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ft'lr. f I The Fort Mill Times. VOLUME 19?NO. 41. FORT MILL. S. C., THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 1911. $1.25 PER YEAR ,5 E . W.(E.AND HELD FOR P I , Fort Mill Township Merchant 'on Serious Charge?The P ' E. Griffin, aged 60 years, - a pell known country merchant vvttose store is two miles north qjt Fort Mill on the Steel Creek jpoad, and his son, Harvey, aged ?5 years, are prisoners in the /York county jail, charged with /the murder of E. P. H. Nivens, tam the evening of December 12, JOllO, near the store of the dead It man, which was only a few yards I from the Griffin establishment. /I I'he Griffins were arrested Wed i fx 1 ni rnr T r. i_ i? nesaay aiiernoon oyonerm nugn It G. Brown and taken to the coun,. (? ty jail in Yorkville, where they ' tX were held until Monday morning:. I v; The warrants for arrest were / ? sworn out before Magistrate R. m ? JL. DeLoach, of York township, I J by B. M. Nivens, of Yorkville, 1 half brother of E. P. H. Nivens. * The prisoners were brought be; ; fore Magistrate John W. McElI * haney, of Fort Mill township, r ??*?. Monday and given a preliminary hearing. Magistrate McEihaney decided the testimony sufficient to constitute a probable case and remanded the prisoners to jail to await trial for the murder of Nivens. In compliance with the decision of the magistrate, Sheriff* Brown returned to Yorkville with the prisoners Monday afternoon. The testimony of the ten witnesses put up at the hearing tended to establish the contention of the State th?t ill feeling had i long existed between W. E. { Griffin and E. P. II. Nivens. Two of the ten witnesses testified that j W. E. Griffin had made implied threats against the dead man, though there was an almost total ' lack of testimony to connect Harvey Griffin with the crime. THa St a to ronrpcpntixl ut tVio hearing by Solicitor J. K. Henry, seemed to stake its claim of a probable case being made out against the Griffins upon establishing its contention of bad blood between W. E. Griffin and Nivens. The accused were represented at the hearing by Mr. W. B. 'Wilson, Sr., of Rock Hill, who closely cross-examined a number of the witnesses. In his argument Mr. Wilson differed from Solicitor Henry in the latter's construction of section 24 of the criminal code relative to the authority of magistrates in felony cases. Mr. Wilson contended that the State had failed to make , out a probable case and that the prisoners should be discharged. Magistrate McElhaney d*?cided otherwise, however. There was a great deal of interest manifested in the hearing, which was held in the town hall. The hearing began at 10 o'clock and lasted until 2:30. It is estimated that at one time as many as 300 persons were in attendance. The following is a synopsis of the testimony adduced at the hearing: The first witness called to the stand was Adam Edwards, a negro man, apparently 60 years old, who has lived in Fort Mill township many years. He remembered distinctly the night Nivens was shot. He had been to town that afternoon and returning to his home, stopped at the Griffin store to get his mail. He went into the store and bought some cigars and then went to the fire to get warm. A noise was heard outside and Griffin sent his son. a little boy, to investigate. The boy reported that a .i. A 1 _ 11 * man was at cne wen getting S water. Edwards and Griffin went to the door and saw an automobile coming. Edwards also saw Nivens standing in his store dp,%r. Presently Mrs. Griffin told fH^iusband that supper was lflp. Griffin then went into his house, adjoining the store, saying he would get a cup of coffee. Edwards left the store when Griffin -et the coffee and EY GRIFFIN JIVENS MURDER and His Son Must Face Jury reliminary Investigation. as he was leaving looked across the road and saw Nivens sitting in his store beside the fire. After passing Nivens' store he heard Nivens walking as if he were coming to the front door. Edwards continued on his way homeward and had gone only a few yards when he heard the report of a gun. Looking around in the direction of Nivens' store he saw the Hash of the gun and observed Nivens coming out of his store door. Nivens called l<\Ui'Qrrlc onrl M T. Ruimo lives a short distance from the store, Edwards ran up to Nivens, who had fallen to the ground, and asked him who fired the shot, but received no reply. Bayne then came up and asked Nivens the same question, but got no answer. J. M. Gamble was the next neighbor to arrive and he asked if Nivens was drinking, to which Nivens replied, "Not a drop." Nivens then requested the men who had reached his side not to let him die. On cross-examination Edwards said he stayed with the wounded man while Mr. Bayne went to his (Ba.yne's) home to