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" v- ; - a m 7 * * * i i \ VOLUME XXXvn 1 ff?i? CONWAY STORY BACK IN 1864 The Leading Men and Where They Lived Their Lives WOMEN RAIDERS IN WAR Facts Written in Three Chapters as Told by One Who Remembers AV.V.VV/AV.'.W.V.VASV.'." ; Hei e is a story of Conway, v.Thich begins in the spring of S J" 1864, and ends in the following J I year when the Civil War ended. J ! The facts stated in it are giv- J[ ' f/\ At? K?* n T \A7 r% H r% il ^1 c11 wu uic ui nci u v u. u tt ji " who came to Conway as a boy J" J in the spring of 18G4, with his "J JJ? father, Everette Watts, the lat- I" J ter having been appointed to "J ? the position of jailer of the " Jj county. The family occupied I the old jail which was located ! in the exact spot where the J Grace Hotel now stands. CHAPTER II What Women Raiders Came to Conwayhorou /?h Tt was hard times in Horry County in the spring of 180)4, and lasting through many years after that, especially during the latter part of 1804, and throughout the following year dining which the war ended. The conditions brought about by the boll weevils at the present time cannot compare with the conditions of that time; neither can the conditions which prevailed years afterward when the price of cotton went down to five and six cents the pound. The men were in the army of the Confederacy and had been there for some time. They had left their little tn.'^s and cructe log caoin nomes in tV"? hands of the women and children. Women and children can do a whole lot of work, but they cannot raise bread like the men. While the husbands, fathers and sweethearts fought the battles of the lost cause, the dear little women did the best that they could, and that best was not very much. When it became necessary to make raids in order to get something to feed hungry stomachs they were eo 'ol to the occasion as we will presently show. This place had no transportation facilities worth mentioning at that tir-p. The few stores were supplied with goods that were brought up from Georgetown on lighters and flats. The flats were propelled by paddles and poles, with at times a change to oars made out of oak o"r long leaf pine. There was no good way of protecting the goods such as cloth and notions on the trips up the river so that very often the stocks for the stores were damaged goods to start with. A story is told of how one merchant, even in later years, had a lot of more than an acre covered with cheap calico and homespun hanging out to dry after it had arrived at the town on one of th^se flats. Most of the cloth used by the people was manufactured at home, of course, using the old spinning wheel and homemade loom. It was in this cloth that most of the people dressed. They also wore shoes that were made at home. Some manufactured things came in by means of the flats and such things were prized more highly than they are today. Main Street was one large sand bed. In it, near the center, extending from the Peoples National Bank corner to the F. C. Todd corner, grew long leaf pine trees. There were three very large long leaf pines still left at the time of which we write (Continued On Back Page.) CAUSES A STIR DOWN IN BUCKS It is reported here that the leaving of notes signed K. K. K. at the homes of a number of people down in Bucks township, near Toddville, and in the section extending from that point toward Bucksport, has MIK'Ofl MA liffitt of IH n ?v\ ~ IUa v.. Iiv Iivvn.. nwi UillUll^ kllC pu[lll* lation, especially some of the negroes. Some of those who were apparently without work went to hunting jobs and are now apparently busy as the reports say. One of the colored residents of that community was in Conway recently and said that this matter had caused no little fear in the miiids of some, but that it did not affect him as he had plenty of work to do, attended to his own business, and was making an lv c iiving by working his little farm and making good crops. Others it appeared were endeavoring to change their habits of a lifetime, and hunting work. One of the notes left at the home of a white man, telling him that he ' W/AVAV.W.'.WMV.V/A' 5 To debate or not to debate, jl 5 This seems to be a question that aB 5 the Maple Literary Society must ! J decide before the time comes. /^VVVVVVWVWVVWVVIWVVVUV ? 4 f t m ^. - m 1 - - ? W V" Ifpq p n^ju^f , t PHOMIT ACTION < WITH WILLIAMS | Results in Trial and Swift Convictions by The Jury ;j The negro, Bob Williams, who slew Ji the chief of police of Fair Bluff last ! week, was not the victim of lynch law as was reported here to be the " case early in the week. The policeman did not die at once, J but was rushed to a hospital in Wil mington, N. C., in the hope that an H . u:_ v/pciauviii Jiugiil, rtttvc lllt> lilt?. ^ When he arrived at the hospital h? ^ was so weak that two transfusions of J blood were used on him in an effort to make him revive. This treatment did not succeed, however ,and he died. Boh Williams, in the mean time i had gotten away, carrying a wounded j limb which kept him from walking except on crutches and he was captured almost single handed and lodged in the Whiteville