seibels, merchant
of this place.
Died at Edgefield Courthouse on Sunday evening, the 2lst ult.,
Elizabeth Giles Dozier, only child of Abraham G. Dozier, esquire
of said place, aged 13 mo. & 4 days. (eulogy).
Issue of September 23, 1803
Departed this life on Monday last in the 70th year of his age,
James Foster, preacher of the Gospel. (eulogy).
Issue of October 7, 1803
Washington Sept. 13 Died on the 13th inst., Commodore Barry.
(eulogy).
Issue of October 14, 1803
On Tuesday last departed this life in the 23d year of her age,
Mrs. Nelly Parker, consort of Mr. Thomas Parker, merchant of
Charleston, late of Sheffield, in England. Mr. Parker, who was .
married but a few months ago in the city of Baltimore, reached
this place with his family last Monday fortnight, on his way to
Charleston, intending there to fix his permanent residence....
Issue of November 4, 1803
On Tuesday morning, the lst instant, departed this life, in
the 43d year of his age, Dr. William Montgomery, of this place.
He was a native of Carlisle in Pennsylvania...(eulogy).
Issue of November 29, 1803
Died very suddenly on Sunday night last, Mr. John Calvert,
an old & respectable inhabitant of this place.
Issue of July 15, 1803
GAZETTE — :
Married on Tuesday evening last, by the Rev. Mr. Dunlap, Mr. |
Robert Clark of Charleston, merchant, to the amiable Miss Sally |
Tillinghast, of this town.
|
Issue of January 20, 1804
Married in Baltimore on Saturday the 24th ult., Jerome Bona-
parte to Miss Elizabeth Patterson, eldest daughter of Mr. William
Patterson, merchant of that city.
Issue of February 3, 1804
Died on the night of the 20th ult. at his plantation on
Dutchman's creek, in Fairfield district, Mr. Jonathan Belton,
planter & merchant, of a short & painful illness. He has left a
disconsolate widow, one son & numerous acquaintances to lament
his loss. (eulogy).
Married, at Boston, on the 7th ult., by the Rev. Dr. West,
Capt. Peter Geyer, aged 62, to the amiable & accomplished Miss
Polly Sancry, aged 17.
Married at Athens (Ver.), Master Silas Chaplain, aged 15, to
Miss Susannah Powers, aged 13!!!
Issue of January 27, 1804
Died in the N. parish of Weymouth (Mas.) widow Mary Ripley,
who had attained (wanting a few days) the age of 104 years.
(eulogy)
Issue of March 9, 1804
Died in England, John Tucker, a soldier in Ashford barracks.
He died at 4 o'clock in the morning; before 12 the same day, his
widow was married to another man & in the evening, the happy
couple followed the corpse of the first husband to the grave as
chief morners (sic).
Issue of March 30, 1804
Died lately, at his residence in Richland district, a few miles
below Columbia, Dr. Charles William Koester.
Issue of May 15, 1804
Died on the 7th inst., at the late residence of the honorable
Commodore Alexander Gillon, Congaree, Beaver Creek,Bernadus Buyck,
aged 36, a native of Ghent in Flanders.
Issue of June 8, 1804
On Sunday night, the 27th instant, between the hours of eleven
& twelve o'clock, Mr. Richard Johnston, planter, of St. Paul's ‘
Parish, hearing a considerable noise among his dogs, adjacent to CA
the house, went out to learn the cause; when he was immiediately
shot dead upon the spot, receiving several shot in different parts
of his body. The perpetrator of this dead (sic) is supposed to
be a fellow belonging to Mr. Johnston, who has absconded for some
time past. We are concerned to state that Mr. Johnston has left
an effectionate (sic) wife & five children to lament the loss....
7
Y
GAZETTE
On ___Sday the 24th of April, Henry Crymes, of Bath County,
State of Virginia, under the influence of delirium, broke his
skull with a stone...(account) he lived until Thursday evening
following....
Died in Ireland, Roger Byrne, the famous Irish giant. He
is said to have died of suffocation, occasioned by an extremity
of fat, which stopped the play of his lungs, in the 54th year of
his age....London paper.
Died, Mr. Barker, formerly a farmer...(no date given)
Issue of July 20, 1804
Married in Charleston, on the 23d of last month, Capt. Thomas
Campbell Cox, one of the Editors of "the Times," to Miss Susan
Mason Skrine.
Issue of August 11, 1804
Augusta. On Tuesday the 3lst July a duel was fought at
Middleton's ferry, on the South Carolina side, between William
Appling & John Rowe, both of Columbia County; Mr. Appling received
‘a ball the first fire, about the termination of the hair on his
forehead, by which he, in a short time, expired. Mr. Appling has
left 3 small children & a number of relatives & friends to deplore
the loss of an affectionate friend & valuable member of society.
Issue of August 18, 1804
Died in the city of Charleston, on Friday the 10th instant,
much lamented by his friends & acquaintances, after an illness of
8 days, which he bore with Christian fortitude & perfect patience,
the Rev. Nicholson Waters, aged 65 years, a minister of the Metho-
dist Episcopal church for near 30 years.
Issue of August 25, 1804
Charleston. With great regret we have to state that one of
the most atrocious & premeditated murders was perpetrated in this
1 city yesterday afternoon on the body of Mr. James Shaw, merchant
{_
— A
\_ef this city, by a young man named Richard Dennis, jun. (account )
We believe Mr. Shaw was about 28 or 30 years of age. He was a
native of the state of Maryland, & has resided in this state for
about 10 years. ;
Columbia. Departed this life on the 2d of August, Mrs. Mary °
Dale, wife of Robert Dale, resident of Chester District, in the
19th year of her age, and left her first child, of about 2 hours
Old, & an affectionate husband, to lament their loss. (eulogy )
Issue of September 8, 1804
Charleston. Yesterday morning, J. H. Stevens, Esq. coroner
for Charleston district, held a jury of inquest on the body of
Michael Barrett, Esq. attorney at law, who died on Thursday
afternoon, suddenly, on the \deck of a schooner bound for Savannah,
in which he had taken fit...)
Issue of September 15, 1804
Died in this place on the morning of the 10th instant, of
a violent bilious fever, Mrs. Susanna Dunlap, the wife of the
Rev. David E. Dunlap, aged 30 years. Also, on the evening of the
8
GAZETTE
same day, & of the same complaint, the Rev. David E. Dunlap,
clerk of the Senate, & one of the trustees of the South-Carolina
College, aged 36 years. They were interred in one grave on the
day following attended by a general & solemn assemblage of the
citizens of this place & of Granby....(eulogy).
l ) Issue of November 3, 1804
) Petersburgh, Oct. 16. The recent murder of Ira Lane, who
: Vas murdered on the 27th ult. aged 7 years, by David Williams,
aged 29, both of the town of Melton & county of Cayuga....(account )
Augusta, 27 Oct. Died in Tattnall county, State of Georgia,
the llth of April last, James Thomas in the 134th year of his age.
Issue of December 1, 1804
Died in Newberry district on Thursday the 22d ult., in the
17th year of his age, Mr. William Henry Long, eldest son of
Capt. Benjamin Long of that district.
Issue of December 22, 1804
Married, at Santee, on Thursday the 13th inst., Mr. John C.
Schulz, merchant of this place, to Miss Susan Flud Canty.
Issue of December 29, 1804
Marriéd on Tuesday evening last, by the Rev. Mr. Harper, Mr.
Robert Yates to Miss Elizabeth Williams, both of this town.
Married on the 20th inst. by Charles Allen, Esq.,Mr. James
Caldwell, Preceptor of the Academy adjacent to Laurens village
to the accomplished Miss Elizabeth Miller, both of Laurens village.
Married on the 20th inst., Mr. Joseph Manley to Miss Peggy
Wilson, daughter of Mr. James Wilson, both of Laurens district.
Issue of January 5, 1805
Died on Tuesday the 20th ultimo, at his residence in Sumter
District, Laurence Manning, Esq., Adjutant General of So. Carolina,
in the 48th year of his age. (eulogy).
Issue of January 26, 1805
Died on Sunday night last, after a very short illness, Mr.
Charles Mulholland, of this town, carpenter.
Issue of February 2, 1805
Washington, Jan. 14. Died, on Friday morning, a representative
from No.Carolina. (no name).
Issue of February 9, 1805
Married in Charleston, on Thurs. the 24th ultimo, by the Rev.
Mr. Le Mercier, rector of the Roman Catholic Church, Mr. Emmanuel
Antonio, to the amiable & accomplished Miss Mary Ann Eleonora
Champy.
has PBA LRG ey 2 ve
, since “you have
‘ie “in all the
6} as 5
; note ample and
inst me.”
“redress whicli is
ton July 5, 1880
vistol was fatal to
t Record gives an
of Col. Shannon’s
' and some of my
| and nearby pegs
in. B. Sanders, to
rhe, and my son,
ring sensation on
later, I learned it
hes in front of me.
his black coat pre-
firm and unmoved.
toward me, then
to ask if the gen-
should do) to
1, what more .
wannon had been
Carolina and the
y impeccable char-
id. Col. Cash was
m at the October
: 21, 1881, he was
and W. M. Shan-
larlington County,
a and brought to
: his account of the
be ates ce eg eee ae | fin bbe wes
“This tragedy also resulted in legislation which outlawed duels
in South Carolina and disqualified from public office anyone who
had taken part in one. At the inauguration of James I*. Byrnes as
governor in 1951, I was amused to hear him take a solemn oath that
he had never engaged in a duel.”
THE HANGING OF AMY SPAIN
(Based on articles written by Maj. A. C. Spain and others, appearing
in The New Era, Darlington, $. C., edition of October 3, 1865).
In Harper's Weekly of this date (September 30, 1865) is a picture
under which are the following words, to wit: “A view of Darling-
ton Court House, and the Sycamore tree where Amy Spain, the
Negro Slave, was hanged by the citizens of Darlington, S. C.” “The
view of the locality is not precisely accurate, the representation of
persons is the child of imagination, and the statement that the girl
was hung by the citizens of Darlington is unqualifyingly false. ‘There
follows a romance which is equally untrue in every particular, save
the simple fact of her execution. Regarding the whole publication as
an unscrupulous effort to inflame still more the excited mind of the
public, I deem it proper to state the truth. The correction, I am sure,
can never overtake the error, but my duty to my fellow citizens will
end with this publication. The duty is more perhaps for the reason
that Amy was my slave ... and was a member of my females when
she met her ‘doom’.
“Amy’s temper was hot, hasty, and ungovernerable, yet to me, as
her master, she was always dutiful up to the unfortunate time when
she exhibited traits of character, adopted a line of conduct, used ex-
pressions, and committed acts which contributed to the violent termi-
nation of her existence at the early age of seventeen. She had nursed
my children and to them was uniformly kind and remarkably atten-
tive, withal a peculiarity in the very character, little understood by
the people of the North, did not fail to develop itself in Amy. She
was untruthful and dishonest. When hung she had on clothes stolen
from my daughter. Contradictory: and opposite elements seems to
unite in the African race as Northern men now in our midst can
attest. I‘or the most part the Negroes are ‘eye-servants’ and since
their emancipation no change in them for the better has been ob-
served. In the future let us all hope the Ethiopian may change his
traditional and actual characteristics even. though his ‘skin’ may
retain its glossy black.”
| 359 ]
Se AT ere - ee
sees
ee ee
e Confed-
rat git aid-
.
in charge
the arms-
then here
ever again
, with dis-
heir skirts,
ning cotton
'. Edwards
(ime in her
| promised
n she began
of which I
‘oak linens,
_ sugar, lard
, which she
cottage wal-
_ very large
blacks, her
ctual. When
intend to set
She refused
calling them
short of the
Ogggerred on
a exc in
home on the
facts, among
Authorities’.
he 8th, I was
tary Commis-
4 hero of her
Oth and con-
liberately and
4 PM on Fri-
dat 3:00 PM.
law had fled
» in its place.
osed the Com-
ample, sudden
and violent, absolutely necessary to save life. The stroke fell upon
Amy. The Scribbler of Harper’s calls her ‘a martyr of Freedom’.
She stands ‘alone in her glory’. Her body was decently prepared for
the grave which was dug by my order. She remained after her death
24 hours in my negro house. She was decently buried in the day
time and’ with religious ceremonies. My children went to the grave
and shed tears over her corpse. Has Harper’s Iidwards ever done
more for a white servant?”
(s) A. C. Spain
“We have again laid by much that would have been interesting to
our many orders, in the form of editorials, communications and cri-
ticisms that we might give room to the refutation of a wholesale
slander upon our community which appeared in Harper's Weekly of
the 30th. ult. Not only should truth and justice compel us to deny
the attack upon the honor, humanity and fair name of our people,
but we desire to defend them in the fact of their innocence as to the
persecution, oppressjon or execution of Amy Spain which has been
thus attached tothe citizens of the town of Darlington.”
“Major Spain, the former owner of the ‘martyred’ Army has
given the facts in the case which will change the romance and heroism
of the scene in question. While the testimonials of the most respect-
able gentlemen in our midst will corroborate his statements as to the
falsity of the sensational story in all things save the execution. We
are not the defenders of those who tried Amy, sentenced or executed
her. We have no doubt of her satisfaction or joy over the coming of
her deliverers, her exuberant feeling when she saw the morning of
her hope dawn and the day of freedom arise. We are among the
number who would have shouted with her in her unrestrained ex-
pressions of delight for ‘Liberty is sweet to all.’ Nor did the citizens
give their sanction to the punishment so severe, which the Confed-
erate Military Authorities, who convicted her before Court Martial,
visited upon her. We have no other belief than that Amy committed
many unlawful acts in the license she gave to her emotions, and that
she thereby gave offence to those whose ears had heard the echoes
of the tramp of raiding hosts, and in the judgment of their minds
she needed correction, while a severe example was necessary to curb
an uprising spirit of insurrection, but when the residents of the town,
few in number though they were, heard the sentence and learned of
the purpose of the garrison, every effort was made to reverse the
decision of the court and by none more urgently nor eloquently than
by Major Spain himself, whose refutation of the libelous misrepre-
sentation we have published. Space prevents our further comment at
[ 361 ]
ei iets.
TPR etn MS Sal
ae
Ne Age ~ ete
et aig
Pe sae a oF is
Pe a asc man I>
ae Seen ain oi: SOB Sig 3 oe
eons
we age ruptghe
neh ee MN cent
a
ee aa
Pe OE eet
this time. We ask our exchanges everywhere to copy the matter in
extras that justice may be done on an outraged community, and the
truth be known in its entirety.”
(s) B. F. Whittemore, editor.
The Following ‘Testimonials Were Also In the New Era October
3, 1865:
‘lo Major Spain:
“T hereby certify that ther
zens of Darlington on the square
time your slave Amy was executed: I further certify
tried and condemned by a ‘Military Commission’ and executed by
Military authority and that the citizens of the place so far from exe-
cuting Amy very generally and:strongly condemned the course of the
Military Authorities.”
e were not above a half a dozen citi-
where the sycamore stands at the
that she was
George W. Dargan
“T concur fully in the foregoing statement. I heard Amy whilst in
aster and his children to forgive her for what
she had done. She begged everybody to forgive her. She told her
fellow servants that she had brought her fate on herself, to go and
do right and not to follow her example. ‘The execution was as orderly
and kindly conducted as such a thing could possibly be.”