phone for a doctor. Afterwards he returned to Griffin's store and said that Mr. Nivens was shot. Two young men who had come into the store remarked that they did not wish to see Nivens. "Who did you leave in Griffin's store?" "No one. except two boys. Mr. Griffin had come into the store when I went back from Mr. Nivens'." Edwards did not see Harvey Griffin until ten minutes after the shooting. "Where did you see him?" "In the store." There was a little boy ?with him. Harvey had nothing in his hands. All he heard Harvey say was, "Somebody been shooting?" Nivens was not quite dead when he went into the Griffin store. j Edwards did not sec Harvey Griffin goto the Nivens store the night of the shooting. VV. E. Griffin remarked that he did not think Nivens was badly hurt; he "hollered too loud." Edwards then told of the location of the Griffin and Nivens stores. He said that the shot which killed Nivens was fired from betweer a post and peach tree, the post being 30 or 40 yards from the rear of Griffin's store. If eithei W. E. Griffin or Harvey Griffir went to see Nivens after he was shot, Edwards did not know it and he did not hear VV. E. Griffi. make any remark about the shoot ing after he observed that Niven: "hollered too loud" to be serious ly hurt. Dr. T. S. Kirkpatrick testifier that he visited Nivens profes sionally a short time after tin shooting in response to a tele | phone message from N. L. Bayne j When he reached the scene o I the shooting Nivens was dead I He found the body of the deaf I man lying near a peach tree, fac< ' downward, "very nearly betweer | the middle of the old shop anc the back corner of Griffin's ston ?that i*. the corner next to th< shop." The peach tree is almos in front of Nivens' store, (>0 o: 70 feet from the front door. Th< post-mortem performed by Dr Kirkpatriek the day follow ing the shooting revealed abou 40 shots extending from th< windpipe to the stomach, cover ing a circle of about 18 inches The shot were No. 5 and all, o nearly all, that struck the ches went through into the chest cav ity and penetrated the lungs. Hi took out three shot -two fron fbo Ilinoru 'ir\f\ Ann fi*Aivi v?v UIIV1 V1IV 11 Will tliu ucai I One shot passed entirely througl the heart. I)r. Kirkpatrick knev nothing else of the case, but ex pressed the opinion that the sho which killed Nivens was firec about 20 feet away. Sheriff HughG. Brown reachet the scene of the killing on th< morning of the 13th of December He saw blood stains on the firs or second step of the Niven: store. He then searched for sho in the door and found a numbe on the lefthand side of the doo going into the store. He believe: that Nivens was shot while h< Mt > v . 1910 TOLL OF THE LYNCHERS NOT AS LARGE AS FORMERLY Only 57 lynchings were recorded in the United States in 1910, a much smaller number than in almost any previous year in the last 16 years. In 1909 the total was 70 and in 1908 it was 65. All but five of the 57 cases of lynching in 1910 were of negroes, and ten of these cases were those in which the charge against the victim was assault on white women or girls. In 11 of the remaining number the charge was attempted criminal assault. In the five cases of white men. four were for murder and the other four aiding and abetting in a jail delivery. Several of the cases in which negroes were lynched were based upon the murder, or alleged murder, of white women in which the question of assault is implied. As in previous years, nearly all the lynchings were in Southern States, Florida and Georgia hav1 ing ten each. Alabama and Ar! kansas eight each, Texas six. ! The only lynching in the North 1 occurred in Ohio, the victim , being Carl Etherington, an agent of the Ohio Anti-Saloon league, j ? who met death at the hands of a mob in Newark following his imJprisonment in jail on a charge [ of having murdered a salooni keeper while making a raid on an alleged blind tiger. Following is the record for 1910 ; by States: Alabama, eight nei groes; Arkansas, eight negroes; Florida, eight negroes and two ,; whites; Georgia, ten negroes; |j Louisiana, one white man; Mississippi, five negroes; Missouri, three negroes; North Carolina, one negro; Ohio, one white man; Oklahoma, one negro; South i: Carolina, one negro; Tennessee, ;J two negroes; Texas, four negroes [ and two whites. was standing in the door. "I walked through to see if there | were any scattering shot in the . | wall and found shot just about the . top of the rear door, a little to the left of the door, inside of the uuuuing. He got some one to > take a position in the front door, where he supposed Nivens was j standing. "Then I went back ! and took a position where I supposed the party was who fired the shot. The party was standing right near the back end of [ the warehouse attached to Grifi i fin's store." He thinks it from ; 20 to 25 yards from Nivens' front ? door. At the April term of court, - 1910, when Nivens was prosecui ting a negro for shooting him 5 (Nivens), he heard W. E. Griffin , say, in response to a question of i Solicitor Henry, if he (Griffin) . [ and Nivens were friendly, that s! they were at outs "and my recol. | lection is that Griffin stated that : he would not care if Nivens were j dead." _ j N. L. Bayne. at whose home ? 