Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THETRIUOF LONG MANY WITNESSES BATE TESTIFI ED IN TIE CASE STATE HAS POOR CASE Several Witnesses Testified that Gnn ter Had Threatened to Kill Long if eH Was Elected to the Legisla ture and Came Baci to the Town of Wagener. "If Hugh Long is elected to the legislature I will kill the and stamp him in the dust!’’ M. T. Holley, a well known Aiken county farmer living a few miles from Aiken, and who was himself a candidate for the State Senate in the political cafrfppign which last sum mer led up to the killing of Pickens N. Gunter by Hugh Long, testified at Long’s trial Thursday morning that Pickens Gunter uttered this threat the Mondtysuevening before the sec ond primary was held. "I told him," said Mr. Holley, on the stand, "that he could get in more trouble in a minute than he could get out of in a lifetime, and that if he talked that way, Long might kill him ’’ Mr. Holley's testimony was the climax of the morning-’s proceed ings. The defense began to combat the case the prosecution Wednesday made out against the legislator, and Thursday morning produced some testimony to establish the plea of ■elf-defen ae "I saw Pickens Gunter In Aiken on the night of August 27 last year, the night of the first primary election," said Mr Holler "I was at the bulle tin board looking at the returns as they came In. Interested as I was for the reason that I was a candidate for the State senate Gunter, who was my friend, came up He was drink ing. I saw he was mad He said he wanted to talk to me We walked out of the crowd and Into a park In the atreet Th-n he wanted to know 'what In hell »e gare Hugh Ixing such a large rote here In A'ken for I told him I had nothing TO do with it He »a!d If V'u II go In that crowd and gef l^ng and bring him out here 1 11 ahow you how quirk I ran kill him " 1 told him If he wanted to • hoot I/ong to go hunt him himself " Tha threat the wltr.ese declares Pickens Guntrr made against !,ong t life was made at Wagener I came back to Aiken and seeing Mr l/ong I adrtaed him not to go back to Wag- • ner I told him whsl Ouatar had threatened ‘ crmtlmied Mr Holley "He replied that ha thought the whola thing would blow orer after the election and that ha didn't think Gunter would hurt him " J II Permenter. a liveryman of Aiken accompanied Mr Holley when he went to Wagener Juat before the second primary and hla testimony was In •ubatantlatlon of that of Mr Holley Mr Permenter also had a talk with Mr Gunter at that tlm* "He asked me “ maid tha witness, "to deliver a message to Hugh Ixmg I told him I hardly knew lying He said I>ong had better not come back to Wagener. and told me to tell him so He aald If Ix>ng came back he would kill him. that the two of them couldn’t live there. He aald he would take hla rifle and ahoot a hole through him and wouldn't think he had done anything wrong ” A Minister Tewtifles. The Rev J. C. Holley, who lives at Wagener, told on the atand Wednes day morning how Picksns Gunter ap proached him during the campaign last year and aald that If Hugh Long did i\ot "take back" what he had aald In hla paper, the Wagener Edlsto- News, one or the other had "to take a whipping or one or the other had to die"; that that article could not stand yrlthout retraction and both he and Long live in Wagener. The min ister added that he was friendly to both parties and that as soon as Huph Long returned to Wagener af ter his election, he, Long, asked him if he thought it safe for him to re main there. "I told him,” said the ■witness, "that because of the rumors that were afloat it would be prudent to avoid Pickens Gunter.” Mr. Holley added that the morn ing of the second primary he met Mr. Gunter again and that Mr. Gun ter put his hand on his shoulder and led him Into the Bank of Wag-oner of which he was president. He said he wanted to tell me that others of his friends had advised him the same as I had and having heard so much good advice, he had decided to take it. We shook hands, and he told me he was done with politics and was go ing to dr^p.” That was a little more than two weeks before the shooting. G. S. Cook, a farmer living near Wagener, told of meeting Pickens Gunter a week or so before the shoot ing, when Mr. Gunter stopped him and asked him what he would do to a man that had published an article about him in the paper. "He said," the witness swore, "that he was go ing to whip Long the first time he got a chance." On cross-examination the witness said he never heard Mr. Gunter threaten to kill Long or any one else. T. C. Panning, a merchant of Wagener. testified that on one or two occasions he heard Plckena Gun ter say he thought he "would give Hugh Tx>ng k a good thrashing". It