R. C. Tolar
jail send word to her m
To Major A. C. Spain, sq.
sent and witnessed the execution of you
ight to the place of execution in a cart. She
and talk. She sent messages to your chil-
ht her punishment
“T was pre r girl Amy in
March last. She was brot
was allowed to pray, sing
dren and to her friends. She said she had broug
If and told her fellow servants to take warning by her
upon herse
fate, that she had done wrong but God had forgiven her. She was
and the plank was knocked out from under
lf as ready; there were not more
he sycamore tree. The
not interrupted by anyone
her after she had expressed herse
than six citizens of Darlington in view of t
statement in Ifarper’s Weekly is false except that Amy was hanged.
"hat act was the act of the Military completely.”
Robert Dickinson
Major A. C. Spain,
Dear Sir:
“In passing the street today, I happened to see a copy of Harper's
Weekly of this date, containing a cut intended to be a representa-
tion of the execution of Amy Spain, formerly your slave, and a state-
ment in connection with it which has less truth and more falsehood
| 362 |
Sf te ome. ae ee
“Now, as to the facts:-On the fourth of March last, the Confed-
erate States Military in command at this post, announced that a raid-
ing party from General Sherman’s Army was approaching the town
in force. | was ordered away at 1 o’clock PM, left my home in charge
of my father, seventy years of age, with my children. All the arms-
bearing men were in the army and the few mounted men then here
were on the eve of retreat. God forbid that anyone shall ever again
witness such a scene of excitement and confusion—women with dis-
heveled hair, their little children in tears holding on to their skirts,
running wildly through the streets, and in the midst of burning cotton
might present full scope to the sketching pencil of N. N. Iidwards
himself. Immediately on my departure Amy, for the first time in her
life, forgot or disregarded her allegiance which she had promised
sacredly to keep. No sooner had my back been turned than she began
a system of general spoilage and indiscriminate robbery of which I
had not considered her capable. From my house she took linens,
sheets, pillow cases, calico etc. and from my pantry, flour, sugar, lard
etc. She took possession of a house in my back yard to which she
removed the plunder, consisting in part of a very neat cottage wal-
nut bedstead, a fine spring mattress, a Brussels carpet, very large
and of great value. All remonstrances (by whites and blacks, her
brothers and fellow servants amongst them) proved ineffectual. When
it was demanded to know what she meant, she said, ‘I intend to set
up for myself and take a white Yankee for a husband.’ She refused
to obey an order and cursed my children most bitterly, calling them
‘D—d Sons of-
whole truth. Some of the facts grouped together above occurred on
the 4th and others on the 5th of March, the day the raiders were in
town and the only day they were here. I returned to my home on the
’ This is a mild statement falling short of the
night of the 7th, learned the foregoing and many other facts, among
them that Amy was in jail by order of the ‘Military Authorities’,
The next day I sought to see her, did not succeed. On the 8th, T was
informed of the appointment of a commission (A Military Commis-
sion) which had been appointed to try Amy and make a hero of her
color. ‘This Commission began its investigation on the 9th and con-
tinued on the 10th. After ‘a painful investigation’, deliberately and
orderly conducted, the sentence was pronounced at 1:00 PM on Fri-
day the 10th and in conformity thereto, Amy was hanged at 3:00 PM.
The charges were robbery and insubordination. Civil law had fled
the land, military law, quick and bloody, had come in its place.
Society was over a volcano. ‘The gentlemen who composed the Com-
mission, though regretting to take life, thought an example, sudden
| 360 |
5
(Mar. 26 cont'd:)
Hpng - The “Columbia Carolinian" states that JAMES GOINGS was hung in
at city on the 13th inst., He had been convicted of murder.
Fatal Affray - The "Colleton Sun" relates a difficulty between JAMES
TRICKLAND, and his nephew, ABRAHAM STRICKLAND, which occurred last week.
It resulted in the death of James Strickland, by being stabbed six or
seven times with a knife. The survivor was lodged in jail.
Terrible Leap - While Rev. THOMAS P. CALHOUN, Presbyterian minister, and
his wife, were crossing a bridge at St. Cloud, Minnesota, in a sleigh,on
the 20th ult., the horse became unmanageable, and jumped from the bridge
to the hard frozen bottom below, a distance of thirty feet, killing Mr.
Calhoun and severely injuring his wife.
Fatal Duel - At New Orleans, on the 12th inst., EMILE HIREAT, a reporter
of the Delta, killed c. LOQUET, a French cotton broker, in a duel.
Suicide - The "Fairfield Register" states that JOHN MC GRADY, of that dis-
trict, committed suicide on the 13th inst., by drinking laudanum, after a
few days of drunkenness.
Married - On the 6th inst., by J. JAMESON, Esq., Mr. J. B. STEPHENS to
Miss SARAH MC COY, both of Pickens.
Married - On the 13th inst., by the same, Mr. A. F. SHEARMAN, recently
of New York, to Miss MARY E. LIDDELL, of Anderson District.
In Equity - Bill for Partition. J. M.
BLACK et al vs. ISAAC RICE, et al. The Complainants having filed their
bill in this case, and, it appearing therefrom that JAMES J. BLACK; MAR-
GARET CRANE, HARPER CRANE, DAVIS CRANE, A. P. CRANE, and L. ORR CRANE,
tTepresentatives of ELIZABETH CRANE, formerly ELIZABETH BLACK, defendants
in this case, reside from and without the limits of this State.
State of South Carolina, Pickens.
Issue of Saturday April 2, 1859:
Obituary - Died, on the 23d inst., at his residence in Pickens District,
S. C., near Glassy Mountain, Mr. JAMES FERGUSON, SR., aged 54 years and
6 months. He expired in the immediate neighborhood of his birth, and in
which he spent his whole life, and was well known to be one of the kind-
est and most provident of husbands, a tender, loving father, an indul-
gent master, a generous neighbor, and one of the most useful citizens in
bearing the public burthens, and by his example of unceasing, honest in-
dustry and economy. In addition to a liberal share of literature, he al-
So taught his children by his own acts...honesty, sobriety, industry, e-
conomy, charity and to attend places of public worship. His name was not
Tegistered in any church book kept by man, but I feel justified by the
word of Christ, in Saying that his name was and is known by God as a
child of his; for our Lord Says that, he who is not against us is for us,
and we need only to take a glance at Secona Church, in which his coffin
set containing his lifeless body, while his funeral was preached, and
ask ourselves, whose liberality contributed largely to its erection, for
a proof that he was not against believers in Christ Jesus. His many gen-
erous contributions to the support of the Gospel, and for all religious
Purposes, testify to the same. And not only cups of cold water, but man-
y cups of coffee and every necessary food have been bestowed on the min-
isters of the Gospel and believers in Christ by him, and entitle him to
@ believer's reward. A weeping widow and children, sons-in-law, a bro-
ther, sisters-in-law, many relatives and acquaintances composed the as-
sembly who bedewed the place with their tears, around the grave in which
his body was consigned; and tears were caused more freely to flow by the
Surviving companion bowing to kiss his lifeless cheek, and exclaiming,
in a tone of grief, "James, I hope to meet you in Heaven". A little daugh-
ter also sprang forward to the open coffim and imprinted her last kiss
on the forehead of him who had so oft kissed her own. To the bereft fam-
ily in whose ranks the dread appointment, that man must died has been so
recently demonstrated. The writer would Say that he is glad to know that
he has 2 heart which feels to weep and mourn with you. But our mourning
60
roe t
is not without hope
ment. Pe, for
consoling hope.
friend, if we ar
poetry) © Prepared,
o UP, I » Son of W.
Suffer little children to come unto me RSONS. Esq,
; or-
TER to Miss LETITIA 1. NIXON, both of Pickenevt eels: Mr. BERRY FORRES-
Married - By the Same, on the 24th March, Mr
CINDA WATSON, both of Pickens, CHARLES ROPER to Migs Lu-
Married - on the 3d
Pickens, to Miss Lucy 4.’ by Rev. B. F. MAULDEN, Maj.
R. H.
> daughter of Mr. GRIFFIN BRAZEALE. CNIFFIN, of
State of South Carolina,
&c. JOHN H. TRO In Equity - Bi] ,
are OWELL and wife et al vq. ELIZABETH B_ KEITH Overy: ae
’ ° e
» at rather a late da
On the 24th ult., two men, JOHN HUGHES Poti
It appears that Portions of the fixture Irishman, were instantly killed.
; e and
falling on these Persons, with the abooe ‘ei welt. Ho.
Death of w. p.
Ville Herald", that we xtreme Sadness, Says the "sree
announce the death of Mr. WARREN D ROBIN
Inquest - ABEL ROB]
NS, Es i
dead bod : -» 4Cting as Coro :
iw hee — =a ELIZABETH SMITH, on the 9th ince ‘gee inquest over the
death by m verdict of the jury was, that the deceaccs [ound dead
y means to them unknown. rhe deceased came to her
: ship Germantow
He had 80t his leg mashed’
limb was af-
while tryin
8 tO secure th
terwards amputated. 4y “
Fatal Affair - mr
A - JAMES A. For
Miss., was killed a ig oKES, a respectable cit;
, few Pectable citizen of y;
the hands of hus nephew 7278 880 by the accidental discharge oF gute
for sey
» and afterwards edj veral years a
the 3lst ult” ditor of the Athens Banner",
61
to Miss Mani a. E. CHAPMAN, all of Pickens. Issue of Saturday July 2, 1859:
Married - By J. E. BELOTTE, Esq., at his residence on the evening of the
24th inst., Mr. JOHN L. BROWN, of Andersonville, and Miss NANCY G. CAMP-
BELL, of Pendleton.
Executed - The "Colleton Sun" says that ABRAHAM STRICKLAND, who was con-
victed at the April session of the Walterboro' Court, for the murder of
» his uncle, suffered the extreme penalty of the law on the 17th ult.
é
Suicide - J. R. MIMMIS, bookkeeper for CRESAP and MC MILLAN, committed
suicide in a house of ill fame, at Columbus, Geo., on Friday. Cause un-
known.
Obituary - Died, in Texas, on the 16th of April last, of Hemorage of the
Lungs, ABBY GUERIN, formerly of Pickens District.
Issue of Saturday June 11, 1859:
Drowning - The "Due West Telescope" reports that CARO, aged six years,
daughter of Prof. YOUNG, of Erskine College, at Due West, Abbeville Dis-
trict, was drowned on the 14th inst., in an artificial pool in her fa-
ther's garden.
Died - Mrs. WILKES, one of the Parties poisoned in Newberry, died recent-
ly from effects of the poison so administered.
Married - On the 26th ult. at Feasterville, by JACOB FEASTER, Esq., Mr.
WM. S. WILLIAMS, of Pickens, to Miss. S.C. FEASTER, of Fairfield. Murder and Suicide - A man named JAS. ASLEY killed J. N. CARMACK, near
Belton, Texas, on the 23d of last month. He shot him down like a dog;
watried = On the 23d ult. by E. HUGHES, Esq., Mr. CHESLEY A TISHER to self. ved Py an armed mob; when in his desperation, he poisoned him-
» Esq., Mr. . cele
Miss LETTYANN DAVIS, all of Pickens.
Killed by a Rattlesnake - Mr. N. R. RUSHING was bitten by a rattlesnake,
at his place, near Gillisonville, s. C., and died in eight hours from
the effects of the wound. °
Married - On Sunday 26th May, by Rev. Mr. CONNER, Mr. MONROE MULLIGAN to
Miss MARY CLAYTON, all of Pickens.
Obituary - Departed this life, at Pendleton, on the 30th ult., in the
blessed hope of a glorious immortality, Mrs. ANN E. SHANKLIN, wife of
J. V. SHANKLIN, Esq., and mother of the late Rev. J. A. SHANKLIN, in the
sixtieth year of her age.
Obituary - We know not when we have been called upon to discharge a more
Painful task than to write "GEORGE MILLER is dead". He died at the res-
idence of Dr. J. M. CROSS, in Wheeling, Holmes county, Miss., on the llth
of June, 1859, of typhoid fever; he was born and Taised in Pickens dis-
trict, and remgved to Mississippi in the fall of 1858. He was a useful
and highly sare
friend; and his memory will always be cherished by the order of which he
OD>ituary - Died, on the 6th inst., in Cheohee, JOHN LAY, aged forty-one
years. The deceased was one of the noblest works of God...an honest man.
Horrible - A brutal affair took place in the upper portion of this dis-
trict, near Thomas'Cross Roads, on the 14th of May ultimo, between THOMAS
f#) And WILLIAM OWENS, brothers, the latter at the time being very drunk,
[Aarict Tesulted in the death of WILLIAM on the 24th, from the wounds re-
ceived. From some cause or other, THOMAS OWENS struck his brother twice
with a large stick, cutting severe gashes about the neck and head, and
fracturing the skull obliquely across the union of the parictal and oc-
ornaments. Singularly modest in his deportment, of gentle manners and
warm attachments. ..brave, generous and forgiving...he is gone; and the
memory of his virtues are the onlu solace left them who loved him while
living and mourn him dead. For the family who have been thus smitten,
4
could be more worthy of a heart-felt sorrow than was George Miller. Ev-
that, "the deceased come to his death by blows inflicted upon his face, ery attention and kindness was shown him, that friendship could suggest
Died, in White county, Ga., on the 13th ult., Mrs. N. M., wife of E. A.
ALEXANDER, formerly of this district.
Died, at the residence of its parents in Cherokee county, Ga., on the
19th June 1859, PAUL, infant of Rev. P. H. and SUSAN M. BREWSTER, aged
4 days.
Issue of Saturday June 18, 1859:
Married - On the 5th inst, by J. B. SANDERS, Esq., at Five Chesnuts, Mr. .
PARTLEY HARVEY to Miss MARY MEREDITH, all of Pickens. Died, at Pickens C. H., on the 14th ult., JAS. PRESTON, infant son of
Matried ~ On Wednesday morning the 15th inst., by Rev. J. L. KENNEDY, Mr. Mr. and Mrs. G. W. KING, aged 18 months.
H. S. VANDIVIER, of Clarkesville, Ga., to Miss M. ROSE LAWRENCE, of
Pickens, S. C. Issue of Saturday July 9, 1859:
Suicide - JOHN HOGAN, an Irishman, committed Suicide at Walterboro, in
this State, last week. He was laboring under excitement produced by an
undue use of intoxicating liquors.
Married - On the 12th inst., by the Rev. P. MOORE, Mr. W. M. ROACH to
Miss CATHARINE HOBBS, all of Pickens.
Matried - On the 12th inst, by the Rev. C. F. BANSEMER, Mr. WARREN COBB
to Miss LOUISA MULLER, all of Fisckens. Killed by Lightning - The "Columbia Carolinian" learns that on Saturday
last, Mrs. LEONORA JOHNSON, wife of the overseer of Maj. STARKE, was
struck by lightning and killed instantly. She was standing alongside of
Issue of Saturday June 25, 1859: the dairy.
Obituary - Died, on the 24th of April last, GEORGE W., infant son of Mr.
G. W. and MARY C. VANZANT, aged about three years. Married - On the 30th June last, by Rev. W. G. MULLINNIX, Mr. DANIEL MA-
GILL, of Anderson, to Miss MARY C. CAMPBELL, of Pendleton.
