Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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r 42 1 | [j VOLUME xxxvn H I 8 SIX CITIZENS 2 UNDER ARREST J ' Charged With Being Connectv ed With D. A. Duncan i Shooting BOND AT ONF THOUSAND Interest is Again Awakened in Happening of Last .Tomnnww w nu uai jr On January 27th, 1923, Saturday night, D. A. Duncan was shot by a group of men standing in the deep i shadow cast by the Grassy Bay { church. \ After a few weeks interest in the - matter lagged. There was nothing new in the matter until last Friday ? when the sheriff of the county, ac? companied by a special detective, went into that community and placed under j arrest the following persons named in -j the warrants: Memory Pridgen, Albert Pridgen, Lloyd Jolly, Stog Grain' ger, M. C. Blackwell and Monroe Hill. i The special officer and detective acJ companying the sheriff when these arrests were made, was W. W. Rogers, who has been working as a special agent under the governors of this State for a period of more than eigh teen years, it is said. He was one of I the agents working under Governor ; Harvey and in this particular case he has a commission from Governor Mc'J Leod. If With the sheriff and the special agent, at the time of making the armrests, was Olen Blanton, a citizen of J*thnt section of the county. , The arrest of Albert Prigden was made at Pleasant Meadow church, f where it is said he was attending a [ Sunday school convention of some kind. The others were arrested at cr I near their homes. The defendants above named were brought to Conway and lodged in the I county jail. Magistrate W. H. Chestr, nut issued the warrants for the deft tontion of these defendants .and to r him fell the duty of fixing the amount J of the bail that would be required of (J each of them. This was fixed by the It magistrate at the sum of one thou[I sand dollars for each defendant. N Monroe Hill made bond in *he re[, quired amount early in the day on L Saturday and was set at liberty unR der that. The others, at last accounts, I on Saturday afternoon, had not P.UCB ceeded in arranging bail and were B still being held in the jail. I The arrest of these defendants I brought a number of people from that | section of the county as relatives or | friends of the men who are under f charges. j It is understood that each of the men is charged with the shooting of i Duncan, or as being connected with lit in one way or another. The charge lis assault and battery with intent to [kill Duncan. \ Monroe Hill and Maybury Hill are jthe two men from possession some [time ago guns were taken, under an [allegation that the bore of the guns [seemed to show that the shells found Ton the ground after the shooting [seemed to have been fired from those [guns or some more like these. Mayfbury Hill was not arrested at the I time that Monroe 11111 was piacea under arrest, and on Saturday when the arrested men were trying to make their bonds, it was not known whether Maybury Hill would also be placed jnder arrest. It was said that the name of Maybury Hill appeared in some of the warrants. The crime with which it appears shat these men are now charged, or (is having been accessory to it, was old in an article in this paper several weeks ago as follows: I As Duncan was passing by Grassy Bay church he saw men standing in the shadow of the building, and as he jjrove opposite the church, these men fired on him. ' Prom the looks of the tracks of the jncn who had been standing in the lhadow cast by the building, there Ivere between six and a dozen men in [he party who undertook to do the Reed and they evidently aimed at taking his life without any previous gaming, except a letter which theji tad written to him. I Duncan was driving a top buggy, Ind the top was down. This fact, in ?- ? ? 1 i-i_ m i opinion, saven ius me. xne ?nui ^^Htred at him ranged in size from bucl< ^J^Khot down to number sevens. Many M If the shot are found buried in the ^^^wooden work of the body of the ve^^^Kicle. At the first crack of the Runs, the ^^Hfoung horse that Duncan was driving ^^H&ras struck, and made a dash dowi road in the direction of the home Duncan, about seven hundred yards the church. The auick dash o1 h~r*e undoubtedly had something I Ik) do with causing the men with th< The voting of bonds to make public improvements is against a HI one of the fundamentals of right ! living and thrift. These bonds may work out without trouble in J the end, or on the other hand, there may come a time of stress fl when they will form a burden \ too heavy to carry. m* % OFFICERS TAKE ONE BUM STILL Jessie Strickland Hides Bag of Jugs and Then Escapes March 22nd, 1923, is the date of a raiding party against whiskey stillers, headed by J. K. King, 6f the rural police force of this county. This raid took place on the line between Floyds and Green Sea townships. With the policeman were Olen Blanton, constable, and D. A. Duncan. The party whose operations were interferred with was Jessie Strickland, who, it appears, has been charged with this offense before, and perhaps several times. The officers stopped on a road which leads directly from Strickland's home into the woods and bav. and about