Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

em&. YOL. XXI, NO. 14. DARLINGTON, S. 0., THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 1894. WHOLE NUMBER 1,000. M mis ■ si m iii EMIISP1SS! Several Wounded. ONE OF THE SPIES KILLED AND TWO WOUNDED. The Outrage Unprovoked and the Re sult of the Iniquitous ~ Dispensary Law—The Greatest Excitement Ever Known in Darlington—Details of the Tragedy. Blood has been shed ! Precious blood has been spill ed on account of the iniquitous dispensary law and its abomi nable spy system. How long will this reckless and ruthless taking of human life continue ? How long will a set of irresponsible roughs, clothed with extraordinary power given them by a liberty- depriving law and armed with Winchester rifles given them by a despot—how long will these men be allowed to shoot down citizens in cold blood ? Many of the constables—spies they should be properly called— have been selected from the ranks of ruffians. They are men who have borne very unsa vory reputations. They have been notoriously lawless and some of them rega-d the lives of their fellow-men as of no more value than the lives of dogs. They are reckless and do not ^uind the shedding of blood. These men have become em boldened because the law gives them greater power than has ever before been given man. They care not what outrages they commit because they feel that should they be convicted of crime by an indignant com munity they will be immediate ly pardoned by the dictator, Tillman. With such a condition of af fairs trouble was sure to come; nothing else could be expected. As Qovernor Tillman has not only sanctioned the pursuit of violent methods by his minions but has even advised it, he is responsible more than anybody else for South Carolina being on the verge of a bloody revolu tion and for the threatened de plorable condition when Caro linians stand ready to make war upon one another. The regret to us is that the first riot should have occurred in Darlington; that the blood ot good citizens of the town should be spilled; that violent death, tne result of murder, should destroy the peaceful homes of our people; that sorrow and grief should spread over our community. Comments on the recent at- trocity in Darlington could be continued without end. Bui why should there be comments r It is unnecessary, for the barba rous crime speaks for itself. Its details, which we shall endeavoi to give impartially and without coloring, will be sufficient to Show to any man not bereft of reason or not blinded by passion that cold-blooded murder has been committed. There may be men who come not under either of tf'e categories Mention ed who will say that the spilling of blood in Darlington whs the meting out of justice. But who are these men ? They are dem agogues, second only to Till man, who with dishonest and cowardly hearts, welcome tur moil, strife and even death, pro vided they are not in it. Like the ghouls, who rob the dead, they profit by disaster to others. Would to God there were fewer men such as these in South Carolina. But let us give the details of the story of blood and barba rous murder, that our readers may know the pass to which we, wlm live in South Carolina, have come. ♦receding the fight. Events that Transpired Massacre. Before the When we went to press on Wednesday afternoon of last week the disturbance created by the visit of the spies to Dar lington had been quieted and no further trouble was expected. We stated this to be the condi tion in our last issue. As we mentioned at the time there was no occasion for calling out j.he Darlington Guards; in fact, such action only made the excite ment greater and increased the danger of further trouble. The Sheriff did not ask for the troops. The Governor was alarmed at the condition of affairs by tele grams sent him by J. B. Floyd and J. P. Kervin. Even after the Guards were ordered out the excitement was kept down and Wednesday night was pass ed peacefully/ • THURSDAY A QUIET DAY. Thursday came and still the town was quiet, although every body labored under a feeling of suppressed excitement. Some uneasiness was felt because eighteen additional spies came up to Darlington from Charles ton that morning. They were all armed with Winchester rifles and were under the command of chief Gaillard. Stiil no distur bance occurred. The spies raid ed the store of Mr. H. A. James near the A. C. L. depot, but it was done quietly and the citi zens did not interfere. The non-interference with the raid upon Mr. James’s store was in keeping with the course pursued by the citizens during the several days the spies were in Darlington preceding the af ternoon of the fight. The spies had raided in all about a dmfen daces of business and not arcit- izen had interfered. / VOLUNTEERS ARRIVE. The reports about the trouble at Darlington were greatly ex aggerated throughout the State. The most sensational rumors were afloat. As nothing defi nite could be learned the people ' " ' ‘ rful however, prepared to receive the Sumter