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.

THE SUMTER WATCHMAN, Established April, 1S50. 'Be Just and Fear not-Let all the ends Thou Aims t at be thy Country's, Thy God's and Truth's." THE TRUE SOUTHROX, Established June, Consolidated Ang. 2,1881. SUMTER. S. C.. WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 22, 1906. New Series-Vol. XXYI. No 5 Ck tiairinrcm aub ?fcm Published Ev ery Wednesday, -BY OSTEEN PUBLISHING COMPANY, SUMTER, S. C. Terms: $1.50 per annum-in advance. Advertisements: One Square first insertion.$1.50 Every subsequent insertion.50 Contracts for three months, or longer will be made at reduced rates. All communications which sub? serve private interests will be charged lor as advertisements. Obituaries and tributes ol respects will be charged for. BOMB THROWING. Terrorists Make Concerted Attacks In Polish Cities-Many Persons Are r~ Killed. St. Petersburg, Aug. 15.-Acting apparently with a definite plan and at a signal the terrorists and the revo? lutionists today inaugurated a carni? val of attacks with bombs and re? volvers on .the police and troops in various cities in Poland, echoes of which are heard from Samara, Ufa, Yalta, Piev and even far away Chita, where Acting Chief of Police Gorpin i ckanko was slain almost on his own doorstep. The revolutionist campaign flamed out with special virulence at Warsaw, where over a score were slain in the strets and many were wounded. Among the killed, accord? ing to the latest official advices, were two sergeants of police, eight patrol? men, three gendarmes, five soldiers, a Hebrew merchant and a woman. Policemen and soldiers. were shot down like rabbits in the streets. Their assailants, who traveled in small bands, almost all escaped among the terrorized but sympathetic populace. Bombs were employed in an at? tack on the police station of the Pfolsk precinct in Warsaw, where a sergeant, two patrolmen and a soldier were wounded. Other Polish cities singled out by the terrorists were Lodz, where six soldiers three policemen and\ythe wife of police captain were wounded by the explosion of bombs in the police station and two soldiers and two other persons were killed in the streets of Random; Vlotslossk, where the chief of police was slain, and Plock, where, at a given signal the policemen on ali ihe posts were simultaneously at? tacked and several of them wounded. On account of attacks on . post trains, the railway between Samara and Zlatoust was today placed un? der martial law. Two of these at? tacks occurred near Ufa, revolution? ists in each case flagging a train, bursting open the doors of the mail cars with bombs and rifling the reg? istered pouches. The booty in one case amounted to 515,000. in the oth? er case the amount, is not known. Cossacks from Poltava today re? fused to perform police duty at Tifiis. A large nurr.ber of arrests were made. Details are unobtainable. The investigation into the attempt on the life of Grand Duke Nicholas on August 10 at the guards camp ma noeuvers at Krasnoye-Selo, has de? veloped that ball cartridges were used in 6 rifles of the sharpshooters. A band of peasants from a neigh? boring village today attempted to storm the jail at Ivanovka and release some of their friends who had been arrested for participating in agrarian disorders. The Cossack guards were forced to fire, kiding five and wound? ing three of the mob. An American Arrest ci!. Prof. George H. Blakeslee of Clark university. Worcester, Mass., was ar? rested near Volokamsk yesterday as a suspicious character, although he had a certificate of identity from the American consul general. Mr. Smith of Moscow. He was released by order of the governor general. MISS WHEELER'S ENGAGEMENT. The Youngest Daughter ot thc Late (ion. Joseph Wheeler Announces Her Approaching Marriage. Xew York, Aug. 17.-Announce? ment has been made here today <>f the engagement of Miss Carrie Prito Wheeler, youngest daughter <>f the late Gen. Joseph Wheeler, and Mr. Gordon M. Buck, of IT?w York. The marriage will be celebrate'.! at the country home of C?en. Wheeler's fam? ily ot WheVder. Alabama. Miss Wheeler is pretty, accomplished and still in her teens. At th.- re-union <-f the Confederate Veterans at Louis? ville last summer, she. was sponsor for the South, and her appearance in the hali with her aged father was a siena! for notable demonstration. Mr Bu^k is a Southerner, and resides in New York. He has been engaged several years in the practice of law. NEGRO CUTS LADY'S THROAT. FIEND ESCAPES, BUT IS PUR? SUED BY DETERMINED MEX. WU! Probably Be Lynched If Caught -Jfcob Davis, a Negro Brute of the Worst Order, Attempts Criminal Assault On Miss Jennie Brooks, the Daughter Of a Prominent Farmer. Greenwood, Aug. 14.