The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1875-09-20
THE MURDER or JOE CREWS.


Some "Reminiscences of an Old Slave Trader
WHO became one of the Leaders of the
hcpubltcLn Party in south Carolina.
CHARLESTON, =. c., sept. 18.-Joe Grows
has en- killed. The United states mail rid r,
who 3 rding along the road thirty minutes in
advance VI Joe, saw two persons in the corner
Of a virginia rail renee by tic roadside whom
he did not recognize. jos rad arrived Il
Llurens Court House the evening before, with
Young Boltu, the soibof Conservative. whom
he desired 10 take to Martins deuot andi stan
as agent OF the Taurens Railroad Company at
that roint. At early morning they took Juc's
buggy and started down the road until they
came to the point where the United State mail
fidcr had seen tho assassns. There thew were
fred into and Joe received his death wounds
while holm was hurt very badly from The stray
loads Of buckshot, which whistled around With
out respect to persons.
He Il dead. The last time your corrcspondcnt
saw Crews was in the United States Court
Clerks onice. He jocularly said toJoc, "Cham-
berlain will have you hung In order to get rid II
you, az he did Parker" Joe was then under In
dictment, procured by the ultra Democrats Of
South Carolina, for the killing OF DR.. sche IN
1869, and the animation between Chamberlain
and the ultra-Dem ocrats gave rise to the Joke
as far as your correspondent was concerned
Joe was troubled and followed your CORES pond
ent into privacy. Then i told him Chamber
lain had to get rid OF him that Chamberlain was
running reform schedule. and he, Crews, knew
as much about Chamberlain as Parker did. " IL
Is not So" said Crews. d." know nothing against
him that YOU can nnd out" "He Is bound TO
get rid of you, Joe; YOU know TOW II was wnen
you and he ana Scott brought out kerrigan's
BOwerv Bows from New York to Kill some OF us
In he up-country. lie Will have you hung ac-
cording to law. or ku-klux YOU IN some shape.
you may depend Joe ana your correspondent
should have been United &. tes SENATOR Il he,
Crews, had had his way at the last election,
which wa, an news so your cor csi cndt mt VINO
saw, however, that Joe was badly scared.
Crews has nccn q very bad man. lie was n ma
tive 81 North Carolina. hHt Knew MN as a
miiirider between Rutherford on, y. c., an
CIR envllle. : C. lie then carried his SADDLE
bass nlled with cheap iewelry, over his mail
ilo made great deal Of small change in this
WY. lie afterVard extended his route 10 Iau-
rens &. H.. married a daughter OF AN ola ncr-
cuant at that place, aud settled hims eli in husi
nc.- there. According TO the ups and downs OF
,ife the new firm PASSED IN the name 81 trews,
OF OF his tath,r.in-llw w, from that time to tue
commrnccmeut Of the war, They engaged
heavily in negro tracing. and Joe wa notorious
tor selling the biggest negroes To DC found In the
country I'll the way rom Nitlinia a. lar back as
the Mississippi. During the war this lucrative
business ceased and Joe. with his knowledge of
our vast domain, ulaNcd upon the necessities OF
| the Ueouie lie would carry cotton yam from
the factories in upper Carolina. aud purchase
! Louisiana sugar IN exchange. Nncu the war
| closed he hld a large amount of the sdccnafine
staple 80 Nicksrure.
When reconstucuon came on Joe was pre-
! pared to take il down as a matter Of spccula-
| first ne made a good deal Of money. lie was on
| the committee to Ouru the Bank Of the Stte
! bills, and reported that the committee had
| burned all OF themi hut IN two months thcr-
| after deposited $4,000 Of them with Mesar- l..
| J. scott x Co., bankers as collateral Tor loan.
| Al the last session Of the LEGISLATURE his Inter-
| est lay In another direction, and ne declared
| there were S3N0O,UO Of these state Bank bills yet
Joe was in the Greenvlue and Columbia Rail-
| road swndle and owned one o. the snares Of
the original Greenvine Railroad Corporation,
| which ~as worth to uim Sal,OO, with the value
| ofthe Continental Telegraph Company attached,
| which worth <22UvD more. This claim Is
still in abeyance. lie was also the head OF the
conspiracy against the Lawrence Railroad, I'M
| DER On mberIain and kempton He made a
| good thing Of n, but Pres ldent s1ngraih % the
! South Carolina Railroad, nnallv outwitted him.
and Joe had to play second nddle, yielding the
| propuetorship OF the road, but getting well paid
| Tor u. In his duasi-superysoty capacity OF cs-
tablisning its agents he lost his life.
besides these large items, Joe was in every
| little Job which would come along lie was
always ieturncd as member Of the Legislature,
| hand az everything which "meant business"
! Whether Joe died at the hands q the avengers
OF blood, the friends Of DIR. >ehell. o.. was Killed
| by political enemies NAV neveree found out.
Dr. Schell was a citizen OF LauSenS county.
| In 1879 he was killed while riding home from the
! county seat. about dusk In the afternoon. Here.
| recently since the pretence Of a good. strong
government has been made by Gov. Chamber
| lain, and United States interference taken away,
| the murder has been resurfected. Tue colorcd
| men who were implicated In II were brought To
light by the confession Of Alfred Walker, who
| Killed the Methodist minister, the Rev. j. Clau-
| ults Millar, ana VINO tolu OF all VINO belonged
to his former COMPANY under Crews In Llureus
county. Upon being arrested, these men incul-
pateu Crews and his son, who were IN their turn
arrested aud held TO bail. Judge Mackey, tho
great eXpounder OF habeas corpus und them
brought before him, and, upon hearing, or
de ed Crews ana his son discharged on their
own recuguizunces. Bv this they were bound
In the penalty Of tho bond - appear at court
ana answer To- the charge. iut even TINS hal to
| tt dispensed with ON account Of the uccuniary
loss e the penalty ~ the bond and the scandal
watch the tual would cause. Accordingly
Judge Mackey had those cuiured accoupliccs
VINO had been inculplIcu by Ar. " alkcr brought
before hlu upon another Wiz Of habeas corpus,
aud leased them. so that the witnesses AZ inst
Crews We're iudicidlly enlarged, tauished from
the state ana JreWs felt as 10 ne was secure.
Tins UaNc-ty Of the Old English common law
writ Il night, aud tue tut1l obnterattou Of every
tIea 4 civilized justice, according to American
iiees and law, was specially followed by tho
death ~ Crews IN he manner above STAGED. and
the question Is wac did IN The immediate IN
ductmtnts winch could naturally operate upon
tue ccueli family and their FRI nds are certain
against them. But OF one tuing the people OF
the cuu.try may he sur"-the gnod citizens of
! the state, mite men Of standing al depiore
the death of Crews in the manner which hefvll
HIM, ana REGARD II RS an outrage upon them
selves e. well as the law of the land.