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.

{/. ? \ l&*? . , \ t%,i / / "M ? .t 1 ' *' ______ . .. VOL. XIII. 'kINGSTREE, SOUTfl CAROLINA, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30,1897. NO. 45. g* ! MY m H I# i I I IBM an HP PH. ill! II11 ; ' a h ssi lira.-; 111? III Jl * ? n 1 i . ^aron dames snoots am Both of These Last Named are Colored Been an Accident ?James is in Jai Poaton, Killed Near the Jai Done in the Dark by > No Clue to tht The past week has been one of the bloodiest in the history of this county. Killing bus followed killing in j rapid succession. One of the deeds was committed right near the jail, und in the dark. The first killing was that of Mr. Z~*' Philip Poston, Suowden, colored, and the third was Weefi->" T. ? ??/* niifrrn villi sllO*. Mr* t CiUIl llllliu, v*v. liv^i - -- Poston, iu the ord^r 11, ned. BeforeV':r the killing of Turner occurred, we; f> m. had the account of Mr. Boston's vio-i lent death into type, so we give it as it was originally written: One oil he mo>t unfortunate amdeplofaMe tragedies tliat has ever occurred in this section took place! early la>J Tuursday morning ai ; Mr, W P Price's store i:i liiej Johtisonville section. Mr. Philip j Post on was killed and a negroj Si?m Turner, was badly wounded. j * The tirsf news of I lie killing' that reached Kings!tee was very j . * meagre and I tie reports were con-! flioting. it was at lirat reported! tIt.?t Mr. I'osloij au<i the negro1 ,both were killed hot bv each oiiter. Another report said that ' the negro had killed Mr Post on j and a mob had lynched the negro. Nothing definite could be learu. ed. However, we obtained the following ^account oi' the troublej from one who was present at the! inquest: Sometime during the .first ot the week Sam Turner, a negro,j had his buggy repaired at the( shop of a Mr. Johnson, who lives jti the neighborhood. When Turner went lor his boggy he had some trouble with Mr. Johnson j about it, and Mr. Johnson swore! 1 j out a warrant belore Magistrate Li L Ard charging Turner with bre ch of the peace. Mr. Ard ^ placed the warrant in the hands, of Mr. Philip Poston, his regular j constable, lobe served. Mr. Boston together with Mr. Koswcll! Harmon went to Turner's house to serve the warrant. The negro went along with the constable and Mr. Harmon till thev at rived at the store of Mr. VV P Pri?e, on I he ^county line" road; that is. the jy road which divides the comities of Witliamsburg and Geo; gel own. 'Here the men entered the store and Turner asked Mr. Price to read the arrest warrant, which he did. Mr. P rice then talked to Turner a little, telling him that twit l\ft lfi trn 11 twiii I?c vuuia U\'t MV IUI > \ V4 1 V ? M*'?? that warrant. Mr. Post on insisted upon Turner's accompanying him, and they went out toother. Mr. Price called Turner back and the negro again entered the store. The conversation which then took place between Mr. Price and Turner is not known. Mr. Pos .1 ton called his prisoner, who re - v-'y* S, ' ,>. ,, & Ml Si * ul*. ul ^ ? 111 OBIT Dili IS MIL I! BEE ? SIS DIH. ISi S SI ?!S BE? : m ii jil I Kills Elliot Snowden.j Boys, and the Killing is Said to Have I.?Sam Turner, Who Shot Mr. I in Kingstree.?The Deed U .known Parties.? ; Murderers. fu-ei to come out. The constable and Mr. Harmon went into the store and tried lo take Turner by force. Mr. Price shoved them] ail out of I lie door, closed and j fas.ened it, l.e remaining inside, j The luo white men and the negro .-eufiled on and several pislo! S^l^were tired. Another negro, Abr-nTTrreTn^ v^ojva* there took j a hand in the strii^le,^Vli4"4,h^h>; Harmon and Post on had Turner down, Green struck Mr Post on on the head a terrible blow with a heavy bil.et of wood, eru.