Died, on the 7th inst., of dysentery, WILLIE THOMPSON, infant son of T.
F. and MARY DAVIS, aged eleven months and twenty one days. "Suffer lit-
tle children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the
kingdom of Heaven."
Issue of Saturday July 30, 1859:
Suicide - JOHN MARTIN, a citizen of this district, committed suicide on
the 23rd inst., by hanging himself. No cause is known or excuse given
66 67
He was 59 years old, and was regarded as a nsistent and faithful chris-
tian minister.
Murder - Mr. W. C. HALTREE, living a few miles below the city of Natchez,
‘and instantly killed. The assassin was seen running away after the com-
TA fol shot a few night since, while sitting on his gallery with his family
mission of the deed. The identity of the villain, it is believed, will
be established.
Issue of Saturday September 1, 1860:
Married — On the 22d inst., by J. N: ARNOLD, Esq., Mr. JOHN MARTIN, of
Ireland, to Miss FRANCIS MC ALISTER, of Pickens.
Issue of Saturday September 8, 1860:
Married - On lst August, by J. JAMESON, Esq., Mr. JOHN R. SMITH to Miss
SUSAN BLAKELY, all of Pickens.
Married - On the 8th August, by the same, Mr. WM. CHAPMAN, of Pickens,
to Miss NANCY BLOODWORTH, of Franklin county, Ga.
Married - On the 26th of August, by the same, Mr. H. E. ELLISON, of An-
derson, to Miss LUCRETIA YOUNG, of Pickens.
Married - The same evening, by the same, Mr. BAILUS SCLETON to Miss SAR-
AH SMITH, all of Pickens.
Married - On the 2d inst., by Rev. WM. W. REID, Mr. ANDREW GRAY, of Cher-
okee county, Ga., to Miss SUSANNAH ELLINBURGH, of Pickens.
issue of Saturday September 15, 1860:
Married - On the 13th August last, by H. J. ANTHONY, Esq., Mr. ANDERSON
ROPER to Miss SARAH WATSON, all of Pickens.
Married - On the evening of the 2d inst.,
G: STANSELL, JR: ; to Miss ELMINA BANKS; al
Issue of Saturday September 22, 1860:
Married - On Sunday the 9th inst., by J. B. SANDERS, Esq., Mr. WILLIAM
NORRIS to Mrs. MARY HALL, all of Pickens.
Obituary - Died, in Pickens District, on the 10th September, MARY JOSE-
PHINE, eldest daughter of Mr. A. P. and Mrs. CAROLINE COX, aged 16 months.
Departed this life on Friday the 2ist of August last, STEPHEN CLAYTON,
infant son of Capt. ROBERT F. and MALISSA MORGAN, aged 10 months and 24
days. The subject of this memoir was one of an interesting pair of twins
who strikingly resembled each other, which circumstances rendered its
loss the more painful to his bereaved parents. But God in his wisdom
has taken him ere he had known the sorrows of this world, and transplan-
ted him in the regions of eternal bliss. Farewell, dear child, you can
never again return to us, but we have the blessed assurance that we can
zo to him. "Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not,
for such is the kingdom of Heaven". (3 verses poetry)
Dead - CHARLES WILLIAMS, Esq., of Laurens District, once a member of the
Legislature, died on the 6th inst. :
issue of Saturday September 29, 1860:
Married - On the 20th inst., by Rev. H. M. BARTON, Mr. R. Y. H. LOWERY
to Miss MATTIE C. PHILLIPS, all of Pickens.
_Zung - ROBERT TUCKER, a notorious horse-thief was hung at Poluxy Springs,
Texas, the other day. He made a confession, implicating many citizens
£ fair reputation.
Death of a Charleston Merchant - The Charleston papers announce the death
of Mr. WILLIAM CALDER, in that city, on Saturday last, in the sixtieth
year of his age.
Issue of Saturday October 6, 1860:
Obituary - Died, near Fair Play, in Pickens district, on the 29th Sept.
1860, Mr. BENJAMIN MEGEE, in the 90th year of his age. The deceased was
a native of North Carolina, but had been a resident of this district for
the last sixty-six years. He was an honest upright man, and had been a
consistent member of the Baptist church for near sixty years. Mr. Megee
was the first corpse that had ever been in his house. He leaves a dis-
consolate widow and children, and many friends to mourn his loss.
Departed this life on the morning of the 3rd inst., Mrs. MARTHA JANE KEL-
LEY, wife of CHARLES W. KELLEY, and daughter of JOHN and REBECCA ADAIR,
of this district; aged 19 years, 11 months and 15 days. She bore her af-
fliction with christian fortitude. Well might it be said, "The ways of
the Lord are mysterious in taking His children from their troubles to a
perfect home in Heaven''. The life of the deceased was a life of true
piety, and was much beloved by all who knew her. She has gone, no doubt,
to rest; for she said she was prepared to die. She is not here...she
is gone: Christ called for Martha. Husband and connection, He will call
for you. Try to meet Martha in Heaven, where you will meet to part no
more. (1 verse poetry)
Issue of Saturday October 13, 1860:
Married. — On Twesday evening, 2d Oct., 1860. by L.0N/ SOBINS,. Feq. 7 Me.
ISAAC STONE to Méss ELIZABETH DAWSON, all of Pickens.
Married = On the l6th Sept. Ult., by Rev. A.. GHASTAIN, Mr. C. C. ADAMS
to Miss C. D. BARTON, all of Gordon co., Ga.
Obituary - Departed this life September 20th, 1860, in Gordon county,
Ga., ANDERSON BARTON, infant son of JOHN C. and JUSTINA A. COOK, aged
eighteen days.
Terrible Tragedy - Mr. STOVALL, a respectable citizen of Fosterville,
Rutherford County, Tennessee, while laboring under insanity, the result
of financial embarrassments, murdered his wife and four children, on
Saturday night last, by cutting their throats, and, after cutting his
own throat, leaped into a deep spring, where his body was found.
Issue of Saturday October 20, 1860:
Married - On Tuesday evening the 2nd inst. by Rev. A. E. MG GELVRY -at
the house of the Bride's Father, ALLEN MC DAVID, Rev. VAN BUREN A. SHARP,
of the S. C. Conference, to Miss ANNIE MC DAVID, of Greenville District.
Dead - Mr. JOHN E. MURPHY, Inspector of Naval Stores, died in Charleston
on Sunday evening.
Issue of Saturday October 27, 1860:
Married - On the 23d inst., by Rev. V. A: SHARP) Mr: JOBE/T. O7NEALL to
Miss MARY A. MC WHORTER, all of this district.
Obituary - Died, at the residence of his father in Lauderdale County,
Miss., on the lst inst., SAMUEL RIED, infant and only son of JAMES T.and
CAROLINE D. RIED, of diptheria, aged 17 months and twenty five days.
Issue of Saturday November 1860:
Married - On Sunday morning the 15th inst., by J. B. SANDERS, Esq., Mr.
JOHN M. SMITH, of Spartanburg, to Miss ARTEMISSA DODSON, of Pickens.
Married - On the 25th ult., by Rev. JOHN S. PRESSLY, Capt. ABEL ROBINS,
of Pickens, to Mrs. ELIZA FELTON, of Anderson.
87
>
’ fi y ae g ua
ment, died re vob G2 LS (859 this State.
Homicide - The "Darlington Flag" states that D. LADSON STUCKEY was kil-
“ led by HENRY D. HEARON his brother in-law.
The particulars are not giv-
en.
Sudden Death - We learn from the Abbeville papers that Mr. EDMUND COBB,
a hotel keeper in that place, committed Suicide by taking laudanum last
week. No reasonable account is given for the commission of the act.
Longevity - Mr. PATRICK RIORDAN was born in Kilmare, Ireland, in 1756.
Twenty years ago he emigrated to New Orleans, where he has since resided.
He died on the 20th ult., aged 103 years; a most remarkable age to ar-
tive at in that climate.
Suicide - MARIA VAN RENSALAER, committed Suicide at Charleston, on the
Ist instant, by taking poison. She was a native of Albany, N. y.
Dead ~ JAMES W. A. HENDERSON, a practical printer, and one of the veter-
ans of the Palmetto Regiment, died in Charleston on the 21st ule:
Awful Tragedy - The ‘Georgia Citizen" of the Siet, has. the following: A
horrible occurrence took place, yesterday, in Jones county, a few miles
above Macon, which resulted in the death of two brothers, of the name of
JACK and GUS ROBERTS, each by the hand of the other! Between these two
brothers a feud had, for some time previous, existed, about a piece of
land, and when they met yesterday, for the purpose, with others, of wor-
king on the public road, an altercation arose and one of them drew a pis-
tol and shot the other, when the latter, in the act of falling dead, :
fired at the former and shot him in the breast, killing him instantly.
Married - On the 4th inst., by Rev. JOHN CORN, Mr. JOSEPH CG. NEV LEER. of
Clayton, Ga., to Miss NANNIE L. CARTER, daughter of Major JOSIAH CARTER,
of Thomas county, Ga.
Married - On the 6th inst... by Rev. DoH. KENNEMUR, Mr. ELIAS F. ALEXAN-
DER of Pickens, to Miss MARY GREEN, of Jackson Coun EY. | N «1G.
Take Warning - I hereby forewarn all persons from harboring or trading
with my wife, NANCY CHAPMAN, as she has left my house without just cause
Or provocation, and I will not Pay any debts of her contracting from and
after this date. ENOCH CHAPMAN
Issue of Saturday October 225° 1859 -
Death of Mr. JONES - We are pained to announce the death of Mr. JABEZ
JONES, an aged and highly esteemed citizen of this district. He died on
the 15th instant, aged about ninety years.
Married = Om Vath aget. > by Rev. Job. KENNEDY, P. D. CURETON. M.D. , of
coe to Miss JANE C., eldest daughter of Mr. LEMUEL HAMILTON, of
Pickens.
Married - On the 5th inst. , by Rev. W. B, SINGLETON, Dr.
of Pickens to Miss E. JENNIE BLASSINGAME, of Anderson.
WILLIAM T. FIELD
Married - On the 5th inst., by Rev. 9. LL.
GIRADEAU, Mr. J. J. LEWIS, of
Pendleton, to Miss CAROLINE C.,
daughter of the late JEREMIAH DICKINSON.
Obituary ~- Died, in Cherokee county, Ga., on the 26th Aug. 1859, FRANCES
CAROLINE, daughter of NATHAN W. and MARTHA A. ELLIOTT, aged three years,
eight months, and twenty-one days. :
Died, in Cherokee co., Ga. on the 10th inst., GEORGE WASHINGTON, son of
JOHN and ANGELINA GARRETT, aged one year, six months and twenty-three
Goye. 6.0.8. (2 verses poetry)
Mptice - All persons are hereby forwarned not to trade with or trust my
wife LUCINDA HARPER, and her child, SARAH J., on my account, as I will
not be responsible for their debts. My wife left my bed and board with-
72
C4
Persons harboring these Parties will be
out just cause or provocation.
HENRY T. HARPER
dealt with as the law directs.
Issue of Saturday October 29, 1859:
Death of Mr. GARVIN - Death is busy with our old citizens. It is our
melancholy duty to announce this week the death of Mr. THOMAS GARVIN. He
died on the llth, of dropsy in the chest, aged eight-five years. He was
Commissioner of Locations, for this district, for many years. Well known
and highly respected whilst living, his departure, even at a ripe old
age, is mourned by many relatives and friends.
Tribute of Respect to JAMES I. HOLLINGSWORTH, deceased.
Fatal Duel - We learn by a dispatch to the "Mobile-Tribune", that a fa-
tal duel was fought in the vicinity of Columbus, Miss., on the evening
of the 8th inst. The parties were Mr. MOORE, a merchant of Greensbor-
Ough, Ala., and a Dr. WILEY. The latter was shot through the head.
Married - On the 17th inst., by J. B. SAUNDERS, Esq., Mr. JOHN TEAGUE to
Miss TEMPERANCE POOL, all of Pickens.
Married - On the 22d mst... by Rey TB. MAULDEN, Mr. WILSON MOSS to
Miss JENNIE CALDWELL, all of Pickens.
Issue of Saturday November 5, 1859:
The Accidnet at Tunnel Hill - The accident at the Tunnel, referred to
last week, was of a more serious nature than we were at that time appri-
zed of. There was, however, no explosion. On the night of the 26th ult.
at shaft No. 4, tWe stop cock of the engine flew out, emitting the steam
which scalded six men badly. Since, WM. HUMPHREYS and FRANCIS MC KIEMAN
two of the men, have died.
Sudden Death - Mr. H. E. CAMPBELL, of Pendleton, favorably known as a
kind and accommodating host, died suddenly on the morning of the 28th
ult. An affection of the heart is supposed to have caused his death,
which was so sudden that no relief could be extended. Kind, hospitable
and obliging, he will be long remembered by a large circle of friends.
His family has our sympathy in their great bereavement.
Homicide - The "Cheraw Gazette" Says that TOM CRAWFORD shot and killed
‘DANIEL MELTON, at his own house, last week. Crawford has been arrested.
Killed - An affray occurred at Doctor Town, in Wayne county, Ga., on
Wednesday last, between two men named PATRICK FISKER and BARTLEY O'DON-
NELL, in which the latter stabbed the former, killing him instantly.
Qi ~ DAVIDSON VICK deliberately shot JOHN T. FORD, in Haywood county,
A reward is offered for him.
C., on the 20th ult. Vick has escaped.
Issue of Saturday November 12, 1859:
Killed - It gives us pain to record another fatal accident. On the 3rd
inst., at Dr. COAT's Saw-mille, just in the edge of Anderson District,
a worthy man, by the name of ALLEN BAILEY, was killed. It appears that
in adjusting a piece of lumber near the Saw, (which was running) it was
struck by the saw, hurling it with great force against deceased's tem-
ple, dashing out his brains, and causing almost instant death.
Married in Russia - JOHN E. BACON, Esq., of Edgefield, Secretary of the
United States Legation at St. Petersburg, was married recently to Miss
REBECCA PICKENS, daughter of our Minister to Russia, Hon. F. W. PICKENS.
The bride and bridegroom are gone to Italy.
Dead - Hon. JAMES C. JONES, formerly Governor of Tennessee, died in Mem-
phis, on the 30th ult.
Dead - Hon. E. BROWNLEE, State Senator from St. Georges Parish, died on
the 30th ult., of typhoid fever.
73
—— ——
644 ANNALS OF NEWBERRY.
Peter Hawkins and family moved to Alabama in 1820. Wil-
liam Hawkins married and moved to Greenville, S. C. Mark
Hawkins married Jane Hunter, to whom were born Drayton,
Pressley, Pierce, Miles, Harriet Boozer, Mary Boozer, Rebeoes
Boozer, Minta Sheppard and Anna Convwill. “Allen Hawkins
married Lavinia Fellers, who became the mother of George,
Hayne and Carrie Brown. Drayton Hawkins married Nancy
Boozer, to whom were born S. Berly, Bates, Paul, Reuben,
Laura Nichols, Fannie Ham, Amanda Moore and Ella. Press-
ley Hawkins married and moved to Florida. Pierce Hawkins
married, first, Lucinda Schumpert, who brought him Pressley,
Luther and several other children. His second wife was Mary
J. Swindler. Miles Hawkins married Hattie Nichols and has a
family of several children. Peter Hawkins married Mary De-
Vall and moved to Tennessee. Rey. Jacob Hawkins, D. D., an
eminent Lutheran divine, who now lives in Orangeburg County,
is a son of this Peter Hawkins who moved to Tennessee.
