The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1909-04-22
LIFE SENTENCE GIVEN.
Negro Who Entered Converse COL
leee Room Convicted.

prisonment at hard labor in the pen
itentiary was the sentence admins
tered to Harvey Bradford, colored,
convicted in the court of general ses-
sions to-day on the charge of burg
lariously entering the room of Miss
Julia Reed on the second floor OF
Dexter hall at Converse College on
the morning of April 5, at 1:S0
O'Clock. Miss Reed was the star
witness in the trial. The conviction
of the negro hung on the identitica-
ton of the hat found in the room of
Miss Reed, which was lost by the
burglar in his haste to get away
after the alarm had been given. 1t
was proved that the hat belonged to
Bradford and that he wore it on the
night of April when he left home
and that he returned home without
it early next morning. S. G. Finley
represented the defendant. A ma
jority of the Converse College girls
and the faculty were present during
the trial, which lasted from II a. m.
till $50 p. m. Solicitor Otis and
S. J. Nichols appeared for the
State.
Never before has a trial awakened
SO much local interest. The court
room was crowded all day, and
standing room was hard to find in
any part of the house. Many ladies'
of the city were in the audience.
When the dinner hour arrived every
body hurried home and ate in haste
in order to get back at 3 O'Clock
and miss no part of the testimony.
A great number of witnesses were
examined, both, for the State and for
the defense. The States witnesses
gave a chain of testimony that could
not be broken even by the most
skeptical. 1t was all circumstantial
evidence, but the circumstances all
pointed to one conclusion-the
guilt of Bradford. OF all the wit
nesses placed on the stand the cool
est and most competent was Miss
Julia Reed, whose room the burglar
entered early on the morning OF the
5th of April. The young lady 1s
the daughter of J. c. Reed, Of Pitts
burg, Pa, retired paper manufac-
turer, who is at present residing at
Hendersonville for his health. Mr..
Reed was physically unable to attend
the trial himself, but Mrs. Reed
came down. During the trial she sat
beside her daughter and which of
the two appeared the coolest would
be hard to say.
A Fine Witness.
It would be hard to find better
witness than this young lady Of the
sophomore class of Converse Col
lege. The story that she told on the
stand was the most trying ordeal any
heroine ever went through-dealing
with a burly burglar in the dead
hours of night, alone and in hand
to hand scuf1e, in which the brute
was trying his best to choke her.
Miss Reeds testimony was in sub
stance as follows:
'tI was asleep and l woke up
quickly. When the door cracked
was aroused. 1t was dark at the end
of the hall in which my room is To-
Gated, only a light burning in the
farther end. At first I thought it
was one of the girls, looked up and
saw the form of man agAinst the
light, smelled an odor like tobacco
or a strong pipe and l knew that I
had to deal with one stronger than
myself.
81 attempted to scream and a
hand was thrown over my mouth.
began fighting the burglar, but he
had every advantage, as I had to
strike upward to hit him. tried to
scream and partially succeeded. The
man then thrust his fingers in my
mouth and I clamped them as hard
as could with my teeth. I bit him
so badly that he drew his fingers out
and I got in a good scream. The
struggle was a hard one. I knew
that I had everything to fight for.
could not state positively how long
the struggle las3ed, but to me it
seemed an age. Directly I heard an
answering call saying I'm coming,
and soon some Of the girls were at
hand. The man rushed for the win
dow and made off down the fire es-
CAPE
Miss Frances Cleveland, a student
of Converse, was next put on the
stand. She said that there were
trunks on both sides of the hall in