The Robesonian. [volume] (Lumberton, N.C.) 1870-current, 1908-07-13
THE LOWRIE ca ss,sc y
A Portion of Col. Old's Article
False and Misleading The Be-
ginning of Henry Berry Low
rie's Career of Crime Some
Sfakouoaoho Tor~acAel

|
Statements Corrected.
To the Editor of The Robesonian:
| notice that you have copied
Col. Old's write-up of the Croa-
tans( las they are called.
| have nothing to say about
the most of the write-up, but
there is one portion of it which is
false and misleading and which
does great injustice to some
who were then among the best
citizens of Robeson county and
who are now in the Great Be-
yond. The portion to which l al
lude is that which gives the
cause of Henry Berry Lowrie's
laWlessness. Allen Lowrie, H.
B.'s father, was never called on
to work on the forts. He was
beyond the age. Besides, Hen
ry Berry never killed a man who
was present when his father and
his brother Bill were killed. Near
ly every man he killed was in
the army at the time his brother
and father were shot. The
cause of their being shot was as
follows: There had been sever
al right daring burglaries COM
mitted in the neighborhood and
the courts were not in a position
to deal with the guilty parties
because most of the able-bodied
men of the State were in the
Confederate army. However,
nothing was done until one night
the residence of Mrs. E. A. Nc
Nair, of Alma, was attacked.
Fortunately she had visitors who
were armed and she was a very
brave woman herself and conse-
quently there was a fight and a
number of shots was fired on
each side and finally the robbers
: were driven off without entering
the house. This was too much
, for her Scotch neighbors, though
l they were old men, such as con-
: stituted the Home Guard, as
t they were called, and they got
, together and followed the rob-
2 bers and circumstances took them
e to Allen Lowrie's house. They
5 searched it and found a lot OF
i things which had been stolen in
r the burglaries which had been
n committed. On finding this
: property in Allen Lowrie's house
r Allen, the father, and Bill, the
e son, were placed under arrest
o court-martialed and condemned
to be shot to death and the sen
. tence was executed. This Home
2. Guard was composed of sucl
men as Capt. Angus Baker, Rev
$ J. H. Coble, Mckay Sellers, w
n A. Sellars, Archie Patterson, Ar
n chic WiIkison, Hector J. McLeal
N and others of that same stripe
ID AS above stated, all of thes
le men were old at the tine an
le nothing but pure necessity coul
d, have ever made them resort t
le such measures. And besides
re none of them was ever killed b
al Henry Berry and his gang.
es Now as to the cause of tn
1e trouble with Henry Berry. H
ne and others were hiding out
all keep from working on the forts
or (Col. Olds says he was a STRIP
Of ling of a boy when his fathe
re was killed. He was a grow
all mani. Mr.. James Barnes,
ds good, quite citizen, lived nes
is Allen Lowrie's and some on
be kept killing his hogs. In thos
rn days hogs and cattle ran at larg
ST. on the range and each oWne
ed had private ear mark for h
nd stock Mr.. Barnes went
We search of his meat and found
MS lot of it in Allen Lowrie's smok
of house. He was able to identit
dy it because the heads were thel
as and had his marks on the ear
be He told the old folks to tell Il
tt boys that they must quit killir
on his hogs or he would have
to prosecute them. A few da
Dr. after this he went to the pos
ial Office, which was at Capt. w.
Moore's residence, and as he w
returning home late in the afte
noon he was shot down frC
ambush. After he was doy
81 Henry Berry came up to him al
ng was going to shoot him agai
ac- but Mr.. Barnes begged him r
1g, to, as he would die from t
he shots he had already receive
to- He did die, but lived long enou
lat to tell who shot him. This Ina
rry Henry Berry a murderer and
Sc. outlaw. After this he gather
no about him his brothers, Ste
ma and Tom, Boss and Andre
his Strong (his brothers-in-lav
ten Henderson Oxendine, Geor
US Applewhite "a negro), Zack \
'rts Lauchlin (white) and some O
nat ers. Then they began to l
lie, and murder at will. Then
ose county of Robson offered a
ute ward of 81, 600 for Henry Be
and 81, 600 for he others, a
leld the State offered $4,000
mo- Henry Berry and SIS, 900 for e;
ysi- of the others.
cur Robbery was the cause of
rom death Of Allen and Bill Low
and robbery was the start of
- Henry Berry outlaws, and
because they wanted to go i
? is the Confederate Army.
ling A SCOTCHMAN
per- Maxton, N c., July Z, Is
son,