-One of the most diabolical attempts at criminal assault possible was made today upon the person of Miss Jennie Brooks, the 20-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Brooks, of the Mount Moriah section of the county, * by a negro named Bob Davis. The fiend did not accomplish his purpose, but he came near murdering Miss Brooks, who is not yet out of danger. / Mr. Brooks is a prosperous farmer, who lives between Greenwood and Mount Moriah Church, about four and a half miles from town. In con? nection with his farm he runs a store. The store building is about fifty yards or less from the house. It is a very public place, and it seems incredible that the fiend should have been so I bold as to attempt such a crime in such a public place and in broad open daylight. Today Mr. and Mrs. Brooks had gone to attend a protracted meeting at Rehoboth. They left their oldest daughters, Misses Jennie and Nola, and their grandmother, Mrs. Herlong, at home. Miss Jennie was called to the store by some negro customers and while they were there the negro, Bob Davis came in. He waited until I the others had gone out of the store, ! then he asked to see some shoes. He selected a pair and then bought a j pair of pants. Then he told her he \ wanted some bacon. She told him j she was" out of bacon. He pointed to some that suited him in the box and she came from behind the counter to get it. As she did so he grabbed up the meat knife in the box and came to? wards her, saying "You are what I want.-" Miss Brooks, who was per? fectly cool, when relating her awful experience, says she saw an iron bar before her and attempted to get it to defend herself. The negro made a murderous onslaught with the knife and she threw up her hands involun? tarily to her face. The blow almost severed two of her fingers. As soon as she dropped her hands he again struck at her with the knife this time making a gastly wound in the throat. This wound is about four inches long and missed the carotid arteries by the mere fraction of an inch. With her blood spurting from the wound in her throat and disabled in her right arm by the other wound, Miss Brooks suc? cessfully fought off her assailant, finally in some way securing the knife though she says she does not know^ how she got it. The thing that saved j her was a passer-by. \ i Mr. John Tolbert, cming to town in; his buggy, passed the store. His pass? ing frightened the negro. He fled and Miss Brooks came to the door and had strength enough left to call to Mr. Tolbert. Mr. Tolbert had heard, he said, a peculiar noise in the store as he passed, but he did not stop. Upon being called he cam? at once and took her to the gate, where he was met by her sister, who said she would take her in and for him to for.help to catch the negro. Mr. Tol? bert did so and in a short time men were leaving town in droves. Dr. G. P. Neel went to the wounded gi; 1 at once in an automobile. Mr. Tolbert having caught him by "phone from the nearest 'phone to the Brooks i home, Dr. Neel thinks she will re? cover. Determined bauds are scouring the country. The i^egro has been traced to the Hard Labor Creek swamps. On the way he made an old negro. Watt Hackett, give him a hat, having drop? ped his own in the Brooks sttore. He had the shoes under his arm, Hack? ett said. A striking thing in connection with they crime that this negro's brother, Jake Davis, was lynched in Green? wood County abone twelve years ago for criminal assault upon an old lady, Mrs. Munday. Bob Davis had his brother's fate before him. yet he at-' tempten a worse crime. He would have murdered his victim before the deed. The county's dogs are bring used also in the effort to capture Davis and if caught he will most likely be lynched. Between 500 and 1,000 anet! are searching for him, every maa ->f whoni bas had a look at the bloody dress worn by Miss Brooks. The sight of this dress, literally drenched with blood, hanging in the back yard, made every man who saw it shake his head ominously. Little -was said, but Davis will probably meet his brother's NEGRO BRUTE LYNCHED. GOVERNOR PLEADS EV VAIN FOR LEGAL TRIAL. Fiend Who Attempted to Assault Miss Jennie Brooks, Near Greenwood, and Who Almost Murdered Her, Captured Hiding In Swamp and Lynched About Dark Yesterday. Greenwood, S. C., Ang. 16.-Within hearing distance of the Brooks home, where Miss Jennie Brooks lay, suf? fering from a fearful wound, which he had inflicted, Bob Davis, the ne? gro who <on Tuesday attempted to criminally assault her, was lynched about half after 7 o'clock this even ning. The negro had first been iden? tified by Miss Brooks, and the Gover i nor of the State of South Carolina had made a futile appeal to the de? termined men who were leaders in the lynching to allow the law to take its course. The lynching was as decent, or? derly and matter-of-fact an affair of the kind a$ co\ild be imagined. Of course it was cold-blooded, unlawful -an evidence of the savage that is in mankind. The deed for which Bob Davis to? night paid the penalty with his life was committed on Tuesday. All day Tuesday the men searched; they followed every trail and heeded every suggestion. Tuesday night they hunted, Wednesday the crowd grew, and me searching parties scat? tered all day and all night. They searched swamps and houses and never did the zeal slacken. They meant to catch that negro, and they meant to kill him, and that is the whole story. For forty-eight hours the hunt kept up without abatement, and then it was rewarded, thirteen or fourteen miles away from the little store in the Whitehall section, where Bob Davis attempted his crime and his murder. The Governor Goes to