was brought out In cross-examina tion of Mr. Fanning that Hugh Long had published in his newspaper arti cle reflecting upon J. W. Lybrand and Pickens Gunter, bnt the copies of the papers were not put in evidence. Wit ness said he begged i.Mr. Gunter not to fight Long, and that at last Mr. Gunter told him he would not, and they "shook hands on it”. When J. B. Harley of Barnwell, was on the stand a witness for the prosecution, Tuesday, one of Mr. Long’s attorneys asked him if Pick ens Gunter did not pass him at the cotton platform, a few minutes be fore the shooting took place and give him a message to deliver to "Jake" Lybrand. Mr .Harley denied this. Joe A. Garvin, of Wagener, took the stand Wednesday morning and testi fied that he saw Harley and Gunter talking together at the platform about ten minutes before Gunter ap proached Long in front of Hayes’ Gunter’s store where the shooting took place, and heard Pickens G-un- ter say to Harley: "Tell Mr. Lybrand the fun’s going to begin.” D. H. Easterly, who served as a special policeman at Wagener during a part of the campaign, swore that while Hugh Tying was away from Wagener after his election to the general assembly, Pickens Gunter of ten met the trains at the depot. That after Hugh Long shot Gunter he was overheard as he walked away from the scene to say that he intend ed to kill him (Gunter) anyway, as testified Tuesday by witnesses for the State, was denied by Butler Smith, who took the stand Wednesday morning to tell him at the sound of the platol shots he stepped out of a store to see Hugh Long 1 standing In the street a few feet from where Gun ter lay lying bad bl« revolver Smith aald he reached Long's Mde firwt. when he was not more than ten feet away from the spot where he had •hot Gunter, and took him by the arm "I told him to go with me," said the witness "He said It wouldn't do to leave there then 1 Insisted, seeing that there was likely to be trouble, and I urged him away He kept hta pistol In hla right hand as he walked away, toward Cook's stable I do not remember passing »nv one " Wltne«» said be could have heard had I>'Dg made su<h a statement as that credited to him as tie was nearer to him than anv one else but that he <l!d not bear It He declared that when he looked back a crowd armed with ■ hot gun# and plaints, was following On cross eamilnatlon. Mr timllh declared that he urged lying away from the scene of the ahootlng for the sake of peace, "to aave not only Hugh Iy>ng s life, but other lives as well" He said he lived then near Wagener but had alnce moved, as he heard sod told some of Gunter a friends that (hreels had been mads against him hecauae he had saved Hugh I/ong a life The Morale* Mass low The morning seealon opened with the testimony of Dr. Frampton Wy man and Dr Hasting* Wyman Jr . who examined Ijong when he was brought to the Aiken county JUl They testified that lying had a eon- tuted wound on the left aide of the head caused by congested blood, there was also evidence of blood aet- tled under the eyes caused by aevere blows, also contusion and scratches on the throat caused by s man's fin gers The defendant was Wednesday morning examined before the Jury, the physicians declaring afterwards that there are still evidences on the scalp of a contused wound. Dr. R B. Jennings of Columbia took the •land to tell of an examination he made of Hugh Iy>ng when he newly elected legislator was carried from Aiken to the State penitentiary for safe-keeping when It was feared a mob would lynch him If he was kept at Aiken. At that time, declared Dr. Jennings. Long had a bruise on one aide of his scalp and there was discol oration beneath both eyes. The defense Introduced Wednes day morning testimony to show that Hugh Long; was followed over the cotntry while making his campaign last summer. Robert L. Holseback and S. R. Freeman testified that Pickens Gun ter, Dr. L. B. Ethredge and "a man named Gantt” went to the Warren- ville campaign meeting and "tried to get several men to break up the meeting. An effort was made by them, the witnesses declared, to howl Long down when he spoke. Will Owens corroborated this testimony, and said he heard Pickens Gunter during the course of Long'e speech say out loud: “That’s a He, and If you’ll get out on the ground and say that, off comes your head.” This remark was occasioned, the witness declared, by reference made by Hugh Long to his political oppo nents at Wagener, who, he had de clared, had tried to rule him while he was Intendant and had fallen out with him because they could not do so. G. W. Anderson told of the War- renvllle occurrence and said that Pickens Gunter threatened Hugh Tying at that time "If he would go back to Wagener and