two hundred yards from' the home of Strickland. They saw Strickland coming from the house towards them. When they saw Strickland start in that direction they hid in the bushes and awaited his approach. When he got close enough for the officers to see what he had, they found that he was carrying a crocus sack filled with jugs, bottles and potatoes. The officers then questioned him (Continued On Page Four.) guns to miss their aim. The empty shells on the ground where the shooting was done were found to be marked with the word "Peters." Investigation was made to find out who had bought shells and where. It was found that some shells like these had been purchased in Tabor, N. C., about two weeks before the shooting from the store of Garrell Bros. These shells were found to suit the guns which were later taken by officers. The men who did the shooting, after they had failed in their purpose, ter they had failed in their purpost, walked away from the place, taking the public road all the way to Nichols, S. C. This is the story told by the trail taken by the blood hounds placed on the scent as soon as they could be brought from North Carolina. This was done, it is believed, for the purpose of causing Duncan to think the crime had been committed by the Ku Klux Klan, believed to be organized somewhere in Marion County. Returning from Nichols, the party was met at Finklea's Cross Roads and arrived at home in automobiles. Some of the trails taken by the dogs in the chase led off toward Conway from the cross roads. In making the trip from Grassy Bay to Nichols the parties went by Spring Branch church. KU KLUX KLAN NOT INVOLVED Total Of Eight Men Arrested In Connection With Duncan Shootnig Affair confessions" claimed Stories Rife as to the Methods Used In Obtaining: Confessions There were more developements in in the arrest of a number of defendants charged with the shooting of D. A. Duncan, the first of this week. At first there were only six men said to be under arrest, although a total of eight were named in the warrants. At one time on last Saturday when the other news article appearing in " ^_i._ tnis issue was wiuicn, vmy oia uui of the eight had been arrested and were then trying to make bond. Later the two remaining defendants, J. W. Hill and Maybury Hill, were placed under arrest. The bail for all eight of the defendants was fixed at the same amount, the sum of one thousand dollars for each defen1 dant. The arrangement of bonds was not 1 complete on last Saturday and the r parties were back in Conway last Monday to get some of the defendants out. * 1 In the meantime many stories o1 ' the way this matter was handled bj : the detective sent here from the der partment in Columbia have been told ! One of the stories is to the effecl that the detective came into that community some time ago and obtained a * job at a local sawmill. While work> ing at this mill he became familial 1 with a number of others working ir * and about the place and gathered in< " * * -1-1 ? urVlSIt p formation irom ouier sumwo ^ keeping hi? identity a secret from th< f suspected parties. 5 It is now said that the officers hav< . confessions from two of the defen dants, Stog Grainger and Lloyd Jolly * the youngest of the men charged witl the shooting. A man from the Grass; Bay community was in Conway las J Monday and said that a curious me thod has been used on one of thes J young men in efforts to obtain a con Ep fession of the crime. According t this story the detective approache * the young defendant with the state * ment that he, the defendant had bee J with the party on the night of th p shooting and that this much could b J ppl OONWAY, S. 0., THURSDAY, wmmammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmammmmmmmmmmmmi ji INDEX FINGERS' ;I The index finger of the h jU direct the eye to some partici I; used is a small portion of t I j portant nevertheless. ;I In the very same way li fingers which point out the j; als. I j They show the character I- in the office, and in the wh > On the farm and in the gi I and are allowed to grow u 5| everything else that wanted S the character of the owner % the garden. % In the shop there is no o because the proprietor regai ? to be worthy of his thougl Ij and the character of the woi ^ In the office there is no < V ance of the stationery used ji done thereon. Little things < words are spelled wrong an Ij slung round like so much n > the character of the one wh< s You may say or write wl _ _? JI ik.i. iu % una yuu nmy iiuuiv uuac ui< < to claim the attention of a !; think that you are; but you ^ or be anything beyond what % unless you can learn to val\ J tails as it were of your ever deed the infinite art of taki % VWASWJWAVAVAflAVLV SENATOR SMITH MAKES ANSWERS Reply to Recent Article by Messrs. Prince and Carter ABOUT THE BOND BILL Compares His Own Record With That of Mr. Prince Editor Herald: I noticed in your issue of the 15th instant, an article under title "Bridge Question Fully Discussed." As the article seems plainly to be a severe criticism on my motives, anu my record in the senate, I am sure the people of the county expect me to reply. So, in self defense, if you will allow me a little space I will