The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1911-08-08
FIVli In JAIL
An Aiken Coz a,y Tragedy Causes Great
Excite nenl Near Scene.
MAN BRUTALLY BEATEN
Lady Dies from Shock Caused by

Lady Dies from Shock Caused by
Beating o' Husband and Nephew
by Parties Seeking to Prevent
Marriage Of Young Man and the
Daughter If One OF the Prisoners.
Five white men were lodged in the
Aiken cou&ty jail Friday night,
charged with implication in most
horrible affs !r Thursday night at Mo-
META, in tina: county. The men are:
Dock Cocku an, A. l.. Holstein, R.
n. Holstein, Sidney Holstein, and j..
G.. Holstein all of whom are prom
inently conf ected.
AS a result of the visit Of a party
of men to tie home of the Spradleys,
near Moneta, Thursday night, Mrs.
Nettie Sprat ley lies corpse in her
home and b er husband is in criti-
cal condition, with their nephew, Co.
lumbus Spra dley, disappeared.
His whereabouts are not known.
He has not been seen or heard OF
since the fflculty Thursday night.
Whether he was murdered and now
lies hidden n the woods or whether
he was frightened and left the
neighborhool remains only matter
of conjectura.
No eye-wi nesses are known 10 this
awful tragedy other than the parties
involved, anil the elder Spradley, not
having regsi ined consciousness, the
story has no: been told and may new
er be unless Colun bus Spradley is To-
Gated alive, as the physicians do not
entertain hopes Of the elder Sprad-
,ley's recovery.
The stor! as told is that Colum-
bus Spradley was to be married to
Julia May IGolstein. The implicated
men under arrest are the father, un-
Gle and cout lns of the girl. More ar
rests are exoected to follow the cor
oner's inqu sitic1. It is said that
Thursday nj sht a party Of white men
visited the home of the Spradley's,
the elder Srradley was thrashed into
insensibility, sustaining serious in
juries, from which he Is not expect
ed to recover.
Mrs Spl ldley, who was in the
house was heightened to death. She
tainted and never regained conscious
ness. Columbus Spradley, about
whom the entire affair occurred, can
not be found. His friends believe
that he is lead or seriously wound
ed. Mrs. ,;jpradley gave birth to a
baby five weeks ago and the baby
survives heI.
The affai. is one Of the most hor-
ribie the crunty officials have ever
known and particulars are eagerly
sought afte!', but are hard to get on
account of he distance from Aiken
and the r,.moteness in which the
tragedy is ,hadowed The coroner's
inquest is likely to veveal a horri-
/ tle state OF affairs.
Both fan. lies are fairly we'll to do
and are prominent in the section OF
the country in which the flogging oc-
Cured. When the parents of the
young lady found that they could not
break up the love match, members
of the Hol3tein family went to the
Spradley hcme Wednesday night and
calling Columbus Spradley from the
house took him to nearby field and
began flog ing him in merciless
manner, telling him meanwhile that
he would hive to leave the communi-
ty.
Ben Spradley followed the Hol-
stems and yockrell to the field, and
when he attempted to interfere was
treated sin llarly, being so severely
flogged abo 1t the stomach that he is
still In an unconscious condition and
physicians AZ he has little chance OF
recovery. Columbus Spradley has
not been seen since he was beaten.
The affair caused great excitement
in the community where it happen
ed.
Mrs. Sprs dley, formerly Miss Ettie
Sawyer of Aiken county, was the
mother of q five weeks old baby, and
in her wea lened condition, hearing
the screams of the flogged men and
probably seeing the flogging going
on, succum'.ed to nervous fright. She
was found lead the following morn
ing in the Spradley home. The re-
port that drs Spradley had been
roughly handled by the mob, Is de-
MED and tie statement is made that
she died o.; fright after seeing her
nephew flo ;ged.
Close lvestigation in Augusta
does not hing Columbus Spradley,
nephew of Mrs. Spradley, to light in
that city. 5pradley, who is young
man, about % years old, appears to
be very we Il known throughout that
section Reports received from Mon
netta were to the effect that he had
left that &C immunity for Augusta, af-
ter being f;ogged by the mob. Fri
day night the information was to the
effect that it is not known whether
he left for Augusta or whether he
was so seriously whipped that he had
wandered rff in the swamps some
where, an6 is either in a seni-con-
scious conUition or Is dead.