The weekly news review. (Florence, S.C.) 1922-1923, June 22, 1922, Image 6
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THE WEEKLY NEWS REVIEW
Former Officer I in 1921. "iflie commission''was |6 for
Now Sues K.K.K.
Atlanta, Ga.—Suit for $3,259 for
sums alleged to be due him for com
missions and expenses incured as a
kleagle of the Ku Klux Klan, was
filed in the city court of Atlanta
Thursday by G. L. Williams, 16 Mari
etta street. W. J. Simmons, imperial
wizard;, E. Y. Clark, imperial klea
gle, and Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Tyler,
formerly associated with the propa
ganda department of the klan, were
named the defendants.
Among the items named in the
suit is one for $535 alleged to be due
h.m for commissions earned for se-
each nenf member, it, \e clamied.
Other ifetemh include advances to other
officUrtfr- of the klan, find rent of
several halls in Seattle, Wash.
The suit was filed by the firm ol'
Underwood & Pomeroy and Attorney
W. Percy Coles.
Accommodating
A London newspaper, hearing that
riot had taken place in a small
Irish town, telegraphed to its corres
pondent:
“Send three hundred words riot.”
The correspondent wired back:
“No riot; will arrange one this af
ternoon.”
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THE JEWELER
AFFIDAVIT AND STATEMENT
FROM BIGHAM ATTORNEY
Florence, S. C., June 19, 1922.
Editor, Weekly News rJ view,
Florence, S. C.
In the last issue fo your paper you
published a letter, signed “Citizen,”
in which the writer undertook to set
forth some of the reasons why he
thought Edmund D. Bigham ought to
have a new trial.
I have heard that persons in this
community attribute that letter to
me. Of course, YOU know that I nei
ther wrote tne ea:a communication,
aor was I even aware that it was to
be published.
I was out of town Tuesday, Wed
aesday^nd Thursday morning, —
and plats.” That deponent then said
to said Bigham: “Why don’t you cut
up the plantation and sell off some
of it,” whereupon said Bigham spoke on “ place, they have
of having had to pay Cleveland’s bone
and that the place was all “tangled
^ was _
up,” and he was in doubt as to whe
thcr he would ever be able to get it
straightened out, and spoke of Mr.
Arrowsmith having something to do
with the matter; he then went on to
tell about various troubles that he
had, and showed by his general con
versation and appearance that he was
greatly depressed and worried over
his affairs.
, Deponent further swears that he
icBua? »iiu », »ud makes this affidavit freely, and vol-
Mv^tke eommuni^tion. for the’first untfifily—with the full realization
•,ime, that evening. * .
Of course, I am gratified that some for him, and that it is done solely
person saw fit to set forth some of
.he evidence that is favorable to the
defendant, and I want to thank you
leienuam, aim t wam. lvj muim - . • . . ,
lot as attorney for E. D. Bigham, but to have been written and left by said
is a citizen of this community and
itate for your disposition to do the
fair thing by this man, in publishing
he said letter. It is the first occa
sion that his side of the case has
been presented in the press with any
degree of fairness.
Siuce the hearing on the 9th in
stant, there has come to me certain
Additional information bearing on the
Authenticity of the statement that
Jmiley Bigham is alleged to have
written, and I would appreciate it
/ery much indeed if you would pub
lish this affidavit, together with the
itptement in question.
It will be recalled that at the hear-
ng, the defense undertook to estab
lish the genuiness of the paper in
question by six disinterested expert
witnesses, in addition to the Clerk
of Court of Florence county.
The question now arises: with
Ibis additional evidence, as set out in
t he affidavit of Mr. Langston, can
there be any doubt that Smiley Big
ham wrote and signed the statement
in question? /
If he did do this, then, certainly,
no reasonable person will still con
tend that Edmund Bigham is guilty,
A. L. KING.
Smiley Bigham, for the first time, in
a copy of the Columbia Record, of
June 9th, 1922, after the hearing held
on the motion for new trial was
argued in Florence, that he immed
iately, thereafter, undertook to con
vey the infomation set out in this af
fidavit to A. L. King, attorney for
E. D. Bigham, but that said A. L. King
having been engaged in the court all
day, was greatly fatigued and request
ed deponent to see him at some later
date, which was done.
