Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1912-05-15
THE CASE PROVED INTERESTING
Defendant in Magistrate Crisp's
Court Got 40 Days.

charge Of fraud. Barnes was re-
Gently arrested and brough to the |
Oconee Jail, charged with fraud In
connection with subscription
scheme, Barnes, it seems, travelling |
and posing as representative of
several rapers, taking subscriptions
therefor, receiving money, ETC.,
without authority from the publish
ers. The amounts solicited and col
lected by Barnes were very small
about 80 Or 35 cents-fnr which q
three-year subscription was prom
ised. Barnes claimed to be working
under an agreement with one Fisher,
who, he said, had headquarters in
Baltimore, Md.
Suspicion was first directed to
Barnes from the fact that no word
was heard from the papers by sub
scribers and no papers were ever re-
ceived. Letters to the publishers
brought word that no such solicitor
was in the field canvassing with their
authority. Thereupon a warrant was
issued for Barnes.
G. w. thinner, representing the
poultry journal, arrived in Walhalla
last Wednesday to prosecute the
case against Barnes. There were
seventeen counts in the indictment,
tried. This resulted in conviction
and Magistrate Crisp imposed fine
Of $50 or Imprisonment for thirty
days.
The prosecution announced that it
desired to push the other sixteen
counts, whereupon Barnes broke
down, pleading guilty on four other
counts, on each of which the Magis-
trate imposed sentence Of $40 or
do, f,, th@
cases being $130 or 10 days.
Barnes finally gave considerable
account OF himself and his connec-
tion with the scheme that has been
in progress for a short while. He
said there are four others working
in connection with him. One by the
name of Fisher, he says, is from
Montgomery, Ala, with headquart-
ers in Baltimore. The three other
solicitors Barnes named as O'Harra,
Hamilton and Wolfe.
Barnes, according to his admis-
lion, was to cover the Southern Rail-
ay from Atlanta well into Virginia,
I'D the second had territory on the
~buthern from Charlotte to Whining
trn thence to Richmond, while the
.nird Is covering the Seaboard Air
Line from Atlanta to Richmond.
Barnes stated that they had no ar
fangements as to a meeting place,
but that they had agreed to write at
given point on a certain date. He
figured 1t out that one OF the men
would reach Wilmington some time
last week. Questioned closely as to
his contract for working, Barnes
HnaWy admitted that he contract ln-
tIG" "hiGh ne was working was writ
cen and aiGuCd hY him, Damcs,) al
NhuD&l the si@natUrc theretu Is that
81 one Fisher
R9rneS says that he has a wjrc and
family in Atlanta and admitted hay
ing lived at one tine in Baltimore.
At the trial he mantained very in
iured air throughout until one Of the
attorneys for the prosecution asked
him the question if his name was not
Tucker. Upon this question being
put, Barnes became badly ratified,
accused the counsel OF attempting to
draw him into something which he
knew nothing Of and appealed to the
court for protection. He never an
swered the question, refusing point
blank to do so.
The inkling as to the name
Tucker came about in a peculiar
way. In some manner letter writ
ten by prisoner in the county jail,
without signature, gave the infor-
nation to some one, whose name Is
not divulged, that Quicker is in iail
under the name Of Barnes" 1t is
supposed that the author OF this
letter is the prisoner who was ar
rested at Seneca some time back for
attempting to pass a check on a mer-
chant. the check having already been
paid by the Enterprise Bank here,
and in transit to the Seneca Bank for
collection ii somehow came into the
possession Of the man now i'm Jail. !
This check, drawn by the OcOnee
Telephone Co. on the Seneca Bank,
was made payable to IS. E Wilson"
and had been properly endorsed, and
The man who presented it for paw
ment second time claimed first that
his name was IS. II. Wilson," but
later denied this, stating that his |
name is Whitney, and claiming that
a lady had given him the check TO
get cashed and had instructed him |
to purchase with the proceeds some
clothing for himself. Tre fact that |
this man knows. or appears to know, |
Tucker or Barnes lends additional |
spice to the case.
Barnes appears to have been we'll |
raised, and is probably under forty
years Of age now. Since he has been !,
confined in the Jail he is said to have
received two letters from an Atlanta |
pharmacy, these being addressed TO !
DR.. }. l.. Shippel, care Of f. D. |
Barnes Walhalla, S. c.. and 1t Is the |
supposiion, bascd on his physical ap- |
pearancc, that he has used this |
means of securing some drug that |
he could not otherwise have gotten |
without the use of the fictitious ply |
Slc1an'S name. Barnes is almost an |
invalid, suffering continually from an |
aiImont that calls for constant treat |