jail before the mob which was forming to lynch him I could gather and take him. When the authorities in Whiteville found that there was still talk about the streets that the negro would be taken from the jail and hung, they | sent to Wilmington, N. C., for a detachment of troops. These arrived . on time and guarded the jail until J the negro could be tried and convicted and sentenced to the electric chair. The facts as they occurred, after the negro had been arrested, are as follows: "Bob Williams .slayer of Bradley I Cribb, policeman at Fair Bluff, was u presented in court at Whiteville Monday morning, arraigned, tried and ? convicted in nine hours. The date of i the execution was fixed for March 1. a The trial of Williams sets a record in court history in Columbus county. s The indictment charging him with the 'a murder of Cribb was presented to the grand jury at 11 o'clock and the time bill was returned to the court at 11:30. Williams was arraigned at * 2:30 and entered a plea of not guilty, j Judge N. A. Sinclair, presiding at c the present session of court, appointed Homer L. Lyon, congressman from Sheriff J. O. Ammons and Jailer ^ Louis Spivey had sinprled-handed beat- n en back a mob of 300 men that rushed the jail where Williams was con- ? fined. With drawn' revolvers the sheriff and jailer awaited the attack- a inpr wave in the jail yard and firmly ^ refused to evacuate. For half- an hour the issue hunp? in the balance; then the mob evidently without a leader, sullenly pave away, but hung in the vicinity of the jail. When the soldiers arrived they found the sheriff on the verge of exhaustion from lack of sleep and the }, way open for a more successful at- ^ tack on the county bastile." o must go to work, has been traced, it a is said, to the home of a neighbor u where there is not a member of the s Klan, and where there can- never be a member as the occupants are wo- s< men. In a number of instances, it is said t that these notes are not the work of the Klan, but of parties in the community who would hold themselves s' out as members of a Klan. There is 1 no Klan in that part of the country, is the sixth district; Donald McUracken 1 and Procter, law partner of District Attorney Trvin B. Tucker, to defend the bandit. Solicitor Woodus Kellum represented the state which closed its case shortly before 5 o'clock. The defense offered very little evidence. McCracken and Proctor addressed the iury briefly asking that justice be done. The nearest either apnroached to veouestinir mercy was the plea of Proctor that the jury return a verdict of murder in the second decree. Solicitor Kellum. in a scorching- denunciation of the negro, demanded the full penalty of the law to be invoked. The jury received the case at 8 o'clock and returned a verdict of guilty after 15 minutes' deliberation. Williams s.at stoically throughout the hearing, his face betraying not the slightest interest in the proceedings. He seemed more like a wild beast at bay than a man on trial for his life. There was but one hint of violence that came early when Williams was led into the court room by a squad of soldiers. As the negro took his r seat in the dock some one in the audience veiled 'Lvnch him.' but t.hr? speaker was quickly seized by the soldiers and ejected from the court room. There was evident, however, an undercurrent of unrest while the jury deliberated briefly on the case; there was low mumblinp: which even the presence of the military did not entirely assuapre and fears were expressed that an outbreak would follow the returning of any other verdict save first desrree murder. Only the arrival of Capt. R. S. McClelland and his W. L. I. last nifcht saved the life of Williams, is the opinion of county officials here. A mob of 500 men was gathered in the outskirts of the town when the automobiles bearing the troops whizred through the loner street between Vineland and Whiteville at 10 o'clock. A cordon of pruardsmen was quickly thrown about the jail and all automobiles and pedestrains were stopped by the soldiers and the streets absolutely a cleared. Twenty-four hours earlier t % gwrtr OONWAY, S. 0., THURSDAY, ///AV.V.V.V.VAVV.Wi'/AVI HOME FOR Senator Jeremiah Sm home with his son, Danii 11 ere. On Monday the Sens hands with a number of his on business from the countr Senator Smith was look shows that he has stood th session with remarkable abil The Senate had adjou Tuesday of this week to ena to attend to the salesday bi Smith was on his way bad I on Monday afternoon. V.V.V/.'