Fort Mill times. (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, January 12, 1911, Image 1
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