the Scene. About this time there was a gover? nor in Columbia with a deep sense of pride in his State, who was worried and pacing his office. The sheriff of the county had telegraphed him that if Davis was caught he feared a lynching, and he asked for help. Gov? ernor Heyward consulted friends in Greenwood, and realized that first of all the negro might not be caught, and if he should be, that, the- temper of the people was such that armed troops might lead to bloodshed and useless loss of life. He thought over the whole situation. No/posse could be assembled in the neighborhood, he thought, to defend the would-be ravisher shculd he be caught. To or? der out the militia might lead to bloodshed. It would have been pre? mature and had the militia been here Davis would hardly have been brought to the house for personal ? j identification. Governor Heyward ! thought, perhaps, he could move the people to a realization of their duty : as citizens and men by a personal ap- j peal to let the law take its course. He ; went over the \>jhole thing and felt i that the people might heed him as . governor of South Carolina, pleading for law and order. It was a patriotic and an an unus? ual resort for a governor to virtually get down on his knees and plead and beg and implore that the law take its course. Perhaps some day it may ac? complish good. Today it was useless. The circumstances of the assault. The young woman in the room fifty feet away, the long and wearying search, the record of the negro, the bloody garments ali conspired to make the eloquence, the force and the earnest? ness of Governor Heywad's appeal for law fall on deaf ears. When Governor Heyward arrived at the Brooks home there was already a crowd of fifty or more there. The store in which the outrage was at? tempted was open and across the road was the the neat cottage in which Miss Jennie Brooks lay. There wee women folk about. Governor Heyward made himself and his mis? sion known. He was cordially re? ceived, bu: was frankly told that there was no earthly chance fer him to save the negro should he prove to "be the right man. He went about in Jthe crowd, bul got no sign of help or encouragement. The men were there with pistols a.nd guns ready to kill. They wen- not mere boys on a lark. fate should h." be caught tonight. A telephone message received by ile- Nows and Courier late last night stated that tie- search for Davis was still in progress, it had als., develop? ed thai after leaving th.- store a' which ho so brutally sought to mur der Miss Brooks, the negro, an hour later and some three miles away, committed a criminal assault upon a young woman of his own race.- j News and Courier. but men with gray hairs and del ruination. They came . with tr coats off and deep-set vengear Governor Hey ward was asked i the house to get a bite to eat.' suggested that the law take its cou: The women folk flashed that t] would act as men if need' be. ? Gov nor Heyward thought he might Mr. J. Pett Brooks, the father of young woman, and a sturdy man, help him; but no, he too,1 wan quick vengeance. He even wan the negro burned. The Negro Identified. It looked hopeless from the v< start. Finally the cavalcade came to the house with a burly negro ti The crowd had grown, The news r spread and from far and near ca men with their firearms. Men fr Greenwood, from above and bel Greenwood, and even from Abbevi were there. How many guns w< there, Heaven only knows. At le 500, and counting pistols, twice tl number, and perhaps more. Fe men literally dragged Davis into 1 ? room to show him to Miss Broo The crowd was so thick that it ^ 1 difficult to get him into the hou but he was finally taken into the ro< and Miss Brooks identified him 1 yond question. She had no dot about his identification, and he v^ easily recognizable. Davis was th taken back by his captors to the br gy in which he was brought. Gc ernor Heyward was asking that t negro be turned over to the officers the law. The Governor Speaks. The crowd asked that he be heai Several boards were placed acoss t angles of the front yard fence a: Governor Hey ward was pulled up the boards. Governor Heyward was intens? in earnest. He was almost pale wi excitement when he mounted the 1 tie stage. There was applause and he spoke the crowds cheered the ma the governor, they all felt and kn< was doing his duty. Some one suggested that the hu rahing might disturb Miss Brool and Governor Heyward begged th the audience be quiet, as this was most serious matter, and out of r spect to the women and sick. Governor. JHeyward literally h? guns to the right and-left of him, the front and to the rear. The m< were deeply in earnest and llstene Governor Hey ward said he can alone, except that there were 2 new paper men with him, citizens of Sou Carolina, just as he was. He said 1 came unarmed, unassisted and aloi to plead for law and order. The came applause, and finally Goverm Hey ward stopped ii. Governor He; ward said he might have orden troops to the scene, and even the: might have been useless, but he di ntt wish to have further trouble. B came from Columbia, he went on 1 say, to enter his plea as governor < south Carolina that the law be allov ed to