Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1911-01-12
WE. AND HARVEY GRIFFIN
HELD FOR NIVENS MURDER
Fo Mill Township Merchant and His Son Must Face Jury
on Serious Charge---The Preliminary Investigation.

the road and saw Nivens sitting
in his store beside the fire. Af-
ter passing Nivens' store he
heard Nivens walking as if he
were coming to the front door.
Edwards continued on his way
homeward and had gone only a
few yards when he heard the re-
port of gun. Looking around
in the direction of Nivens' store
he saw the flash of the gun and
observed Nivens coming out of
his store door. Nivens called
Edwards and N. l.. Bayne, who
lives short distance from the
store, Edwards ran up to Niv-
ems, who had fallen to the ground,
and asked him who fired the shot,
but received no reply. Bayne
then came up and asked Nivens
the same question, but got no
answer. j. M. Gamble was the
next neighbor to arrive and he
asked if Nivens was drinking, to
which Nivens replied, Not a
drop" Nivens then requested
the men who had reached his
side not to let him die.
On cross-eXamination Edwards
said he stayed with the wounded
man while Mr.. Bayne went to his
(Bayne's) home to phone for a
doctor. Afterwards he returned
to Griffin's store and said that
Mr.. Nivens was shot. Two
young men who had come into the
store remarked that they did not
wish to see Nivens. Who did
you leave in Griffin's store?"
No one. except two boys. Mr..
Griffin had come into the store
when | went back from Mr..
Nivens'." Edwards did not see
Harvey Griffin until ten minutes
after the shooting. Where did
you see him?" In the store. !"
There was a little boy awith him.
Harvey had nothing in his hands.
All he heard Harvey say was,
Somebody been shooting?" Niv-
ems was not quite dead when he
went into the Griffin store.
Edwards did not see Harvey
Griffin go to the Nivens store the
night of the shooting. w. f.
Griffin remarked that he did not
think Nivens was badly hurt; he
'hollered too loud" Edwards
then told of the location of the
Griffin and Nivens stores. He
said that the shot which killed
Nivens was fired from between
a post and peach tree, the post
being 80 or 40 yards from the
rear of Griffin's store. If either
w. K. Griffin or Harvey Griffin
went to see Nivens after he was
shot, Edwards did not know it.
and he did not hear w. E. Griffin
make any remark about the shoot
ing after he observed that Nivens
"hollered too loud" to be serious
ly hurt.
DR.. T. S. Kirkpatrick testified
that he visited Nivens profes-
sionally short time after the
shooting in response to a tele-
phone message from N. l.. Bayne.
When he reached the scene OF
the shooting Nivens was dead.
He found the body of the dead
man lying near peach tree, face
downward, very nearly between
the middle of the old shop and
the back corner of Griffin's store
that is, the corner next to the
shop" The peach tree is almost
in front of Nivens' store, 60 OF
70 feet from the front door. The
post-mortem performed by DR.
Kirkpatrick the day follow
ing the shooting revealed about
40 shots extending from the
windpipe to the stomach, cover
ing circle of about 18 inches
The shot were No. 5 and all, OF
nearly all, that struck the chest
went through into the chest cav.
ity and penetrated the lungs. He
took out three shot two from
the lungs and one from the heart
One shot passed entirely through
the heart. DIR. Kirkpatrick knew
nothing else of the case, but ex.
pressed the opinion that the shot
which killed Nivens was free
about 20 feet away.
Sheriff Hugh G.. Brown reached
the scene of the killing on the
morning of the 18th of December.
He saw blood stains on the first
or second step of the Nivens
store. He then searched for shot
in the door and found a number
ON tho lofh hhn,aI c.;lo &C IL l.