Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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MOB LAW RULES IN GEORGIA NINE PRISONERS TAKEN OUT OF JAIL AND SHOT. Eight are Killed, but the Ninth, Al though Left for Dead, Survives -One of Killed was White. Watkinsville, Ga., June 29.-A mob entered the jail at Watkinsville at 2 o'clock t!his morning and took there from nine prisoners, eight of whom were shot to death and the ninth es caped only by being thought dead by the mob. The prisoners taken out and lynched were Lon J. Aycock, white, charged with tihe murder of F. M. Holbrook and wife, of Oconee county, and seven negroes, Rich Rob inson, Lewis Robinson, Claud Elder, charged with the murder of the Hol brook couple; Sandy Price, a young negro, charged with attempted rape upon the person of Mrs. Weldon Doo ley; Rich Allen, a negro convicted and under sentence of death for the mur der of Will Robertson, anot+her negro; Gene Yerbe, another negro, charged with the burglary of a rifle from Mr. Marshall, and Bob Harris, a negro, charged with shooting another negro. The mob came quietly into Wat kinsville a little before 2 A. M. There were about fifty in the crowd. All were heavily masked and no one knows whence they came or to what point they returned. They went at once to the house of Town Marshal L. H. Aiken and quietly called him to the door. As he put his head out of the door he was seized and told that he must deliver the jail key. He re fused, and the men put pistols in his face and overpowered him, he being a rather small man. Aiken refused to dress, but some of the party dressed him and carried him along. The mob next seized Cout .ey Lder, a black smith, and made him bring his tools along with 'him. On their way to the jail they were met by A. W. Ashford, a prominent citizen of Watkinsville, who had heard the noise at the mar shal's house and came down-town as soon as he could dress. Mr. Ashford begged the men to desist and let the law take its course, especially plead ing for Aycock, on the ground that the evidence had not been secured to warrant his conviction, He also beg ged them not to lynch those not charged with capital crimes. They told him that they were cool, sober and determined, and that he migsht as well go back home and go to bed. The jail was then opened by the town marshal under the cover of several pisto!s, and inside the jail the mob held up Jailer Crow and demanded the keys to the cells. He refused at first, but surrendered them after being menaced with guns. Jailer Crow begged ;hard for Aycock on the same ground that Mr. Ashford did, and also for the two negroes who were not charged with capital crimes. Members of the attacking party told him to shut his mouth. They knew what to do, they said, and they were going to clear out the whole jail. The mob got every prisoner in the jail except Ed Thrasher, a negro charged with gambling, who was on the misdemeanor side of the prison and was not noticed. The prisoners were carried to a point some one hun dred yards from the jail and tied to three fence posts by their necks. Ay cock protested his imrocence to the last. He said they were killing an in nocent man. While the general be lief in Oconee county is that Aycock w-as not guilty, still there were many who dijd not b)elieve so. Rich Robin son said it was' all righ:. so far as l'e wvas concerned. but that three more negroes were in the H-olbrook murder. He namned Sidney Norris. Jim Taylor and Wilev Durham. as the three imn plicated. These negroes had been inl jail before on this charge and had been released after a jull investigation by the committee. The other prison ers did not open their mouths during their march to their doom. After the prisK'ners had been tied to the fence posts the mob lined up and fired five volleys into their bodies. All died without a struggle except Joe Patterson. a negro, who was charged with pointing a gun at Al bert Ward. Patterson was shot sev eral times in the body but was alive after the mob left and wvill recover. I with shot, a great hole was torn through iis heart and anotherthrough his right breast. The m')b left quietly after doing its work and none of its members went towards Athens. It is believed that the men were from neighboring coun ties, as the report was brought to Watkinsvi!le yesterday afternoon by A. N. Bostwick. of Morgan county. that a mob would likely attack the jail last night. This rumor, 'however. was not given much attention, since so many of its kind had come before. Sheriff Overby was ,on his farm yes terday afternoon, and he was not noti fied by Mr. Bostwick. In fact, the purpose of the mob was accomplished so quietly that the sheriff, who lives a mile from the jail, knew nothing of the occurrence until this morning, and the residents of Watkinsville were taken completely by surprise. The people of Oconee county are horrified at the occurrence. They had borne with patience the delay nec essary to obtain the evidence against the Holbrook murderers, and 'had agreed to let the law take its course. The 'impelling cause of the lynching without doubt was the attempted rape by Sandy Price, which excited the people all over this section. What Governor Terrell Says. Atlanta, Ga., June 29.