The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1911-09-16
NEGRO KILLED BY LIGHTNING.
Taylor Ellerbe Found Dead in the
Woods, Buzzards Pick Bones Clean.

coroner Flowers upon his return |
from Rembert Tuesday had a grue-
some tale to tell Of how he had, up
on his arrival at that place, been
conducted to a pile Of bones which |
had once been a man, and how the |
buzzards had to be driven of from
their feast upon human meat before |
an inquest could be held.
The body was later identified as
that Of Taylor Ellerbe, a negro basket
maker. who lived and worked in and
around Rembert but who had been
missing since last Tuesday. Elerbe
was In the habit Of going from place
to place, constantly changing, and in
this way nothing had been thought
Of his absence until the gruesome
find was made and identified as a
part Of his body.
The evidence as ascertained by
Mr.. Flowers and the others gather
ed around the place was that Eller-
be had gone off to his work as usual
on last Thursday and had not been
| seen since. At first 1t was thought
that 1t was case Of murder, but as
the bones Of the head had been pick
ed clean by the buzzards and all of
the flesh was gone from every part
OF his body, there was no evidence of
| bodily injury, and no means of de-
termining the fact Both arms and
one leg had been carried of by
the buzzards or dogs and could
not be found at ALL There
was nothing except part Of his
hat by which Ellerbe could be identl-
fed and his tools which had been
left lying at the foot Of a near by tree.
There were only three persons to
testify at the inquest. DR.. ]. T.
Hay Of Boykin stated that he had
examined that part Of the body which
was left by the bussards and dogs
and that 1t was impossible to deter
mine from 1t what was the cause of
death. but that on account Of the
fact that the hair was scorched and
the clothing which had been torn to
pieces and scattered around was bad
ly burned he had come to the con.
clusion that death had resulted from
q lightning stroke.
| The other two witness were Var.
old Wright and Sim Davis. Wright
testified to the fact that he was pass
ing through the woods late Sunday
afternoon when he had been attract
ed by number Of buzzards and sew
eral dogs out In the woods. He had
investigated and had found that the
F, dogs and buzSards were gathered
around the remains Of man. which
were In a terribly decomposed state.
He had informed others. who had
summoned the coroner. Davis testif.
ed that the hat lying near the bones
was that worn by Ellerbe on the q
he was last seen. last Tuesday.
| The jury came to the conclusion
that Ellerbe had come to his death
from lightning stroke. At one place
small space about a foot In dame
ter had been burned. A quantity of
the woody hair was gathered up and
this had been badly scorched, which
was plainly noticeable to the sense OF
smell. The clothing was also badly
burned. Over to one side a short
distance from the place the body was
found was the mans axe and two
blocks of white oak which are ordi-
narily used in basket making. II
was these signs that decided the Jury
| upon the verdict of death from light
| ming.
Coroner Flowers in speaking Of the
inquest said that it was the most hor-
rible thing that he had ever seen.
The scent from the body was dis
cernible for almost a half mile off as
they approached and it was fearful
nearer to IT. The bones were scat
tered around over a considerable area
and the skull was separated from the
rest of the body and was picked clean
by the buzzards. Even the toes had
been picked clean and torn apart
from the rest Of the foot. The arms
and one leg were never found.
Mr.. Flowers, after considerable
difnculty, got negro to promise to
gather up the parts Of the body and
bury them. When he had made GER
tain that the body would be prop
erly disposed OF in this way he left