-hing the skjll. AH. Post on tell back wards, Turner jumped uj> with his own and Posten s pistol, and shot Mr. Poston squarely in the forehead. Green ran off. Turner tried to run but felt, be having been shot i hree times in:the struggle. Mr. Harmon called to Mr. Price. wljo did come out. Several men gathered around, and mem bers of.Mr. Posto.n's family were summoned. Mr. Post on died instantly: the negro Turner was picked up and carried to a negro house where lie was attended bv physicians. Magistrate Ard held an inquest Thursday afternoon over the body of Mr. Post on. As the killing occurred right in the road it could not be decided whether I lie deed was committed in tins or Georgetown county, so Magistrate Carter of Georgetown, held aiiottier.in quest Friday. Mr. Poston was shot in three places.and struck on the head. Turner was badly hurt, having been shot in three places. A w arrant was issued lor Abram Green, who struck Mr. Post on, and he was arrested. Threats pi' lynching were heard and he was at once brought here and placed in jail. A reporter lor the Conn tv la-cord iuteiviewed him Monday and he told the lo!lowing about the killing: He wa- at the >t?>re when Pos ton, Harmon and Turner n:ered; he did not hear Price leil Turner that he could not be made to g<*, : he did not hear the eouversali it ; between Turner and Price alter I | Price called him back; when Price pushed the three men who were j struggling out, lie was pushed out j to</; lie did not '-take a hand" in the fiaht, but stood (iff and louktd on; he s'a;v Post on shoo Turner |twice and saw Turner shoot l'? ' ton twice; h 1 did not pick up the piece of wood at all; lie was secoral yards awa.v from the slrufijjjlini; party all the time; when j l oston fell, he only walked away to his hotne and remained there until a short time before his arrest; he did not know what he xwas arrested for u :til he reached ! Kimrslree. It will be seen that his tale differs materially from that of the others. ifeb 'A. When Green's lather heard ol !iis Stan's arrest he got Ins pin and went to Magistrate Aid's office and demanded the release of him. Of course, this the Magistrate refused, whereupon old man Green began to "raise Cain." He was arrested lor breaking the p mice, threatening an officer, Arc., tried and Sv nt to the chaingang for a period of 15 days. He began service Monday morning. Several j years ago olJ man Green attempt-j ed to (arte a prisoner from an officer, and fared pretty badly as a result. Turner was raised in North j i ^ *i ? ? \! 111 Hi' 11ii11 Iii'pii living I in Florida lor Rome time and on'y went to lie Johnson vil'e section about two or three weeks ago. He was considered a bad character. Mr. Philip Post on was the old est son of Mr Pinion Post on. He was about 40 years of aire. He married Miss Nannie OrrKi win, of! Charleston, several years ago. JS11e and several small childreu survive him. Mr Post on was one | ot' I he best known men :n this conniy, and lie was indeed, one of best citizens in *it. lie was nobT^tftrt&^A^nt'rous, liveable and was a consisTetoLjuomber ol the Johnsonville N^h?Uiodisi church, in which he was a stewaUL No man in tlie county had a <rreater number of friends than he Mis untimely end is much regretted. The killing of Mr. Philip Po>ton last Thursday has a bloody sequel. The negro Turner who caused the trouble and who shot Postou was cruelly murdered just ou*>ide of the jail yard here last Tuesday night. It is not known ? . i - : . . i. WHO tiltl lite KlUJIIg, UOl in iiicjc any due at all lo the murderer. Alter we had the account of tlie killing of Mr. Post on into type, the shooting of iurner oc tired. From ti e story of Mr. J. L. llaselden, who brought 1 timer here we got the following: Turner was lying iu a precar-j iou.s condition at the negre house! where he had been placed after J the killing of Mr Poston. 