The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-04-01

| whisky constabulary In Darlington, has
refused to bulge. The Acknowledgement
OF the State is here trying to raise an
army to go 10 Darlington. without sue
cess.
Three of the Spies in Columbia.
COLUMBIA, S. c., March a.-Unknown
10 any but few people. three consta-
bles. who were in the fight at Darling
ton, arrived in Columbia tonight on
special train from Sumter, and are now
safely housed in the penltentiary They
tell the most thrilling and graphic stories
| OF the tragedy which have yet been
heard The three men who arrived here
were c. y. Mcdonald J. J.. Nuna-
| maker, and W. ID. O. Wings Mcdonald
| was In command OF the others and talked
| 10 the reporter, who went TO the peniten-
| tiary n few minutes after the men were
| safely landed there. They came here, as
! stated. on a special train over the Coast
| Line road. The train did not stop at the
| depot as is customary, but went to
Plain street and stopped; the constables
and the squad which had accompanied
them for protection. disembarking there.
A squad Of military men were at the
crossing TO protect them If any demon
strations should be made against them.
Fortunately so few knew the constables
were coming. that not three people saw
them when they got off the train.
Constable Story OF the tragedy.
Constable Mcdonald Is a dark-haired,
dark-eyed young man. who seems to
have plenty Of nerve When asked by the
reporter to tell the story from the be-
ginning OF the fight to his arrival here,
he said
Five Of US had been detailed to stay
In Darlington while the others went to
Charleston. When the squad on their way
10 Charleston went to the depot, where
the fight took place. we went with them.
While we were there Billy Floyd and
Rogers. the men who started the whole
thing. got into an alteration. They had
a fight and Floyd got the best Of IL. About
that time negro driver for the Enter
prise Hotel attempted to strike Floyd.
Constable McLendon. who was mortally
wounded, refused 10 let the negro attack
Floyd who had done the constables sew
eral good turns and they liked him. Nc
Lendon told the negro TO stand back.
Then the telegraph operator ran out OF
his Office and asked what McLendon had
TO do with IL. McLendon said he did not
have anything TO do with it, but he did
not propose to see Floyd crowded. The
operator went back into the office ana
Rogers got into a bus and went up town.
Came Back with Crowd.
Il suppose he went up there to get
crowd, for in a short time he came
back with fifteen or twenty men. Rogers
renewed the difficulty with Floyd and
cursed the latter fearfully. He went
toward Floyd, but Chief Of Police Darl-
gan interfered and commanded the
crowd to disperse The crowd refused TO
do 50, and Rogers again cursed Floyd
for the most vile things. Floyd said he
would not stand It and went toward
Rogers The chief Of police separated
them. ROGERS then turned to McLendon
and said: There is the ------, who
caused ne to get whipped
"AicLendOn said this was a lie. Then
Frank Norment. who was killed. stepped
forward and pointed to McLendon. saying:
There he is there McLendOn refused
TO stand this and cursed Norment in re-
turn. l was standing right between Nc
Lendon and Norment. Before | knew 1t
one of them reached over my shoulder
and fired a pistol. i do not know which
one fired the first shot. The shot started
the battle"
Armed With Vinrhsstsrs.
The citizens were armed with pistols
and Immediately began firing at the con-
stables. The officers were standing in a
body and were the targets of the whole
They were armed with Winchesters.
/ do not know how many of them used
rifles. l want TO say, however. that Con-
stables Pepper and McLendon did not
have rifles and used pistols. McLendon
emptied his pistol before he seemed TO
know that he was shot. Pepper was
killed soon after the firing began. ] do
not know who shot Pepper. The shOtting
was over in a few seconds. The first
- t.. Of lan Afrks
was seeing the constables making for
cover They remained long enough TO
see that they would be crowded, as cour-
iers had started 20 the city at once for
reinforcements. ] was one of the five men
detailed TO stay in Darlington. and did
not run off with the main body of the
constables. I went TO Constable Peppers
side. lie was lying on the ground. and
as | bent over him he opened his ewes,
smiled al me, and closed them again.
Then he gasped several times and died.
Ne was shot through the heart and the
shot came from a thirty-two calibre pis-
toll
pbvsicians Refused 10 Aid Him.
81 fried to get physicians to attend
McI,endon, who had fallen before the
0obt was over. | could not get any Of
them TO aid him. About that time l
noticed a crowd coming and thought II
about time TO get away.
.eroeether with the two men who came
here with me / took the pistols which
Pepper and McLendon had had. ana made
my way TO the home OF Sherin scar
borough. We stayed at his house until
deputy told US that the house was TO
be searched and that we had better go |
TO the woods Then we went to the |
woods This was about o'clock in the |
afternoon. We lay in the woosis until |
dark and then went back toward the |
town to see what we could learn. We |
saw that 1t would not be safe for us. and |
set out down the track Of the Charles /
ton. Sumpter and Northern road We |
walked down the track all night without |
seeing anyone and getting ont of the |
way when we heard any noise. We got |
10 Sumpter about 1890 o'clock to-day |
and went by rear streets until we saw |
the chief Of police and surrendered to |
him.
We're in Need of Food.
1--WE told him that we had not had any
thing to eat since the day before. and
he took us 10 restaurant. The sump-
ter military was already under arms.
and detachment Of them was stationed
around. which drove away all crowds
that collected. i must say that the Off
GERS did their duty by us. After we had
eaten we were taken TO jail and remained
there until we were brought here on
a special train
81 must say that we had lucky time
IN getting here safe The people We
net on the railroad track did not sus-
)ect us of being constables."
"Do you know which OF the constables
we're wounded in the ight?" Mcdonald
xag asked