George Hawkins married Mary Harmon. A. Hayne Hawkins
married Rhoda Hunter. ;
Henvrz.
About the year 1760 Matthias Hentz lived near the mouth
of Cannon’s Creek on Broad River. There js a tradition in
the family that his father, who lived in the lower German
Settlement, was accused of witchcraft and suffered the penalty
of death at the hands of fanatical neighbors by being smoth-
ered between feather beds. If this be true, and even this is
doubtful, it is the only case of the kind where the penalty of
death for witchcraft was ever inflicted in South Carolina, by
authority of law or without it;—while in enlightened New
England, in the Province of Massachusetts. between the years
1645 and 1695 many persons were put to death after. due
process of trial at law. In 1640 four persons were put to
death in Massachusetts, in 1688S, one woman was executed for
witchcraft in Boston. “Then,” says the historian, “commenced
at Salem that dreadful tragedy which rendered New England
for many months a scene of bloodshed, terror and madness,
and at one time seemed to threaten the subversion of civil
society. In the year 1692, the frenzy of the colonists reached
the highest pitch of extravagance. Suspicions and accusations
ANNALS OF NEWBERRY. 645
of witchcraft became general among them; and on this fanciful
charge many persons were put to death” . . . (One
historian says as many as twenty.) “Persons accused of the
imaginary crime of witchcraft were imprisoned, condemned,
hanged, and their bodies left exposed to wild beasts and birds
of prey. . . . . Children ten years of age were put to
death; young women were stripped naked, and the marks of
witcheraft sought for on their bodies with unblushing curi-
osity. . . . . The prisons were filled, the gibbets left
standing, and the citizens were appalled. Under this frightful
delirium the miserable colonists seemed doomed to destruc-
tion by each other’s hands. The more prudent withdrew from
a country polluted by the blood of its inhabitants, and the
ruin of the colony seemed inevitable.”. The reader will please
bear in mind that none of these victims were burned at the
stake, they were only hanged. The New Englanders are very
touchy on that point.
To return to Hentz. It is probable that the father of
Matthias Hentz was the man who was murdered by the
fanatic Weaver and his followers ou the Saluda. . The story
is told by Dr. Hazelius, and also by Bernheim in his history
of the Lutheran Church. Weayer was arrested, taken to
Charleston; tried, convicted of murder and was hanged.
After the murder of her husband the widow left the Saluda
and removed to near the mouth of Cannon’s Creck on Broad
River, where she became the mother of Matthias Hentz. This
is related as a probability only. Matthias married and became
the father of two sons: David and Michael. Michael moved
to Georgia where he left numerous descendants, among them
John, the husband of Caroline Lee Hentz, the celebrated
authoress. John is the only one of the name, who ever
sought or obtained public office. He served as County Sheriff:
and a member of the Legislature.
David Hentz left two sons, Wm. R. and H. M., and three
daughters, Mrs. John Adam Folk, of Pomaria; Mrs. Wm.
Reid, of Cannon’s Creek; and Mrs. George Sondley, of Bull
Street.
H. M. Hentz died in 1802, leaving an infant son, Wm. J.
Wm. R. Hentz died in 1877, leaving four sons, D. J.; T. M.;
Wm. A. and Dr. E. O.; and one daughter, Mrs. P. M-
Derrick.
764 ANNALS OF NEWBERRY,
the road leading from Lexington to Newberry. The body was
terribly bruised and battered and there was a pistol shot or
gun shot through the back of the head. It is not known
precisely how the murder occurred, but I have been told that
Capt. Herbert had the negro man tied and when they stopped
to rest and refresh themselves by the spring, after Herbert —
had eaten a lunch the negro begged him to free his hands
so that he also could eat something without so much incon.
venience to himself. Capt. Herbert yielding to the impulse of
humanity, granted his request, and then, not being sufficiently
wary and watchful, the negro struck him unawares, stunned
him, and finally shot him through the head with his own
gun or pistol. The assassin was arrested in a short time,
tried and convicted of murder at the following, October, term
of Court at Lexington, but afterwards broke jail and escaped.
He was afterwards captured and hung.
In November, 1866, there was an emigration of quite a
goodly number of negroes from the United States, and some
from Newberry, to the far-off land of Liberia, a Republic of
colored people on the west coast of Africa. About one hundred
and fifty went from this county, most of most unlettered field-
hands. But some few from the town were quite intelligent
with some education. Burrell Raines, the tailor, is one who
went.. But he, with several others, returned the next year,
preferring his old home with all its disadvantages to the
jungles of the African coast. Raines has done well since his
return and has always been a quiet, orderly and well-behaved
man. The others I know nothing of.
Field labor during the year 1866 had been very poor and
inefficient, much worse than in 1865, and the crops were, in
consequence, both of food stuffs and cotton, very scant. The
fields had less tillage than I have ever known them to have
during any year before or since the war. But cotton brought
a high price, and from the rich lands of the West and North-
west a great deal of corn and flour was sent here and elsc-
where to be distributed among the needy without price.
At the close of the year there was a little light low down
on tne political horizon as if day were about to break. But
on the 11th of April, 1867, Gen. Sickles, military commander,
ANNALS OF NEWBERRY. 765
in fact, military and civil Governor and Legislature of the
State all in one, issued his celebrated order, known as order
No. 10, which became the supreme law of the State, super-
ceding all others, and regulating all the business affairs of
the people in every particular; regulating all affairs, both
civil and criminal, all proceedings of Courts both law and
equity ; touching and regulating every thing but the subject
of religion; and that I suppose the Governor-General did
not think about, as he probably had none of his own, and
so, even if the subject occurred to him he dismissed it as a
‘matter of no importance. This order was confirmed by act
of Congress and the State was thus placed entirely under
military rule. By military order an election was held for
county officers in June. In October of the same year the
same power ordered an election to be held for delegates to
frame a Constitution. It has already been stated that the
Convention met in 1868, and a Constitution was framed and
adopted which is still the Constitution of the State, so that
we are now, whether we will or no, under the rule and man-
agement of affairs arranged and set going by the military
and carpet-baggers. Meantime Gen. Canby had been ap-
pointed military Governor in place of Gen. Sickles, who had
been sent elsewhere. It was he who removed Judge Aldrich
because he refused to permit colored men to serve as jurors ;
itewas he who ordered the election for delegates to the Con-
stitutional Convention; and it was he, or R. K. Scott, after
he was elected Governor, who appointed County Commissioners
for Newberry, ignoring an election that had been held by his
own order for that purpose. D. R. Phifer was one of his
appointees, 1871. :
On the 17th of October, 1868, a quarrel arose between
Sam. Dogan, a colored man, who had been somewhat con-
spicuous for some time, a man of sufficient courage but not
of sufficient brain capacity to become the leader he aspired
to be—at the time County Commissioner, one of the appointees |
above mentioned—and a young white man named Murtishaw,
a native and citizen living in the northeastern part of the
county. That afternoon as Murtishaw, D. M. Ward and some
other young men were riding out of town they were fired
upon by a concealed party near Main Street Witbin the cor
nee Le eT Tae
Sher ioloay cceswmed
GAZETTE
Issue of h 2, 1804
Married at the High Hills of Santee, on the 2lst instant, Mr.
Duke Goodman, merchant of Manchester to Miss Elizabeth C. M'Ginny,
of the same place.
Issue of March 23, 1805
Married on Wednesday evening last, Mr. Brutus Howard of this
town, to Miss Sarah Goodwyn, daughter of Major Francis Goodwyn,
of the Congaree.
Died on Wednesday morning the 20th inst., after a few minutes
sickness, Mrs. Ann W. Hoy, wife of Mr. Robert Hoy, aged 35 years.
Issue of April 6, 1805
Married, on the 19th ult., Mr. Charles Compty to Miss Polly
Sheppard, both of Broad River.
Married on Wed. last, Major James Adams to the amiable Miss
Silvia P. Goodwyn, only daughter of Capt. William Goodwyn.
Issue of April 20, 1805
Died on the 3d day of this instant, Mr. Jacob Bickley,
resident in the Dutch fork, near Saluda River, in the 52d year of
his age, after a short but painfull illness which he bore with
Christian fortitude. His death is much lamented by his family,
his friends and acquaintances.
Issue of May 25, 1805
Died at New-York, on the lst inst., at an advanced age, Hugh
Gaire, formerly a respectable printer & bookseller of that city.
Issue of June 1, 1805
Married on Thursday evening last, Mr. Alexander Chisolm, to
Miss Susanna Sims, of this town.
Issue of June 29, 1805
Married, at Beaufort, on Thursday last, by the Rev. Mr. Palmer,
Mr. Robert Means, of Charleston, to Miss Mary Hustson Barnwell,
eldest daughter of General John Barnwell, deceased.
Died in Camden, on Friday the 14th inst., Mr. Thomas Dinkins, i
in the 38th year of his age...(eulogy).
10
nee A
a
GAZETTE
The following issues of the South Carolina Stave Gazette and
Columbia Advertiser are in the South Caroliniana Library.
Issue of January 11, 1806
Departed this life on the 26th ultimo, Mr. David Henderson,
of Newberry District, for many years a resident of that place...
left a widow and several children.
Issue of July 19, 1806
Married in this town on Tuesday evening last, by the Rev. Dr.
Maxcy, Mr. Elisha Hammond to Miss Catherine F. Spann.
Issue of October 11, 1806
Died in Charleston on Thursday the 30th ult., Guilliam Aertsen,
Esq., Cashier of the State Bank, in the 47th year of his age.
Died at Albany, the Hon. William Patterson, one of the
Associate Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Issue of October 25, 1806
Departed this life in Newberry District on Tuesday, the 7th
inst., at the house of Major Benjamin Long, Betsey Coate, wife
of Capt. Henry Coate...She has left a small daughter and numerous
train of frends and relations.
Issue of August 9, 1806
Died a few days since at his residence in Lexington District,
Mr. Joseph Williams, formerly a member of the State Legislature.
Died on Saturday last, near this place, Mr. William Tait, a
native of Scotland.
Died in this town on Wednesday evening last, after a long
iliness, Mr. James Madison, a native of Virginia.
Died at his plantation in Edgefield District, S. C., on Monday
the 28th July, Mr. Mason Moseley...left aged parents and a young
widow...murdered by a Negro...forward information to William
Moseley, living at Deer Savannah, Edgefield District, on a road
leading from Long Cane to Charleston, 16 miles distant from
Augusta. Augusta paper.
Issue of August 16, 1806
Died on Thursday the 7th inst., at his plantation in Fairfield
District, Major Thomas Starke, in the 59th year of his age.
Issue of December 6, 1808
Married in Lexington District, on Sunday evening last, by Rev.
Mr. Bernhard, Mr. Abner Blocker, of Edgefield District, to Miss
Amelia Kennerly, daughter of Mr. Joseph Kennerly, deceased.
Issue of December 13, 1806
Married on Tuesday last in the fork of the Congaree, by the
Rev. Mr. Thigpen, Dr. John Lafargue, late of Charleston, to Miss
Ann Wood Hirons.
11
(MEMORABILIA
And Anecdotal Reminiscences
of Columbia, S. C/and Inci-
dents Connected /Therewith.
CLM
a E
/ e]
BY
JULIAN A. SELBY.
Columbia, S.C.
The R. L. Bryan Company.
1905.
MERVYN H. STERNE LIBRARY .
UNIVERSITY COLLEG :
14 MEMORABILIA AND
was the indignant answer, and thus the episode ended. Mr. Young
and his daughter remained in Columbia after the company left, and
lived in the rear of the theatre, cultivated a garden, and the aged
actor passed away quietly after a few years.
Three-Year-Old Actor.
My connection with the theatre—if such it may be called—com-
menced with the Hart-Carters. When a child was needed in
“Pizarro,” “The Bleeding Nun” and other tragic representations,
my services were in request. The students of the South Carolina
College used to promenade Richardson street every afternoon in
parties of three and four, and being very often on the sidewalk in
front of the hotel—‘“The Mansion House”—where Lorick & Low-
rance are now quartered, I got quite “chummy” with the young
men, and was the constant recipient of “fourpences,” fruit, candy
and pinders. As Cora’s child, on one occasion, I was presumed to
be asleep, and was the sole occupant of the stage for a few minutes.
The collegians recognized me, and began calling, “Wake up, Jule,”
etc., throwing oranges, apples and candy to me (the young men of
those days carried such things and gave them away freely to chil-
dren). Notwithstanding my instructions to remain perfectly still,
I could not resist the temptation, but jumped up and began to collect
the toothsome things with one hand, the other holding my skirt as a
receptacle. Cora finally rushed out, carried me off, and the curtain
was rung down until quiet was restored.
Murder Will Out. |
A company of four (with their mother) would pay-us two visits a
year, going and returning from the more Southern States—the party
invariably arriving by night in a large Jersey wagon, and leaving
after dark. It was what might be termed a vaudeville troupe, and
gave a pleasing performance, as I have heard older heads say. They
called themselves Chapman—William, John, Lucretia and Abigail—
the two latter beautiful young women, the one light complected,
the other dark. There was a mystery about them. Finally it became
known (this was before the days of telegraphing and fast railroad
trains, therefore news traveled slowly,) that they were from Phila-
delphia; that the father had been poisoned, and that a taxidermist,
a friend of the mother’s, had been hanged, being convicted of the
murder, while the wife, who was believed to have been the most
cuilty of the two, escaped; and it was said the supposed murderess
ever after avoided the light of day as much as possible—passing the
time in sleep when she could. On one occasion, the children arrived
ANECDOTAL REMINISCENCES. 15
here in daytime, dressed in deep mourning. But it was their last
appearance—the story of the murder evidently operating against
them, and they drifted into the great unknown.
No One-Night Business in Old Times.
By-the-way, I should state, that while a theatrical troupe would
generally play through an entire season of three or four months
(with the aid of an occasional “star’’), circuses, menageries and
other road shows would remain from three days to a week—John
Robinson’s shows invariably put in a week. Three generations of
Robinsons have visited this section in the last sixty-five years—Old
John, Jack, and John, Jr. A minstrel troupe put in a week, and
were forced to stay a week longer. From here they staged to Cam-
den, and declared afterwards that they could hardly get away from
that hospitable town. Old John Robinson, like his fellow-showman
Phineas T. Barnum, died seized and possessed of an immense for
tune, both starting in life poor.
3
P. T. Barnum Began His “Show Life’ Here.
Barnum, it may as well be mentioned in this connection, began
his career as showman in Columbia. He was advance agent for
Napoleon Turner’s Circus in 1837, which company disbanded here,
and Barnum reorganized it and continued on a route through the
Southwest. E
Excellent Driver, Policeman and Captain.
