Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1907-07-24
KENDELL TELLS OF MoB,s PLANS
Father and Son TURF States Evidence
i'm the Lynching Case.

Charlotte, July 17.--The trial of
twenty citizens of Arson county, In
this State, charged with lynching J..
" Johnson, which was begun yester,
day, at Monroe, continued to-day.
Miss Alice Began, daughter of the
sheriff, who was on the stand yester-
day, resumed her testimony, detail
Ing how the NIB broke into the iail
on the plea Of n:lving prisoner to
commit and how they seized ard held
her father, took the keys to Johrson's
cell away from him, released Johnson
and after tying him with ropes d .,ag-
ged him off down the road to The
point where he was lynched. She
positively identified several of the de-
PENDANTS as beng members of the mob
that did the lynching
The cross examination of She.;f
Began, who was recalled, failed to
shake his testimony in any particu-
lar. He recognized many of the
members of the mob and called their
names. John Jones, against whom
the present test case is directed, was
recognized as one of the leaders.
Harry d. Kendall, Sr., who turned
States evidence at the preliminary
hearing, and gave testimony against
his fellows Of the lynching mco, and
one of the states strongest reliances,
was put on the stand to-day. Ken
dali told Of the meeting at the house
Of Tom Johnson, in Anson colntv, IN
the Sunday night preceding the lynch
ing, when the plans to ride 10 Wades-
boro and lynch j. V. johnson were
perfected. The witness knew all The
members of the party and called
their names. With the others ne
rode to Wadesboro and met another
crowd from Richmond county. and
all proceeded to the Wadesboro Jail,
took the prisoner out and lynched him
The witness's son was one Of the
mob.
"A Dramatic Story.
Kendeli's story of the lynching was
dramatic in the extreme He told
how they took the prisoner, struggling
and praying for mercy, tied him with
ropes and dragged him along the road
mile to point in the woods, where,
more dead than alive, he was drawn
up to the limb and then riddled with
bullets. His identification of the
leaders of the mob and many of its
members was complete, and cross
examination failed to shake his tes-
timony.
William Meeks and II. d. Kendall,
Jr., members of the mob, also turned
States evidence to-day and corrobo-
rated the evidence Of the elder Ken
dali. At the conclusion of this tes-
timony the State rested.
Johnson was lynched on the night
OF May 2$, 1906, and the crime for
which he was imprisoned was the will
full murder of his brother-in-law, c.
Johnson. The Governor had called a
special term of Anson Court to try
him few days before he was lynched
The men are indicted under an an
ti-lynching act passed by the Legisla-
ture of 1893, the first adopted by a
Southern State. 1t provides for the
trial of indicted persons in an adjoin-
ing county to that in which the crime
was committed, and inadvertently the
lawmakers omitted to provide pun
ishment for the crime.
At the trst trial of these cases in
Union, the adjoining county to An
son, last July, the defense moved to
quash the indictment because no pun
ishment was provided, and also that
trial In other counties was unconsti-
tutional. The Court ruled that the
crime could be punished under COM
mon law Of manslaughter, but al
lowed the other motion. Recently
the Supreme Court ruled that the
acc was constitutional, and Governor
Glenn at once called the present spe-
cial term of Union County Court to
try the cases. Three of the defend
ants fled the State and have not been
apprehended. II convicted the maxi
mum punishment under common law
is twenty years Imprisonment.
Pineules for the kidneys and bIadder