.V.V.V.VASVW.V.W DUNCAN AFFAIR STILL HIDDEN 3lood Hounds Fail to Track Men .to Their Lair DOUBT AS T0~THE CAUSE Duncan is Progressive Parmer Says Some Neighbors of His On Saturday night before last )aniel Duncan was shot at by about mlf dozen men from the dark shadows if Grassy Ray church, as he was passng along: near his home. ilong near his home. Duncan did not know how many hots were fired but the shot struck ill about his buggy, and while none >f the shot struck his body, his horse vas hit by the shot in one or two >laces. Examination of the shot loles in the buggy afterward estabished the fact that several kinds of ihot had been used in aiming at him. When the horse he was driving was lit by the shot, it became u nirvana geible and tore down the road toward lome at a high rate of speed. Duncan !ould not have held the horse back lad he wanted to. Duncan heard the shot as they vhizzed past his face and head. He hinks th.it as many as fifteen or wenty shots were fired at him in all. le was unable to identify any of the nen whom he saw, about a half dozen n unmber, standing near the corner >f the church building. He knows that t was these men and perhaps others, \idden nearby, who fired the shots at 1 1 1Y* On Sunday morning Duncan got in ouch with the owner of a piair of >lood hounds in North Carolina. The logs arrived and were placed on the icent at the church. It had been so ong and so many people had passed ilong that way that it was found lard to get the dogs started on a e/id. Finally they struck a trail vhich led them to the town of Nichols. >n Sunday afternoon to see the chase >ut the dogs trailed along the road >pposite a garage belinging to Short Tyler and here they turned up to the loors of the garage and acted as if hey wished to enter the building. When the building was opened up hey showed no signs of recognizing iny scent within the building, and his trail, like the others, was fully ost. At last accounts nothing further lad been done to try to dicover the dentity of the persons who committed his crime. Dlincan S!IVS tlint enmn fimo <x?/\ W? .,.,(T ^ Vitvv UVOIV V1UIV eceived a letter written, evidently, in l disguised hand, and signed "Ku Clux Klan," or "K. K. K," in which e was warned to leave the neighborlood. He says that he paid no attenion to this. He owns land there and i number of neighbors speak well of iim as a farmer and neighbor. He does not believe that the Klan iad anything to do with this business le rather thinks that it is the work f some enemy or enemies of his in hat section of the county. It appears hat the Klan have peen particularly ictive for some time past in that secion of Horry County, still there can ?e found no reason why they would nolest Duncan, according to a report rought to Conway last week about he affair. Duncan is said to be a hardworking nd law abiding citizen. On his farm e has highbred stock and he uses abor-saving machinery in working his finds. Many appeared to want to aid n bringing the parties to justice. o ? SALESDAY BUSINESS Last Monday was salesday, but usiness at the court house was slack ecause there was not much to sell. A farm tract in Gallivants Ferry, nee bid off by J. E. Lewis for $3,000 t the Lewis estate sale, was resold nder mortgage and brought only the mall sum of $100. A small ttfact of ten acres in Simpon Creek brought ten dollars. Some lots resold in the Lewi? esate brought very small amounts. o ? The third and last chapter of the hort story about things at Conway in 964, and 1965 will appear in our next ssue. You should not miss it. \ i! jto FEBRUARY 8th, 1923 w^swyvwwyvuvwMAW WEEK-END \ -0 > ith spent the week-end at S | si T. Smith, the contractor, S ttor was in Conway shaking % constituents who were here % y. 5 ing well and his appearance ^ < ie hard work of the present ^ i lity considering his age. J ( rned on last Friday until ^ ble the lawyers of that body ^ usiness at their homes. Mr. ; c to his duties in Columbia j. 5 LTJV.%W.V/.V.VAViV.\VVSVV BUSINESS MAN HAS HISTORY Now Lives in Conway. Started in New York State FOR GREENE AND GAYNOR Married in Horry County and Cast His Lot There Since WAmVA'AWAVWA'AW _ % The Horry Herald intends \ from time to time, to publish f % brief sketches of business men "J % who live in the town, and who J came to Conway from other sec- ^ " tions of the country; perhaps " ^ many years ago. ? The paper does not promise that these sketches will appear } jC in any stated form or at any " S stated intervals, but only as the JJ facts happen to be gathered and ? are found to be of interest. "I ? The subject of this sketch is J. E. Nicholas, the well-known merchant and farmer, who for years conducted a general mercantile business on the corner of Third avenue and Laurel street, until some time during the war heN sold the lot with the store thereon to the One Price Shoe Store. He is at the present time engaged in the soft drink business, in the real estate business to some extent; and also conducts a store and represents one of the leading manufacturers of automobiles. A brief statement of where he came from, the way in which he started out in life might be of interest to all of the people of the, town. He began his life in the town of Fayetteville, N. Y. About that time there was a firm of contractors under the firm name of Green & Gaynor. For a number of years they were engaged in general contracting, and unHovtnnlr wnvlr nf vn virtue lri?A/^a? of the members being well trained civil engineers. Later on in their history they became still larger contractors of government work. At the age of sixteen, J. E. Nicholas was employed by this firm as an office boy. He remained in that position for some time and was promoted to a higher position with the firm. He worked with the firm for 22 