notice some of the misleading impressions the said article seeks to fix in the minds of the people. In speaking of the bond issue which failed last year, Mr. Prince says: "We tried to put this bridge across one year ago, but could not unless we put across the $100,000 proposition at Pee Dee," thus leaving the impression on the reader that if the bonds were issued that the Pee Dee bridge would cost Horry County $100,000. He knows that the estimated cost of the bridge was $200,000, and if the bonds were issued Horry's share was $50,000; Georgetown's share $50,000, .and the State highway commission $100,(Continued On Page Eight.) proved, or words to that effect. With this the detective pushed up the sleeve of the man and placed on his naked arm an instrument the like of which had never been seen before in that ?nmmimifv. nr>H ViA fold the man that if he told him the truth about the affair, the hands of the instrument would remain stationary, but if he told a lie they would move around on the dials. It is claimed that by this means the alleged confession was obtained first from one and then from i another of the younger men connected 1 in the warrant. Another event in connection with the affair not generally known here - before is the previous difficulty exi perienced by Duncan before he was t shot at the church. About a week bei fore the shooting took place at the church, Duncan was called to his door. ' As he opened the door to answer the r call which had beed made on the out side, several shots were fired at him, . but he was not hit. ' The only way that the showing ' against the defendants can be guess1 ed at is the flying reports going the rounds since the arrest of the defen' dants last week. That the special of1 ficer sent by the Governor's office to investigate has obtained one or more 5 confessions, seems to be generally be! lieved, but nothing has been given out by the officers themselves, and this 5 showing may not be definitely known " before the case comes to a trial in the r? Court of Sessions. 1 The matter was first reported to Y the Governor by Marion County of* fleers. Officers in Horry and Marion - were unable to establish the identity e of any of the persons charged with - the shooting. The report of the de0 tective is to the effect that the Ku d Klux Klan had nothing to do in the >- writing or mailing of the two notes n that Duncan received and the contents e of which were made public some time e ago. jr UPt\ MARCH 2971923 WkTAVAW.W.VJ'AV.VW.Y TO CHARACTER J % iand is used as a pointer to \ I ulai4 thing. The finger thus J he human body, but is im- ? ttle things are the index } i true character of individu- ^ on the farm, in the shop, ole range of human affairs. S Etrden 'little weeds spring up % ntil they have smothered < I to grow. The weeds show Ij of the farm or the tiller of ^ rder or system to anything 5 ds such things as too small f. it. It shows his character > rk he turns out. % ielight taken in the appear- ^ , nor in the writing that is ? are not appreciated and so ? id the English language is ; xud. What better index to < o occupies such an office. ^ hat you please about detail, > e little things are too small j5 big man or woman like you i will never arrive anywhere, ; you really are at this time, le the little things?the de- ^ y transaction. Genius is in- jl ing pains. ?C v WA'.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V LAND DISPUTE TO BE AIRED Has Caused More Than One Court Case in Past Years ONLY A ~FEW ACRES Land is Located in Section of Horry Near Tabor, North Carolina Among the numerous cases set on the roster for trial at the next term of the Court of Common Pleas, convening here on April 2nd, appears the case of Mrs. A. A. Watts against Jessie Arnett, and others, the dispute arising over some land lines in that section of Horry County lying near to Tabor, N. C. This is not the first case that has grown out of the dispute about those land lines. The plaintiff in the case is the wife of W. P. Watts. He had one of the worst disputes of all with his brother, Josiah S. Watts, lasting through a number of years, and which never ended until Josiah Watts passed away since the civil action was begun. This case on the docket, however, is the first civil suit that had grown out of the matter. All others were criminal cases and were for either trespass after notice, or for assault and battery. The defendants involved in the case brought by Mrs. A. J. Watts through and by her husband, W. P. Watts, appears the names of Jessie Arnett, a daughter of Josiah S. Watts and now the wife of Othan Arnett; Mrs. Lou R. Whittington, Charlie Grainger, O. T. Harrelfjon, and perhaps others, who have bought little pieces of the land. All of it was originally parts of what is known as the J. K. McMillan land. The criminal cases grew out of efforts made by W. P. Watts to take the law in his own hands, and a like fault on the part of Josiah Watts, and perhaps some of the others, especially Othan Arnett, the son-in-law of Josiah. They undertook to cross lines, build fences and move stakes, fAflr un and chancfi land COlfciers. it seems, and in the course of these operations, some. years back, there were several