take its course. He believe the men present would see it as h did. and the great wrong and gre-s injustice that would be done the Stat if the crowd took the law in its ow hands. "Let the law take its course." h begged. "I am a South Cardinia just the same as you are. I have wife and family at home for whom have the same attachment that yoi ali have. I, too. live in the ctuntrv Perhaps when I was in Colieton lived more remotely from neighbor than any one of you, and I assun you I know how you al! feel. Still '. arr. a South Carolinian, and as Gover nor of the State, beg you, let m< implore you. that the law be allowee to taxe its course. The State of Soutr Carolina is on trial before the civili? zed world. The question is shall the people in passion rule, or shall the majesty of the law be upheld? .'It is a serious question.. The full seriousness is upon you. Let me ap peal to tiie manhood of Greenwood .County, let me appeal to you as South Carolinians, that you let this man. rids brute, be punished as the law dictates. .1 appeal to you to let your citizenship, your pride, in Carolina, rise above your natural passions and pejudices. Jt will do you good. I have come here to promise you on my word as governor that there will be no delay in this case. I am anxious as you to see this brute punished, a ?id I understand yum- feelings. The people of your eon.ny should try this ease. The men about m.- are the jin ors. Why not leave it to them. If the jury convicts ibis man. ?and they will do so. i would be willing to cut the lop.- just to have it a legal ex ecution, Youi- ar.- my people. You ad-my friends, and let me plead with and beg yu to turn this man over to th*' officers of the law and have a legal e-xeeution. "i Im vc in the four years of my term, so help me God, undertaken ia every way to uphold the majesty the law, and I want you to do now. The State is prospering there is but one cloud on the hori and that is that such crowds as take the law too often in their < hands. I does you and it does State harm." Refers to Pheonix Riot, i The Governor referred to the Pi nix riot in this county, and said 1 the effects of that were bad and ? good people here ought to consi ^such matters. It makes no diff?re how we feel about such cases, it ou to be remembered that there are i pie laws in the land, and that e such, impulsive action, each such fraction of the law did harm not c to those engaged in it, but to State as a whole. Governor Heyward told the ai ence that he realized his weakness do anything, and that was all more reason why he begged them let the law take its course. "Tn God's name," he implored, not put another stain on the name your State. I beg you, iet this n have a legal trial. The case can tried in two weeks' time, and y< own jurors will try him and no < will interfere with the verdict your jury." Governor Heyward saw how hs his task was, and he appealed to i pride of the people before him a asked them to rise to the occas: they .iad before them, and show i world how grea? they could be, a how they could let a negro un< such circumstances go to trial and legally convicted. Finally Goveri Heyward asked the crowd to reas together as Carolinians and see i wrong that was about to be done lynching Davis. He told them h he was circumstanced, and how had alwoys felt that there was son thing higher and nobler than v< gance on a brute of a negro devil a that was the' vidication of the la "Gentlemen, after you have kill this poor negro, as you may do, y will not enjoy it. Let there be a lei trial and you will feel better,' Some one in the crowd: "Govern we appreciate what you say; but 1 are not going to do it." Governor Heywarcf was pleadi earnestly and eloquently. He w fighting a rising tide,- but-he k? on begging for a trial for the neg Finally fagged out and hopeless, was taken from the stand. Some o in the crowd, an old man with beard, asked when there could be trial. Governor Heyward thought : saw a ray cf hope and he jumped i a carriage, and said that he had tel graphed for Solicitor Cooper and th he could certainly promise a speci term of Court in two weeks. He sa the laws required two weeks for tl drawing of a jury, and that the tri could be held at that time. Crowd Take Negro Away. Over in the other corner of tl fence the crowd with the negro, w; getting impatient, and while Go1 'ernor Heyward was talking th? drove away with their victim. Go^ ernor Heyward begged that the pe< pie turn the negro over to Capt. Evar in whom all had the greatest cor fidence, and let him have a trial. O towards the wpods the captors le their victim and those around Gov ernor Hey ward realizing the utte hopelessness of his mission, urge him to get down, which he reluctant ly did. Father Wants Davis Burned. The croud viulckly followed the ne gro. He was taken down'to the firs clump of trees, below the home of .1 Pott Brooks and there a. halt wa made, lt looked as if the executici would be swift, bur Mr. Brooks, th? father of the young girh rode up anr begged that the crowd wait a while He said that many ,vhOrhacl been OF the three, days' hunt had not yet ar? rived, and to wait for them. He ther begged that the crime be wiped out by burning the