The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-07-13
SAVED A HUMAN LIFE
LITTLE HEROINE, WHO FRUS-
TRATED MOB, is HERE.
HOW SHE FOOLED THE GANG.
SAID SHE WOULD GET KEYS AND
RETURNED WITH RIFLE.

Miss Hattie Crcech, Pretty Daughter
of Sheriff Creech, of BarnweN.
S. c., Is Here and Tells of the In
cident-Was Left at Jail Alone
While Family Was at Church.
WOmanIike, She Tainted as Soon
as All Danger Was Passed.
Miss Hattie Creech, the 16-year-old
heroine of trying ordeal in which she
prevented mob from taking a pris-
Oner from the Jail at Barnwell S. c.,
on July g. as has been reported in the
Morning News. arrived in Savannah
yesterday to spend a week with rela-
tves at No. s33 East Broad street.
Miss Creech is the daughter of sher-
if Creech. at Barnwell, and her brave
act of saying the life of white pris-
oner confined in the Jail, in which the
family of her father lived, was laud-
ed all over the country as one of the
most heroic examples of single-handed
bravery ever exhibited by a girl.
Miss Creech has just passed her six
tenth birthday and is as pretty as
she is brave. When seen by a repre-
sentative of the Morning News, she at
first refused to say anything about the
affair at Barnwell, saying that too
much had been said about it already.
Il hardly know what happened" she
said, "of course 1 was frightened, and
broke completely down as soon as the
rest of the family returned from
church,
The story of the heroic act reads
like an incident from some lurid novel.
On Sunday morning previous to the
night of the attempted lynching, Sea-
borne Moore. a young white man,
aroused Sheriff Creech from his bed
at the county Jail, where the family
of the sheriff resides, and told him of
an alteration which he had had with
Herbert Sanders at a dance the night
before, in which he had found it neces-
sary to pull his pistol and fire to save
his own life. He said he wanted to
give himself up to the authorities, as
much for protection as anything
else, as there had been threats of sum-
mary punishment if Sanders died,
which it was feared he would.
Moore was unusually excited, and
seemed expecting every moment to see
a mob come in sight prepared to take
him from the hands of lawful custo-
dams. Acting on his entreaties Sheriff
Creech locked the young man up, and
nothing more was heard of the threats
OF lynching. The fears Of the sheriff
soon wore off, and he ceased to take
unusual precautions to protect the jail
IN which the young man was con-
fined.
On Sunday night the entire family
of the sheriff went to church, leaV-
ing Miss Creech alone at the Jail.
Shortly <fter O'Clock she heard a
number of horses stop in front OF the
Jail gate, and quickly opening the
door, she saw a number of masked
men dismounting. The leader APP
preached the door and asked for the
sheriff, and on being told that he was
not there, the keys to the Jail were
demanded.
The girl replied that she did not have
them, but that she knew where they
We're and that she would get them.
She quickly went to her fathers room,
where a Winchester rifle was kept,
and, returning to the door, thrust the
barrel ont, aiming directly at the lead
er, whem she ordered to leave at once.
There was a hasty council of war,
after which the would-be lynchers lert
the Jail, the young girl remaining on
guard until her father came
L don't know what suggested TO me
TO get the rifle" said Miss Green, IN
speaking of the matter. My first lcea
was to scream for help, but knew that
this would do no good. ran from one
room TO another and seemed to me that
was taking an age to return to the
door. What was about to happen
passed through my mind in flash, ana
the thought came to me that the blood
OIL the man confined in the Jail would
almost be on my fathers hands l
rushed into his room, and my eyes rel
on the rifle. / hastily took it up ana
went to the door. expecting every min
ute to see the men with the big white
masks on rush in and drag the helpless
man from the Jail and lynch him be
iore my very sight.
| don't believe I could have fired the
iltie if the men had advanced on me-
out put on as bold a front as possible
and told them if they came another
step nearer I would fire. some gruH
voice in the crowd said; What do you
mink OF that little minX?' I remember
mat Wen. and can see even now the
uF0Ve Of horses and white masked men