fights. Two, three, or perhaps more of the affrays were threshed out in the Court of Sessions. After all that, or maybe while some of it was still in progress, the civil suit was commenced in order to put a final stop to the bickerings and fights by allowing the court to establish the ownership of the disputed area, which cannot at most make more than a few acres. It would appear that the whole thing comes about by reason of Mrs. M. J. Seals having stuck down a land corner somewhere and later when the land was cleared up the land corner disappeared and since that time there is nothing there on the ground to mark the exact spot where the land commenced. She sold off at first a little fifteen-acre piece to Ferd Bryant. Bryant got into trouble in the courts and made a mortgage on his land. Finally this land came into the hands of Mrs. A. J. Watts. The dis pute seems to be about the location i of the line of the tract that Mrs. Seals first sold off in this manner. i At a term of the court last year or i the year before, an order of survey i was taken out, appointing two siri veyors, J. D. Long, of Pireway, N. C., > and J. B. Gore, of this county to make a survey of the disputed lines mXA. DAISY FIGHT BRINGS CASE Gilmore and Carter Have Hot Dispute Over The Matters A warrant was sworn out before Magistrate J. A. Bryant in Loris some days ago for the arrest of M. L. Gilmore on a charge of assault and battery upon B. L. Carter. The warrant was taken out by B. L. Carter, the prosecutor in the case. Both men are residents of the vil lage or uaisy in tnis county, wnere Mr. Carter is the magistrate for that section of Simpson Creek, and Mr. Gilmore is a merchant, having been engaged in conducting a store there for many years. It is said that no preliminary hearing will be demanded by the defendant and that he will appear at the next term of the Court of General Sessions prepared to defend the action that has been brought against him. He gave bond as soon as the warrant was served, or he was notified. The warrant charges that on March 16th, that the defendant committed An assault and battery with intent to kill and used deadly weapons, to wit, a heavy piece of wood and that he struck the prosecutor with this piece of wood. The facts out of which this difficulty is said to have arisen, are rather peculiar. It is all concerning an account, which has been running tor some time between the two, a crop mortgage from Carter to Gilmore, covering the crops he planted and raised in the year of 1922, and the proceeds of some of the tobacco crop now represented by some participating receipts in the co-operative association and one check which is made out by the association to Loris Grocery Co., M. L. Carter and B. L. Carter. Gilmore had a book account against Carter. Carter claims that he has an account against Gilmore for the costs in one or two, perhaps more, civil cases brought in his court against those who owed Gilmore. The crop mortgage shows on its face that it was to secure the payment of about $$54.05, which is supposed to be for some fertilizers, and it also contains a blanket clause securing the payment of all other debts that may or might have been due from the giver of the mortgage to Gilmore, including advances thereafter made in any manner or form. Gilmore says that he was to have had the first mortgage, but found that one had been given to the Loris Grocery Company ahead of his. He also * M i t says tnat ne touna one 01 tne tooacco receipts in the hands of Nye's Pharmacy at Loris. Gilmore got one of the checks which was issued by the association and applied the proceeds to his papers. There is another check for about $29 made out to Gilmore, Loris Grocery Co., and B. L. Carter, jointly, which was sent to Gilmore and which has been endorsed by the Loris Grocery Company, but it is said that Carter refused to endorse the check so that Gilmore cannot collect this check. On the 16th of March, they met at Daisy and got to disputing: about this check, and the account in general. B. G. Gilmore was there at the time and also Spurgeon Caines, the constable, and these were called up by Gilmore to witness a proposition which he wished to make for an adjustment of the matter. The good offices of the two others, third parties, did not have the desired effect, and one dispute lead to another, and one word brought on another, until something was said which seemed * ~ n mofnVi onfl Uerlit flnmP tu 11VU U iiiuvvii ?nv? uf^uv vaiv ? to the tinder of the passion of combat which lies dormant in most of us. One of the parties had a hammer and the other picked up a billet of wood. One of them in walking backward to avoid the hammer stumbled over the piece of wood, or a piece just like it. There were more words and it is alleged that threats were made. The outside parties did what they apparently could to stop the racket but things went on to a conclusion and has resulted in the warrant described ?n the beginning of this article. It does not appear that any crop mortgage was given to Nye's Pharmacy, but that one of the certificates or association checks or receipts was placed with the drug store and Gilmore had to make terms in (rder to get this from