The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1911-03-02
NEGRO ATTEMPTS CRIME
WITH A BABE IN ARMS WOMAN
FIGHTS OFF NEGRO BRUTE.
Cries of Intended Victim and Of Her
Small Child Bring Help in Time
to Save.

Spartanburg, Feb. 25.-Gary Gest,
a negro driver of a delivery wagon,
entered the bed room of we'll
known white woman on Union street
shortly before O'Clock this after
noon as she was nursing her j.
months-old baby. AS she arose Win
q cry of alarm he seized her by the
throat, choked her until the blood
gushed from her nose and threw her
down. H er 3-year-old son was in the
room and screamed in terror. The
negro grasped the tot by the neck and
choked him also. Mrs. Beaulah
Askew, a neighbor, was in the back
yard. She heard the cries and rushed
into the house. The negro released
his intended victim and fled from the
house.
Posse i'm Pursuit.
Within 80 minutes dozen police
men, the sheriff, w. J. White, and his
deputies and a score of citizens were
engaged in the man hunt. They
caught Gest in Duncans woods, a
mile and a half from the scene of
his crime, at AIS. His captors hus-
tied the negro into carriage, drove
like mad and had the prisoner in a
cell of the county Jail by 4:30
O'Clock. A large crowd gathered
around the Jail, but there was not
even suggestion of lynching.
Denied Being Drunk.
Gest knew the woman whom he at
tackled. Her husband, who is clerk
in the Office of a well-known commls-
sion merchant, at one time was en-
ployed by w. T. Finch, proprietor OF
the Finch hotel. Gest was employed,
in the hotel. He has recently been
employed in driving the delivery
wagon of Brown Bros, grocers. He
started out with his wagon about
O'Clock yesterday afternoon. After
delivering one package he returnedto
the store and asked questions regard
ing something with which he was per-
fectly familiar. Ozier Brown accused
the negro of being drunk. Gest de-
MED it and started out again.
He stopped his wagon in front OF
the residence on Union street and
knocked at the front door. He asked
the woman who lived there. She told
him he knew very we'll. He said he
wanted to deliver a package to some
>people named Brown. There is no
one of the name in the vicinity. The
woman went back into the house and
prepared her baby for it's afternoon
nap.
Defended Herself.
She was sitting in a rocking chair,
humming a lullaby, when her little
boy cried out that the negro had come
into the house. She looked up and
saw the brute standing in the door of
the room.
Holding tight to the baby, she leap
ed to her feet Without uttering a
cry and holding the baby with her
left arm she raised her right hand
and tried to push him back. Her
hand touched his mouth and he bit a
piece out of it.
The negro choked her so hard that
her nose began to bleed and her cries
became faint The little boy was al
SO screaming. The negro, without
releasing his grasp on the woman,
reached out and choked the child. In
doing so his finger nails cut cash
two inches long on the boys neck,
bringing blood.
Clung to Her Child.
During the entire struggle the wo-
man clung to her baby. The struggle
did not last more than minute. Mrs.
Askew rushed into the room and Gest
hurried out of the front door.
He abandoned the wagon and ran
at top speed out the macadam road
extending from Union street. Wait
ing only few moments to see to the
care of her neighbor, Mrs. Askew ran
to the door calling for help.
Not so yards from the house a
gang of negro laborers were working.
There were white men in the vicinity
also. Among them was F. M. Logan,
a storekeeper. They saw Gest run
ming, but did not pursue.
Mr.. Logan, upon learning what had
happened, telephoned to the police
station. He also telephoned to the
woman's husband that a negro had
entered his home and scared his wife
and she was bleeding at the nose.
Thrown to Pavement.
The husband was home within 20