The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1910-12-01
DED WITH BULLETS MAY HAVE CITY HOSPITAL TO DIE ON GAOS HELD FOR ABDUCTION
ATTEMPTED CRIMINAL ASSAULT AND
THEN SEVERED VICTIMS HEAD.
CONFESSES CRIME AND DIES
Daughter of Prominent Little Noun
tani Farmer is Murdered by
Luke Clarke, Trusted Farm
Hand, and is Himself
Killed by Mob.

Little Mountain, S. c.. Nov. 27.-
For attempted criminal assault up
on the 14-year-old daughter of a
prominent Little Mountain farmer
and her subsequent murder in a
most brutal manner to cover his
first crime, Luke Clarke, a negro,
was riddled with bullets by mob
of enraged citizens Saturday night.
Clarke was an employee on the
place and Friday when he was sent
TO the house for some water he
enticed the girl away from the
Eouse, assaulted her and then
severed her head from her body
in an effort to hide his crime.
Blood hounds were put upon the
trail of the murderer and the trail
led to where Clarke was working in
the field. He was taken into custo-
dv aud later confessed the crime.
The following account Of the bru-
tai crime and the subsequent lynch
ing is taken from the News and
Courier:
Lexington. Nov. 26.-SpeciaI:
Following a lynching party in South
Carolina is not much fun, especial
ly to a person who never goes
armed. To be among a thousand
or more men, all of them arm
ed to the teeth, with every con-
ceivable kind of a weapon from an
air rifle to a Gatling gun, all of
them strangers and swearing VEN
Sence upon the first person who
dared to give them away" is
enough to make the hair rise on
ones head
When the News and Courier cor
respondent reached the scene Of the
Srfx, lnc ,ssrI,
eled thirty miles in automobile,
over the red hills of the Dutch
Fork. he found fully one thousand
armed men on the grounds. They
come in automobiles, in buggies, in
wagons on horseback, on mule
back and many on foot. One man is
known to have come all the way
from Laurens, so anxious was he TO
get to the party. 1t was an "order-
ly'' crowd, (for all lynchings are
orderly yet the men that composed
the mob" wore the look of deter
mlnation on their faces. Occasion
ally one would see little groups
standing around quietly talking
over the terrible crime in the
midst of tall pines and stately oaks.
A few yards away stood the home
or the girls father, which the night
happiness. In a little room lying on
cot was the lifeless body OF the
pretty little Miss, a young school
girl of fourteen summers and the
pride of the family. In that room
stood men and women with tears
in their eyes, while in the opposite
room, just across the hallway was
the weeping father and mother and
sisters and brothers of the deceased.
Such a scene was enough to make
any mans blood boil" and the
men on the outside were bent and
determined to mete out justice by
taking the law in their own hands
TO the perpetrator of the awful
crime.
Held Negro for Several Hours.
Although the crime was committed
between and 5 O'Clock, and not
withstanding the fact that the guilty
man had been in possession of mem
bers OF the party since a short
while after the commission of the
crime, the lynching did not take
place until about 1890 O'Clock. This
was doubtless due to the fact that
those who composed the mob did
not want to lynch an innocent man,
and they were waiting for the ne
gro to confess. This he subsequent
ly did, and the lynching followed
Immediately thereafter, or just as
soon as the party could get to-
gether. 1t is stated that fully 500
people were present when the first
shots were fired.
The south side of Little Noun
tain, famous for it's annual reunions
and picnics, is an oats patch, was
chosen as a spot upon which the
murderer and would-be rapist
should be put to death. With a
lantern burning brightly around his
waist and pleading for his life, it is
said he was shot to death. AS vol
ley after volley went into the life
less body, shouts would go up from
the crowd. This was kept up for
several hours, and it is estimated
that no less than a thousand shots
were fired. AS each man would
strike a match to take look at
the mutilated body as it lay on the
ground, he would empty charge
into the murders form.
Had Nursed Girl.
The crime for which Flute"
Clarke met his death at the hands
of the mob was one of the most
horrible ever committed in the an
nails Of crime Leaving his work in
the field presumably to go to the
house for a bucket OF water, Clarke
went to the home and, finding the
innocent little child by herself, ask
ed her to bring him some potatoes.
Thinking nothing OF the danger
perhaps, for Flute" Clarke had
nursed her in her infant days, she
at once carried him the potatoes.
They were found at the we'll by the
girls parents, which corroborates
the story told by the negro in his
confession. Upon reaching the well
the, girl. -rs,n grabbed by the brute
s>aI1 can get for a distance of thir-
by writing mehe cellar door In the
use. where. failing in
rArpose and for fear