Mr. Wm. H. Casson drove a wagon for this show, so as to reach
Columbia at small expense, where he was to take a place as stage-
driver for McLean & Co. (Daniel, John and Hugh), who were mail
contractors, and ran coaches to Branchville, Augusta and other
points, and were succeeded by Douglas & Ward. Capt. Ward, with
his pet mare, Black Bess, is well remembered by many of the present
generation. (The Captain used to declare that he knew the road so
thoroughly from Columbia to Augusta that he could lay down in
the bottom of the stage, and locate every stump between the two
cities. Capt. W. firmly believed that he could repeat Jack Shep-
pard’s ride from London to York on the namesake of Jack’s famous
animal. )
Capt. Casson used to tell a number of his experiences during his
trip with Turner’s show, which are corroborated in Barnum’s
printed “Life.” The circus reached Columbia the dav Col. Pierce
M. Butler was inaugurated Governor, and to make as great a display
as possible, the band was secured to serenade his Excellency. Capt.
ifter the wounded
—the breast-bone
ive been wounded
mM €Xamination of
le wound was at
ecessary ointment
ell man. He re-
stephen DeBruhl.
Dr. Boatwright,
ten he located in
number of years.
te Vase?
e will, doubtless,
gold snuff box to
from that State
with any foreign
place of birth)
directions. The
for - ~ amber of
3,1 s decided
ield temporarily,
om. ‘There are
of Sumter: Mr.
‘reival, of Rich-
a,
amboat line to
“ens, that up to
1 Columbia and
xtended to Sa-
of one hundred
‘Oatwright, and
‘rs volunteered
y Bowlegs and
h an improper
| there impris-
over his grave
the simple in-
one of the sur-
4
ee
ANECDOTAL REMINISCENCES.
TRAGICAL AFFAIRS,
Three Murderers Hanged at Once.
My first recollection of the terrible was the hanging of three
negroes, belonging to Col. John Singleton, for the murder of the
overseer, McCaskill. Colored people could go anywhere at that
time, when accompanied by a white child, and as there were several
young women servants at Mrs. Hillegas’, where we boarded, I was
much sought after—my mother never dreamed of where I was
often carried. On the occasion above referred to, one of them
offered to take me, and I immediately agreed. The place of execution
was an open lot on the southwest corner of Gervais and Lincoln
streets. The next affair of the kind was the execution of a white
man, named Adams, for the brutal murder of a Mrs. McEvoy, an
illicit liquor seller, on Boundary street, near Elmwood avenue.
Sanders Died “Gaine.”
I have seen a good many individuals depart by the “rope route,”
but Arthur Sanders, a young soldier, said to be from Virginia, who
killed the notorious “Dutch Rose,” on southwest corner of Gates
and Lady streets, displayed more “nerve” than I have ever witnessed.
His victim was choked, but lingered several days, unable to articu-
late. The other females in the house gave a description of the sus-
pected party, and he was traced to and captured in Montgomery,
Ala., while attempting to run the blockade to New Orleans. It is
not believed that Sanders intended murder, but only robbery, as it
was known that “Dutch” had valuable jewelry, and it was thought
that she had money. On arriving at the place of execution (the
open square south of the South Carolina College, now used as base-
ball grounds), the only request that the condemned man made was
for Sheriff Dent to delay the execution until the last minute possible,
during which time he sat in the carriage chatting pleasantly with
the officers and newspaper men—who did not give an account of the
execution, by special request, neither before nor after the event.
Not so particular now-a-days. The only evidence of any special
interest was the repeated turning of the head in the direction of the
Governor’s residence, as he knew that an appeal numerously signed
had been presented for Executive clemency. But Gov. M. LL, Bon-
ham paid no attention to the paper, and the law properly took its
course. Sanders walked up the steps to the gallows with a priest
on either side, but the slight physical aid they furnished seemed
70 MEMORABILIA AND
during the forties. Robinson’s Circus was on the way from Cam-
den, when Romeo, the big elephant, refused to cross a bridge in that
neighborhood, and when prodded by his keeper, killed the man and
the horse he bestrode, and rushed excitedly away, trumpeting loudly.
Couriers were sent off in different directions to warn the people.
The DeKalb Rifles, of Camden, were notified, and the members of
the company decided to go on a hunt for such big game. By the
time they arrived, Romeo had quieted down somewhat, but had taken
up a position in the pond, and the circus people could do nothing
with him+-were afraid to irritate him to too great an extent, as he
was a powerful beast. Mr. Robinson lost patience, and told the
Riflemen to “Kill the d—d brute; shoot his eyes out first.” They
opened fire on him, and as soon as he felt the bullets, he rushed for
the bank, but several well-directed shots brought him down just as
he got his feet on solid ground, when he fell down and began
trumpeting vigorously (his sign of subjugation), but the firing was
kept up until he was killed. Then the question arose as to what
to do with the carcass. It was finally decided to throw earth over
it, and a lot of men went to work with spades and shovels, and raised
a small mountain over‘the remains. The dead man and horse were
buried, the circus procession moved on, and the elephant-hunters
returned to Camden.
All Joined to Do Honor.
Gregg’s Hall, located on the southwest corner of Taylor and Main
streets, was destroyed by what is believed to be an incendiary fire.
A falling wall in the one-story part of the building (where the fire
originated) killed two young men: Dannie Carrington and Phineas
Irazee Squier, besides disabling ten or twelve others (firemen and
volunteers), two of whom (Frank Beckham and Will Evans) never
recovered from the effects. Tuesday, the day of the funerals, there
was a general suspension of business, and it appeared as if the entire
community walked in the procession. Squier was interred in the
Presbyterian Church-yard, and afterwards the procession reformed
and marched in the rain to Trinity, where the service for the dead
was performed by the Rev. P. J. Shand—the rain falling on his
bared venerable head. I noticed in the procession, walking arm-
in-arm, Father J. J. O’Connell, of the Catholic Church, and Mr.
Jacob Levin, acting Rabbi for the Israelites. They accidentally
came together, and were good friends ever after. The supposed
incendiary was not prosecuted, but only got two-thirds of his insu-
rance claim.
ANECDOTAL REMINISCENCES. 71
Two Sons Come to Untimely Ends.
Mrs. Sarah Bynum, a motherly widow, who was beloved by every-
body, maintained herself and two daughters by carrying on a sinall
millinery establishment on the west side of Main street, above Wal-
nut (now Blanding), for a number of years prior to 1845. She was
the mother of two talented sons, members of the legal profession,
who bid fair to make their marks in the world; but both came to
untimely ends. Turner. Bynum, an earnest Nullifier, was killed in
a duel by B. F. Perry, Esq. (afterwards Provisional Governor), a
sturdy Union man, who maintained his opposition to secession up to
and throughout the “Civil War’—in fact, came near losing his life
-on account of the persistent advocacy of his principles. The duel
was fought on Savannah River, in old Pendleton District, and young
Bynum’s reniains were interred in the grave-yard attached to the
famous “Old Stone Church.” Alfred Bynum removed to Texas
soon after the death of his brother, took part in the war for the
independence of that State, was captured by the Mexicans, and
massacred with a number of other prisoners at Golaid, by the orders
of the brutal Mexican General, Santa Anna. Several descendants
of good old Mrs. Bynum reside in Columbia.
The Four McKenzie Boys.
Mr. and Mrs. John McKenzie, well known residents of Columbia
for fifty years, were the parents of eleven children—seven girls and
four boys; but the family name will be extinct with the demise of
the living members. All the boys came to their ends by accident
or unnatural means—the one, while an infant, fell from the nurse’s
arms, and was killed; John died from the effects of an injury re-
ceived in jumping over posts which formerly stood in front of the
City Hall and Jail; George lost his right arm at South Mountain,
wrote a letter home with his left hand ten days afterwards, but died
eventually ; Frank was killed in a difficulty with a soldier connected
with the garrison here.
Two White Men Hanged for Killing a Negro.
It has often been asserted that a white man had never been exe-
cuted in South Carolina for killing a negro. This is a mistake, in
one instance at least, and I am satisfied there are others. Motley
and Blackledge, professional hunters of runaway negroes, paid the
death penalty in Colleton District for that crime. It was clearly
proven that they deliberately tortured their victim to death, and
were tried and convicted. Every effort possible was made by their
6+ MEMORABILIA AND
unneeded. As the black Cap was drawn over his face, he deliberately
. said, “Lord Jesus, receive my soul,” and died without apparent
movement. It was a terribly hot day, and several of Capt. R.D.
Senn’s men were overcome by the heat. Before the trial and con-
viction, Sanders implicated several men, but afterwards withdrew
all these charges. One of the parties, Arthur Dabney, was so
alarmed that he hurriedly went to Virginia. He reached Petersburg
Wednesday evening, went to the front at once, and was killed next
day by the premature discharge of a gun. And thus was the begin-
ning of a series of tragedies which followed this robbing event.
Sanders’ body was carried to St. Peter’s Catholic Church, where
it remained until the next day—the coffin open and several “Sisters”
in attendance, and visited by hundreds of the curious. It was then
deposited in the church-yard adjacent, where it remained undis-
turbed for twenty-four hours. <A foolish report was circulated to
the effect that Sanders was not dead, and a committee of prominent
citizens waited upon the Governor and requested him to issue an
order for the remains to be disinterred, which was done, and on
Sunday morning, against the earnest protest of the church officials,
the grave was opened and the body examined. There was no doubt
but that the criminal was dead. The head was terribly swollen and
the face almost black, but the identification was satisfactory.
Wholesale Robbery Attempted.
Circumstances connected with the robbery and murder of “Dutch
Rose” are known to a few parties still living, but they are of such
a nature, so extended and so beyond ordinary belief, that they would
form a story of themselves, and would be termed exaggerations.
Robbery wholesale in its character was to have been carried out, but
somebody “squealed,” and most of the parties escaped harm at the
time. All of those implicated came to untimely ends—the innocent
as well as the guilty. Ned Beraghi was known to carry on his per-
son a considerable amount in specie; but he received a hint, and “hid
out,” and so foiled the would-be robbers. Ned was afterwards
killed in his saloon, northeast corner of Lady and Assembly streets.
Two were killed in Columbia. ae
Knife and Cage Rake. °
A bloody affair occurred one night at a menagerie where the
Nunnery now stands. The theatre building stood nearly a hundred
feet from Plain street, and the authorities allowed a temporary use
of a part of the street. An Irishman, named Lynch, was killed
e
ANECDOTAL REMINISCENCES, 65
within a few feet of where I sat with my colored protector. It
seems that two young men of good families had left their seats for
a short time, and Lynch sat down in one of the vacant places. When
the parties returned, the seat was claimed and refused, when words
occurred and Lynch knocked them both down. As soon as they
regained their feet, one of them picked up a cage-rake and struck
the unfortunate man in the head with it, while the other stabbed
him with a knife. I remember the terror of the crowd, the roaring
of the animals, excited by the smell of blood, and the speedy exit
of all parties from the tent. I was mounted on the shoulders of
some one, who was afraid I would be trampled upon in the wild
rush for a place of safety—some foolish creature shouting that “the
lion had got out.” The coroner’s jury rendered a verdict that either
of the wounds would have caused death. One of the murderers got
away and has never been brought to trial, but the other was ac-
quitted. Col. Wm. C. Preston defended him, and in one of his
magnificent perorations, waving his arms above his head, knocked
his wig off ; it was picked up immediately and stuck back again, but
“hind part before.” There did not seem to be a titter in the audi-
ence—they were so fearful that it might attract the attention of the
gifted orator, and cause a break in his wonderful argument. D. J.
McCord, Esq., as the speaker sat down, said, “William, your wig
is awry.” “Thank you,” was the quiet reply, and the covering was
properly adjusted.
Although acquitted, the conscience of the murderer troubled him,
and it is said that he never passed an entire night in bed, but wan-
dered restlessly about the house—getting the most of his necessary
sleep after daylight. I know of other similar cases. The poor
mother was delighted at her son’s release; but is credited with the
frequent use of the quotation : “The mother of the murdered sleepeth,
but the mother of the murderer sleepeth not.”
Governor Out of Reach.
A man under the influence of liquor refused to leave a saloon,
and the police were called in to put him out, or lock him up if he
resisted. He attempted to defend himself and threatened to kill his
would-be arresters. The officers persisted and he shot and killed
one of them, Tom Cross. At the trial, it was charged that the kill-
ing of Cross was on account of an old grudge. The prisoner was
convicted and sentenced to be hung, Dr. Wm. Reynolds, an old
citizen and a level-headed man, had his doubts as to the justice of
the sentence, and in pursuing his investigations, was assured by
5—M
66 MEMORABILIA AND
Policeman Starling that he did not believe the prisoner intended to
shoot Cross; that he had powder marks on his face, which showed
conclusively to his mind that he only meant to resist what he thought
was an unjust arrest. Dr. R. madea thorough and rapid investiga-
tion into the circumstances, and feeling satisfied that an unjust pun-
ishment was to be inflicted, rushed to the Governor's office to lay
the matter before his Excellency; but Gov. R. F. W. Allston had
gone to his plantation, sixteen miles from Georgetown, and the exe-
cution was to be the next day. The South Carolina Railroad au-
thorities offered to furnish a fast train to Charleston, but it would
have been impossible to reach Georgetown by steamboat and then
get over the sixteen miles to the Governor's plantation. The pri-
soner was hanged the next day, and a sensational scene occurred ; the
rope broke, and the poor fellow fell to the ground, breaking his back
by striking the supporting bar; he was lifted up, only feebly resist-
ing, and swung off again—this time successfully. The screams and
groans of the colored witnesses were terrible to hear. Gov. Allston
on his return was made acquainted with the circumstances, and inti-
mated that he would certainly have interfered with the carrying
out of the execution. He further declared that he would never
again absent himself from the Executive office, or be out of reach
of communication. Previous to Radical reign, the Governor could
not leave the State without permission of the Legislature. Governor
A. was within the borders of the State, but a messenger could not
have reached him under twelve or fourteen hours. How railroads
and telegraph wires have annihilated time.
Murder, Not Suicide.
About twenty-five years ago, the community was horrified at the
reported suicide of a young man, son of an old and highly-respected
citizen. He had been seen the night before about twelve o’clock in
apparent good spirits. The next morning, a laborer going to work
at an early hour, found the body on the side of the path near the
river. The body was lying on the left side, and a pistol, with one
barrel discharged, held in the right hand. An inquest was held,
the body was examined and a bullet through the brain was found
to be the cause of death. The verdict of the jury was suicide. A
skillful detective, who was engaged in State service, took an interest
in the affair, and made inquiries into the matter. He found that
there were no powder-burns on hair or face, and the range of the
bullet showed that the weapon could not have been held in such a
way as to inflict such a wound without powder-burns ; that a person
‘
ANECDOTAL REMINISCENCES, 67
instantly killed would fall flat, the muscles relaxing, and it would
be physically impossible to retain the position in which the body was
found. The doctor was informed of the circumstances, and was so
impressed with the proof which the detective advanced, that he.ex-
claimed, “The d—d rascal is right; I’ll have the jury recalled and a
proper verdict rendered; I did nothing but report the range of the
bullet.” The doctor and the detective were at “daggers’ points,”
but that didn’t prevent the good soul listening to reason. The family
objected to reopening the matter. The detective went on a quiet
hunt, and secured evidence to prove conclusively that the unfortu-
nate young man had been treacherously shot by a soldier.
Was it Providential Punishment?