soldiery hospitably. The Darlington Guards met them at the depot on their ar rival on Thursday afternoon. As they got off the train the large crowd of citizens who had assembled at the depot cheered the soldiers lustily. The visit ing company spent the night, which passed without any dis turbance, in the Darlington Guards armory, the people show ing them great attention. ARRESTS MADE. Friday morning the sun arose upon a peaceful town, which unfortunately before the sun set was stained with blood and rendered wild with excitement and anger. As everything was so quiet as the day advanced and as there was no suspicion of the terrible tragedy that was to be enacted that atternoon, the Sumter Light infantry re turned home early in the morn- ing. During the day the Sheriff served a warrant upon eight citizens for participation in the seizure of the guns in the Guards armory. The citizens submit* ted quietly to arrest as it was done by the Sheriff and they appeared at the appointed time for trial before Justice Floyd. The trial was not held then and, of course, has not been held since. This brings the reader to Fri day afternoon when the awful slaughter was done. A BLOODLESS ROW. neighboring towns were fea of tne safety of our citizens and telegrams offering assistance came pouring in. On the afternoon of Thursday a large number of citizens from Florence and Sumter came to Darlington on special trains to see if they could be of assis tance to our people. • They found that everything was quiet and had been so all day and that their presence was not needed. Before returning to their homes, however, the volunteers from Florence and Sumter met with a large number of the citizens of Darlington and passed reso lutions declaring a man’s home his castle and pledging them selves to protect one another’s homes from unreasonable searches, and to resist arrests if attempted to behmade by spies. 80LDIER&,00ME. As all day Thursday every thing was so quiet and peaceful, considerable surprise was mani fested when it was learned that the Sumter Light Infantry of Sumter was coming here in pur suance to an order from the Governor. The soldiers were not needed then to preserve the peace and no one could see why Governor Tillman ordered them here. The people of Darlington Two Young Men Engage in a Person al Difficulty. As soon as the first signs of friction between the people and the spies appeared, the censer vativu citizens undertook to smooth matters over. They consulted with the spies and the latter consented, having finish ed their work, to leave town on Friday atternoon. In accord ance with this four of the spies went to the C., 8. & N. depot to take the train and the other eighteen went to the C. & D. depot for the same purpose. It was at the latter place that the shooting occurred. • THE FIRST DISTURBANCE!. The killing was precipitated by a fight between two young men of the town, Mr. Paul Rog ers, clerk of the Enterprise Ho tel, and Mr. F. E. Floyd, com monly known as Billy Floyd. disturbance had occurred a week or so before between Mr. logers and Spy McLendon, in which the spy had drawn his >istol on Rogers. McLendon lad been fined five dollars bv ;he town authorities for this of- I’ence. The fuss between Mc Lendon and Rogers had been brought on by Floyd repeating to McLendon something Rogers lad said about him. The spy therefore, had a grudge against logers and seemed on most friendly terms with Floyd, con sequently when the fight oc curred at the depot on Friday afternoon between these two men he took sides with Floyd. Mr. Walter Hutchinson'* Story. We give the following story of the fight between Floyd and Rogers, which has been fur nished us by Mr. Walter Hutch inson, the driver of McCullough & Blackwell’s bus, who was an eye witness: I went down to the depot driving the bus. Rogers went with me. At the depot Rogers was sitting on the steps to the bus, reading a newspaper. Floyd came up to him and asked what was that he (Rogers) had said about him (Floyd).' As soon as Floyd started his con versation with Rogers, McLen don, one of the spies, left the other spies, who were about five feet distant, and approached to wards the two young men. I did not hear Rogers make any reply to Floyd’s question and while he was continuing to read the newspaper Floyd struck him in the face with knucks. Then they clinched. Two col ored men endeavored to sepa rate them, when McLendon said: ‘Stand off; nobody must touch them.’ Mr. Johnson Young then attempted to part the fighters, when one of the spies, I do not know which one, drew his rifle on Mr. Young and told him to stand ba:k. I jumped off the bus and pulled Rogers away and brought him up town. As soon as Floyd struck Rogers McLendon said, ‘POUR IT TO HIM, BILLY, damn him, pour it to him.’ Mc Lendon had his hand on his pis tol all the time, but did not draw it. The pistol could, how- evei, be clearly seen.” ROGERS GOES BACK. After Mr. Hutchinson brought Mr. Rogers back to town the latter returned to the depot with Mr. L. L. Redmond, who ^as subsequently killed, and one or two other friends. In the mean time several other citizens had gone to the depot, not on ac count of the fight, but on other business. Among the latter were Mr. Frank E. Norment who was’ among those after wards slain. At the time of the shooting there were only about ten citizens at the depot and several of these were not arm ed and those who were armed only had pistols. THE MASSACRE. Three Men Killed Instantly and Several Badly Wounded. When young Rogers returned to the depot his difficulty with Floyd was renewed and the shooting followed almost imme diately. In order to be perfect ly fair in our account of the un fortunate shooting we give the stories of both sides. I The first account is the testi mony of ()hief of Police A. E Dargan, who was an eye wit ness. It is as follows: Chief Dargan's Story. ‘‘Hearing that the spies were about to leave town I started towards the dopot to be there in case my services were needed to keep the peace. I was going merely as a precautionary meas ure. On my way down I heard there had been a fight at the depot. I hastened on to the scene. As I approached I met Floyd on the platform. He asked me ‘IF I WAS AFTER HIM.’ I replied, ‘Billy, I understand that there has been a row and have come to arrest parties in it.’ He said, ‘Well I had a fight and am willing to be arrested and go with you*. To this I re plied ‘You are in town, report for trial to-morrow at 12.30. I will go on your bond’. The spies were at this time on the other side of the depot next to the track. I went on round in that direction, Billy with me. As I passed around in front of the spies I saw Rogers coming RAPIDLY DOWN THE PLATFORM, accompanied by a crowd of small boys and one or two men. He began cursing Floyd calling him a damn and said Floyd had used kuncks on him. Floyd said, ‘I won’t fight you now as I cannot get fair p 1 a j ’. In the meantime I caught hold of Rogers and told him he was under arrest. He submitted and said nothing more. I told the boys to have their fight some other time and I said to Floyd that I would see that he was not imposed upon. Here SPY M’LENDON INTERFERED. He said to Floyd, ‘You don’t need the Chief’s protection; I will protect vou. Go on him. Billy, I will bet $10 you can whip him in one minute.’ This made Rogers speak up again. He said, ‘If it had not been for that damn scoundrel (pointing to McLendon) I would have had a fair fight at first.’ McLendon called Rogers a damn liar. Pre vious to this C. 8. McCullough and Frank Norment were about fifty feet off, but they came up at this time. McLendon had HIS HAND ON HIS PISTOL, which was in his right hand pants pocket. One or two of the spies who were standing be hind caught hold of McLendon and remonstrated with him. Rogers, Floyd and myself were between the spies and citizens. Norment said to McLendon, ‘You are trying to raise a row here when it is not necessary.’ McLendon thereupon cursed Norment and the latter return ed the curse. Then Redmond cursed McLendon fora —McLendon said, ‘I won’t take that, boys.’ He stepped forward, pulled his pistol and said, ‘LET HER GO 1’ and immediately fired. This was the first shot fired and it struck me. The firing then be came promiscuous. Redmond, after emptying his pistol, turn ed to run and one of the spies shot him with his rifle apparent ly aiming deliberately. Lucas’s last two wounds were received while retreating. I was dazed at first, but as soon as I collect ed myself I ordered the spies to stop firing. Several then turn ed and shot at me, but missed me.” Spy McDonald's Story. Spy McDonald, who was at the shooting but who subse quently escaped to Columbia, told the following story to the Columbia Register the Tillman organ: “Five of us had been detailed to stay in Darlington while the others went to Charleston^ When the sauad which was S oing to Charleston went to the epot, where the fight took place, we went with them. While we were there Billy Floyd and Rogers, the man who start ed the whole thing, got into an altercation. They had a fight, and Floyd got the best or it About that time a negro driver of the bus for the Enterprise Hotel attempted to strike Floyd. m’lendon interferes. “Constable McLendon, who was mortally wounded, refused to let the negro attack Floyd, who had done the constables several good turns, and they liked him. McLendon told the negro to stand back. Then the telegraph operator at the depot ran out of his office and asked what McLendon had to do with it. McLendon said that he did not have anything particular to do with it, but he did not pro pose to see Floyd crowded. The operator went back into the office and Rogers got in the bus and went up town. I suppose he went up there to get a crowd, for in a short time he came back with fifteen or twenty men. Rogers RENEWED THE DIFFICULTY with Floyd and cursed the latter fearfully. He went toward Floyd, but Chief of Police Dar gan interfered and commanded the crowd to disperse. The crowd refused to do so, and Rogers again cursed Floyd with the most vile epithets. Floyd said he would not stand it, and went toward Rogers. The chief of police separated them. Rogers then turned to McLendon and said, there is the who caused me to get whipped. Mc Lendon said this was a lie. Then Frank Norment, who was killed, stepped forward and pointed to McLendon, saying: ‘There is the there.’ McLen don refused to stand this and cursed Norment in return. I was standing right between Mc Lendon and Norment. Before I knew it one of them reached over my shoulder and fired a pistol. I do not know which one fired the first shot. The shot started the battle. The citizens were armed with pistols, and immediately began firing at the constables. The officers were standing in a body and were targets of the whole party. The constables returned the fire. “Did the constables use rifles or pistols?” asked the reporter. “Only eight of them HAD WINCHESTERS. I did not have one. I do not know how many of them used rifles. I do know, however, that Constables Pepper and Mc Lendon did not have rifles and used pistols. McLendon empti ed his pistol before he seemed to know he was shot. Pepper was killed soon after the firing began. I do not know how many times he fired, or whether he fired at all. I do not know who shot Pepper. The shooting was over in a few seconds. The first thing I knew of the ending of the fight was seeing the con stables making for cover. They remained long enough to see that they would be crowded, as couriers had started to the city at once for reinforcements. I was one of the five men retailed to stay in Darlington and did not run off with the main body of the constables. I went to Pepper. He was lying on the ground, and as I bent over him he opened his eyes, smiled at me and closed them again. Then he GASPED SEVERAL TIMES AND DIED. I tried to get physicians to at tend to McLendon, who had not fallen until the fight was over. I could not get any of them to Rid him. About that time I no ticed a crowd of citizens coming and thought it about time to got away. Together with the two men who came here with me I took the pistols which Pep per and McLendon had had and made my way to the home of Sheriff Scarborough. We staid at his home until a deputy told us that the house was to *be searched, and that we had bet ter go to the woods. Then we went to the woods. This was about 6 o’clock in the afternoon. We laid in the woods until dark, and then went back toward the town to see what we could learn. We saw that it would not be safe for us, and set out down the track of the Charleston, Sumter and Northern Road. WALKED ALL NIGHT. We walked down the track all night without seeing anyone, getting out of the way when we heard any noise. We got to Sumter about half-past 12 o’clock to day, and went by rear streets until we saw the chief of police and'surrendered Itojhim. We told him that we had not had anything to eat since the day before and k he took us to a restaurant. The Sumter milit ary was already under arms and a detachment of them was stationed around the restaurant to prevent any harm being done to us. The crowd which collect ed was driven away, from in front of the restaurant. I must say that the officers did their duty by us. After we had eaten we were taken to jail and re mained there until we were brought here on a special train. “I roust say,” said McDonald, in answer to a question from the Reporter, “that we had a lucky time in getting here safe. The people we met on the rail road track did not suspect us of being constables.” When asked if he or his com panions had seen any of the other constables after leaving Darlington, he said that they had not and did not have any idea where they were. He said that Billy Floyd was last seen running along the railroad track in a direction opposite to that which the constables had taken. Floyd had two pistols in his hand. Mr. L. S. Wslling's Story. Mr. L. S. Welling was at the shooting. Than him a no more reliable and conservative man lives in Darlington. This is his version: “Mr. Frank Norment and my self went to the depot on bicy cles to meet a friend. On the way we were joined by Mr. C. S. McCullough who was also on a bicycle. He was on his way to the oil mill just beyond the depot to attend to some business. When we reached the depot we were told that Floyd had taken advantage of Rogers and had beaten him in the face with knucks. A few minutes after wards Rogers came back to the depot accompanied by Lucius Redmond, K. D. Lucas and Tur ner Henry. Rogers walked right up to Floyd hut the two were kept apart by the Chief of Police, who told them that they COULD HAVE NO ROW THERE. Rogers said that he was willing to pay the fine, but Chief and Mr. Norment told him that that was no place to have a row; that they both lived in town and could settle it some other time. Rogers then said, point ing to Floyd, that that damn had taken advan tage of him. Floyd then moved towards Rogers CRYING WITH ANGER and saying that he could not take any such thing as that. They were separated by the Chief of Police Wore they came to blows. McLendon then said, ‘By God, I don’t propose for any bodv to double-team Billy Flovd while I am standing here.’ Redmond replied, T don’t pro pose that anybody shall double team Rogers,’ adding that Rog ers could whip Floyd at any time in a fair fight. McLendon then offered TO BET TEN DOLLARS that Floyd could whip Rogers in half a minute. Rogers then said that he knew that he could whip Floyd, but that he had been taken advantage of. Some one in the crowd asked who had taken advantage of him. Rog ers replied, pointing his finger as I thought to McLendon, ‘That there’. Mc Lendon said, ‘You are another God damn you ? With that McLendon snatched out his pistol and began firing. As soon as tho firing com menced I ran for the warehouse door which was about fifteen steps off. Before I got there about twenty-five shots were fired up the platform along which the citizens were run ning. I got inside the ware house just as McCullough did. We went on through and got into the street on the other side and started towar Is town. When Mr. McCullough and my self were nearly at the corner of Broad Street FOUR SHOTS WEBB FIRED at us by the spies, who had fol lowed us around the depot in order to shoot at us. I did not hear Norment say anything ex cept to tell Rogers and Floyd to settle their difficulty some other time. I was not armed and if Mr. Norment was armed I did not know it.” Th* Register's Story. Here is the story of the editor of the Columbia Register, who is a Tillmanite. He was in town at the time of the killing and wrote the account for his paper. The constables had perform ed their duty in Darlington and five went to the Charleston, Sumter and Northern depot to take the train, while the others, eighteen in number, went to the Cheraw and Darlington depot depot to take the train there. The train was behind time, and the constables sat and stood around waiting for it to come along. Three or four citizens of Darlington were standing around waiting for the train also. “oo it, billy!” Paul Rogers, clerk in the En terprise Hotel, came down on the ’bus. He had a few words with Billy Floyd, a brother of the dispenser at Darlington and a man who has been accused of carrying tales from one side to the other in Darlington. Floyd struck Rogers in the face, knock ing him down, and then jump ed on him. Constable McLen don said: “Go it, Billy, whip h—1 out of the .” A TEMPORARY TRUCB. The men were separated and Rogers went off, coming back a few minutes later with several others. Chief of Police Dargan had meantime approached Floyd and told him to appear before the mayor next morning. Floyd offered to go with Dargan at once, but he said it was not necessary. When Rogers ap peared Dargan went up to him and asked mm what he wanted. Fe said Floyd had not fought him fairly. He wanted a fair fight. Frank Norment said: You town boys can have your fight up-town. This is no place for a fight.” At the time he was sitting down. McLendon said some thing about the fight having been fair. Norment then said it had not been. McLendon said: “You are a damn liar.” Norment replied: “You’re a lyings , and the cause of all the trouble.” MCLENDON BEGINS FIRING. McLendon said: “I won’t stand it,” drawing his pistol as he uttered the words and firing quick as he could get it on a level. Norment haul risen as he spoke to McLendon. As he fell, killed by a bullet through his breast, he knocked aside another man, which probably saved his life. “LET ’EB ROLL.” McLendon said as he fired: “It’s got to come, boys. Let ’er ioIL” One of the constables attempted to knock up McLen don’s hand when he saw him going to fire, but was not quick enough. As McLendon fired the citizens present who had pistols in their pockets drew them, supposing there would be a fight. The constables seeing the status of affairs drew their weapons also, and the firing be gan almost simultaneously. On one point there is a difference of testimony. Chief of Police Dargan was between the two parties trying to preserve order. Some say he was struck by the first bullet; others that he was struck by the second. The firing lasted NOT OVER A MINUTE, but deadly work was done. Mr. Redmond emptied his pistol, it being reported that he gave Constable Pepper his death and also wounded McLendon. As he half-turned to reload a bullet struck the back of his neck, coming out under his Chin. He dropped dead. As Dargan started to get off the platform one of the constables drew a bead on him and pulled the trigger. Fortunately his gun missed fire. SURELY TOO MUCH! An old gentleman, Mr. Foun tain, an unarmed spectator, said to him, “My God, man, hasn’t enough blood been sited?” TIm Stats'* Story. The Columbia State publishes the following account which was furnished it by a citizen of Darlington who was an eye wit ness: A responsible gentleman, res ident of Darlington, who was an eye witness of the fight at the Darlington depot and ar rived at Columbia last night, gives the following account of {.Continued <m Page 4.)