-In an inter view to-night with a correspondent of the Associated Press, Governor Jo sep!h M. Terrell said that he deplor ed "the horrible affair at Watkins ville." Governor Terrell stated further that he was making a rigid investigation of the affair and that he intended to do everything in his power to bring the guilty persons to justice. "These men killed by the mob should have had a fair trial," stated Governor Terrell. The Governor will immediately of fer a suitable reward for the appre hension of the men composing the mob. Judge Calvin Johnson, of Watkins ville, Ga., gives the following state ment to the Attanta Journal regard ing the Holbrook murder and the causes which led up to lynching: "The people of my county were at a high tension following the ihorrible murder of Mr. and Mrs. Holbrook and this latest crime, following it go closely, was probably more than they could bear. This is terrible. We thought we had averted the chance for such a scene there, but the tension reachned the straining point, I suppose, when the Dooley crime was commit ted The Holbrook Tragedy.s "On the 9th of May Mr. and Mrs. F. M. Holbrook, a most respectable aged couple, living the cointr y three miles from Watkinsville, were foully murdered. Mr. Holbrook and his Iwife had lived in our county but two or three years. but were among the most highly respected people of the community. Mr. Holbrook ran a cross-roads store and farmed. "On the nigsht of May 9th the mur der occurred. It was not discovered until the next day by neighbors, who, missing the aged couple, entered the house. The sight that met their eyes was horrible. The old couple had been shot and their heads beaten into a jelly by the murderers. In my safe at home I have the 'scrape iron' with wvhich the foul crime was committed. "Lynching 'had given my section of the state a black eye, and we knew that unless something were instantly done there would be more lynchings if the miscreants were caught. Safety Committee Named. "W\e met in WVatkinsville and eigh teen of the most p)rominent citizens of tihe county were named as a public ''mmi ttee ''n safetv~.' I was elected chai'rman of that committee. WVe ciOs tie ' u~rselves in to. a semi 'uini niid (very man~ on thei commit tee gave up) his entire time to the fer re:ing~ out of the murder. Every wit ness was examinedl by uts as in any other court. We did our best to hold pub1llic sentiment in check and wit'h the inflnence of all the good people pro misedl thiem that the instant the pro per eveidence could be secured we woud arrest the culprits and1 assured >them they- wou!d be given a speedy trial. "On the to:hi of May'. Leon J. Ay cock, a white man, and Claude Elder, ILewis Robertson and Rich Robertson, trifling negroes, were- arrested and lodged in jail. c'harged with tile crime. Confession of Negroes. "Under pressure the negroes all -:ontessed to th. crime, which they --nanimously laid on Aycock. the viiite man. Tiev said he had inspir ed them t~ acc.ntpanty him, but that he had killed t-he ic couple and that thLey. had . :ten ni'ne of the $300 which he had st-len. r- bbery having inspired the crime. "J tdge Richard 1. Russell. of the western circuit superil r court, prom ised us that he would hold a special term of the court as soon as we had secured sufficient evidence to warrant it. We spent our time and tried to persuade the people to remain calm and prevent anothe lynching. We thought we had succeeded. But the tension was too great, I suppose. "I left home before the Dooley crime, but suppose that the tension under which the public was resting was too great for them to bear. I am sincerely sorry to hear of the lynch ing, but the men who were lynched were all lawless and criminal citizens of our country. "I knew Mr. and Mrs. Dooley well. Weldon I. Dooly and his wife have been living in Oconee county for years, but a year ag, they moved to the srburbs of Watkinsville. They are well known and muchly liked peo ple. Mrs. Dooley was a Miss Suth erland, a daughter of Mr. J. G. Suth erland, a well known man of Oconee. She was about 28 years of age. I know nothing of the details of the assault on her, as I was in Atlanta at the tim it occurred." TROUSSEAU CLUBS. How the Girls of France are Made Ready for Marriage. New York Evening Post. Every one who has lived in an Eng lish village knows how important in the rural laborer's life are the clubs to which he pays a few pence weekly or monthly. The improvident one who falls behind with his "club mon ey" is a marked man, while to pay it in "regutar" covers a multitude of sirs. There are, in fact, few men in tihe village community who will not make the necessary sacrifice of beer in order to belong to the "Goose club," which provides each member with a goose for his Christmas dinner and to the "Burying club," so that his wife (who is always assumed to sur vive him) may give him a decent fun eral. If the question of tlhese clubs has ever been looked into by the eccc' omists, it has no doubt been recog nized how much they contribute to the comfort of the village home and to the solidarity of village