'J here were thread of lynching on every side, and, as a precaution, Magistrate Aru ordered Turner's re movaf to toe jail. Mr. naseiuen. G. li. Dennis ana i- Cannon were deputized lo bring the prisoner !o Kingstree. A in;, t tress was pul into-a wagon and the wounded and helpless negro placed I hereon and flie Irip to Kingstree made, the party arriving here at ten o'clock Tuesday night. Turner's wile, his broth, r and two other relatives accompanied the con stables and the prisoner. While lying in the wagon, and the people who brought him here were near, somebody slipped to tile wagon and shot Turner in the lel't temple several times. The coroner was notified and and lit Id an inquest Wednesday morning. Dr. W. V. Hrockinglon made the post mortem examina lion. He removed part of ihe skuil anu found two pistol balls in bis brain. No one knew , who did tiie killing. Just after the firing, Turner's wile, who was sitting in a buggy nearby, crieJ that somebody had killed her husband, and turned her horse and drove rapidly away. The loll wing is taken from Mr. Haselden's testimony belore the coroner's jury: When the party in charge of the negro got to the gate of the [ail yard aud; found that Mr. Britlon was away, he (llaselden) went i'or bim. Mr. Briiton came to the wagon, and then went around the yard and entered at another gate, got his lanletn and !: ys and catne to the gate near the wagon. Just as Mr. Brit ton it ached the gate, -ev jerai pistol shots rang out, in or near the wagon where the prisoner was h ing. The men gather ! J A . i... ,...A n vv | ft I aiwuiiu mt: nupu aim i~r i. ? IV Brockiinrinn was summoned. | Wlien lie arrived I he negro was dead. Mr Cannon told practically ill same story, except that while Mr. Haselden was gone oft' after Mr. Britto , several men walked bv the wapiti, passing ri^ht through the crowd, lie did not ;ecomiizc any of the rcen. Air. Dennis was in the lot and did not see toe shooting. Mr. II 0 Britton was opening the jail-yard [gate and heard the shots. He I saw the Hash of the last shot in the wagon, but taw no one. The verdict of the coroner's jury was that the deceased came to his i death at tlie hands ol'unknown I parlies. 0 The affair is shrouded in Ihe (deepest mystery. The night was dark and the constables could see no one around. They were not very far from the wagon when Ihe firing was done, but they saw no one run away after the killing. lire negro Greta who was im plicaleffin the ki'liog of Mr Boston is to bfc. carried to George lo.vn ayd placed TrT'i'iiTT' ^ gen | jiieuniu from the Johnsonvilk^eeI lion told us yesterday that tlbue j w as dumrt r of Green's being lynched, that the people ot that section j were muji worked up over Mr. Post oil's death. Mr. W P Price; j in whose store the Poslon-Turner difficulty began, is in the Georgetown jail. A Christmas killing occurred near Lamberts postuffice last week Following closely the terrible Boston-Turner Green trage dv at Johnsonville, a negro boy, Aaron James, shot Elliot Snowden, another negro 'ad, from the effects of which wound he died Sunday morning. Magistral LL Ard heid the inquest and sent James up to jail. Our reporter went to the jail Monday, and in company with deputy Brit Ion, ; had a talk with the boy about the killing, tlames looks to be not' more than 17 or 18 years old, and he said that the negro he killed was about the same age. Here is I lie substance ? f t lie interview: Aaron James, Elliot Snowden and several other negro boys were at liemmingway's store .last Friday night making Chris'mas purchases; a whole wagon-load of the negroes, including the two named above, started homeward, a'l yeh ing and celebrating the .occasion; James had an old pisto" in his pocket which "he pulled out and fired into the air, as he was replacing it in his pocket the pistol lired again. The boys kept up their tun, and when about a mile further Snowden said that James had shot him when he was firing some time before: matches were struct and it was found that Snowden had been shot in the I cim> l?v tho accidental discharge of the pistol, the boys drove hurridly to Snowden'shorae and summoned Dr. H L Baker; Snowden lived un'il Sunday morning, as above stated. We could find no one else to in terview adout the homicide, so* cannot give anything bat what lames himself tells* . v f *'. .? C. * i u u in AFFAIRS CAUGHT BY OUR LOCAL REPORTER AND NOTED. Written in Condensed Form and Printed I in Like Manner for the Sake of our Weary Readers. Mr. T J Brown sp?nt Christmas with relatives in Darlington. Several of our young men celebrated Christmas by going hunting. Miss Alberta Team, of Camden, spent Christmas with Miss Louise