say that". The State objected and attorneys for the prosecution were sustained by Judge Gary wjien attorneys for Long asked W. C. Fawlg of Wagener If Pickens Gunter did not state to him BATTLE WITH BEASTS UOHTM\G niKKD LBOTMHDS ON KTOILM-TOHSKD Kllll*. t Officers, I ./eft to Their Own Devices, Lassoed Animals and Cast Them Back Into Their Cages. While a terrific etorm raged about them, tossing their big freighter about like a cork In the ocean, five officers of the German steamship Rhelnfels, which arrived recently In Philadelphia from Calcutta, battled for five hours before they succeeded in subduing five frenzied leapards which had escaped from their cages. -During the storm ait hands had been ordered on deck by Capt. Albert Knuckene, and when lightning struck the poop deck it knocked the leopard cages down in the midst of the forty- eight men. With a scream of fright the men took to the rigging, kicking, cursing and fighting in an effort to climb to a place of safety. In an instant only the six officers were left on deck. One stoker, seized by fear when he saw the loose leapards, leaped into the sea and was drowned. Around and around the battered deck the quintet of leopards raced paying little attention to the group of six men crouched In one corner. All the deck load had been washed into the sea. giving the beasts ample room to romp and run. After an hour, the leopards sighted the men and stationed themselves in front of them, evidently intending to wait un til the storm abated to advance on them. But the officers thought otherwise. One crawled from the group on hands and knees to hla room, procured s rope and returned Suddenly he threw the rope across the leopards, seated on their haunches a few feet away I’nprepared for the movement, two of the beasts were caught and made fast. Other ropea were secur ed. but It warn not until three hours later that the last of the leoparda was rsptured and placed In another cage In the same cargo of wild Wasta were two giraffes and two antelopes Their cages were shattered, but they remained quietly on the poop deck and * atrhed the fight LONfi IS JET TREE JURY TAKES ONLY NINETY SEC ONDS TO DO IT. VERDICT IS APPROVED Girl of Seventeen Automobile Ilnadit. Myrtle Collin*, a seventeen year- old girl of Ohlcago. Mole a revolver from Ohauffeur William I>ansdale. while riding with him, and uaed It to take 11 T. a* ay from him Then she rH»bed out of the machine and fled She la aald to be the slater of a noto rious highwayman who encaped from the Oregon penitentiary some time ago I Men I nAer At Valdoeta. G« . Flagman G T Day of the Georgia Southern was kill ed Wednesday when he fell under a moving train, his head being severed Macon, where he had a young wife from hta body Day s home was in The body was taken to Macon. that anybody who would vote for Hugh l^ong waa no friend of his, Gsnter’s, and that he did not want them to apeak to him Oecar Garvin, who lives near Wag oner. took the stand to tell of a talk ke had with Pickens Gunter about ten days before the shooting, when, he aald, Gunter told him not to rent a house to Hugh I»ng: that "I>ong la not fit to live In Wagener aad was a sorry man to oegtn with." He aald, declared the witness, "he want ed to get rid of hhn ’’ Witneas told Long what Gunter had said. It waa brooght out In this connection that the town of Wagener has been built up on the old Gunter plantation. Among the witnesses Introduced by the defense to establish Hugh Long's reputation for peace and good order waa Dr. W. P. Houston of Monroe, N. C. Dr. Houston, who i« a dentist, Is a brother of Secretary Houston of the department of agriculture, re cently appointed to the cabinet by President Woodrow Wilson. Hugh Long formerly resided at Monroe. Other character witnesses who swore that the legislator’s reputation has always been good were R. W. Lemon of Monroe, former representative and former State senator and now clerk of court; R. F. Beasley of iMVmroe, editor and proprietor of a newspaper, former superintendent of county schools and a member of the North Carolina State board of internal Im provements; W. P. Etchlson of Co lumbia, who attended school with Long; the Rev. J. D. Moore of Co lumbia, Baptist Sunday school sec retary for South Carolina, who at tended Wake Forest college with Long In 1892; Col. C. A. Armstrong of Gastonia, N. C., who was sheriff of his county for a number of years and Is now mayor of that city; E. B. Gunter of Wagener, cashier of the Bank of Western Carolina branch there; Ed Toole of Wagener and W. J. Gantt of Wagener. When Mr. Toole, an aged man, was on the stand, the solicitor asked him if he had not heard many things concern ing Hugh Long since Long got into politics