Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1909-03-10

A pail of gloom hangs over Wal
! halla and every section of Oconee to-
| day. Two of the bravest officers Of
the law and best citizens of the coun-
| ty lie cold in death, ruthlessly slain
because they went in the discharge
of their duty to take into custody q
boy who was charged with mutilating
a government rural mail box. The
fatal shooting occurred about three
quarters of a mile south Of Walhal-
la some time shortly after dark
Monday evening.
w. B. f. Corbin, Deputy United
States Marshal. accompanied by his
half-brother, Chris. d. Corbin, whom
he had deputiZed to assist him, at
tempted to arrest Bob Belcher at the
home of j. B. Palmer, trouble en-
sued shots were exchanged, and the
two brave officers were felled, great
gaping gunshot wounds crushing
the breasts that housed two hearts
as big and true as the truest heart
that ever beat.
We have no right to enter into a
recital of our opinions of the case.
We give the. substance of the testi-
mony taken at the inquest, and the
conclusions reached by the Coroner's
jury.
The horrible affair is deplored by
us and by every respectable citizen
of Oconee. The county has lost two
Of her braYest sons in w. B. F. Cor
bin and G.. d. Corbin, and 1t is with
feeling Of deep bereavement, a
feeling Of distinct loss to the whole
county that we chronicle their tai, =
ing away.
About nine o'clock yesterday Cor
oner Lee Kerr and jui.; took
charge of the case, and in
the presence Of hundreds Of cjti-
Zens viewed the bodies of the officers
as they lay where they were slain.
The inquest was then adjourned to
Walhalla, where witnesses were
summoned and the testimony taken.
Below we give in substance the
evidence of the witnesses sworn, the
first one being a little boy who by
chance was stopping over night at
the Palmer house. Following is the
testimony:
THE TESTIMONY.
Jesse Gibson, IL years old, 'orn,
testified in substance as follows.
/ live the other side Of Westmin-
ster. l stayed last night at Mr.. Da-
vis's. ! was in town early in the
evening. | was at Mr.. Palmer's
later's in the evening. There were
six in the family-Charlie, Bob, Lou,
Leethea, Bale and Mary, his wife.
Bale is the old man. Lou was piec-
ing quilts; others were around the
fire. Officers came about an hour
after sundown; officers knocked at
the door. They on the inside told
Bob to run up in the loft. Bob went
into the loft. Didn't carry anything
with him. There were four guns in
the house-one single-barrel gun.
saw them sitting in the corner. Char
lie told Bob to go into the loft. Bob
went, and the old man went to let
the officers in. The officer with
moustache came In and took up the
lamp and started looking around.
Said he was looking for party. One
of them saw Bob's foot and went
to reach for it. Both officers took
mold of Bob's foot and pulled him
down. When he (Bob) fell to the
floor they all (Bale and the others)
went to fighting the officers. About
five minutes after the scuffling be-
gan a pistol was fired. heard
about six more shots. Only one
shot was fired in the house. /
couldn't see them after / ran---ISran
over on the hill with my brother. l
saw fire at the door steps. Only saw
one shot at door steps. 1t was fired
from outside. Fired right at door
step. The board on the side of the
house was broken off last night. Do
not know If they expected the Off
GERS to come; didn't hear them talk
about It, The man with the nous
tache fired long pistol. The peo-
pie at the house didn't get the guns
while was three. They were all in
the hallway. | was with my bro
ther. [ saw the shot fired by the
steps and four out by the tree. One
was fired inside the house. This is
the pistol the officer fired. / came
back to the house after the shoot
ing was over-about half an hour
They told Bale to go after the doc
tor and sheriff. Lou was shot in the
hip. She's in jail. Bale was shot
In the hand and is in jail, too. He
was shot in the hand; Charlie was
shot in the head he bled. Said
Corbin fired first. They did not say
wEo killed Corbin. Tney had guns
in the house, (Four guns introduced
in evidence, and witness identified
them as the ones in the Palmer
house.) Lou told me to go with Bale
to town and get the doctor and She
riff; that them devils was laying
out there like they was dead, but
they was not l don't know who
y -