The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1910-05-05

Harlem, Where l 1nCenQ 10 Start dS d
farmer and engage in the mercantile
business. I am good trader"
In 1885 Bob Jones, who is one of
the most picturesque prisoners at the
penitentiary, killed Edward Presley
and his two sons, Edward and
Charles Presley, after a dispute over
boundary line. He was tried sew
eral times and was for four years
confined in the Edgeheld county jail
awaiting the outcome Of the appeal
to the supreme court. In 1891 he
was brought to the penitentiary, and
it is said that he has made good
prisoner and for the greater part OF
the time has been trusty. AS the
result Of his good behavior several
months of his sentence will be de-
Quoted. He has never tried to es-
cape and, it is said, has always per-
formed his work faithfully.
When Bob Jones came to the peni-.
tentiary he was a physical giant, with
broad shoulders, erect body and an
athletic step. Now his hair is snowy
white. He feels keenly the humilia-
ton of being convict and VOWS that
he will yet live down his past and
make man.
"It was back in 1885," he said,
"and l was doing well. I had good
business in little country store. l
was making money right along, and
If the trouble had not occurred, l
would to-day have been one of the
most Independent men in the State.
1 had always been good to the boys,
but we quarreled in field over
line and killed three of them.
81 think that I will go over in
Georgia just as soon as 1 leave the
penitentiary,'' he continued, "and
settle near the town of Harlem. l
am going to get married again and
!. am going to be Independent before
/ die. Prison life has been hard, and
I don't know how l would have
stood it had it not been for the kind
ness of the officials-they have been
good to me-
He estated that he had been a
"trusty' for the greater part Of his
prison life, with the exception of two
years, and that he has never thought
of escaping. II was convicted, and
I knew that I must serve out my
time" he said. Il am only SIS years
Of age, and my body is not so weak
and there is some hope for me yet"
Jones drew on the ground with a
stick a plot of the ground and gave
his explanation of the trouble. THE
Pressleys wanted to take about seven
acres of my land" he declared, "and
as had always been so good to them,
they did not believe that would re-
sent their threat to kill me and /
didn't shoot until one of the boys
advanced on me with an open knife.
I then shot him dead. I next had a
.hand-to-hand encounter with the
other boy and cut his left arm OH with
NV knife and then cut three Of his
ribs in two and severed his heart.
The father then shot at me, and l
shot him in the legs and the wound
proved fatal. It all seems like a
dream to me-"
81 came to South Carolina from
Georgia over 80 years ago. said
Jones, "and 1 think that it would be
best for me to leave the State upon
being freed"
Jones is a man of intelligence and
has a shrewed eye and is very OBJ
servant. He gave a detailed account
of the trials and finally ended by say
ing, cts all over now, and I am go
ing to try and forget the past"
twenty-five years ago Bob JONES'
then a young man, went to the town
of Edgefield and announced to the
sheriff of that county that he had
killed three of the best men in the
county. He surrendered and was
placed in jail.
The killing of the older Edward
Presley and his two sons, Edward
and Charles, was one Of the most
sensational murders that has ever
occurred in the State. For four years
the case was fought in the court, the
State finally securing conviction
carrying a sentence of rs years.
In the fall of 1884 Col. U. R.
Brooks, the present clerk of the su-
preme court, who was at that time
agent for the sinking fund commis-
sion, went to Edgefield to collect the
dues on the land known as the Jenn-
ings tract, which the Pressleys and
Bob Jones had purchased from the