In Wagener, he provoked a great deal of merriment wheb he turned to the so Heitor and repllsd: "Yes, Mr. Gunter; when you open np campaigns you open np lots of Double.” Hugh Long, the Defendant, on the Stand Tells the Story of the Trag edy, Declaring That it Was the Outgrowth of Political Differences of the Times. a A precedent was established In Aiken County Court history Thurs day when the Jury In the Long mur der case decided that they had about enough testimony and were ready to acquit Legislator Long without hear ing any more evidence or any of counsel’s arguments in the case; that they had already reached their deci sion and would have returned a "not guilty” verdict Wednesday afternoon. The defence had just rested Its case and the prosecution was ready to place on the stand witnesses In re buttal, but it was near the dinner hour and the Court announced a re cess, whereupon the foreman of the jury, Jas. R. League, of North Augus ta, leaped to his feet, hut when he started to make his statement the Court stopped him with the an nouncement that the State must be given its opportunity to present wit nesses In rebuttal to the testimony offered by the defence. When the State’s testimony was completed after dluner, the foreman then Informed the Court that the Jury had already determined upon the merits of the case, and that argu ments by counsel were useless. This stemmed a promised flow of oratory. So Judge Ernest Gary, of Columbia, presiding, delivered his charge and permitted the Jury to enter an ante room and draw In regular form the acquittal of Long They were out about ninety seconds, when the clerk of Court, In sonorous tones, read the verdict, "Hugh Ix>ng, Indicted for murder, not rullty " And to-nlght Hugh !>ong Is the happiest man In Aiken County Hla frlenda and attorneys are Jubilant, too. and hla counsel. Meeara. Croft ft Croft and Col. Claude E. Sawyer, who ao Intelligently and akllfully con ducted the defence for their client, were the first to congratulate him and they were followed by throngs of people, some of whom were hereto fore absolutely Indifferent as to Hugh Ix>ng With some few natural exreptlona. there la general Mtlafacllou over the verdict and do oue, ao far as known, has presumed to question Its Justice. Id the seme Court room, where he will soon be prsctlrlug law, if re ports be true. Legislator Hugh Ixmg took the witness stand Thuawday morning at 11 45 o'clock and told how and why hs killed Plckena S. Gunter, of Wagener. He remained on the stand ons hour and forty mln- ntes All day Wednesday and Thursday morning the defence had, by more than fifty witnesses, been building up and establishing Ixing's plea of self- defeuse, and apparently the testi mony could not be shaken, and there was offered a fitting finale when the Aiken County legislator took the stand In his own behalf and In an earnest, straightforward manner pre sented hla story. The prosecution’s efforts to break him down were with out avail. When Mr. Croft began the exami nation for the defence he proceeded to draw from Mr. Long the story of his early life. Long testifying that he waa born and reared in 'Monroe Conn ty, North Carolina. After graduat ing from the high schools, Long taught school for several years and then went to Wake Forest College, from which he later received his di ploma, going back to Monroe and In to business for himself. Mr. long affirmed his personal acquaintance with the jieveral prominent North Carolinians who were used Wednes day as character witnesses In Long’s behalf. Mr. Long has three brothers In the ministry. His father fought during the four years of the War be tween the States. The witness then proceeded to state that he moved to Wagener in 1911, and that shortly thereafter, without any solicitation on his part and virtually without his will, he was elected mayor 6*1 the little town. In Wagener he owned and edited a country weekly newspaper, and in addition to this had a good deal of law work. Then he told how, In the early pat t of last summer, almost innumerable friends approached him and urged him to run for the House of Repre sentatives, and as he expressed it, “he was in the race before he knew It”. From that point the witness told of his alleged political persecu tion and how, he charged, Pickens Gunter and others followed him from one meeting place to another; hound ing him all over the county, he alleg ed. He enumerated several occasions when they attended meetings and he declared that Gunter and his friends were at practically every meeting of thd campaign, with maybe three or four exceptions. He said he remembered distinctly that the deceased was at the cam paign meeting nt Warrenwllle. aad wtth him were