Bryant Bailey, a sporting man, who also kept a livery stable on the
west side Sumter, near Blanding street, while on his way home, a
mile or two in the country, on the Smith’s Branch toad, was mur-
dered one night in 1872. It was known that he had won a consider-
able sum of money at cards that night, and he was believed to have
it on his person. When the body. was examined, the next day, it
was discovered that his watch and whatever money he had in pos-
session, had disappeared. His waiting man, Bob Cooper, was sus-
pected of the crime, and was tried but acquitted. Some time after-
wards Bob was stricken with paralysis, and could get along with the
greatest difficulty. One of his colored friends, Nancy Pickett, took
care of him until his death. Bob used to be a very dressy man—a
regular dude. Some of the colored people gravely shook their heads,
and said it was Bailey bewitching him. ‘The matter was brought
up recently, through some inquiries relative to another party with
a similar name.
Forced Into a Duel.
During the Adams-Preston political campaign, in 1854, Dr. Ray,
a wealthy physician and planter residing in the “Fork,” got involved
with Mr, Peter Gaffney, a slave owner and planter, but a man below
him in social standing, who seemed disposed under any circumstances
to force Dr. R. to meet him on the duelling field. ‘The doctor could
not get out of the affair honorably, as he conceived, so he accepted
the challenge. The place selected was about seventeen miles below
Columbia, on the left hand side of the McCord’s Ferry road. The
antagonists were promptly on hand, with their friends, and were
soon placed in position. At the word, both parties fired) Dr. R.’s
bullet cutting Mr. G.’s shoulder slightly, while his went wide of its
intended mark. Dr. R.’s second then inquired if the other party
68 MEMORABILIA AND
was satisfied. “No,” was the reply of Mr.G. “I came here to fight,
and, by God, I’m going to fight.”” The weapons were reloaded, the
combatants took their places and the discharges seemed simultane-
ous, although it is claimed that Mr. G.’s weapon missed fire; and he
fell dead—shot through the heart. It was one of the most exciting
political contests which ever occurred in Richland District. The
nearest approach to it being the “Bank” and “Anti” of six years
before, when the slogan was:
There’s the Bank discussion—
Anti’s are done brown.
Fraudulent and Fatal Building.
“Parker Block,” as it is called, on the west side of Main street,
near Gervais, is one of the most famous, or infamous buildings in the
city. It was intended to call it “Parker’s Hall;” but an unrecon-
structed citizen said in the hearing of the thieving State Treasurer,
that it would be properly named, provided the latter word was spelt
haul. Parker changed his mind. It has been used for a variety
of purposes—theatre, gambling house, barroom, with ten-pin alley
and billiard table accompaniments. It was occupied several years
by the Agricultural Commissioner. It finally got out of the hands
of the State through manipulation of the famous Blue Ridge scrip,
which the United States Supreme Court finally pronounced fraudu-
lent. Immorality and crime of nearly every kind was practiced
there at different times. Tom Dent was killed in a difficulty; Run-
kle, a young limb of the law from the North suicided; and portly
George Hall (son of one of Columbia’s first merchants of lang
syne) fell down the front steps and literally broke his neck.
The great reformer, B. R. Tillman, Esq., first thoroughly venti-
lated himself in Parker’s Hall before a Columbia audience. The
upper portion of the building is now used for hotel purposes. Mos-
quitoes never trouble guests, because the ceilings are so lofty that
the insects die before reaching feeding points.
Col. Cash, the Irrepressible.
Col. E. B. C. Cash, of Cash’s Depot, Marion County, belonged to
the school of irrepressibles. He was Colonel of a regiment from
that section, and showed in battle that he was “every inch a man,”’
but became very unpopular with his men. At the reorganization and
election of officers, the Colonel was defeated. When he heard of the
turn affairs had taken, he walked out, deliberately took off his coat,
threw it on the ground, and challenged every man in the regiment
to a fight, with fists or pistols. His “numerous’’ challenge was not
ANECDOTAL REMINISCENCES. 69
accepted, and the ex-Colonel quieted down and went home. Time
passed, and the unfortunate duel with Col. Shannon, of Camden,
occurred, in which the latter gentleman was killed. Col. C. was
tried for the offence, but acquitted. His son, Bogan, while under
the influence of liquor, killed a policeman in Cheraw, and fled.
It was, finally discovered that he was on his father’s premises. For
some reason, the Governor ordered a detachment of men from Co-
lumbia to arrest the criminal. The squad went down, surrounded
Col. Cash’s house, placed the Colonel under arrest, and prosecuted
their search for Bogan, who was located in the barn. When called
upon to surrender, he refused, and, it is said, fired upon them, when
he was promptly shot dead. Old man Cash did not long survive his
accumulated troubles.
“The Home’ and “The Pulaski.”
In 1838, occurred the twin disaster, loss off Cape Hatteras, North
Carolina, of “The Home,” from New York to Charleston, and “The
Pulaski,’ from the former port to Savannah, Georgia. On “The
Home” were several Columbians—Capt. Davie Toms, a retired sea
captain; Mr. James Anderson, a clothing merchant; Prof. Julius
Nott (of the South Carolina College) and his wife, and several
others. I had reason to remember the loss of “The Home,” as Capt.
Toms had promised to bring me a handsome present from New
Y ork—he was indignant at the insignificant souvenir which a fellow-
boarder had brought me from a trip to that then distant metropolis—
a French bon-bon (I have the picture in a scrap-book still). It was
the loss of “The Pulaski” that caused the famous trial in Savannah,
Ga., as to which of two parties—a male and a female—had first
yielded up their lives, the question involved being a large amount
of property, including slaves. It used to be currently reported that
Senator Charles Summer was one of the lucky heirs, that he sold
the negroes, pocketed the money, and became a rabid Black Repub-
lican. His friends deny this, and I have been unable to corroborate
the report. After considerable argument, it was decided that the
woman, being the weaker, had first expired. This decision was used
in the famous Fair automobile tragedy in Paris a few years ago.
The report as to Charles Summer occurred from a similarity of
names of some of the parties.
The “Elephant’s Loose.”
Such was the exciting information communicated by a courier,
who reached Columbia from Rabb’s Mill (now Messer’s) one day
i 4
¥
oaths sp 0. ee ghtlip emanate
tn MEMORABILIA AND
numerous relatives and friends to get them off, but Gov. John L.
Manning was firm in his determination that justice should be done.
Threats of rescue had been made, and his Excellency ordered a
heavy guard to be in attendance, and no trouble occurred. A com-
pany of cavalry went up from Charleston overland, while an infantry
force proceeded by boat as near as possible to the place of execu-
tion, at Walterboro. The only serious result was the death of
one of the soldiers from a cold contracted on the trip. The affair
was impressed upon me by the fact that the bodies of the murderers
were brought through Columbia on the way to Kershaw, where they
had resided, for interment. The stench was so perceptible that pass-
mg individuals hurried from the Vicinity.
Unavailing Search for Bodies.
Soon after the completion of the Greenville and Columbia Rail-
road, a heavy freshet washed away the track almost completely be-
tween Columbia and Alston. Wm. Spencer Brown, Esq., the engi-
neer who constructed the road, and young Eddie McCollum, were
lrowned by a boat getting upset, while superintending repairs. The
people turned out by hundreds to search for the bodies, and it was
kept up night and day for fully a week. Parties would go in boats
up the river, while others went along the banks, torches being used
in profusion, but to no avail. The bodies had each got caught in the
- debris, and were not recovered until the waters had receded. It was
a strange sight, which those who witnessed will never forget—the
moving lights and shouts were weird-like. Ir. Brown lost his life
through a desire that the railroad should be so located that passen-
gers should enjoy the beautiful river scenery, instead of adopting the
route afterwards followed by the Columbia, Newberry and [au-
rens Railroad.
Fouled the Grave Robbers.
James Patterson,\a highly respected colored carpenter, who was
killed by a fall from the roof of the house of Mr. Daniel Crawford,
northeast corner of Lumber and Gates streets (the first house to be
erected on the old parade ground), was buried in the much-used
place of sepulture, and the family determined to prevent the body
being carried off. They had a grave twelve feet square dug and of
the same depth. A quantity of shavings were then put over the
coffin, then a layer of earth; more shavings, and so on to the top.
The robbing implements could not be forced through the shavings,
and the dead body was not disturbed. His dutiful daughter, Mary
Williams, secured his tomb-stone and keeps it in her house.
Ss ieee ee dia hee: ok
i
olumbia after
riends North,
‘rman to fur-
ved the army,
Steamers had
e refugees to
ady friend of
ie Lyon, but
she prevailed
Wilmington
-remonstrated
ey succeeded
terwards the
ng saved, so
mof Mr. E.
oted to reach
*k exhausted
urty Colum-
rtaker some
ra subject
imed that it
‘k my judg-
point. The
oved and I
ht was too
id out what
leposited in
ave young
s, Fair and
se by these
| his half-
lly be em-
skey prop-
ther would
ssa sae Sead anh
ee ee sm adeeb sesame. satin “hte
“om
7 Fea si, it
Darkeys and Sunday Funerals,
In the good old times there was invariably a funeral service at
Potter’s Field on Sunday afternoon over some colored individual
whe had died a month or two before. perhaps. The question might
be asked by a looker-on, “Who's dead ?” and the reply frequently
would be, Sister Jane or Brother Williams, “but he have to wait he
turn.” The service after the sermon would
be of a novel nature.
Deceased’s friends would sing a refrain or tw
Oo, until the excitement
got high enough, when the “holy dance” could be practiced. One.
of these productions would be repeated several times, and then some
one would strike up something that he had “ground out,” and the
others: would “catch on.” The following I remember to have heard:
Oh, feed off o’ milk-white honey, my Lord;
Feed off o’ milk-white honey;
Feed off o’ milk-white honey, my Lord,
To de dying Lamb.
Reconstruction, education and the dying off of the ol
caused a material change—perhaps it m
ment.
d stock has
ay be termed an improve-
Uncertain.
In old Potter’s Field there were a number of curious inscriptions—
some cut, others merely painted on a piece of board. Here is one
that attracted attention for a time, but the board soon rotted away:
Remember, man, as you pass by,
As you are now so once was I;
As I am now so you will be,
Prepare for death and follow me.
Some doubter added:
To follow you I’m not content,
Cause I don’t know which way you went.
Hangman’s Rope Good for Fits.
A member of the famous sand-hill clan was hanged for the mur-
der of one of his neighbors. As he was about to swing off, one of his
relatives who stood near called out, sufficiently loud to be distinctly
heard, “Good-bye, Jim; take good care of yourself.” Can't Say
whether or not the advice was regarded—he was pronounced dead,
however, in six minutes. The corpse, with the rope still around
the neck, was taken possession of by the relatives, who started with
it for their sand-hill home, but stopped at the grocery of Messrs.
Be. &2GicD. Hope, northeast corner of Main and Blanding streets,
tc make a peculiar request. They told Mr. Ed. Hope that a piece
of the rope that hung a man was good for fits, and that they would
(—M
ANECDOTAL REMINISCENCES. A 97
No
98 MEMORABILIA AND
give him the piece on the body for a bottle of Whiskey. Mr. H.
declined the rope, but gave them the whiskey to get rid of his un-
welcome visitors.
Effects of Prayer on a Hard Case. :
One of the same class—McGilberry Goings, by name—was badly
cut with a knife by a boon companion, and it was thought that he
would certainly die. His poor old mother appeared on the scene,
and said to her dissolute son, earnestly, “Pray to God, McGilberry ;
maybe he’ll help you!” The wounded man raised himself with diffi-
culty to his knees, and called out:
Goings. I never asked you for a favor before
this time, I'll be good.”
the promise was fulfilled.
sight.
A great many of these sand-hillers were confirmed clay and rotten
wood eaters; loved whiskey, but cared little for substantial food. ‘
They volunteered almost to a man, and rendered efficient service to
the Confederacy—many of them yielding up their lives. There are
a few of the descendants of the old stock still left. But the names
of Medlin, Goings, Boyer and Crummy are seldom heard now-a-days.
About sixty years ago, Julia, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Barney
Riley, a stout, healthy girl, was taken ill and apparently died. She
was buried in St. Peter’s Church-yard. About a year afterwards,
Mary Jane, another daughter, died, and the bereaved parents, as
they had a large family, decided to have a vault constructed. When
the receptacle was completed, the two bodies were disinterred and
put in the vault. The coffin in which Julia’s remains had been
placed was split in two or three places, and on examination the body
was lying face down. She had evidently been in a trance.
Husband and Wife Died Same Day.
In the southeast corner of First Presbyterian Church-yard and in
Elmwood Cémetery are graves which attract but little attention, and
their peculiarities are apparently unknown. They are the resting
places of two couples who died on the same day. In the first, Rev.
D. E. Dunlap, first pastor of the church, and his wife; in the last.
Mr. and Mrs. William Fogo, refugees from New Orleans. Mr. L.
H. Travet, formerly drummer for the Arsenal Guard, died while his
wife’s body was being consigned to the grave.
He recovered, but I never heard whether
He made a good soldier, and I think a
Yankee bullet carried him off, as he seems to have dropped out of
Buried Alive.
“Lord, this is me, McGilberry
A REE ol 8B AOR MOBS AR
; but if you help me
4A Re UR ON et i ae PEN dr aA.
ex
- an
Married - On th@’26th inst. by JOHN KNOX, Esq., Mr. WILLIAM BARNES, to
Miss MARY CURTIS, bo.a of Macon County, North Carolina.
Issue of Saturday September 8, 1849:
Murder - Mr. JESSE WEATHERFORD, who lived in this Village, eS a
Monday night last by a negro man named Joe, belonging to ening ioe _
at her plantation about 3 miles from this place. The negro — Pes
gun and amunition from a neighbor in the name of his young ame Se
his real object, as afterwards discovered, was to kill gnor set neg oe
W/ veather feed and two others went with the view of arresting him an er
ing the gun from him. The party being detached to + igor af foe Fe
the negro, Weatherford encountered him single handed, whic Pip inci. Boot
his death the whole load of the gun entering his arm - “ SS eee
his heart. Mr. Weatherford was a quiet, peaceable man, and wen a ii
ch of the negro at the request of the negro s owner. The negro ma
escape and is still at large. “Edgefield Advertiser
i d dead in the
S Death - We are informed that WILSON WALLACE droppe :
seas of Anderson on last Monday. He had been afflicted for years with
asthma, which caused his death.
Married - On the 29th August, by Rev. W. W. REID, Mr. JOHN DODGEN to Miss
MARY CROW, both of Macon county, N. C.
Married - On the 6th inst., by Rev. GIDEON ELLIS, Mr. HAMILTON BURDINE,
of Mississippi, to Miss LOUISA HUGHES, of Pickens District.
Issue of Saturday September 15, 1849:
Tribute of Respect to THOMAS M. SLOAN, deceased.
i 1, Mr. HENRY SMITH, of
x i - On 12th inst., by Rev. A. W. MC CUFFIN, }
Seactinaiiy Hietrict . to Miss ARMINDA, eldest daughter of DANIEL BROOM,
of this District.
Issue of Saturday September 22, 1849:
Married - On the 12th ult., by W. D. STEELE, Esq., Mr. G. W. DODD to Miss
A. M. HUNNICUTT, all of Pickens District.
i i i yi i Col. F. M. REID.
i - Died on the 9th inst., in this District, Lt. -
Leis ult., at his residence in this District, Mr. apa WELLEAM
SON He was a Revolutionary Soldier, and has left but few of his compa
triots behind him.
i i i he days of
Murder - Our District seems to be getting back tot
ee: ed the events of the last Our RON ee ge rng death a
Cfsas only in our last number we were called up ee te cacurd
itizen at the hands of a negro man. Now we are calle P
7, spather most diabolical murder. It appears that Mr. JOSHUA agin ng
three ruffians by the name of GREEN, were engaged playsee oo Sonia
dispute arose which led to blows and resulted in the — oes oa
the other three having beat him to death with clubs. T —, -
all in Jail, and we trust that justice will be meeted out to
i i like conduct merits.
