The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1903-10-30

/ B IL 90 D D s |:
s. ! CaaS Never Be W shed Out in
This World. ~; ssss.
SOME TIMELY z q 4 8 OBSERVATIONS

s:5 80 fSst - !.
B On the Horrors That Attend a
as Slayer OF His Fellow Man. s.
Some Famous South
Carolina Killings.f
THE tth:ns ct taking the life Q; q
human being except In self-defence,
during excitement or on the field Of
1, battle. is q terrible thing and unless q
4 man be hardened into brutality and
+ is utterly devoid of conscience 1t will
haunt him to his dying day.
Sc Three times during my career I
have deliberately made up my mind
TO kill, but determined to make my
antagonists first the assailants and to
/ give them q fair showing, and thus
put my own life in jeopardy. But
when the necessity for any such en-
counter had passed the feeling of re-
lief was indescribable.
Thousands upon thousands Of use
5ful and brilliant lives have been
blighted and rendered miserable by
the taking Of human life; and even
when the killing was justified in the
sight OF both man and by the laws OF
the land, the curse Of Cain followed
the slayer his entire days.
Il My father, / think, was with the
Hon. VIM. L Yancey, the great Sc
ceSsion leader, when he killed DR..
Earle, of Greenyille. They we're boys
together, were warm friends, and l
have often heard my father speak OF
the circumstance. Yancey killed
Earle Us the latter was advancing up
on him with an upraised walking
cane, and when the fatal shot was
fired. just before the beginning of
the late war between the States my
father and Mr.. Yancey met In Mont
gomery, Ala. Mr. Yancey, in discus
sing the tragedy, stated that he had
no intention Of shooting DR.. Earle,
but the encounter took place In the
piazza Of the postoffice, an old wooden
building opposite the Mansion House
in Greenville, and which piazza had no
railing, being several feet from the
ground. DR.. Earle attacked MIR. Yam
cey because he had slapped the face OF
his little son, Elias, there being no
very kind feelings between the two
men. DR.. Earle raised his cane and
advanced on MIR. Yancey, who drew
his pistol, presented it and retreated
backward. Dir. Yancey stated that he
had no intention Of shooting the Doc
tor. hnt wanted To intimidate him.
In stepping backward be felt that he
had reached the exteeme end of the
piazza and, In order to prevent falling
Off, had inadvertently pressed the
trigger. But, this great Southern
statesman told my father, he would
freely give tame, fortune and all he
possessed and again start life a poor,
ignorant and obscure man, could he, by
SO doing, only wipe that blood from
his hands; that often, in the midst Of
his most brilliant oratiopS, would see
the figure Of DR.. Earle, as he appeared
/, with that upraiSed cane, and when the
tragedy was enacted, rise before him.
1t haunted him day and night, and
while he was Justified in the killing
and the sentence imposed by the law
was light, bis life was unending re.
morse and self-reproach. Years after
the killing, when Mr.. Yancey returned
to visit his mother-in. law, Mrs. Earle,
in Greenville and Elias had grown to
manhood, the young man, who had in
: nocently caused the death OF his father
appeared before the gate with shot
gun in hand and asked to Col. Yam
cey. Yancey from behind the closed
door, told Elias to go away and be
would return to Alabama and not visit
Greenville again; that be had more OF
the Earle blood then upon his hands
than be could ever wash away and did
not want any more. This visit would
probably have resulted fatally had not
the old lady, who like all of the
Earles, was as brave as lion, seized a
shotgun and told Elias that he must
go away and not further molcst her
guest, and that if he attempted any
violence towards Yancey he must first
fire Through her. The next day hr.
Yancey left for Alabama and did not
return again, think, to South Care
lima until as delegate to the Charles
ton Convention.
II the killing Of 4 human being can
be made justitiable it was that OF BY
mum by Perry. Bynum was a noted
duelist aud had been employed to pro-
woke Perry into a fight and take his
life. The two men represented eX-
treme factions in South Carolina poll
tics, and which were as bitter as in
the days Of Tillmanism and conServats-
ism. Bynum was an expert with the
pistol, and had killed, so l am told,
more than one man. On the other
hand, Perry had but little If any prac-
tlce with that weapon, being man OF
peace, but undoubted courage. But
Perry's steady nerve and cool head
proved superior to the skill of his an
bagonist, who was killed at the first
fire, and his grave is still pointed out
at the old historic Rock Church, near
Clemson College. But even the
knowledge that this duel had been
forced upon him, and that his money
was given an equal, il not better,
showing for his life, could never wipe
the red stain from the tender con-
science OF Governor Perry. One of
his SONS told me he never heard the
subject mentioned but once in his
fathers presence, when his face grew
deathlY pale, he raised his hand, and
stated that he never again wanted to
hear that duel spoken Of by any mem.
ber Of his family. That the borrow of
that tragedy, committed on little
island in the Savannah River, haunted
this great and good man all his days,
is not doubted, and it cast dark cloud
over brilliant and useful life.
I. L.