never*! friends. They filed into the hall, Long said, aad took their positions in front of him, assuming, hs charged, attitudes of hostility, defiance and bravado. ’ The witness sadd that white he was delivering his address hs had oc casion to mention the name of and prefer charges against Jake Lybrant), when some one cried: ”That'a a d—n lie!” "And when I asked for the name of the person making the declaration," Long said, “I received this answer: ‘* 'Pickens N. Gunter, of Wagener, South Carolina, and if you'll say that outside on the grounds, off comes your head!’” The witness was elected to the House, however, at the second prl-. mary ,and said he was informed that his successful candidacy had made tha opposition” jn Wagener mofe In tensely bitter against him Huin ever before, and that it would be best for him to stay away from Wagener for a while. He said that more than a hundred people warned him of the deceased’s alleged threats to kill, among them M. T. Holley and J. P. Permenter, and he corroborated the testimony that these latter two gave Wednesday. Also, he testified, num ber of his friends in Wagener among them E. B. Gunter Jr., of the Bank of Western Carolina, and Van Jones, who was acting mayor, advised him that it would be discreet to remain away until the ill-feeling subsided. Gunter and Jones testified Wednes day, it will be recalled. Acting upon these many advices Long said he de termined to remain in Aiken for some time, and had his wife and child to go there, where the family boarded until after the third primary election, which was Just a few days before the homicide. Ix>ng said he remained In Aiken because he wanted to avoid any trou ble. but that after J. C. Busbee, "the opposition's" candidate, was elected in the third primary, he had thought that would bring an end to the polit ical troubles. Further, he said, that hla home and his business were in Wagener, hit money invented there. In fact everything he had, and he felt thnt he bad a right to return to Weg ener: that under the circumstances he didn't feel that he could do any thing else But before he went back to his home he had published to the voters of Aiken County s card of thanka. lu which he expressed to them his ap preciation of their vote, the confi dence they reposed In nod the honor they conferred upon him, stating in the card that he "could even forglvs those who had mistreated me. for 1 have not one tinge of hard feeling left In my heart for any one”. The published article was axhiblted in Coert sad accepted as evidence. The defendant then continued that when he returned to Wa*eoer, he found thnt hla newspaper office had been entered surreptitfoaaly and Ms private pepers ransacked, even that his boms had been surrounded aad pried Into. and. he declared, eotne party or parties had been at hit houae after midnight, but. after nneeemly demonstrations and cfforU to entar at the windows, departed Not accustomed to sMng or carry ing on hie person firearms. Mr. Long •aid. he had not a trustworthy wea pon in his possession and secured a gun and revolver from Dr. O. Bk. Port wood and a revolver from one Joe Brown, this latter weapon being the one, he believed, with which he fatally wounded Pickens Gunter. "And when 1 got them,” he sadd, “I carried them directly home by the ueereet route. I did not, ns has been alleged, walk the streets of Wagener with n gun on my shoulder.” The defendant then told of the tragedy: He had been to the post office, he sadd, and was standing glancing orer the headlines of a newspaper when he was approached by a Tn*n in his employ. They stood there some mo menta conversing, he testified, when he felt some one grab Mm, Jerk at him and strike him a stunning blow In the back of the head. He had not seen Gunter, he declared, and was not aware that he was anywhere near., The blow stunned him, and as ha fell to the ground he recognized the face of Pickens Gunter, whose coun tenance, hnnaid, "looked like that of a wild man In a cage.” The legisla tor aald that as he fell, he had an idea that the affair was the execution of the numerous threats made against his life, and that this fear prompted his deed of a few moments later. About the time he fell, he aald, his assailant struck him a heavy .blow between the eyes and blinded him to such an extent that he did not re member to have seen consecutively or very consciously anything else that transpired until he got up. After they fell to the ground, Long affirmed, Gnnter's left hand gripped over his throat and was choking him Into unconsciousness. He was grap pling for his platol and whep Gun ter realized this he grapped Long’s wrist and tried to wrest the revolver from It. The first shot did not find Its mark, and