The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1910-11-25
A DARING WOMAN BANDIT.
Fought Sheriff's Posse and Burned the
Home of Her Enemies.

in Louisiana, is On the hunt for a wo-
man bandit who has been robbing
homes and holding up pedestrians in
lonely lanes and roads in that rural
|neighborhood. She is rounding out a
3career of crime which began when she
shot a neighbor's noisy dog and retail
lated by shooting and wounding the
neighbor when he protested. She has
shot two men, burned down the house
of neighbor whose daughter refused
her sons attentions, given battle to a
sheriff's posse until wounded and cap
tured, served a term in prison and
come from her Imprisonment vowing
vengeance on society.
''I am branded a convict" she says.
81 am one of the victims of society. I
shall have my revenge"
So she goes up and down the roads
Of 'Bloody Tangipahoa' robbing and
terrorizing so effectively that the VIC
| L1mS lear TO 1QenClly leI.
A few weeks ago Mrs. Georgia Wren
was liberated from the States prison,
Where she had served two years on
conviction of arson. She had been Civ
en- an easy place as cook in the An
COLA convict farm, not far from the
borderland of Tangipahoa parish. I'M
mediately on liberation she procured
a revolver and a Bowie knife and
started for her old home and her re-
venge. She has been "on the road"
since, committing any depredations
that came within her range.
Unrequited love is at the bottom Of
her strange choice of vengeance. The
18-year-old son of Mrs. Wren became
captivated by the rustic charms of
Mary Wyly, the daughter Of a neigh
Dor in the cabin settlement. The bu-
collie affair was running smoothly
enough until suspicion of numerous
petty robberies fell upon Mrs. Wren
and her son. The WHY'S were among
those who believed the imputations
and they began to discourage the at
} tentions of young Wren to thei1
daughter.
Nothing, however, came of the sus.
picious until the dog-killing episode
and the wounding Of the animals mas.
ter by the woman. The parish settle
> ment ostracized the Wrens and the
! son was forbidden the house Of the
WHY'S. No arrest followed, however
for the wounded man probably sanel5
concluded that the aim Of the woman
might be better on the next occasion
3 should he give further stimulation tx
, her ire.
It is the habit Of the place and peo
pie. Petty chickering's are settled II
personal encounters; trifing enmities
= are answered by the shot in the dark
3 or the bullet from abush. Feuds are
!. more frequent than crops, and thi
hand Of private vengeance thrusts it.
self into every phase Of life. Thus is
Mrs. Wren rather a product Of the an,
? vironment.
This she demonstrated in answer tt
3 the WHY'S demand that her son re,
, main away from their home and their
, daughter. One night not long after
ward fire broke out in the Wyly cabin
' and it was consumed. A torch had
been applied from the exterior.
In this case the law was invoked
Mrs Wren resisted, with the result
that sheriff and three deputies were
. sent out fer her. Armed with a re.
VolVer she gave the men battle, firing
!. three ineffective shots even after a
3 ball from an officers rife had cut q
I cash in her neck. More FRIGHTENED
at the blood than the law, she sur
rendered, was tried and sent to prison
guilty Of completely and given q term
/ half as long.
!, When she surrendered she cursed
the officers for shooting at a woman
and vowed her revenge on them and
, those who had caused her arrest
Prior to this affair she had shot and
) wounded another man besides the
owner of the noisy dog, which caused
her first resort to firearms.
The neighborhood in which this wo-
man bandit now operates is inhabited
almost entirely by the poor and the
7 Sfhauls" she makes are in proportion
r small, yet she goes about her work
with all the color and dash the James
es knew. Armed with two big revolv-