years. During that period the contracting work in which the firm was more and more engaged, spread over many of the large rivers and along the coast from New York City to St. Aunrustine, Fla. Nicholas was promoted by the firm from time to time, until at the end of his service with them he was the general manager of all the work which was done by the firm on the streams in the eastern part of the United States. Tn the course of time this work brought Mr. Nicholas to Horry County, where the contractors had undertaken work on the Waccamaw river. Tt was while lookinpr after their work in this county that he met and married an Horry girl and finally decided to resiflm from the work of the firm with which he had been employed so long and engage in business on his own account in this county. Tn the course of time certain contracts that Green & Gaynor had tarried out with the government came under question, especially during the time of one of the administrations when government affairs were being looked after; and Green Gaynor were prosecuted in the Federal courts in O nll?Y?l?nv r?f trinlo fV*of frvrvlr nlonn i t? i v? 111 i/v i v/i vi i u i n i/iuit i/ww rv in Savannah, Ga. J. E. Nicholas was a witness in some of the trials. The senior member of the firm of Green & Gaynor was known as Col. Gay nor. He was a brother of Mayor Gaynor of New York City. Another brother of Colonel Gaynor is James E. Gaynor, now a prominent attorney in New York City, and who frequently writes to Mr.' Nicholas about the affairs at the old home where both of the men were born. A recent letter from James E. Gaynor, dated January 22nd. 1923, states that Colonel Gaynor died in October, 1915, and the letter pives the names of several other members of the Gaynor family who have passed away since Mr. Nicholas lived there. i James E. Gaynor writes that he mM. gasque will make speect Horry Local of Cooperativ Association Meets Feb. 14 Hon. A. H. Gasque, of Florence, 5 J., the newly elected Congressman fo this district, will address the citizen of Horry County at the court hous< February 14th, 192o, at 11:00 o'cloc A. M. Mr. Gasque is a forceful speake and his address will deal with tl" leading subject in the minds of tV American public today. rP Va 1 O 1 O f ft ? ?* * ~ il. a mo to vxc ic^ui?ai mcrijii^ Ul tl Horry County Unit of the Tobac< Growers' Co-operative Association. Director E. C. Epps, of Kingstre S. C. will be present and will ah make a short talk on the Success < the Association to Date. The public, including the ladies ar the business men of Conway is cord ally invited to be present. Farmers belonging to the co-open tive association are expected to I here from all sections of Horry Coui ty. Allard H. Gasque is the man wl won out in the race for Congress la summer as an opponent of Phillip 1 Stoll, the man who was in and ht forces strong. He was also oppose to a number of new candidates f< the place, such as W. R. Barringe of Florence, John F. Pate of Darlinj ton. Mr. Gasque proved himself ; an old and tired campaigner and i a forceful stump speaker. This meeting for February 141 will be a most interesting one for tl association in this county. Some tin ago numbers of associations wei formed in the leading districts of th county. At the head of each local the most progressive and enterprisiti farmers to be found. They are tl leaders of thought in their commun ties which seems to be tending: moi and more toward the co-operative idc of marketing what the farmers rah for the markets. Since the formation of the loc; units in almost every corner of Ho ry, these have been united into tl Horry unit. It takes in not only tl members of the tobacco associatic but the members of the cotton ass< ciation and members of any other c< operative marketing association a eligible to join and become member These marketing associations h/n made it possible for the farmer to ?*i range his money crop business on business basis, so that he can plai what he has produced on the marki as the market demands it and in dump it all at one time or any tim without any method, taking whatevi the buyer chooses to give for it. It is hoped that the attendance i the speaking this time will be larj and that Mr. Casque will have a bi crowd of other poeple who will wai to hear what he says on one of tl livest subjects of the day. Let each member of the townsh locals try to get several neighbors I come with him here on the 14th ar hear what the congressman has 1 say. It will add to the informatic and pleasure of those neighbors ar 1 - .4 1 - pernaps give tne co-operative movi ment another boost onward and U] ward. It is not often that some of t\ farmers have the opportunity of hea Ing pood speaking. They should n< fail to grasp the opportunity when does happed to offer itself. A bi crowd is expected on that day. HOW DODGE CAR TURNED TURTLI All Four Wheels in the Ai With Passengers Underneath A Dodge touring car turned turtl on the road between Conway and Li tie River last Sunday, carrying seve passengers at the time, and yet nor of them were killed and still moi wonderful to say, none of them eve seriously injured. W. L. Bryan, the Clerk of