The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1906-08-22
FIEND LYNGE1ED
Within Hearing Of the Scene Of
His Awful Crime.
AN ORDERLY AFFAIR, &,
Bob Davis, the Fiend, Pays the PenaIt,
for His Dastardly Assault on Two
Helpless Women He Was
Hanged and Riddled With
Bullets.

Hanged and Ridd!ed With
Bullets.
Within hearing distance of tht
Brooks home, where Miss Jennie
Brooks lay suffering; from a fearfu
wound, which he had inflicted, Bot
Davis, the negro who on Tuesday at.
aempted to criminally assault her, was
lynched about half after I O'Clock
Thursday evening. The negro had first
been identified by Miss Brooks, and
the Governor CT the State Of South
Carolina had made a futile appeal to
ahe determined men who were leaders
in the lynohing to allow the Law tc
take it's course. The lynching was as
decent, orderly and matter. of-isct ap
affair Of the kind as could be imegin-
ed.
While Governor b Hsyward was speak
ing the fend was taken away By the
men who had him In charge and the
large croHd y lickly followed. Il waA
taken down 10 the first clunp OF trees,
below the bome of J. PETIT Brooks and
there halt was made. It locked as
If the execution would be swift, but
Mr.. Brooks, the father OF tine young
girl, rode up and begged that toe
crowd wait a while. BE said that
many who had been On the three days
hunt had not yet arrived, and to waii
On them. He then begged that the
crime be wiped out by burning the
sccundrel. The negro seems anxious
enough to wait and he sat On the
ground. It was hard work to keep
some from shooting MIN, but the wait
continued. Crowds came up, some
from Greenwood and come from the
aeighborhood and most OF them with
guns and pistols. Tcere appeared to
be no hope to save the negro's life.
TIE crowd would listen to nothing.
Governor Hayward, who remained
some distance back, sent messages by
friends to men he knew in the cowd
10 do what they could to save the ne.
gro and to have legal hanging. The
crowd would not evan let his nessen.
gers return. He sent other messages,
out al in vain. he wanted to go to
the woods aud sse what be could dc,
OUT his friends told him that would
be useless, and the crowd told him that
ne would rather he would not come,
sud it was even limited that il he
vent that his head would be covered
With q Dag, not as disrespect to the
Governor, but simply so tnat he could
see nothing.
a negro woman, Annie Spare, whose
niece had been assaulted by Davis,
came up and identified the man, and
cursed him for his conduct. She ask
sd to be allowed to h:e the first shot
into his body. All agreed that this
privilege be given her, and she was
landed a pistol and placed in front of
the firing line, out her nerve failed
her and she did not fire, although the
colored msr next her claimed to have
fred four times. The main firing
line was about 100 feet from the
body and the largest crowd was on a
hillside made by the cut in the road.
While Bob D4Vts was sitting on the
ground awaiting bis fate he was asked
about the crime. BE admitted that
ae had been in the store and that be
nad besn cut with the meat knife.
His hand was lacerated. he, how
ever, tried to implicate some one else,
and said that he took the knife away
from Miss Brooks and that be had not
atten oted to criminally assault her
BE did not talk distinctly, but rather
numbled bis words and very little
could be gotten out OF him.
While he was sitting listening to
the questions he asked for q cigarette
and ne puffed it with pleasure. a
colored minister, the Rev. J. C..
Goode, pastor OF Macedonia Baptist
Church, asked IL he might pray for
the negro. Consent was given, ano
IS ne worked his way through the de-
uermined c:osd up to the victim, all
u1c c,versd their heads That was a
spontaneous tribute to God. With
uncovered heads, that vast throng,
intent On killing a poor negro, listen.
ed to the colored mans prayers, dur
ing the long wait there were repeated
suggestion OF burning the negro anc
of mu5ilaEing him before killing him.
Finally Capt. Evans, who had been
working to save the negro for trial
snd who had bsen on the hunt for
days got consent OF the crowd that
they would do no burning or mutilat-
ing.
Two men tied a rope on DaVis's
arms and be was pulled up about two
lengths Of bis body in pine tree,
about q ,arter Of OF mile from the
aome. He. kicked and squirned, and
ahen his legs were fastened. With
MS face to the anxious crowd. be was
slyen a moment or two to say some
ching, and than ST the brop OF hat
thousand bullets were fred into bis
body. Hundreds and hunereds ard
hundreds of balls pierced his body
and then after the first fusillade msn
asked to be allowed to take shots
and In the fnal round up his head was
literally shot to q pulp, and with the
rain o, zlag down over his head and
clothing. With the sun fast sinking
over the hills, the thousands CT more
who had Witnessed the miserable az
fair went home. At the first yolley
the smoke obscuretl the hanging body:
out the firing Kept up, then the smoke
lowersd and the shoctins continued,