= ....Rep. Hamburg, S.C. Sept. 12
ici table mechanic of
Me! Suicide - Mr. WILLIAM S. RUSSELL, a respec :
er ietteetiie. put an end to his existence on Wednesday last by cutting
his throat with a razor.
Issue of Saturday September 29, 1849:
i i k place on Tuesday
i i Accident - A most painful occurrence too :
last in Beick Range, by which a life was —_—_ apoae aes a
: ing on
of Mrs. A. TARRAR, about three years of age, play ae
f d story, fell and received so severe an injury : h
nixed tram Ene effects of it early Wednesday (yesterday) morning.
Cen.
-
=
=
S
~
=
=
*
(Note: *The previous story was dated Sept. 20..Col. Telegraph. )
Death of T. J. WRIGHT, Esq. - The "Camden Journal" of Wednesday last says
-.."It is with deep regret we record the death of Maj. THOMAS J. WRIGHT,
one of the leading members of the Bar of Lancaster, and a prominent mem-
ber of the Legislature from that district. He died on Thursday morning,
13th inst., at 4 o'clock, after a very short illness. He was known as a
good lawyer, in the enjoyment of a large practice, and the confidence of
an extended circle of friends; a writer, a sound Democrat, and a ster-
ling Carolinian, as unostentatious in his manners as he was kind hearted
and devoted in his attachments. He had been a member of the Legislature
for about three years; and his liberal views, sound judgment, and close
attention to his duties induced his friends to believe that a wide field
of future usefullness was opening before him. He had secured the confi-
dence of his District, and there are but few in it whose death would
have proved a severer loss.
Married - On Thursday evening last, by Rev. WM. M. MORTON, Mr. PHILEMON
ANSEL CRANE to Miss GEORGIANA AMANDA MELVINA, daughter of JOHN KNOX, Esq.
all of this District.
Issue of Saturday October 20, 1849:
Shocking Event - JOHN A. COLELOUGH killed by RICHARD MARSHALL.
"Summerville Banner" Oct. 3
Obituary - "Man that is born of a woman, is of few days and full of
trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; he fleeth also
as a shadow, and continueth not."....Departed this life on Tuesday even-
ing the 16th insty at his residence on Keowee River, in Pickens District,
Major ANSALEM ALEXANDER. He died of fever and languished on the bed of
affliction near five weeks. Major Alexander was a native of Pickens Dis-
trict, where he lived, not far from the place of his birth, until his
death; a wide circle of relations and friends grieve because he is num-
bered with the dead; and a widowed wife with three small children, in
the bitterness of her unutterable woe, realises her loss, as irreparable.
It was impossible in a short obituary notice, to do full justice to our
departed friend; let it suffice that in all the relations of life Major
Alexander manifested the most umcomprising integrity of chaiacter; asa
citizen he was ever prompt, patriotic and conscientious in the discharge
of all his duties...as a neighbor, he was benevolent, social and chari-
table...as a friend, he was faithful and true...and as a husband and
father he was deeply and intensely affectionate. An omniscient God has
cut him down in the meridian of his manhood, and his sorrow stricken
friends have carried away his mortal body and consigned it to the cold,
remorseless ground. It is a religious duty to bow in solemn, reverential
acquiesence to this afflicting dispensation of Providence, and a mourn-
ful privilage to remember his many virtues, and to sorrow most of all be-
cause we shall see his face no more. In contemplating this bereavement,
the reflection is peculiarly consolatory, that throughout his entire life
Major Alexander's morality was pure and stainless, and that he exhibited
during his last illness, indubitable evidences of that change of heart
and faith in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, which divests death of
its sting and the grave of its victory.
Died- of Typhoid Fever in this District on the 8th inst., Mr. ELISHA
PHILLIPS, in the 33rd year of his age. The deceased possessed a vigorous
constitution and stalwart frame, that promised long life and sound
health, and his exit from earth in the meridian of his days, is another
solemn memento of the uncertainty of life. The subject of this brief
notice was strikingly distinguished for his mild and pacific mould of
character and the complaceney of his character, by which he secured the
friendship and esteem of all who knew him;. and his loss will be sorely
felt in the circle in which he moved. He had not entered the connubial
state more than nine months before his death, and has left a widowed
wife to grieve over her early bereavement.
Issue of Saturday October 27, 1849:
Married - On the 23rd inst., by Rev. W. G. MULLENIX, Mr. JOHN M. LAURENCE
cr Felale Ver fin. G
QLol *990TTTW °W USSTTOD
AQ pegtpe FQg9gT-S9QT ¥ ET9-“LSQT fTS-6iigT *uaIHNGa (9S) HEMOEM HL
*ssedg [89TAOFSTH Useugnos :09 ShOTSeq
- has 8 MeNpil and Joe Malloy ¢.-:. 2.20 okeen
a Which Séays His Electrocuti ichi——
és - «Sin MeNeill Also ADE exts
At the last term o2 court Jesse
MeNeill, for Willing nis wife, and
John Pearson, for assault with in-
‘ant to rape a colored "voman, were
{Vw - both sentenced to be electrocuted on |
% isd Ez. “: : eZ ES ene pe * was electro cuted,
| c.CHAIR ee Pearson gave no-
| Ag which stayed the |
| MaRS be appeal can be
| :
|
| 5
| x =
ep aims irs—¢ rand | tke
5 Reo. stl Eee oat er Fa?
| Sper ie oe
| r
‘2 ee aa PORT a1
Sisal eis - Besides. 1 joe Malloy, awho Ww 1 ca je ‘
je was, #2. oe RAgpert 4" + bow ! : : aay
< bese _There are new developments’ ini est
18,. two. “other negrocs. were. ~ sent: the Joe Malloy case. He is to be
h ; electrocuted on Sept... 29th uualess|
i RP Sitio the governor takes further action. |
court. “John ‘Péaréon "toR atte ‘ihe Ge 7
} “ee, é. HOB te DEMIS ne re 009 :
Bet a oe: rape, “and- Jess. McNeill, for’ mur- Avert eae aaa eines
| * : 3 At LR Poe, 3 Fe | :
der, are both: to. _be electrocuted on See cere
One W hi ch Sank .8rabie Among |
. three’ Aceotiat a Those Caught in Nets | |
i go Ak ‘ ay : :
Cweanestay® “The ir AS ik - |
be: “ Pearson, -for.. assault” “with” “intent. to Be ing’ a 2.- T Of |
- qTayish the wife. Of. a: “color “ni montus ‘01 the ee Mdriatic |
‘ 1 | Bended...-4 “si arvived from Liverpool today, |
: a » Marion ed that the German subma-
3 : {
“while. ‘her. ideand was away’ re a to breakiy ey } riz hich sunk the Arabic had been
oman” “triend.* “was “Spending” the store.” Se]. on eaucht in| a steel “net and the.U-
sr. The ‘minister’s wife vestigation boats double crew were now prison-|
be r2%. ¥ z 4 a sal
j of the window. -and ran}. .Jonn~: : ers-in England.” -. He added ‘hat |
Ne po neighbor's 8. \ Her’ breaking | 7 2 “lwithin the past 60 days the Hritisa |
x “the? “attention - of | * John’ a have captured no less than =a Ger:
c : :
eerent sesale in’ ihe: Vicinity,” indlud- to: ‘going <
ing Deputy . Sheriff Henry. Hubbard,
‘who ran to the» scene “and: shot. atl
Pearson ‘as. he was leaving. : Ao pogse
“pursued him - -and_ after. a chase” aL
arfine which
hic had been caprurec
said that he could
placa of capture nor detail the cir-
sudim
O Weaver, at
: laces: ond
BESS ph Aaeaer am DANY ex
‘ac ek ; ee
< nlorning, ‘but “said he “went to ait an] ¥ MCUSIKED
. engagement. “with ° “another: “woman
and Acaldentely woke’ SPs ‘the
“Er Will Sfoct
ter’s. wife. =:
2} rhanksely
i) the - ea case,. Ry tees MeNeun appeaisy te me i
“for: cutting” his’ wile’s. head. off'and States. Suj
fees Sthrowing her- Ree ined king er :
AS a t ey Wi ehote kde
Hes dens, and the: latter: made ai Fer ~. 1 2S UNE
me Jepreen Neyer g 2 aes SPY DUS OS ‘ fainied. “To will inte yon
half, but.* could mots gate Mie ite er ue eRe Sita © 1 eet Lae PP AV ES i . 27g. PON
though” the: jury! " deliberated* ¢ somes OY -Diw ay ort Kh
. A ‘time. over, ‘the. question ~ sof. recom- Malloy fal vos esiei 3
ee “mending him to mercy. Eee ee ioe | ithing™exce Sept. 9, 1915
;, Wednesday. afternoon, Jim “Then Ji
was. tried for> going to ‘thé home’ of sentence,
‘a lady on Aikins street, exposing “his | © “It deix
‘person “and. catching © her” by. the the prison
wet eat
ra
She ran: out, ‘and ~ ‘screamed if he has | os
and. the ego. ~escaped. = 43 Several ne- court. “shot |
é 2 Sr0es “Were” arrested. ‘and. taken to her ment,- ‘afte
Sa among “them Jim: “MoNeill, ‘who lived | from ‘the |
‘on F..M, ° ‘Hinson’s place about five | court,” aff
Senile canth one eh Meee Phan taae lindemant me gE
.
most cxenp D> o202« . He had been a member of the Baptist Church for
about thirty™Pive years, and was sustained in his last illness by the
consolations of the religion of his blest Saviour. The deceased leaves
a large circle of kindred and devoted friends, who mourn their loss as
his eternal gain.
Issue of Saturday May 4, 1861:
Death of An Aged Citizen - We regret to have to record the death of one
of the oldest citizens of the District, Mr. LEONARD CAPEHART, who depar-
ted this life on Tuesday, the 23rd ult., being near one hundred years
old. The deceased was a native of Virginia. He leaves a large family
and numberous friends to weep over his departure.
Dead - Mr. JOHN CALVIN MC DANIEL, who, it will be recollected was severe-
ly wounded at the Regimental Muster last summer, by the accidental dis-
charge of the cannon, breathed his last on Saturday, the 27th ult. He
suffered much and long, but bore it with the courage and patriotism that
becomes a soldier. He leaves many relations and friends to mourn his
loss.
issue Of Saturday Maye li 13861:
Married - At Walhalla, on the 26th ultimo, by Rev. FLETCHER SMITH, Mr. A.
FISCHESSER to Miss MENA GOTZ.
Issue of Saturday May 18, 1861:
Marrzed=— At Atlanta, Ga., on the 2d inst., by Rev: J. 2. Bayne, Me ELIAS
HOLCOMBE, formerly of this District, to Miss: FANNIE E., only daughter of
S. CLEVELAND, Esq., of New Orleans.
Issue of Saturday May 25, 1861:
Married - On Thursday evening, the 16th May, inst., by Rev. C. MC KENDREE
SMITH, Mr. WILLIAM STEGALL to Mrs. MARY ANN MONTGOMERY, all of Pickens.
Obituary - Departed this life, on the 3d inst., JOSEPH, son of SAMUEL and
G. A. YOUNGBLOOD. The strong tie of affection has been suddenly and un-
expectedly snapped. It is oftentimes cut loose by the cold hand of death.
How precious and how dear to us are our lovely, innocent little ones.
Sweet be their rest until the resurreciton morn, when they will be awak-
ened in immortal youth to greet their kindred and all the sanctified in
glory. G:
Tribute of Respect to G. N. FORTUNE, deceased, by members of the Pierce-
town Guards, 4th Regiment, S.C.V.
pele)
Essue of Saturday June 1, 136
Married - On the 28th April, by Rev. WM. REID, Mr. CALVIN H. STANCIL, to
Miss NANCY ANN CHAPMAN, all of Pickens.
Married - On the 10th inst., at the residence of the bride's father, by
Rev.» D. MC NEIL TURNER, Mr. F. E. HARRISON, of Anderson, to Miss MARY
PERRIN, of Abbeville.
Issue of Saturday June 8, 1861:
Fatal Shooting - In a difficulty at the Depot at Columbia, Tenn., a few
nd also killed, by accidental shot, Mr. BURGESS, a volunteer from Giles
county. In the course of the unfortunate recontre Mr. Reynolds was woun-
ded by a pistol shot in the shoulder, and severely beaten on the head
with a stick. Reynolds has been arrested and will be brought to trial.
(As ago, W. C. REYNOLDS shot and killed his brother-in-law, WM. PORTER,
Married — On. the 22d. ult.; by £2) N~ ROBINS, Esq., Mr: We ©. DURHAM to
Miss ARTAMISSA JAMES, all of Pickens.
Married - on the 2d June, by the same, Mr. JOHN STEWART to Miss SUSAN
94
STONE, all of Pickens. =
Obituary - Departed this life on the 23rd ult., Mrs. SUSAN NICHOLSON,
wife of EVAN J. NICHOLSON, aged 46 years. Mrs. Nicholson leaves a hus-
band and five children, and a large circle of relatives and friends to
mourn their irreparable loss; and in her death Mr. Nicholson loses a
kind wife, her children an affectionate mother, and the settlement a
pious neighbor, and a good example for the rising generation. H.B.
issue of Saturday June 5. L661:
Murder - We learn from the "Summerville (Ala.) Democrat’'' that JAMES EVANS
was killed in Morgan county, Ala., on the 20th inst., with a fire-arm. y
Dreadful Accident - We learn from the ‘Pensacola Observer’, of the 2d
inst., that SAMUEL PETER MC KINLAY, a lad about fourteen years of age,
was killed in that town by the accidental discharge of a gun in the hands
of a soldier.
Married - On Thursday the 5th inst., by JOHN R. GOSSETT, Esq., Mr. JOHN
S. THACKSTON, of Greenville, to Miss MARY, daughter of TILMAN and SARAH
Co MILLER. ~or Pickens.
Married - On Sabbath morning, the 2d inst., by Rev. T. B. MAULDIN, Mr.
W. M. V. A. TABOR, of Franklin county, Ga., to Miss NARCISSA P., daugh-
ter of EDMUND HERNDON, Esq., of Pickens.
Issue of Saturday June 22, 1861:
Marrrved = On the l6th inst. by Lb. ROGERS, Esq), Mr: JOHN ELI TELerON
to Miss ELIZABETH H. MOODY, all of Pickens.
Married - On the 13th inst., by L. THOMAS, Esq., Mr. THOMAS DAVIS to Miss
MARTHA, daughter of Mr. JOHN HUDSON, all of Pickens.
issue of Saturday June 29, 1861:
Obituary - Died, at his residence in Pickens District, on the morning of
the 13th inst». Mc. G. W. LIDDELL, in the 74th year of his age.
Issue of Saturday July 6, 1861:
Found Dead - MICHAEL FITZPATRICK, of this District, was found dead in
his house on Sabbath last. An inquest was held over the body, A. ROBINS,
Esq. acting as Magistrate. The verdict of the jury was, in substance,
that deceased came to his death by the visitation of God. Fitzpatrick
was an Irishman, had been a workman on the Blue Ridge Railroad, and has
neither family or kindred in this section.
