The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, October 21, 1920, Image 13
* RECTOR, FORMER
p MOONSHINE
CAROLINA SHERIFF SHOT APPLES
OFF BROTHER'S
HEAD
GREENVILLE/S. C., Oct. 2?Fiery
of face, lean of waist and rawboned,
Charles A. Rector, reformed moonshiner,
who has been elected to become
sheriff of Greenville county next JanncoH
to shoot aDDleS off the top
of his brother's-head to entertain his
bare-foot friends when they would call
Iupon him at his parents' hut way bark
in the heart of the Blue Ridge mountains.
Mountaineers for many miles
around marveled at the expert manner
in which Carlos and his brother, Hendrix
handled the rifle in making close
shave shots, with each other as human
targets. Hendrix was elected sheriff
in 1910 and was serving third year of
his second term when he was shot and
killed on July 4, 1919, by Jake Gosnell,
deputy collecter of internal revenue, as
f a result of an old political strife. Carlos
was then prevailed upon to make
the race and he defeated six opponants
including Captain Sam D. Willis, who
was wounded in France, and who was
appointed by Governor Cooper as
JL sheriff to fill out the unexpired term
of the late Hendrix Rector.
~ Both Hendrix and Carlos Rector, together
with their brother, Jeff, who
followed General Pershing into Mexico
and France and was decorated for
bravery, were born and "raised" in a
little log cabin in what is Known as
"Dark Comer" because for years and
years it was a lair of moonshiners and
still is. The Rector boys, like all others
who first saw the light of day in this
dismal section, did not think it any
harm to make moonshine liquor. It
was their belief?and this opinion still
holds with most mountaineers today?
that they had a God-given right to do
as they pleased with a scanty crib of
coin which they managed to raise on
the hillsides. So they distilled "white
lightning" to sell and drink. About
twelve years ago, Carlos Rector beI
came intensely interested in a religous
"revival" and was converted into the
belief that "makin' liquor" was ail
Hr wrong?it was not the strong arm of
the law that converted him, but the
F "C words of a mountain "sky pilot". He
|f even went out himself and beseeched
his fellow-mountaineers to abandon
j the still and make an honest living.
Among those who heeded the appeal
k and reformed was his brother Hendrix.
JL and from then on they gave their hear
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ts to law enforcement. Hendrix Rector
was elected magistrate and Carlos served
as constable. Then Hendrix moved
to Greenville and within a short time
this "lion of the mountains" became a
lion in politics and was elected sheriff
but not without stirring up political
feuds because he defaeted the scion of
one of the oldest and most aggressive
rvrtlifi/*o1 fomiliuc in tVif* His
| spectacular career ended when three
shots caused his big heart to cease
, beating twenty minutes past 12 o'clock
noon, July 4, 1919, at a local garage,
j Awaiting a second trial for the alleged
murder is Jack Gosnell, a "revenuer,"
the jury having failed to agree upon
a verdict at the first hearing. Carlos
Rector who was then deputy collector
of internal revenue, yielded to the
solicitations of friends to run for sheriff,
and after a strenous campaign he
| was nominated to the highest office
in the gift of the people of the county.
"Not often does it fall to the lot of
an old woman of the mountains to be
the mother of two sheriffs of a great
county like Greenville in the grand
old state of South Carolina," was an
expression of gratitude that poured
out from the heart of Mrs. J. W. Rector,
who is more than ninety years old
and active for her age.
Carlos A. Rector, thirty-six years
of age, said it was his earnest ambi(Best
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not a sue
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id for discriminating
II into their resource
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e passed the nineteei
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up to July 15th will
u a j
e,
I
I tion to some day be elected to the ses
in congress to which his brother a
pired. When Hendrix Rector on a vis
to Washington for the first time, picl
ed out in the capitol what he said 1
hoped to make his seat he was tl
subject of "feature" stories in near!
all the Washington papers, and h
picture was prominently displayed,
i While being elected by what he sa:
j he was proud to term the "commc
people," it is generally admitted t
jthe voters for the opposing factic
that Carios A. Rector will make a fez
less, conscientious and "hell-busting
t sheriff
666 has more imitations than &r
other Chill and Fever Tonic on tt
market, but no one wants imitation
They are dangerous things in tb
medicine line,
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people and others
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surplus funds.
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rest on your Saving
bear interest as if pi
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11 THE ONLY EXCLUSIVE H(
Mi ' THIS
j ThePeopI es
I WE HAVE THE GOODS
I I RIGHT PRICES, AND WIL
" I Pathe E
11 Talking Machi
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I James L. S
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le proposition
of a bi
who favor not only efficient s<
and immediate management, c
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We have the experience and
;ed with us.
r Deposits, computed every
laced on deposit July 1st, the
of Kir
v. :
)USE FURNISHING STORE IN 1
i SECTION. I
Furniture Co. j
(OVER $15,000.00), BOUGHT AT | j
L BE SOLD AT RIGHT PRICES. |
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cuson ^ ^(^miDia |
nes and Records j
urnitureCo.!
ites, Manager |
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;rvice from banks, but who $j
is well as their Directorate, M
imtncmiis anH nroaressive. ?1
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want your business. We m
three months. Any funds 1
beginning of this quarter. 1
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SOUTH CAROLINA 1
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