The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1874-04-01
7IIa eynressad lis Wi

.flft{lltu Ma 49, ~ I,
THAT lis execution would do no
agooa 10 anybody he spent most
lof his time in prison reading the
Bible, and upon being asked if he
fhad any hope of Heaven, replied
lin a. ajocular way, yes, if there is
any. such place. The presence Of
] THE ministers who were his spiritu-
IIal advisers seemed to affect him
/ more than anything else, and his
conduct suppressed the Rev. Mr..
/. Capers especially, who was his
.Imost constant attendant, very ia
.Ivorably; so much as to warrant the
'tbelief of his conversion. He had
received also frequent visits from
fother ministers-the Rey. Messrs.
Martin, Pratt and Miles, and several
iron the coiored minister Rev. Mr..
/ Baker. He was free from shackies,
land had obtained this indulgence,
aby an exhibition of a willingness
Ito meet his sentence, A few days
before, he HAD determined TO free
|himself, and his wife having pro
v7ided him with 4 table knife, he
commenced the work Of liberation,
and though the sheriff was very
yigilant,''th attempt was lot dis
covered until the day before the
time appointed for his execution,
when. he voluntarily surrendered
his instrument, and pointed out hls
progress in the work. He stated
that he had been kindly treated
in jail and expressed his obligations
to the Sheriff: !: 49,
SOME INCIDENTS OF BANKS LIFE.
The prisoner very freely disclos-
ed the leading facts of his past
life: lie was born near Dorn's
Gold Mine on 2Sth of March, 1850,
and hence lacked only one day of
attaining his tweuty-tourth anniver-
sary. His father Samuel Banks
died before his birth, and he him
self had only one brother who died
in the late war, and an only sister
who lives in Alabama. His moth
er in 1854 married William Banks.
who though Of the same nar:e was
not a relative of the first husband.
She was a member of the Metho-
dist Church from childhood: and
tried:to do her duty to her children,
and it was not her fault that the
prisoner turned out badly. A dis
agreement having occurred be-
tween himself and his stcp-father,
he left home and fonnd al asylum
at the Lethe School, the we'll
known charitable school tor poor
children, then under the 'supervls-
ion Of Mr.. G. B. Guftin. Here he
remained thirteen months and re-
ceived the only school instruction
ton of bis whole life. Upon the
expiration of the time he was ia
duceq to go back home where he
remained a year. Thence he went
to Mr.: Jacob Dilleshaw's of that
section, and in 1866 married one OF
his daughters, who died only ayear
after their. marriage. In 1868 he
married Mrs. Sarah johnson, widow
of William johnson Of the same
neighborhood.'
TRIAL AND AcoUITTAL OF THE MUIR
Il" = DEF OF JAKE BROWN.
In the Fall of 1872, Jake Brown,
a colored man living in the same
community, only a quarter of a
mile from Banks home at the
Dorm Mine, was shot in his own
home late at night by parties un'
known. Suspicion d resting on
Banks, he was arrested the next
night and tried at the February
Term Of the Court in 1873, and ac-
quilted. He stated that he was in
nocent of the crime, though public
opinion was to the contrary. Up
| on being asked if there was any
truth in the report that he had kill
ed a man during his four months
stay in Atlanta, he replied that
there was none, and that lie had
never done anything very bad
KILLING OF sHED-ARREsT AND con-
.,.'..,s' vIcTIoN OF BANKS.
On the 18th November last,
Thomas Shed, white, and the pris-
oner worked together in the Dorm
Mill as usual--Banks as engineer
and Shed as miller; and at the
close of the days labor, Shed came
to. the prisoners house after sup
per, and asked him to go out with
I'hlm. Whereupon they "eiit 10,
gether to Pat Robertson's and Mid
selfs store, where both parties
took to drink; and whilst.urder
the influence OF liquor got into a
scufiie, when a pistol was dis
charged, and Shed was killed. The
prisoner stated that the whole diff
Guilty appeared to him as q dream !;
he said that he did not recollect OF
having seen the pistol, or Of having
heard the report of the discharge.
He recollected with some minute
ness what occurred in the quarrel
that Shed talked Of buying a COW
1.-The next day for SIS, and that he,