Married - By Rev. THOMAS LOOPER, on the 4th June last, Mr. DAVID FREEMAN
to Mrs. ELVIRA FENDLY, all of Pickens.
Married - On the 26th June last by Rev. V. A. SHARP, Mr. D. A. DAVIS, of
North Carolina, to Miss MARY MC CAY, of Pendleton.
Issue of Saturday July 13, 1861:
Homicide - We learn that on the 6th inst., at a place called FARR's Still
House, in the lower part of this District, a rencounter occurred between
GEORGE TRANUM and EDWARD NORRIS, in which Norris was stabbed and killed
by Tranum. An inquest was held over the body of Norris by Magistrate
JOHN R. GOSSETT, acting Coroner, the verdict of the jury being in accor-
dance with the above statement. Tranum has been lodged in jail to await
a judicial hearing of his case.
Obituary - Died, at his late residence, Kingston, Ceorgia, June tse. 186d
Mr. LEONARD TOWERS, aged 59 years. The deceased lived long in this Dis-
trict, and was extensively known, and his many friends will receive the
tidings of his death with much regret, and with sorrow for the loss of
95
A
"Circumstances pointed to L. D. EVANS as the man who did the killing .ge-gl
o
(Mar. 5, :
State of South Carolina, Oconee County. Petition for Partition. PHILO-
MAN CRANE and AMANDA CRANE, Applicants vs. VINEY CRANE and others, Defen-
dants. It appearing to my satisfaction that VINEY CRANE, JOHN CALHOUN
and wife NANCY CALHOUN, LORENZO BARNES and wife MARTHA BARNES, JOHN SAM-
PLES and wife JUDITH SAMPLES, ISAAC CRANE, LEWIS COX and Heirs of GEORGE
BARNES, deceased, defendants in this case, reside beyond the limits of
this State. Division or sale of the real estate of PHILOMAN CRANE ,dec'd.
issue of Friday March 12, 1869:
State of South Carolina, Pickens. In Probate Court. Petition to sell
Lands, pay Debts, for Partition, etc. NANCY ERVIN vs. WILLIAM ERVIN et
al. It appearing to my satisfaction that WILLIAM ERVIN, THOMAS ERVIN
and the Heirs of GEORGE ERVIN, deceased, names and number unknown, the
Heirs of ISAAC ERVIN, six in number, names unknown, reside from and be-
yond the limits of this State.
Issue of Friday April 2, 1869:
‘ idence of the bride's father, by
Mr We A. conee, to Miss LAURA, daughter
Sd
Sqr,
f E. M. ALEXANDER, of Pickens.
Issue of Friday April 9, 1869:
Married - On the evening of the 6th inst., at the residence of the brides
mother, bythe Rev. W. HH. STRATTON, RICHARD LEWIS, Esq., Judge of Probate
of Oconee County, to Miss OLIVIA KATE, eldest daughter of Mrs. L. LAW-
RENCE, all of Walhalla. .
State of South Carolina, Oconee County. In Probate. Petition to sell
Lands, pay Debts, for Partition, etc. JOHN WEST, Applicant vs. SUSAN
CATHERINE WEST and others, Def'ts. It appearing to my satisfaction that
SUSAN CATHERINE WEST, JAMES ROGERS WEST, JASPER WEST, MARTIN WEST, STEP-
HEN WEST, MINERVA WEST and CYNTHIA WEST, defendants in this case, reside
beyond the limits of this State. Concerning the sale of the real estate
of ARCHIBALD WEST, deceased.
State of South Carolina, Oconee County. In Probate. Petition to sell
Lands, pay Debts, for Partition, etc. MARY RANKIN, Applicant vs. FRAN-
CIS CAPEHART and others, Defendants. It appearing to my satisfaction
that FRANCIS CAPEHART and MARGARET ELIZA CAPEHART, defendants in this
case, reside beyond the limits of this State. Concerning the sale of the
real estate of EDWARD RANKIN, deceased.
State of South Carolina, Oconee County. Petition for final settlement.
NANCY A. MORGAN, Adm'x. vs. GEO. W. ELLIOTT and MARY E. ELLIOTT, defen-
dants. It appearing to my satisfaction that the heirs at law of JAMES
A. MORGAN, deceased, to wit: GEO. W. ELLIOTT and MARY E ELEIOI: re-
side from and beyond the limits of this State.
Issue of Friday April 16, 1869:
Wanted - Information of the fate or whereabouts of Capt. WM. JOHNSON,
(Blind) who when last heard from, was traveling with a one horse vehicle,
and boy, selling books, maps, etc., thro' Central Tennessee, and Northern
Georgia and Alabama. Any information in regard to him will be thankfully
received; addressed to MARY JOHNSON: care of Fo. 1. DIBBLE © Co., Louis-
ville, Ky. ADEM 5, 1869.
Issue of Friday May 7, 1869:
Married - On Sunday morning, the 25th of April, 1869, at Westminster
Church, by Elder J. R. HAMLIN, Mr. J. A. NEWELL and Miss SALLIE, daughter
of Rev. ANDREW MC GUFFIN, all of Oconee.
Married - By the same, on th evening of the 27th of April, ult., at the
© ct
et
ESD
@
a
residence of the bride's f Capt. R. E, STEELE, of Fort Georee,
®
eS :
Pickens County, to Miss GEORGIE ANN, eldest daughter of MORRIS MILLER,of
Oconee County.
Issue of Friday May 28, 1869:
Married - On the 13th of May 1869, at the residence of the bride's fath-
er, by Rev. Mr. SPEARS, Mr. J..F. BURTON, of Georgia, and Miss CECELIA
C., daughter of J. W. COBB, Esq., of Oconee.
Issue of Friday June 4, 1869:
Incendiarism and Murder - We regret to learn that, sometime last week-a
murder was committed in the settlement known as Salubrity, in Pickens
County, which exceeds in fiendishness and cowardice anything we ever
heard of. We are not prepared to give the particulars, but will state
the matter as told to us, which, we doubt not, is correct: The barns
and stables of a Mr. WILLARD was discovered to be on fire at a late hour
at night, when he and a man by the name of RAMPEY hastened to the scene
of conflagration, to arrest, if possible, the devouring flames. On
reaching the spot it was found that the fire had made such headway that
it could not be stopped, and Willard and Rampey rushed in the stable to
tescue the horses and other stock, and while thus engaged were fired up-
on by unknown persons without. Mr. Willard was struck in the neck by a
ball, which resulted in his death in a few minutes. Rampey was struck
on the leg, causing a painful wound. We are not informed of any clues
as to who the perpetrators were. We hope to give full particulars next
week.
In Memory - Of REBECCA HOLLINGSWORTH, who died on the 6th of November
last, near Townville, Anderson District, S. C., in the 23rd year of her
age. M.T.P. Chicago, Jan. 8, 1869. (5 verses poetry--First line reads:
"Oh sister dear! and art thou gone..)
The First Case of Divorce in South Carolina!
The "Greenville Enterprise" says, that three petitions for divorce came
up for hearing before Judge ORR on Friday last. Two of the applications
were from the wives of wicked husbands, one from the husband against the
wife. The first case was from a lady, Mrs. MARY E. CAMERON, residing in
Charleston, for a divorce from her husband, ROBERT CAMERON, in Philadel-
phia, from whom she was by his cruelty compelled to separate several
years ago; he having also since the separation unlawfully married anoth-
er woman in Pennsylvania, with whom he is now living. The unlawful wife
on application furnished an affidavit stating that the husband represen-
ted himself as a widower; and so she married him in ignorance of the ex-
istence of the lawful wife. Judge Orr, after hearing the petition and
evidence, readily granted the order of divorce in this case, on motion
of PERRY & PERRY, solicitors for the petitioner.
The other parties all reside in this county. The applicants were rep-
resented by Messrs. SULLIVAN & STOKES. Judge Orr granted the order of
divorce in the case of Mrs. AMANDA C. LENDEMAN from her husband, FRANCIS
M. LENDEMAN, who, it was proved, had cruelly treated her and had married
and takem up with another woman. In the case of the petition of JOHN W.
WALKER for divorce from his wife, MARY J. WALKER, on the allegation of
her desertion some six or eight years ago, and her violent temper and
abuse which occasioned it, and the hopelessness of a reunion, the Judge
was not satisfied that he ought to grant the husband a divorce, but in-
timated to the counsel that he would further consider the case.
Those are the first cases of divorce that have ever been granted by a
law court in this State. To be sure South Carolina was always a barbar-
ous State, and it must doubtless be gratifying to our Down-East friends
to witness this giant stride that we have taken in the race of civila-
zation. It is reconstruction in its most practical sense; that is to
say, we are rapidly assimilating ourselves and our laws to Down-Eastern
ideas. Who knows but that in a while we may have blue laws, and there
is even a possibility that we may in time boast a race of ANNA DICKINSONS.
Room for re-constructed South Carolina.
Issue of Friday June 11, 1869:
Married - On the 3d of June, inst., at Mount Ina, at the residence of the
T15
Mr. WARREN @. formerly of this State, and now a resident of Chick-
asaw county, WMssissippi, is on a visit to his old home and relations.
Thursday, April 25, 1878:
Mr. TURNER, living at Burns’ Mills, lost a little child on last Friday.
It was buried on Saturday in the Baptist Church cemetery at this place.
Thursday May 2, 1878:
W. W. FARROW, a printer from Abbeville, S. C. ard at one time the editor
and proprietor of the "Banner", of that town, died in Winston, N. C.,
on Friday of last week, of consumption. He was buried with Masonic hon-
ES.
Thursday May 9, 1878:
Oakway Locals - Married, on Sunday morning, 28th day of April bast. at
the bride's mothers, Mr. DAVID A. STEWART to Miss S. JANE HARGROVES, all
of Oconee. J. B. SANDERS officiated.
Hes AIKEN, a peaceable, industrious and harmless citizen of Oakway,
died Pet ub yy. after a protracted and serious illness, leaving a wife
a se children to mourn their loss. He was buried at New Bethel
DUC
Locals - Died, on the 13th April, 1878, at the residence of Mrs. E,. E.
ROBINSON, Mrs. ELIZABETH GRAY, in the 9lst year of her age. She died in
full faith of a blessed immortality.
Thursday May 16, 1878:
Locals - Died, on April 13, 1878, Mr. N. H. CARTER, an old citizen of
this county, aged 64 years.
ANTHONY MAY was hung at Darlington on the 3d inst. for the murder of
‘ROBERT SUGGS, nearly ten years ago. He was convicted at the last term
of the court upon confession made to different persons at different
' times. The execution was private. Years ago CYRUS COACHMAN was hung
for the same murder.
A PEPE DAVID, colored, was convicted at the last term of court at Abbeville
(fot the murder of GEORGE and DRUCILLA FRANKLIN, December 20th, 1877. He
will oe the i/th inst. The evidence against him was all circum-
stantial.
Thursday June 6, 1878:
Oakway Locals - Rev. J. J. NEVILER, PC. of the Walhalis and Seneca City
Cipeuit., preached at Centre Church on Saturday evening last, and on Sun-
day preached the funeral sermon of Mrs. CHARLOTTE COLE, who died last
September.
Thursday June U3 31878:
Locals- Mrs. SULLIVAN, the wife of Mr. J. F. SULLIVAN, died on Tuesday
of last week. She had been sick and bed-ridden for two or three years,
and no doubt death was a relief to her. She was buried in the Baptist
cemetery at the Baptist Church on last Wednesday.
Thursday June 20, 1878:
Married - On Thursday evening, June 6, 18/8, by Reb. &. HOLDER, Mr. AN-
DREW JONES to Miss FRANCIS CANE, all of Oconee.
Married - Near Richland Church, at the residence of the bride's father,
M. S. STRIBLING, June TL, 1878. by Rev. S. L. MORRIS, Mr. T. B. WYLY and
Miss ANNA STRIBLING.
Suicide in Edgefield - mr. WM. E. BRYAN), 74 young man residing at Edge-
128
@ ft eto~
field C. H., shot and killed himself with a Pistol in his room, in the
village, at half-past 10 o'clock A.M., Friday. The ball entered the
right temple and passed to and lodged in the left temple. He left let-
ters addressed to his mother, the Edgefield Rifles, Dr. BLAND and“othere.
In one of these letters he assigned pecuniary embarrassment as the cause
of his committing the rash act.
We are in receipt of a copy of the "Gazette", daily and weekly, edited
and published by D. MC NEIL TURNER, JR., Esq., at Corpus Christi, Texas.
"The Gazette" appears to be in a flourishing condition and reflects
Ctedit upon Mr. Turner. Mr Turner wac formerly a citizen of Walhalla
and is well remembered by many Of our citizens. ae
We regret to announce the death of JONAS PHILLIPS, SR., which sad event
occurred at his residence, in this county, on Thursday morning last. Mr.
Phillips was, we learn, over ninety years of age and was one of the first
settlers above the Indian boundry line. Mr. Phillips had resided where
he died for many years, his place being noted as the centre of the sec-
tion where he lived. Mr. Phillips leaves a large family and many friends
to mourn his death.
Thursday June 27, 1878:
Locals - Mr. THOMAS BROOM was kicked severely by a horse on Monday last.
He lingered until the next day, when he died from the effects of the
hurt. Mr. Broom was over fifty years of age and one of our finest citi-
zens.
We regret to learn of the death of the infant son of Mr. and Mrs. 1. B-
LEE, aged about twenty months, which occurred at their residence on Keo-
wee River, on the 25th inst., after a short illness.
Thursday July 4, 1878:
Locals - Mr. JOHN SUTTLES, of Walhalla, departed this life this (Wednes-
day) Merntug 2€ 30’ clock. Me. S. was aver seventy years of age.
Mrs. THOMAS CHASTAIN, living in the neighborhood of Richland Church, died
on Last Monday and was buried in the Baptist Church yard at Walhalla on
Tuesday.
Thursday July 11, 1878:
Locals - Died, in Greenville, Texas, on the 21st June, 1878, MARGARET
VINETTA, infant daughter of FRANK P. and GEORGIA A. ALEXANDER, at the
age of three months and twenty days.
Col. T. C. WEATHERLY, a well known citizen of Marlboro, and formerly mem-
ber of the Legislature, died at Glenn Springs.
Thursday July 18, 1878:
We chronicle with regret the death of Mr. JOHN ROSS, one of the esteemed
citizens of our county, which occurred On the 12th inst... at his: home,
near Salem Church. The immediate cause of his death was cancer of the
face. Mr. Ross has for thirty years been a resident of Oconee and was
Over eighty years old at the time of his death.
We Tegret to announce the death of Dr. T. S. MILLER, which occurred at
his residence near Bachelor's Retreat, on last Saturday evening after a
short illness. Dr. Miller was perhaps the oldest practicing physician
in the county and had enjoyed an extensive and lucrative practice over
thirty years. He was one of our best citizens and enjoyed the confidence
and esteem of all who knew him. His loss as a physician will be greatly
felt in his neighborhood and as a pure and upright citizen by the people
of the County and State. He leaves a widow and several children who
have our sympathy in their sad bereavement.
Thursday August 1, 1878:
Married - On the 7th of July, by the Rev. H. M. BARTON, at the residence
129