scoundrel. The negro seemed anxious enough to wait and he sat on the ground. It was hard work to keep some from shooting him, but the wait continued. Crowds came up, some from Greenwood and some from the neighborhood, and most of them j with cru ns and pistols. There appear? ed to be no hope to save the negro's ! life. The crowd would listen to noth? ing. Governor Sends Message. Governor Heyward, who remained some distance back, sent messages by friends t<> mer. he knewin the crowd j to do what they could to save the ne? gro and have a legal hanging. The crowd would not even let l?is messen? gers return. He sent other messages, but all in van. ?1-. wanted to go te <h^ woods and what he could do, but :iis friends told him that would be useless, o nd the crowd told him that tiv y would rather in- would not come, and ? w is ..von hinted that if he went that his head would be covered with: a bag, not as a d'?respect to the Gov? ernor, but simply so that he could see nothing. Davis Cursed By Negro Women. A negro woman, Annie Spare, whose neice had been assaulted by Davis, came up aa,d identified the man, and cursed him for his conduct She asked to be allowed to fire the first shot into his body. All agreed: that this privilege be given her, and she was handed a pistol and placed in front of the firing line, but her nerve failed her and she did not fire, although the colore? man next her claimed to have fired four times, The main firing line was about 100 feet from the body and the largest crowd was on a hillside made by the cut irt j the road. ' Negro Preacher Prays. While Bob Davis was sitting on the ground awaiting his fate he was asked> about the crime. He admitted that he had been in the store and that he had been cut with tne meat knife. His .hand was lacerated. He, however, tried to implicate some one else, anet said that he took the knife away from Miss Brooks and that fte had not attempted to criminally assault her. He did not talk distinctly, bnt rather mumbled his words and very/ little could be gotten out of/ him. While he was sating listening to the questions he asked for a cigarette and he puffed it with pleasure. A colored minister, the Rev. J. C. Goode, pastor of Macedonia Baptist Churchs asked if he might pray for the negro.. Consent was given, and as he worked his wTay through the determined crowd up to the victim, all uncovered their heads. That was a spontaneous tribute to God. With uncovered heads, that vast throng, intent on killing a poor negro, listened to the colored man's prayers, during the long wait there were repeated sug? gestions of burning the negro and of mutilating him before killing him. Finally Capt. Evans, who had been working to save the negro fer trial and who had been on the hunt for days, got the consent of the crowd that they would do no burning or mutilating. At Last the Negro Is Killed. Two men tied a rope on Davis's? arms and he was pulled up about two* lengths of his body in a pine tree; about . quarter of a. mile from the home. He kicked and squirmed, and then his legs were fastened. With his face to the anxious crowd, he waa given a moment or two to say some? thing, and then at the drop of a hat a thousand bullets were fired into his body. Hundreds and hundreds of balls, pierced his body and then after t&tr* first fusillade men asked to be ai lowed to take shots and in the finat* round up his head was literally Shot* to a pulp, and the brain oozing down over his head and' clothing. With the sun fast sinking over the* hills, the thousands or more who had witnessed the miserable affair went home. At the first volley smoke ob? scured the hanging body; but the firing kept up, then the smoke lower? ed and the shooting continued'!. There* vas no hurrahing, no drinking; no' cheering. It was quiet and preme? ditated. August Kohn in News anuV Courier. j? EARTHJT7AKE IN VALPARAIZO. Buildings Wrecked and Lives Lost Repetition of San Francisco Dis aster. Special to The Daily Item. New York, Aug.. 17.-Private ad- . vices from Valparaizo received in this city this morning report a ter? rific earthquake there last night Many buildings were wrecked and hardly a house escaped without dam? age. Fire broke out throughout the i city, and it is feared that there have been many casualties. .A 'ispatch from Valaparaizo says that cable lines are working as far as Valparaiso but. the cable building on seashore out? side of Valparaiso and all land lines to the interior of Chili ?re down. Operator in hut says that disaster is probably repetition of San Francisco calamities. New York, Aug. "7.-Informeront received up to 10 o'clock a. m.. re? garding earthquake is still ct" meagre nature. It oecnrr*d at 7:40 o'clock hist night, and there were several shocks followed >>y i.-onil-ip.ration. How tar thc fire extra.'? 1. or how much damage ha : resulted i* not yet determined. Th.- cable operators wb-> left office in city last night and re? paired io the hu? 'his raining re established headquarters far the mair? office. Th's ?s construed to mean that thc .;;>- has heen ruined and as indicating that danger is now over. Information has been received cr Chilian Consul General's Office apt to 10 o'clock thia morning.