The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-09-12
THAT COFFEE COUNTY STORY
Some Ground for Thinking 1t Was a
Fake.

L .
Some Ground for Thinking It Was a
Fake.
Waycross, Sept n.-Mr. w. S. Swain,
senior member of the turpentine firm of
w. c. Swain g. Co. of Beach, Ga, is here
to-day. He told the following story to
the MORNING News correspondent: Il
was informed last Monday that a negro
had two white girls tied out in a swamp
near Morgan's still, on Seventeen-N Mile
creek in Coffee county. In company with
about thirty men, | left Tuesday for
Conee county. We procured a number of
bloOdhOunds from Wares boro and Walter
town, which we took along to run down
the negro, if the story appeared to be
true. We left Seasons in buggies which
We're hired for the occasion Arriving at
Burch's STILL we found the people TO be
greatly excited about the story. When
we reached MOrgan's 8 still, our mum Der
had increased to sixty men, all armed
with Winchester rifles. At that place,
the greatest excitement prevailed. The
women We're frightened and afraid to re
nam at home alone. The majority of the
men appeared to believe the story They
were determined upon bringing a speedy
ana awful punishment upon the negro if
found. Without discussing the situation
at all, some one suggested that we should
go in the swamp and hunt for the negro.
A majority of the men favored the mo-
non. told them that l intended
u investigate the matter before
gong any further. They did not like
lha.. With few men, / went directly
10 The home of Mrs. Durand, and saw
MISS Durand, a pretty girl of about Il
years. The girl was the person who
CIdlihed TO have seen the victim of ne
gro and she told a story as follows:
Mamma was away and l was left to
keep house alone. After awhile a young
Whlte girl about my age, came running
10 Jhe house from the woods and appear
gu 10 be frightened nearly to death She
asked Tor something 10 eat and told me
enaJ mean negro man had stolen her
Seu and sister from their parents five
MeeHS ago and had kept them tied to trees
Al 0ue woods ever since. She did not say
"ueIe she was from or who she was.
Sne asked me to let her stay with me as
sue was afraid the negro would catch her
ttsdH. About that time a negro came to
vue gate and had white girl about IS
vars old tied with a rope. He saw the
IN talking to me and told her to go to
h I'm AT once. The girl begged me to save
Aer from that wicked negro The negro
eIrsed me, and said he would take me
aiong with the two girls. He caught the
tlII ana tied her to her sister and started
So"dru me- | ran into the house and got
IHIaluina pistol and started to shoot him.
nc ran out of the yard to where the girls
gre ana they went down into the swamp.
was badly frightened and prayed for
t fiiIl ,Hua 10 return, but she did not come
VII iate IN the evening
f al uay l was afraid to look around for
va CrI oI seeing a negro coming toward
~ w men mamma came home | told Iher
r TOoul IL and she was badly scared We
Yer slept any that night Next morn
80 was saturday and we saw some men
iiu UOlQ them about it, ] asked the girl
Tuau KIND Of food the poor girl asked for
MY Sdld she was asked if there was any
Ff9oilu cake in the house. The story so
toil H idu appeared to be true as it was
M, NJ III such an earnest, straightforward
siiIIIer' Dut when she said that the girl
tLnt Tor pound cake, / said good bye,
80 VIII do. =" l told the men that the
T,o was telling an untruthful story and
e. had better tell the other men about
ro+ anu return home. My reason for
r noV believing the story was that
NJ sane person would dream
ICING pound cake in such a wilder
h ~ as was all around US. We went back
nil sun SUN at Morgan's, which is eight
in iiua rom Douglas, Ga. The men were
in 'tIhl l by me that there was no truth
boIS LIZ glrI's story. They all appeared to
yve,', Ine girls story except those who
a win me. Some of them said that
stoI,-Io was near the swamp and hal
watermelon, and suggested that