The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1903-10-01
OUT ON HEAVY BAIL
SIayers of Russell Sheriff. Give
$4,000 Bonds.
EVIDENCE GIVEN ON BOTH SIDES.
It Was Proven That Sheriff. Was Not
Armed-The White Brothers Prove
Good Characters.


before Judge Geo. H. Brown. Jr., here
Saturday, Thos. ]. and Calmers l..
White, who killed Russell Sheriff. at
Mt. Ulla, on September 18th. were al
lowed bail in the sum of $4,000 each
and released from custody.
At the hearing in the case the court
house was jammed and crowded as 1t
has seldom been before. This strong
public interest was induced by the
peculiarly tragic circumstances of the
killing. Two men of high character
and we'll connected admit the killing
Of the young man. also of prominent
family. in an alteration caused by the
ruin of their niece, the child of their
dead brother They allege circum-
stances of self-defence. On the othe-:
hand the prosecution contends that
they offered young Sheriff. the simple
alternative Of death or marriage and
that upon his declaring his choice OF
the former when he found that they
would accept no equivocation or de-
lay. they shot him down, unarmed as
he was, and before his mothers eyes.
Large numbers of people were pres
ent both from Concord and the Mt.
Ulla section of Rowan county. The
Sheriff. family was represented by
Mrs. Josephine Sheriff.. mother OF
the deceased and the principal VIII
ness for the prosecution; her daugh-
ter. Miss Lucy Sheriff.; her little son.
Price Sheriff., and her son-in-law. Mr..
w. A. Barber, of Cleveland. The re-
latives Of the defendants present
we're: Messrs. Tinslow and Thorn
we'll White, of Concord, and Sergeant
R. C. White, of Charlotte. The de-
fense was represented by Senator Lee
S. Murphy, Of Salisbury, and Mont
gomery & Crowell. Of Concord. Solicl-
tor Hummer, L. H. Clement, T. Z.
Linn and B. B. Miller appeared for
the State Representative Theo. f.
Kluttz, who has been retained for the
defense. was not present, being away
from town. All the points arising CUR
ing the hearing were hard fought and
once or twice warm rejoinders were
passed between counsel. When the
evidence had been concluded at 1880
o'clock in the afternoon both sides
agreed to leave the matter of bail to
the court without argument Judge
Brown announced that he would take
the matter under consideration and
file his decision in writing with the
clerk of the court. In the meantime
the prisoners were remanded 10 the
custody Of the sheriff.
Mrs. Josephine Sheriff., mother OF
the deceased, was the first witness for
the State. She testified that OF six
children other than the deceased there
were in the residence on the day ana
hour Of the killing, Price. ten-year.
old boy. and Lena, a fifteen-year-old
girl. There were also in the house
]. H. Thayer and son, Charles Thayer,
of Mt. Pleasant, VINO had come to Mt.
Ulla to sharpen gin saws, and Prof.
w. R. Clegg, a school teacher, board
ing at the place. She continued: 1
heard a knock at the door about 6
o'clock in the morning and upon an
swering it saw two strangers. Ihey
said they wanted to see Mr.. Russell
Sheriff.. said that he was not up,
but that would call him, and l
placed chairs for them on the porch.
then went and told my son. He asked
who the men were. but couldn't tell
him. He rose from bed and came
down in his shirt and trousers ana
with his shoes united. The gentle
men told him they wanted to see him
privately. I was in the hall, out
hearing this, came out. They told me
to 20 back. but l refused. Russell
had sat down on the bench near the
door and as he did so the Whites i'm
mediately covered him with their re-
volvers, rising from their chairs as
they did so. They told him he had
ruined their niece. Annie White. and
had to die today If he didn't marry
her. Chal was the spokesman OF the
two. Russell said he didn't ruin the
girl. stepped between the two men
and Russell and pleaded with Chal
Wnlte not lO MIL my IVY. S
turned to the other man, Thomas
White, and began to plead with him,
begging him for the boys poor
mothers sake to spare his life. Tom
said he was deaf and told me to talk
to his brother. Chal repeated that
Russell would have to marry the girl
today or die. He told me to step
back and l did so. Russell said, III
20 with ypu,' and got up and stepped
towards the door, whereupon Tom
White, the big one, showed him back.
Russell then said he didn't love the
girl and couldn't marry her, upon
which they both fired, almost to-
gether, SO close, in fact, that couldn't
tell which fired first. In showing Rus
SELL Tom White had pushed him to-
wards Chal and away from the door.
After the shots Russell fell and / fell
almost on him. Rising, l ran out into
the yard, screaming and crying out
for the neighbors to catsh the men
who had killed Russell. They left i'm
mediately.
Further testimony was given by the
prosecution. 1t was developed the Shcr-