the drug store. and of such surrounding land as might throw any light on the coirect solution of the problem. These survAvnra hjive lone* since completed ? """ ' ' " "~0 their surveys and have made maps which will be shown in court. It is only right to remind the people just here that these disputes over little strips of land hardly ever pays anybody for the time and trouble. Those who become involved in them look upon them as matters of principle rather than protection or profil. The costs of making surveys, summoning witnesses, and the lawyers' charges mount much higher than the value of the little piece of land in a great many cases. W. P. Watts is a son of Luke Watts. o There are plenty in this town wh< can talk faster than Billy Sunday but what they say does not mean a: 1 much. I ???????Immmmtrn NO. 49 SINGLETON HAS SERVED APPEAL From Judgment of Criminal Court Giving Three Years OUT ON APPEAL BOND says He Will Not Pay Any Money Under the Sentence One of the most interesting criminal cases tried at the recent term of the criminal court was that of the State against Albert Singleton, on a charge of seduction. The defendant was convicted and the court pronounced upon him a sentence which is in terms different from the ordinary run of sentences. Thi? is one of the things which made the case interesting. When Singleton was convicted there was talk of an appeal, or application for a new trial before the court. On. Friday, the last day of the criminal term, thte motion for a new trial was argued before Judge Townsend, and he refused the motion, saying that the evidence was, in his view, amply sufficient to sustain the verdict which the jury had found. The jury which convicted Singleton remained out one whole night and a part of one day. During the night Lil - il * wmie mey were cienDerating, it wasannounced that they had agreed. The I judge, and the attorneys engaged I were all sent for, thinking that the matter was all over so far as the | jury was concerned. Upon the arrival of the judge the jury was called out and they passed up the indictment to the clerk to be read. Deputy Clerk J. O. Norton looked at the back where the verdict was written, or supposed to be written, after he had read out the title of the case, then passed it to the court without saying more. The judge read: "We agree to disagree." Then the court gave the jury further instructions and they retired again after he had told them that they would be as comfortable as possible during the night, and if they agreed upon a verdict at any time in the night they might place the verdict in an envelope, seal it up, and the foreman keep it in his pocket until the following morning when -the court would reconvene. The jury stayed out all night and never agreed until after daylight in the morning. Their verdict was guilty without any string's tied to it. It has been learned since that two men on the jury stood out all that time to acquit Singleton and these two could never pull over any of the remaining ten to their way of thinking. After his conviction, and the refusal of a new trial by the court, Singleton went on to the chain gang. After this happened his relatives and friends evidently decided that it would be best to take an appeal to the Supreme Court and let that tribunal investigate the case and see if there has been any error or mistake of the law. The notice of appeal was served and the appeal bond made, .and Singleton liberated on that under the law. Under the practice of the court the case containing a transcript of the testimony and Singleton's exceptions must be served within thirty days after the notice of appeal. Under a new law recently passed the Supreme Court will meet monthly now instead of semi-annually. Owing to delavs, however, which are usually unavoidable, owing to the work and* labor of making up the testimony and other papers necessary to constitute the appeal record, it may be several months before the appeal will be argued, though the Supreme Court will meet the first time under the monthly plan in April, of this year. The sentence of the court was three years in the chain gang, but this suspended at the end of three months upon the condition that Singleton pay for the support of the child the sum of $150.00 in each and every year until the child arrives at the age of sixteen years. If he serves the three months and then gets out when the time comes to pay the one hundred and fifty dollars, he will have to come tirrnsQ with it or cro back to the chain gang:, and when he goes hack he will have to stay, as the condition of the suspension of his sentence will have been breached. This is not the first sentence of the kind. Judge Smith imposed a sentence like this on a man by the name of Teal in what is known as the Teal case. This other case took place in another county and was several years ago. The Teal case was taken to the (Continued On Page Eight.) ' , $ Nothing can equal the deep , Jj satisfaction of work well done J? % and the job completely finished. J J ! J. The tax system of this State is ?J { in a muddle and the task of ?? % making it right is not yet done. ? > The first and last thing to think J J \ about each day is a tax report. ?