Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1884-03-27
HOMICIDE IN GASTON.

| On Saturday morning last between daylight
and sun-up, Mr. Thomas H. Wilson was shot
and killed by Erwin McCully, colored. The
shooting occurred at the residence Of Mr.. Will
sons mother in South Point township, CASTOR
| county, North Carolina, about one mile from the
South Carolina line. Mr.. Wilson is a son of the
| late r. NJ. Wilson and a half brother of Mr..
George L. Riddle, of this county. He was aged
about thirty y-three years. was unmarried, resid-
cd with his mother, and had Charge Of the affairs
of her plantation kS \1'-
Erwin McCully, who did the shooting, is about
thirty years of age, and was formerly slave of
Mr.. James r. McCully, of this county. Erwin
and his wife have been in the employment of
Mr.. Wilson since about the first of January last,
having been hired to work for stipulated wages,
and occupied house in the yard about fifty feet
distant from the residence of Mr.. Wilson and his
mother.
Mr.. Wilson was shot with 32-calbre revolving
pistol the ball entering his left side in the region
of the heart, from which death resulted almost in
stantly. Nearly simultaneously with the shoot
| ing of Mr.. Wilson, he shot Erwin McCully with a
| small bore hunting rifle, the ball striking the
negro on the left wrist and thence entering his
left thigh without hitting the bone or cutting an
| important artery. 1t is the opinion of Dr. G.. ~.
] Patrick, the physician who probed the wound,
| that while McCully is severely hurt, the injuries
are not necessarily fatal
In consequence Of the early hour at which the
shooting occurred, and the absence Of credible
witnesses but little satisfactory information can
be obtained with regard to the circumstances
connected with the shooting, and so far as we
have been able to learn, the affair is veiled in
| mystery
1t appears that on Friday night, previous to
theshooting Erwin McCully, and John Brandon,
together with several other negroes employed
on the plantation, and negroes from other
plantations in the neighborhood, were engaged
IN Il drunken carousal at the house Of Bran
don, on the premises, a few hundred yards dis
tant from the dwelling of the Wilson's.
On Saturday morning, about daybreak, Mrs.
Wilson says that she called Erwin McCully, in
order that he might come into the house and
kindle a fire in the cooking-stove and attend to
his accustomed duties. Neither McCully nor
his wife responded to MIS-. Wilson's call, when
becoming tired of waiting on them, she kindled
the fire in the stove herself After she had done
SO, she went to the door of the house occupied by
McCuly and his wife, and after some delay sue
ceeded in arousing them when they came out Of
their house. Mrs. Wilson then returned to the
dwelling house. In the meantime, Mr.. Wilson
sAAS
purpose of feeding the horses and mules. On his
way back from the stable lot, he met McCully,
and Mrs. Wilson heard her son tell him to get
basket and feed the hogs. a short time after
ward her attention was attracted by hearing
McCully cursng, and by the declaration made by
Mr.. Wilson, "If you curse mel will shoot you'
She soon heard two shots, so nearly togeth-
er as to be almost indistinguishable, and hasten
ing in the direction of the sounds, saw her son
attempting to arise from the ground, III which
lie succeeded only partially, and fell again. Nc
Gully Immediately jumped on Mr.. Wilson ana
attempted to choke him. Mrs. Wilson fastened
to the spot where the men were, and with the as
sstance of McCully's wife, who had come up
pulled him off. An examination of MIR. Wilson
disclosed the fact that he was dead McCully
then left the place of the shooting and went to his
house, from which he soon departed and at
tempted to make off. An alarm was raised, 9TH
er persons soon gathered in, he was pursued by
one Of the tenants on the plantation overtaken,
disarmed and brought back. subsequently
warrant was issued and he was taken in custody
by an officer and conveyed to Dallas, n. G.,