The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-08-30
BILL dixon At LARGE
WITH OTHER ESCAPED CONYICTS.
A Daring Officer - Constable Tobias
Probably Murdered.

4 Daring Officer - Constable I0DlaS
Probably Murdered.
About a week ago Sheriff Bcalham was
notified of the escape OF William Dixon
from the penitentary authorities. They
had him out on a farm in York county after
being warned of his escaping procllvltleS,
and on the 2lst day of August Dixon and
three other prisoners made good their es-
cape. Last Saturday morning a colored
man IN the employ Of Thomas and Brad
ham came from the farm inst over the
swamp ana reported having seen William
! Dixon AMI two others with him. gong into
the swamp He also brought orer a ba, of
tools that he had tound. \ reward CT $50
for each OF the escapes hal been offered by
the authorities. and when Supervisor
Owens was told of their having been seen,
he sent telegram to G. ,lunbia asking for
| blood bounds to track the men IN the
swamp, a reply came that they had no
dogs He then sent a message to Jordan
where be has dogs which have not yet
been fully trained. but these did not turn
up. \ party composed Of Messrs. Allen
Alsbrook, john Higgins and Pat Mcleod
went over the swamp. near to the place in
dicated by the boy after dark to do patrol
work, and while they were ut their stations
! Constable S. L. Tobias came mp and joined
them. The party raided house and saw
| signs where people had been; they con
tinued their watch until about daylight.
Several times during the early hours of the
morning Mr. Tobias decided to 60 hon..
complaining OF headache, but he was per-
suaded tc remain longer, and little before
4oclock Mr. Mcleod rode home to go to
Jordan for the dogs; not long after that Nj.
Tobias determined to leave, and before do
| ing So cautioned Alsbrook and Higgins
if they run up on Dixon and his "pals. J"
not to shoot if they could possible avoid it,
bat if they had to shoot, to cripple them
not kill them He then went on down the
railroad track and reached the third trestle
from Manning, when he met some people
with boxes and bundles. He ordered
| them to halt aud he was shot at twice and
then knocked down. Tobias in some un-
accountable way, although desperately
wounded: managed to get on to Manning
until he reached ". $. Harvins Office,
where he lay down on the porch, aud was
found by the watchman, who awoke people
and sent them fora doctor. When DR.. Brown
| reached him he had lost q great deal Of
| blood; on examination the right side of
the head showed that the skull was crushed
as if with some heavy,dul instrument, and
people differ whether the wound was from
gun shot or rifle barrel. When Mr..
Tobias was reached he was very weak but
conscious and he told those about him that
he "mct two men, ordered them to halt,
they shot me twice, and hit me.
Early Sunday morning the news OF the
occurrence reached Sheriff Bradham and
| he Immediately went to the telegraph Of
fee to try if possible to get hounds from
some quarter At the same time he put
men out on horseback to summons people
to aid him in the capture Of the despera-
does. a guard was placed at the treStle
where Mr. Tobias was struck down to keep
people from obliterating the tracks, and in
the course of few hours large number
of armed men gathered at the depot. The
sheriff not being able to get dogs. divided
Of dogs from Jordan they went on for
operated against the searching party, but
the dogs when they were put on the trail,
ran on aud found a valise with shoe: and
other articles that had been stolen from the
depot the night before. The house Of Mr..
w G. King had also been entered on Sat
Irday night aHd among the articles taken
was pair Of shoes belonging to Mr.. King
and bottle of malt which Mr.. King had
for his sick father-in- law. The malt bottle
was found on the railroad track, and down
the embankment by log is where the can
ned goods had been eaten, evidently by the
parties that struck Mr.. Tobias.
On the trestle where Mr.. Tobias had his
desperate encounter the ties were clotted
with blood, and on the track blood was also
found, as if the lead had lain there. 1t Is
thought that after he was struck, the
demons dragged the body around and
placed the head on the track to be mangled
| by O. passing train.
The depot was entered by tearing away
some Stats near the roof, and from it was
taken lot Of groceries, a box of Long
Run" tobacco, some bottles of Lithia water
and sample shoes, these belonging to Mr..
Il. NJ Strange. Some Of the shoes and
parts of the tobacco box and tags were
found.
All day Sunday and Monday the town
was in commotion. Parties armed and
ready for duty came in both days, at the
same time there was no boisterousness.
Every man was anxious to capture the des-
perate characters at large.
On Monday morning Mr.. Tobias became
sufficiently conscious to recognize some OF
his friends. large crowd OF the wounded
mans friends came to town and Sheriff
Bradham, although sick from exposure
in the rain the day before, busted HIM
self with calming them and organizing
searching parties.
There is diversity of opinion as to
whether Mr.. Tobias was shot or struck;
even the attending physician does not
seem able to tell, but at about the time To-
bias was stricken, two shots werc heard
from that direction by Policeman Hug
gins, on duty in Manning, and also by
Messrs. Higgins and Alsbrook, whom the
unfortunate man had only left few min
utes before over the swamp. They say they
heard two shots, to which they replied, by
firing shots also.
This morning Constable Tobias contln-
ues to linger in uncertainty. His condi-
ton when last heard from was not at all
encouraging.
4 Remarkable Case.
Anhoc, Miss, July l, 1898.