Gilland. , Tuesday morning we were presei ted with the heavest frost of the season, and the weather siuce that has been very cold. Mr. Edwin IJirsch left Tuesday for Columbia to enter the South Carolina college. Mr. llirsch will take a course in law. If llie crowds in town during I lie past few days have been any indiea'iou of the amount of business done, our merchants have no cause to complain. At (he recent meeting of the Grand Lodge of Masons ia Charles ton, Mr. Louis Jacobs w s elected Distf-ict Deputy Grand Master of the lull) State district, which con prise* all of the lodges in Williamsburg ami Georgetown counties and the lodge at St Stephens. A very important meeting of the local camp of the Woodmen of the World will he held next Monday l ight. Offtcers for the ensuing year are to be elected and other business of importance is to be transacted. A *ull attendance of the^e^nber^is desired. Ufirislmas (lay pasaqw on very quietly in Kingstree, evH^rthing was pleasant except the weatnV, which whs very disagreeable. The weather was cold, and the rain tell nearly all day. The streets were practically deserted, only a few people standing around in little groups. An occasional shout went up from some crowd, to? otherwise the day was more quiet than the one just proceeding it. The hotels served extra fine dinner, and so did the housekeepers, and in all everything went along merrily. Among those who spent Christ, mas with relatives in Kiiigstree we noticed the lolloping: Geo. LJ Logan, i'.sq., of Columbia; \V 6 | Logan, of Charleston; Julian Jacobs, of Sumter; Clarence and Louis Jacobs. Jr., of Charleston; I.** Inlli.ii/imr noula rnllpre sin I HO l\/liwniug ?n??*v vw.??r? dents: Heber Kpps, L W Gilland Claude Marlin,C J and A D Kpps, W S Lynch and Ed Brockinton; young lady students: Misses Louise Gilland, Mary Brunson, Alma Kellev and Ossie Epp?; teachers: Misses Florence Be.ii min, Margaret Brunson, Ivah and Nettie Epps. The negroes of Kingstree will celebrate emancipation day next Saturday. A parade, speeches, &c. will be the features of the day. Kev. H. M. Murphy is to be the orator of the occasion, and Rev. J. E. Wilson, E. H. Deas, S. J. Jackson and other prominent neg roes are expected to- be present. James Tharpe id master of ceremonies. and he promises the very best ot order and that everything will pass off smoothly. One feature of the parade, as promised by the program, is to be one hun-f dred little girls all dressed in white The addresses, music, &c, will take place in the court house. HE IS PLEASED That is, the man who trades with 1 us. We 3t: ive to please all, and w e always ^ucoeed. v. v 1 ' jSire as a trial and s^e if we can please von. We are sure we can* SAMS, ^ - fY. te-Jr) ypf. VvV^I * ' *t '"^hT A New Parlor oame. | FuMclaatiar to Old a?d Ytakff. It is the very latest game Cheap, and everlasting. A *cien-t:? " tilic game. Just see ill Don't let | | a week pass wit hont baring ? S? board for Carroaafe lew will get * more genuine enjoyment out a game ot Carroms than from atty^jj: thing else. Be sure to call au<f Hsia^s Pickls And Queen Olives ft> greatee ; variety. Just call aud look over , .V our stock. ^ It is fine. Tr^V'pojndTof It. A You will be pleased. If. you or J your boy want a. _ ' si Pocket Knife Just call and see our line. All | ^ the celebrated makes at the Iow*9f|9 possible prices. Of course, everyone mutt wear *f S H O'ES* I Our line of shoes Is large and ?* complete. Prices right. Just call and see us before bdyin# your | ! We have been watching the ,,j condition of the country *ndk?eghr||S ing acquainted with the timefl^H We know the tastes and means ot^M. the people, and the markets of tl>e country. We've got goods and pricesgr (.uvii to the hard pan of an economical basis, and coriikJerKly.in- " ^ . vite yon lo save money by exam- f irvatrouof oar stock. We*co!le<$|9 oat the bestr particularly in the ,1| Grocery line, for yonr purposes/ ^ ' ibices are not given in this in- | vitation. We want you to see "t! prices and goods together. They help each other and will help yon ] Give us a call. Yours truly,