The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1898-10-26

kinson placed the body of his wife in
the wagon aud sadly took up the
reins, to 60 home to the little ones
ssraining their ears for the sound OF
the wheels which would bring father
and mother home.
The news of the dastsrdly deed
soon spread throughou: tie county.
The sturdy yeomanry was enraged,
and a systematic search for some
clue was begun The coroner's in'
quest wss held in Republican
Church. about 500 yards from the
scene Of the murder. The magistrate,
Mr.. Jno w. Glover, was assisted by
Capt. George Evans, OF the Edgedeld
bar. The Jury. with Mr. P. B: Ian.
ham foreman, is composed of intelli-
gent and law abiding men. Four
negroes, Squire Green, John Stuart,
Jim Smith and Jim Mackey were
found to have information in their
possession which might throw light
on the subject. These were all placed
under arrest, and when put upon the
witness STAND neither was permitted
to hear the testimony of the others
Nothing conclusive Of gait was
produced, and after the inquest had
been conducted ali day Wednesday
and until noon Thusday, it was de-.
cided to adjourn the investigation
until Thursday Of next week Ike
Mackey was released from arrest. but
the other three were taken to Edge
field and put into separate cells
When the State representative. &C
companied by DR.. F. W P. Butler,
visited the Jail yesterday morning.
he found that the negroes stories
corroborated each other to a nicely,
showing that they were either inno-
cent, OF, if guilty, very shrewd The
story as told by each separately is
that Tuesday afternoon about dusE
jim Smith was coming along on his
mule on the Martintown road, near
the place where the tragedy subse..
quently occurred. He met John
Stuart at the foot of little hill, and
Stuart said to him, "There's sucker
behind thas big pine tree on the hill.
Smith looked in the direction indi.
Gated and saw man crouching close
against the tree. He whipped up
his mule and passed the tree at
galIop, but looked back continually.
He afirms that he could not dlstin-
guish the strange mans features or
color, but be did see q big stick or q
gun which the man had Proceeding
down the road Jim met Squire
Green, and related the above incident
to him It was about Is minutes
later that the assassination occurred
near the very same spot. All OF the
negroes under arrest said that Mr.
Atkinson was liked by all the negroes
in the community, and that each of
them bad the highest respect and
good will for Mr.. Atkinson They
said further that Mr and Mrs At
kinson lived happily and seemed de.
voted to each other This to refnte
the suggestion of Mr.. Atkinson's
criminal connection with the affair
At the place of the tragedy one
empty and two loaded shotgun shells
were found. 1t is thought that the
assassin used a muzzle loader and
placed these shells here for blind,
as the empty one had been fred some
time before
So far these are the only clues di
vulged Those interested in ferret
ing ont the murderer claim to have a
clue which they are working on and
which will develop by Tuesday.
The people are very indignant. and
Justly The negroes in Jail were not
arrested as perpetrators but are held
as witnesses Everybody in the com
muni,y is looking for evidence.
When Mr.. aud Mrs Atkinson went
to Augusta on that fateful morning,
they took the give Notch'' road, it
is said On this latter road on the
same night. Mr. John Meal;:.g was
held up, but no attempt was made to
injure him From this i. would
seem that it was Atkinson and none
other whom the assasslns sought TO
kilI-evidently there was more than
one in the plot Robbery was not
the incentive, for as soon as the fatal
shot was fired, the scoundrel fed
Why then was there snch deter
mination On the part of some one to
destroy the life Of Mr. Atkinson
The marked mae is the only white
man living within the radius OF four
miles, 80 have been reliably inform
ed Fo. miles and miles the country
is populated by negro tenants and
renters who cultivate track of aboot
10 600 acres. This country is the
scene of the Ned Tenant riots in