(Signed) JOHN H. LANGSTON.
And Probated.
“Taste the Difference”
We haven’t any cheap groceries to *
offer. We tiandle only the very best
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and for quality are known.
HUBBARDS
Mother and Margie had the tWo
iigned deeds that bad disappeared, in
their possession. Causing trouble
seems to be their pleasure.
They took the money that the P. O.
Department has me charged wthi and
were the cause of Cleveland running
off. And I had to pay the bond. For
years I have had to leave home and
pay board to make my ^calculations
and platts.
They poisoned father and tried to
poison Leatha’s child. After the death
when I found them with the deeds I
decided to kill the last one of them
and leave no one to tell the tale.
I am writing this to explain why I
did this act. You will never see me
again alive.
L. S. BIGHAM.
STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA,
County of Florence.
Personally appeared before me
John H. Langston, who, being duly
sworn, says, That he was born in
Florence County and State aforesaid,
in the year 1885; that he has lived
in said County during his entire life
time, except one year, spent in the
State of Florida, and four years and
i’our months in the U. S. Army—about
of which period was
that it will probably make enemies
and entirely from a sense of duty.
Deponent further swears that he
read the statement, which is alleged
3IGHAM DECLARES
HE IS INNOCENT
i From Columbia State, of June 20)
Edmund D.» Bigham, under death
sentence for the murder of his broth
er L. Smiley Bigham, said he would
like to see a representative of The
'’tate and whenBie reporter called to
see him at the death house, Bigham
said he wanted to make a ‘plea’ to the
people of Florence county and of the
entire state to do wh#t they can, to
tell the truth and not let an innocent
man suffer death for something he
.didn’t do.”
Bigham told the reporter that he
or band music, the experiment of the
engineers promises to revolutionize
the coal industry. First, they have
cut out watered stock and over-capi
talization, organizing a company
whose sole purpose is efficient pro
duction, and not financial exploita
tion of its coal resources In the sec-
laid down the
doctrine that the miners ought to
share in the prosperity of the indus
try. Then they have employed the
most competent mining engineers ob
tainable and have given them a free
hand in the technical development of
their properties. Frankly, they are
going to organize their own co-opera
tive coal yards, cut out middlemen’s
profits, and sell their own coal to
themselves at cost.” 1
Modern machinery, including pow
erful electrical locomotives, is called
for. It is estimated that the mines
will have a capacity exceeding 6,000
tons a day;
■ £94k. & ■
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asked for the interview because this
was his only way to put his case be
fore the people. As he went over the
story of the killing of his brother,
his mother, his sister and his sister’s
two'adopted children the condemned
man broke down, crying bitterly and
protesting his innocence. “They ac
cuse me fo murdering my dear moth
er, who brought me into this world,”
he said in a broken voice, “when she
died in my arms with me doing all I
could for her.” He declared that his
mother’s last words were: “Smiley
did it.”
The condemned man looked through
the prison bars in the death house
and again broke into tears. “If my
conviction stands,” he said, “I will
shed innocent blood for a crime that
l did' not commit.” Bigham accused
his brother of the horrible crime, de
claring Smiley was-insane. “I regret
to say that about my brother, but he
was accustomed to have spells of
temporary insanity,” Bighaln de
clared.
Bigham appeared to be breaking in
spirit and whenever he mentioned his
mother he would cry and was un
able to proceed with his story. His
plea to the people of Florence county
and of the state w^s made in an
earnest tone. “I want the truth to
__ known. If the people who know
will tell the truth about the insanity
the public, but I ask the law abiding
people to express themselves and do
so at once if they would assist me
by seeing that I have justice. I hope!
they will do what they can before!
it is too late.
“No one knows how it feels to be
accused of anything falsely as I was
'—taking of the life of my dear moth
er, .my brother and my sister,” he
said. “My mother died in my arms
with me doing all I could for her.
The last words she said to me were
that ‘Smiley did it.’”
