The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1903-07-22
Citizens Lynch the Man in Whose
Yard Hall Was Killed.
& SEQUEL OF THAT MURDER.
Head Was in Conspiracy TO Murder
Hall. Details of the Latest
Appeal to Judge
Lynch.

churchyard. Not two miles away lies
the dead body of Dennis Head, a ne
gro, shot to death in sight of his home.
Your correspondent visited the scenes
Of the recent tragedies Friday. going
first to the home Of Dennis Head, col
ored, where the Hal! murder was COM
mitted. The house, tiny log cabin,
stands on a hill in the middle of a
cornield, and in the door, gazing out
into the west. sat an old negro woman,
wizened in years, the mother of Den
mis- Head Near her m a bench WAS
an aged man, her husband. He is so
I'D that he sits in a half stupor and
cannot answer any questions put to
him. Elsie Head, the sister Of Dennis
Head, & negro girl Of about % years,
told The State representative Friday
of the killing of Willie Hall, giving in
substance the same account as already
printed in The State.
THE MURDER OF HALL.
It seems that George Edwards, a
negro came into the store OF the Halls
on Wednesday afternoon and asked
Willie Hall to exchange some tobacco
tags which be had for small present
of some kind. There had been feel
ing between the negro and Hall for
some time on account of a previous
dispute concerning a purchase in the
store. The negro carried shotgun
and looking at it, Hall said: You
have got that gun for me-" The ne
gro made some surly reply and going
out of the store halted on the bridge
and fired shot in the air. He then left
the scene. going to the home Of Dennis
Head. in Lexington county, about
three quarters Of mile away. Not
long afterwards: so JudSon Hall HIM
self told your correspondent Friday,
he and his brother loaded their shot
gus and followed the negro intend
ing to whip him and teach him
lesson. Arriving at the home OF
Dennis Head they found Edwards
seated just inside che door. Both
olen leveled the irguns at him, ,and, as
they entered the house, Elsie Head
rushed past and out OF the door. Ed
wards seized viii Halls gun by the
uuzzle and terrific struggle ensued
in which the negro captured the
weapon, and turning, shot his assail-
ant through the abdomen. The
wounded man cried: I am shot, and
half fell, half walked down the steps
into the yard, where he expired in
few minutes. Edwards rushed at Jud-
son Hall, the younger brother, and
tried to wrest his shotgun from him,
but Elsie Head assisted the white man
in the struggle and finally the negro
looked Hall in tie eye and said: Let
me 20; I won't shoot you" Judson
Hall took the gun, and, examining it,
said it was not loaded, so he says. In
some way Edwards gained possession
of it and ran across the fields un-
moleSted because his opponent was
physically exhausted.
The coroner was summoned and
viewed the body Of Hall, but the IN
quest was not held until Friday morn
ing, when verdict was rendered say
ing that Edwards had committed the
crime. The same afternoon Butler
Fox, a resident Of Batesburg, bought
a number Of shotgun shells and some
rifles in the town, saying that his
partner" had been killed, and that
other men were in danger.
DENNIS HEAD KILLED.
Soon after the moon rose the same
night Dennis Head, a negro living in
aiken perhaps mile and q. half across
the county line, was called to his door
by number Of white men who asked
for a drink of water. AShe opened
the door one cf the men clutched him
by the wrist saying: You are under
arrest" and CARRYING him into the
road few hundred yards away. His
wife tells the rest Of the story, for
strange though it may seem, no one
else could he found who could or
would tell anything about Heads
killing. Jesse Butler, a negro OF Is
years, went with Head into the road,
says his wife, but soon ran back cry
ing that he had been cruelty beaten.
Shots were heard Immediately after
wards and the men left the scene.
One Of the women ran out into the
road and stumbled over the body OF
Head. She threw aer arms around
his neck and he murtered some inco-
herent phrase. The woman was Ter
rihed by the crime and ran away leav-
ing the dying man. His body was
not removed until Thursday morning,
and Friday afternoon it was lying or
the porch of the cabin covered by a
sheet and shielded from the sun by a
few quilts hung on a chair. A negro
sat near and waved leafy bough to
keep away the incesSant swarm OF
flies, the while grooming a plaintlve
song. The man was shot through
the left side of the stomach and must
have died in agony. Clara Head, bis
wife, said that Butler believed that
there were three men in the party
and that Head was tied while they
were whipping the smaller boy. In
the road lay a harness strap Tied into
a knot. the negro's hat, buggy whip
broken to pieces, and shot gun shell
from a 12-bore gun. Heads body was
still lying on his porch Friday night,
awaiting the coroner. In the house
at the time Of the crime we're two ne
gro women, four children and the
! two men.
FIRST KILLING PLANNED.
Judson Hall. a brother Of the dead