1 Nivens boarded for two days 1; prior to the killing, testified that he was at his home, 125 yards [ away, when the shooting of Niv ens occurred. He nearci the shot I distinctly and thinks it was be. I tween (5 and 7 o'clock in theevent ing; "it was not dark^" He heard j hollering and his wife came in and said Eb was shot and urged ^ him to go to the store. He did [ so and found Nivens lying under r the peach tree. "I asked, 'Eb B who shot you?' but he did not make me any answer; he was 1 groaning." Bayne then ret marked to the negro Adam Ed? wards that he was going to phone for a doctor, which he did. He also phoned to Burt Nivens, p a relative of the dead man, and t while he was sending the message J. M. Gamble "hollered outp side and I went to him. I said, 1! 'Mr. Gamble, is Eb dead?' and | he said, 'No.' " He and Gamble ^! then returned to the wounded v man together and the latter I shook Nivens and said he bet lieved Nivens was dead. None j of the Griffins came out to see Nivpn? sn far tic liia lrnnurlo/lfro ... , goes. He does not know wheth1 er the Griffins and Nivens were friendly. He remembers that * Nivens clerked for Griffin about thr^e years ago. Nivens set up * an opposition store to Griffin 1 about two years ago and the r store had since been burned g some time last year. He knows B (CONTINUED ON PAGE 8.) y' , . J. j.v 1 THE EX-ICE KING. (Atlanta Constitution, 5th.) Charles W. Morse's anniversary ! No, not of his birth, nor not 7 I even his marriage, but of that other day which now stands boldly from among all the rest in his life, the day he began his term of service in the Atlanta Federal penitentiary. Just one year ago Tuesday the ex-banker and one-time ice king, took up the round of routine which is to make up the sum and substance (almost) of his existence for the fifteen dreary years society has demanded of him as penance for transgressions he is said to have committed. "One year ago? Just one, and no more?" wonders the one-time millionaire this morning as he looks out from his barred cell, out across the barren prison i yards, across the great rock walls where the grim guards pace in grimmer silence, and on out across the seared fields, presenting a prospect as cheerless as , that which the future seems to hold. It has seemed a lifetime. One year ago, on entering the prison, the ex-banker was full of hope. He had powerful friends on the outside, friends who would not forget, friends who I would leave no stone unturned to free him. And knowing this, t hope ran high. Feeling that he had been guilty of only technical violation of the law: if at all, and relying on the assistance of his j i friends, he felt that it could he only a matter of months until he would again breathe the air of freedom. But since that time ah! There has been no forgetting on the part of his friends; they have done all that men could do; nor has there been any let-up in the pathetic efforts of the brave ; little woman who believes him. the father of her children, in-' capable of wrong. But the wheels of justice have ground slowly, indeed, and the end is, not yet in sight. Book Farming. J - Whenever our anti-book farmers can show us better crops at a less expense, better flocks, better farms, and better owners on them than book-farmers can, we shall become converts to their doctrines, says a writer in The Country Gentleman. But as yet we cannot see how intelligence in a farmer should injure his crops, or what difference it makes whether a farmer gets his ideas from a sheet of paper or ; from a neighbor's mouth, or from his own experience, if only he gets good, practical, sound ideas. A farmer never objects to receiving political information from newspapers; he is quite willing to learn the state of markets from newspapers, and as willing to gain religious notions from reading, and historical knowledge and all sorts of information, except that which relates to his business! He will go over and hear a neighbor tell how he prepares his garden land, how he selects and puts in his seed, how he deals with his ground in spring, in harvest and after har! vest time; but if that neighbor should write it all down carefully and put it on paper, it's all poison?its book-farming! If I raise a head of cabbage surpassing all that has been seen hereabout, every good farmer that loves cabbage would send for