The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1906-08-22
NEGRO BRUTE LYNCHED.
GOVERNOR PLEADS IN VAIN FOR
LEGAL TRIAL.

Fiend Who Attempted to Assault Miss
Jennie Brooks, Near Greenwood,
and Who Almost Murdered Her,
Captured Hiding In Swamp and
Lynched About Dark Yesterday.
Greenwood, S. c., Aug. 16.-Within
hearing distance of the Brooks home,
where Miss Jennie Brooks lay, suf-
fering from fearful wound, which
he had inflicted, Bob Davis, the ne
gro who en- Tuesday attempted to
criminally assault her, was lynched
about half after o'clock this even
ming. The negro had first been iden-
tilted by Miss Brooks, and the Cover
nor of the State of South Carolina
had made a futile appeal to the de-
termined men who were leaders in
the lynchin.g to allow the law to take
it's course.
The lynching was as decent, or
derly and lnatter-of-fact an affair of
the kind as could be imagined. OF
course it was cold-blooded, unlawful
an evidence of the savage that is in
mankind.
The deed for which Bob Davis to-
night paid the penalty with his life
was committed on Tuesday.
All day Tuesday the men searched;
they followed every trail and needed
every suggestion. Tuesday night
they hunted, Wednesday the crowd
grew, and the searching parties scat
tered all day and all night. They
searched swamps and houses and
never did the zeal slacken. They
meant to catch that negro, and they
meant to kill him, and that is the
whole story. For forty-eight hours
the hunt kept up without abatement,
and then it was rewarded, thirteen or
fourteen miles away from the little
store in the Whitehall section, where
Bob Davis attempted his crime and
his murder.
The Governor Goes to the Scene.
About this time there was a COVER
nor in Columbia with deep sense
Of pride in his State, who was worried
and pacing his Office. The sheriff of
the county had telegraphed him that
if Davis was caught ne feared
/ lynching, and ne asked for help. -Gey-
ernor Hayward consulted friends in
Greenw wood, and realized that first OF
all the negro might not be caught.
and if he should be, that the temper
Of the people was such that armed
troops might lead to bloodshed and
useless loss Of life He thought over
the whole situation. NO posse could
be assembled in the neighborhood,
he thought, to defend the would-be
rayisher should he be caught. To Or
der out the militia might lead to
blooeshed. It would have been pre-
mature and had the militia been here
Davis would hardly have been
brought to the house for personal
Identification. Governor Hayward
thought, perhaps, he could move the
people to realization Of their duty
as citizens and men by a personal ap-
peal to let the law take its course. He
went over the whole thing and felt
that the people might heed him as
governor of South Carolina, pleading
for law and order.
1t was a patriotic and an an unus-
ual resort for governor to virtually
get down on his knees and plead ana
beg and implore that the law take its
course. Perhaps some day it may ac-
conp!ish good. Today it was useless.
The circumstances of the assault. the
young woman in the room fifty feet
away, the long and wearying search,
the record of the negro, the bloody
garments ali conspired 70 make the
eloquence. the force and the earnest
ness OF Governor Heywad's appeal Tor
law fall On deaf ears.
When Governor Hayward arrived at
the Brooks home there was already a
crowd OF fifty or more there. The
store in which the outrage was at
tempted was open and across the
road was the the neat cottage IN
which Miss Jennie Brooks lay. There
wee women folk about Governor
Hayward made himself and his mis-
sion known. He was cordially re-
ceived, but was frankly told that
there was no earthly chance for him
to save the negro should he prove 70
be the right man. He went about IN
1.-The crowd. but got no sign Of help or
encouragement. The men were there