Oour was on his way home from Littl River and saw, piled up in *he rot; ahead of him, a touring car with a four wheels in the air and the hu lying down low showing that the to of the machine had been crushed in. When he arrived at the place h found with the machine Rowland Vc reen and Norman Cooper, both of Lit tie River. Thev had been to flonwa after the accident and had gone bac before the arrival of Mr. Bryan. They said that they had been dri\ ing along with Fred W. Stanley, th (Continued On Back Page.) lives in Brooklyn, with his wife an two boys, his older son, James I Gay nor, Jr., being o lawyer with th New York Central Railroad. H had promised to meet Mr. Nicholas i Georgetown this present winter, 11 writes, that owing to his engagement he cannot get away this winter, bi he renews his promise to come Sout and engage with Mr. Nicholas in som quail shooting next season. The las time he saw Mr. Nicholas was i Savannah, Ga., in the winter of 190 or 1906. t 1 * NO. 42 KU KLUX KLAN I LETTER MAILED e To Rufus M. Jenrette Regarding A Literary Meeting 5 MAY DROP THE SUBJECT r is T.n 11-J ?v?vvi uas vtviii;euea oiamp e* but No Postmark Showk mg Where Mailed v Last Friday, Rufus M. Jenrette, of ie Conway, R. F. D. No. 1, received a ie short letter through the mail. "The attention of the Invisible Ernie pire is centered on YOU. Be careful 50 on February 22, of what you say. A word to the wise is sufficient. The e, way of the transgressor is death. * "KU KLUX KLAN." if The letter itself was not addressed i to Jenrette, but the envelope bore ,.( the address: "Mr. Rufus M. Jenrette, Conway, S. C.," with at the left: "R. a_ F. D. No. 1." The letter was sent to him in a n_ government stamped envelope and this stamp was cancelled, but there was no postmark on the envelope to show where it had been mailed nor r where it had been received at any uj postoffice. Hj The young man to whom this letter was addressed and who actually r received it on the rural free delivery r_' route, lives with his parents in the country, not far from Homewood and ls on the R. F. D. No. 1 leading out from Conway. lj1 It appears that at the last meeting of the debating society, of which Mr. Jenrette is a member, it was decided re to hold the next debate at the meetjs ing of the School Improvement Association at Maple school, six miles lC from Conway, on the evening of ie Thursday, February 22. * The query, {_ or subject for discussion by the two e opposing sides was agreed upon as ;a toiiows: >e Resolved: That the Ku Klux Klan is beneficial to the people of the Unx\ ited States. r_ The debaters assigned to the afie firmative of the proposition are: ie S. L. Moore, >n Redmond King, a- Coker Anderson. n- Those assigned to the negative of re the proposition are: >s. Rufus M. Jenrette, ;e Wilbur Jones, r. Johnnie Tompkins. a The last meeting arranged this sub2e ject for the next discussion and fixed up the balance of the program which at they expected to carry out at the Mae, pie school building about six miles from Conway on the Hardee Road. The Hardee Road turns out of the Nait tional Highway about one or two hunre dred yards this side of Homewood. ig The school is located in the midst of . it a territory which is rapidly develop\e ing in agriculture and where education is taking a great hold on the peoip pie and their children now growing to up, of which this young man Jenrette 1 si I {c nnn I V t to Asked about getting the note young: >n Jenrette said that he received it by id mail; that he was not certain that it b- had come from a member of the Klan; [)- that in his opinion somebody who was taking an unwonted interest in the ?e debate, before it comes off, decided r- they would interfere and not have 3t this subject which had been selected, it discussed; that it might be in case ig the debate takes place that somebody not members of the Klan will take it unto themselves to do the debaters some damage and lay it all to the Klan. His idea was that they would 71 drop the subject altogether and fix up> -J a new program which will have some other interesting subject for discusjr sion. II The statement made last week that one of the strongest Klans in the eastern part of South Carolina had been organized in and around Adrian. Adrian is not very far from the Maple 'e school house where this debate is set to take place. I CONLIFFE WAS " NOT MOLESTED le <J Writes Letter to Horry Herii aid Asking For Corp rection Last week there was a persistent report in Conway, brought in by a number of men from the country that ? a colored doctor at Mullins had been called on by the Ku Klux Klan and roughly handled concerning some opinion he was said to have expressed ie about the Collins affair near Mullins some time ago. It appears that there are no foundad tions for the reports, as the only color3. ed doctor in Mullins is Milton M. ie Conliffe. and he has written The Her e I aid the following: letter, which paper \ n I is glad to publish in order to straight* it i (Continued On Back Page.) it MVASSVAWSViWAWWiV g 5 The streets of Conway are S ?t S as as ever w^en i %n JJ raifts. They will be that way S % until they are paved. J