a little seed and ask as he took it, "How do you contrive to raise such monstrous heads? You must have some secret about it." But if mv wav were written down and printed, he would not touch it: "Pooh, it's hot air!" Awarded $3,500 Damages. Mrs. Mollie A. Nunn, of Rock Hill, has been awarded $3,500 damages against the Southern Railway company for the death of her son, John W. Nunn, who was killed March 2, 11)09, on the railroad at Greensboro, N. C. The case was tried Saturday at that place before Judge Daniel with the above result. The young victim was an employe of the road and was killed while on duty. i ANNUAL LEGISLATIVE SESSION BEGAN WORK TUESDAY NOOI Liquor issues are subordinatec to other lines of legislation a the session of the General Assem bly which met Tuesday. Thi: condition obtains for the firs time in 20 years. The senate was called to orde by the retiring lieutenant gov ernor, Thomas G. McLeod the house of representatives b: James A. Hoyt, clerk. Charlei A. Smith, lieutenant governor will be inaugurated Tuesday next Mendel Smith, of Camden, ; former speaker, was electe< speaker of the house. Minor de tails of organization filled up th< program for the first day. Clerl James A. Hoyt was re-electe( over Wilson Gibbes bv a vote o 71 to 46. In the senate Clerk M. M. Mam and Serjeant-at-arms Schumper were reelected. Rev. A. E Holler was elected chaplain ove Rev. J. P. Knox. South Carolina Cities. According to the 13th census there are 13 South Carolina citie: with a population in excess o 5,000. Spartanburg is creditec with the greatest increase ii population during the last decade the increase amounting to 54.6 Rock Hill gained 1,731 from 11KM to 1910 and is now the State'! seventh city. The rank of th< 13 cities is as follows: Place 1910 1900 Charleston 58,833 55,80 Columbia 26,819 21,10 Spartanburg 17,517 11,39 Greenville 15,741 11,80 Anderson 9,664 5,49 Sumter 8,109 5,67 Rock Hill 7,216 5,48 Florence 7,057 4,64 Greenwood 6,613 4,82 Orangeburg 5,906 4,45 Union . 5,623 5,40 Georgetown 5,530 4,13 Now berry 5.028 4,60 Among the visitors to Fort Mil Saturday was Clerk of Cour J. A. Tate, who came over fron Yorkville to attend to some of ficial business. HOW IS YOUI Is it sufficiently necessary to make Iin^ the next tlire weather? If not, with just what yoi It may he a Suit extra pair of Tr< large stock to sele< cast aside all tlioi we want now is to of everything and goods. If you think ver earned cash, you s pany with it till y< Clothing, Shoes, Itions. When you IK vnn Viiivo nuwlo Make our store I always welcome. * I Mills & 1 * | A q "AIN'T QUITE DADE." , All the amusing things do not ; happen in the cities; sometimes humorous incidents occur in small " towns. The statement is borne * out by an occurrence at the Fort 1 Mill telegraph office Monday afternoon. Hamp Russell is an r old negro man of the community - who is unfailingly active in ar. ranging for the burial of deceased / members of his race. Hamp s does not, of course, wish to bury , any of the live members of his . race, but Monday afternoon he \ came near arranging for the i funeral oration of one of his - "brothers" w hile the "brother" e was yet in the flesh. Hamp <. hurriedly entered the telegraph 1 office with a message which he f wished sent to a distinguished colored reverend in Lancaster i stating that a good pastor-paying t "brother" had just died near . Fort Mill and he wished the Lanr caster reverend to come at once to preach the funeral sermon. "It will cost you 50 cents to send the telegram," observed Operator Lee. after counting the . words. "Well, I ain't exactly s got the four bits," replied Hamp, f "but I'll go out and see if I can't i, dig it up." Hamp left and in 1! ten minutes returned, not with . the four bits, but with the announcement that the sick } "brother" was "not quite dade." 3 Roads in Bad Condition. A number of farmers who 7 have been in town during the s last day or two are authority for the statement that the public 8 roads of this section are in bad '<} condition, in many places almost impassable, from the recent J heavy rains. One result of the * 5 condition of the roads which many householders of the town i? are feeling keenly is the inability to secure firewood from the country. During the last week 1 very little firewood has been t brought to town, those having it i for sale saying that little more - than half a load can be hauled over the muddy roads. {WARDROBE? filled with garments you comfortable durmonths of winter I we can supply you i need. , an Overcoat or an | msers. Wo have a ct from ami wo have lght of profit?what make a clean sweep got ready for spring v nine]] of your hardhonld not part com:ni get our prices on I )rv f iiuwk niwl Vn spend a dollar with a good investment, headquarters; you are I ifoung Co. I