Gunter, said Long, re newed more vigorously than before his efforts to secure the weapon, but Long fired the second and fatal ahot, and Gunter’s muscles refhxed. At this Juncture, Mr. Long, In a clear, stead/ voice, declared: ”1 ahot becaase I believed my life to be In Imminent danger and that I myself weald be killed unleea I did fire. I fired the two shots In defeae* CIVIL SERVICE ABUSE WAS Jtrx IN INTSHKST OF PUBLICAN PARTY. Hhamefml OomUUom Are Said to let la Some of the Washington. Information laying bare sixteen years of debauchery of the civil ter ries under Republican rule will not be lacking If tha Senate authorizes a probe into the administration of the service, in accordance with a resolu tion introduced by Senator Lee 8. Overman’. In fact the mere Introduc tion of the resolution has brought out affidavits from government em ployees which show not only the rankest favoritism for Republicans, but disclose shameful conditions'' growing out of the employment of negroes side by aide with white peo ple, many of whom are women, and even placing white women in posi tions subordinate to negro men,"and women. In almost every department of the government, whites and negroes work together. In some of them women are subjected to insults from negroes, who hold superior Jobs. In nearly all of them the same lavato ries are used by white and blacks, even In some cases the same towels. White women stenographers take dictations from negroes and their veiled insults at the same time. They are afraid to protest. If they do they lose their Jobe or are traneferred to even worse positions on one ground or another. Bide by side in the bureau, aa well aa in other departments of the gov ernment, are clerka receiving $1,000 and clerks receiving $2,000, ail doing tha asm# work. Tha inf era* oa that the higher salaried onaa are Repub licans is borne out by tha affidavits in the hands of Senator Overman. In the office of the deeds there are twenty-two and fifteen whites, several of than women. In office la negro woi who loans money at the rate of per cent n month. Her In the bureau (which sha ecutlve position) she rates ’’hick” la the government work, tb< not so unfortnnste to require do not fare so well, It Is charged ta an affidavit. Oat of the 2.101 employees la tbs bureau of engraving and printing there are SI2 negroes aad lean thaa 400 Democrats. Haro aa la the otbes departments whltaa and blacks In the same room aad nee the lavatories Of 100 employees I* th< bureau of th# census there are fort] Democrats aad alnety negroes. Ii tha poet OSes department 117 Under the sixteen years of Mean rule the negroes la the meet have sot number, but they have grades of work oo that many white people subject to orders. The only ployeas have had la aabearabla eondltic qalt Appeals have reaalted only dismissal on soma a lowering In pay. of my Ufa. I knew that If Mr. 0«a- ter secured my revolver he wo«ld kill me. if his ftiaads didn’t.” Mr. Long denlad that as ha left the scene, he encountered C. K. Ly brand. who testified that he heard Long say that ha had latandad all along to MU tha . < Ha said ha couldn’t Hayaa Gunter as ha palled Pickens back; was dimly awara only of a ha- man form, and ”dld not know whoth- er he waa friend or foo”. Mr. Long wont on to the house— he had already teen behind him tha shouting mob of armed men coming toward him—ran up-stairs, ha said, and looked out of a window to see J. D. Harley and J. Cheater Busbee run ning up with gunn. _ Busbee la the young man from Wagener who waa selected to the Houae of Repreeenta- tlves at tha third primary election, and who this week receives hla diplo ma from the law department of the South Carolina University. Long refused to surrender to Bald win, the chief, he said, because the latter was his personal enemy. Fur ther, he said, he didn’t care to risk Ms safety In ’/the little calafbooae we used for a guard house”. However, he told the chief to wire to Atkra for the sheriff and the rural policeman, and that he would willingly surren der to them when they came. If they would guarantee safety to his person. When they did arrive, several hours later, he surrendered to them. He told how he and one of the ruralee slipped from the house, crawl ed through the woods a foot In the face of a cold, driving rain, losing their direction several hours after midnight As day broke gray and misty, they wandered upon a house, where they secured a conveyance that brought them on to Aiken, and Long was safely lodged in jail. Immediately after Mr. Long left the stand hla wife was sworn, and discredited absolutely the testimony of the Wagener chief of poliee. Gunter, Vho has been ftCMMory, ywtj vituuj ries told, and self sf say sashes