Bigham showed the reporter a copy
of a letter signed “Citizen,” which
was printed in the Florence Weekly
News Review, arid also a handwritten
statement which, he said, was the one
he wanted to make at the time of his
resentencing. “Citizen" asks a num
ber of questions about the case, in
cluding ones regarding alleged dis
crepancies between testimony at the
inquest and the trial, and about
Smiley’s alleged insanity.
twenty months — .
“over-seas”—as a member of Battery be
F. 43rd Art.; which said Battery par- W1 . ^ . . .
ticipated in the Argonne* Muse, Saint of Smiley, who had always been af-
Mihiel and Toul offensives, and that flicted with spells, I will be exoner-
he was honoably discharged from the ated. I am where I can not speak to
said Army, at the end of the World
War. That he, thereupon, came back
to said Florence County and was a
candidate for the office of Shejiff in
1920—running next to Sheriff Burch;
thqt he expacts to be a candidate for
the office of Sheriff two years hence;
that he makes this latter statement
for the reason that, as the sentiment
against Edmund D. Bigham is so
strong in said Florence county, policy
would dictate thav he have no con
nection with said case, but that he
cannot keep silent when he believes
that what he knows, if said, might
save a man x^hom he now believes to
be innocent, but has heretofore, in
common with most of the people of
Florence' County, believed to be guilty
from being put to death by the State.
That he has repeatedly expressed
to opinion that he believed said Ed
mund D. Bigham was guilty of the
crime of which he was accused, but
that such belief was the result of
what he heard others say as to the
facts of the said case; that he had
continued in such belief until he
read in one of the newspapers a copy
of the statement alleged to have been
written and left by Smiley Bigham—
especially the words set out in said
statement as follows, to wit: “Caus
ing trouble seems to be their pleas
ure. For years I have had to leave
home and pay board to make my cal
culations and plats.”
That upon reading the said words,
it recalled to his mind the fact that
these were practically the same words
that said Smiley Bigham had used in
a conversation that he, deponent, had
with said Bigham, a few weeks before
Edmund D. Bigham came back to
Florence County to live. That the
said conversation arose out of the
fact that said Smiley Bigham was a
frequent visitor to the office of L.
McD. Hicks, in the City of Florence,
S. C. (who is an architect); that the
said Smiley Bigham made his visits
to said office so frequent and asked
so many favors of said Hicks that he,
Hicks, suggested to deponent—who
was employed by said Hicks, to find
some way to get rid of said Bigham.
That upon the occasion in question
the said Bigham called at the said
office for the purpose of getting de
ponenet to make some blue-prints for
him, and while so engaged, deponent
entered into convesation with said
Bigham, as follows, to wit: Depon
ent said to Bigham: “Why don’t you
get a glass and make your blue-prints
at home and not have to come so far
to get them made,” and said Smiley
Bigham replied: “Mother and sister
seem to take pleasure in making trou
ble for me, for years I have been
forced to board away from home to
be in peace to make my calculations
R. R. Engineers
Engage in Mining
The Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers has ‘tackled the coal prob
lem,” according to a statement by Al-|
bert F. Coyle, editor of the brother-,
hood’s official organ. “The locomo
tive engineers are making a $2,000,-
1)00 investment in West Virginia and
Kentucky coal mines,” said Mr. Coyle,;
“which means not only a fail deal for fi
the miners but better and cheaper
coal for the consuming public.
“The leading officers of the bro
therhood have obtained control of
more than 6,000 acres of the best coal
land in the United States, situated on
Coal River in Boone County, W. Va.,
and in Floyd County, the heart of the
Big Sandy coal district near Pre«ton-
burg, Ky.
“The Coal River Collieries, as the
new company is called, is owned by
hundreds of locomotive engineers
throughout the country, who have
subscribed in small amounts to the
capital stock of $2,000,000.
“The engineei’s are not only going
into the business of mining coal; they
are also planning the establishment
of retail yards to sell their coal at
reasonable prices to railwaymen and
other workers in the large cities.
Locomotive engineers and their
friends have already organized these
auxiliary coal yards in Ohio and
Michigan, and have placed contracts
with their coal companies for delivery
direct fom the mine pits to the con
sumers.
“Without much blare or trumpets'
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