The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1912-11-21
LAWLESSNESS NEAR AIKEN
ATTEMPT TO .ASSASSINATE SAM
BERRY, \ NEGRO.
Suspects Trailed by Bloodhounds and
Arrested-ConfessiO duplicates
Nine Others, Whites and Blacks.

-
down Saturday night, with five blood
hounds from the State penitentiary,
and lodged behind the bars OF the
Aiken county jail Sunday morning,
three negroes, Foxey CAN'T, Washing
ton Kennedy, and Vance Quattle-
baum, have, it is said, made confess
sion to participation in an ambuscade
Saturday night, between and 8
o'clock, seven miles of Ridge Springs,
in the Edisto Swamp. when Sam Ber-
ry, a prosperous colored farmer OF
that section, was waylaid and made
the target of fusillade of bullets
from probably more than dozen
shotg uns. Berry, who was driving
in a buggy, concealed himself in the
foot of the vehicle, as soon as the
firing began, and sustained no
wounds, but his mule, rearing and
charging, and breaking away from
the velocity of the shooting, was lit
orally shot to pieces.
In confessing, it is said, the three
incarcerated negroes implicate nine
others, four prominent white men
and five negroes. The white men are
Daniel Williamson, Ted H. Dubose,
Jim Barton and Arleigh Gregory, the
latter a son of Mr.. John Gregory,
and a nephew of Mr.. Giles Gregory,
who is magistrate of that Aiken
county district. The negroes are
Harry and Bristow Mason, Lewis
Thomas and Richard and Arthur
Kenner.
Warrants were issued through
Magistrate w. NJ. Smoak Sunday
morning for the arrest of these other
men, and Sheriff Raborn, Rural Po-
licemen Musco Samuels and S. D..
Holly, accompanied by the posse who
Saturday night ran down the three
negroes and lodged them in Jail, re-
turned to the Ridge section in an au-
tomobile ct noon Sunday.
Sam Berry, the victim of the am
buscade, came to Aiken with the
posse who brought in the first squad
of prisoners, and in an interview with
the News and Courier correspondent
obtained from Berry, the prisoners
and the members of the posse, they
all agree virtually as to the general
details of the affray. From the es-
sential alleged details gathered
through an extended interview, it
semed that Saturday night about I
O'Clock, party, armed and prepared
for their work, gathered in and about
a bridge or mill dam over which Ber-.
ry was to cross that night as he drove
to his home, which was situated some
four or five hundred yards distant.
Lying down in the deep grass, or con-
cealing themselves in the dense
shrubbery and behind trees, the men
waited.
About 1880, Berry, driving a mule
and buggy, came driving up at a
leisurely pace. AS he approached the
Immediate vicinity of the ambuscade
the mule appeared to be apprehen-
sive of some danger lurking in the
shadows, grew restive and paused
several times, and with each halt
Berry applied the lash and urged the
mule forward, but just as the animal
came abreast of the line of ambush
he swerved and lunged away. Stimuli
taneously with this move there rang
out cry of Halt! Halt" and the
fusillade followed. Berry slipped in
to the foot of his buggy and avoided
the missiles, but, as stated above
the mule was riddled with lead.
The alarm was given in short or
der, and mainly through the efforts
of the negro attacked five blood
hounds from the State penitentiary
were carried to the scene by Guard J
C. Robbins, in an automobile driven
by E. C. McCreary, of Columbia. As
| they came through Ridge Spring
Messrs. Robbins and McCreary pick
ed up Mr.. L. Cumbee, a deputy, drove
on to the scene of the shooting ano
placed the dogs on the trail, having
arrived within one hour and fifteen
minutes after they received the IN
formation and having driven fltty
miles. The dogs took up the trail
and after a long chase of about y
miles, back and forth through the
swamp lands and stubby under
growth, the three negroes previously
referred to were run to earth, con
fessed, it is said, and implicated the
others named.
The motive for the attack is OBJ
scure. Berry claims that it was sim
ply the result of long standing pre-
judice; that once he Informed the
| ubitoc of that vicinity that mem bers