society. But we have never heard of a "Trous seau club" in England. So far as we know, the young women get married as best they can, and tihe trousseau, if prepared at all, is prepared in haste. They manage this better in France, as we learn from a recent number of the 'Reforme Sociale. The truth is that t'he French reformer of today has to face a condition which at pres ent causes little real anxiety in any other equally prosp erous country. This, we need not say, is tihe depopu lation of his native land. He has learned to look on the child as a rare and precious thing. The scarceity of children among the rich he deplores, but he knows well that the ricdh are never reformed. The intelligent re former remembers that in every civ ilized society of which we knowv any thing, the rich have regar.ded child ren as one of those good things of which one may easily have too much, while the moderately rich, if they must dleny thiemselves a luxury, have preferred to forego the luxury of children. So it is that if you take up !any' of the current literature of social reform in France. you wil find that the ref rmer wastes no time in p)reaching againist race suicide to the real offenders. but (devotes this efforts to preserving the lives and health of t he numerous children of the poor. A healthy child, however, implies a we,ll-ordered home. Now it has been discovered that one of the greatest 'hindrances to the happiness of mar ried life in the working class in the tow ns is the lack of a trousseau for the bride; in fact, without it the home is often not founded at all-the nest is not built, simply because there are no feathers. Without the proper out fit of household and personal linen ithe fiancee of the Frenchb artisan re fuses to face the task of bringing up a family. To meet this need there was founded some years ago the "Oeuvre di Trousseau." This is a society which induces young girls of the age of o t(o begin to make and store up the tr',isseau which is to he handed ,ver t, them at the age of I8. At 14. if th:e girl has paid regularly the dues (,f ;o centimes per month and attend ed the sewing meetings of the society. she becomes a director of the concern by right of her stake in the business, and at the age of I8 can withdraw her profits in the shape of a trousseau made by her own -hands, or. in any case. wholly hand-made and of excel lent material. The trousseau con sists of 73 pieces of personal and household linen-not a bad- feathering' for the nest. Who is so likely to keep her linen closet in good order and re plenished as she to whom it repre sents nine years of small economies and countless hours of effort? This is the "Oeuvre du Trousseau" carried on now in more than 6o towns of France, not as a charity dependent on the caprice of the philanthropist, but as a regular business concern. The English "Goose club" and "Blan ket club" and all the other village so cieties aim at adding to the comfort of the 'home. But the "Trousseau club" is enriched by a sentimental interest which they lack, and is due to the desire for daintinss. even in the poorest surroundings, which is usually alien to the instincts of the t British working class. MILLINERY, DRY 01 Have you purchased y to us. We can give you Do you need a new dr us. Welcan fit you up i Doryou need Collars, etc., etc. If so, we ha lot. Call and see them. Respectfully, MRS. S. The Wood TalcumI1 The majority < cause of their ci We consider powders the bei given. Lazell's Violel Colgate's Viol - Mennen's Tali Lazell's Talcu Bear in mind and Extracts B name are reliab Lazelli's Violet ir a glass jar, ounces of delic Talcum cannot At the price L Talcum is uneq The Right Ward's Slow Train Story. I t is told in Harper's Weekly that .\rtemtts Ward once took a journey un a !it'Ie "one-horse" railroad line in the Middle West. After the train had crept from station to station at a snail's pace for half a day. Ward beckoned t., the conductor as he passed through the car. "Say, conductor.' he drawled, "do you mind if I give you a little ad vice?" "Well, what is it?" said the conduc tor, gruffly. "Seems to me," continued Ward, 'it would be safer to take the cow :atcher off the engine and hitch it to he end of the rear car." "What for?" demanded the conduc or. '\VeIl, I've been thinking it over," aid Ward, "and I don't see What's :o prevent one of them cows out there rom coming into the car and biting he passengers." A woman aske questions so as to .rgue with you if you answer them nd to be mad with you if you don't. If people had to work as hard per orming their duty as they do getting heir fun, the whole wo.-ld would go >n strike. The money a man spends in drink ing and smoking would buy some hing else just as foolish and much ess enjoyable. 1DS AND NOTIONS! our hat? If not, come the newest things. ess. If so, come to see n the latest styles. Belts, Fans, Ribbons, ve just received a new W. CALMES, Prosperity, S. C. soare Full owders f them sold be leapness. the following it at the prices Talcum 25c. at Talcum 25c. :um 25c. m 10c.. that Powders earing Lazell's le. Talcum put up containing six ately perfumed. be excelled. azell 's ten cent uialled. Drug Store.