Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-08-19
MOB STORMS JAIL
spartanburs Sheriff Stands His
Ground Aoainst AssaiIants.
His

spartanburs Sheriff Stands His
Ground Against AssaiIants.
There would have been a lynching In
Spartanburg last night, except for the
courage and loyalty Of Sheriff w. ].
White, and II anything in the way Of
bloodshed has occurred since, 1t was
probably because of the inability by;
the sheriff to prevent. ,s;.. 80. .s.s,,.,s..
The young wife Of a well known far
mer who lives near Whitestone, wan
assaulted by a negro yesterday. The
negro knocked the woman senseless
with stick. and when the husband
who was at work in q field at the time,
returned to the house shortly after
ward, he found his wife In dazed
condition; but able to tell the story.
give a description Of her assailant and
point the direction he, had taken.
The alarm was sounded at once. and
soon men were securing the country In
all directions In search Of the fiend.
Sheriff White who had been notified
at the earliest possible moment, helped
the searching parties and used his best
efforts in their direction.
The negro whose name turned out to
be VIII Fair, was arrested IN the city
Of Spartanburg. 1t appears that he had
boarded trolley car on the way from
Glendale, and the conductor Of the car
noticing his nervous uneasy conduct,
and afterward hearing OF the White
stone outrage, connected the two cir
cumstances. and gave the alarm: but
not until after the negro had left his
car In Spartanburg. The negro was
arrested shortly afterward.
4 rryoo v,.k n af ho
arrest and commitment Of the negro,
that mob began to gather, and In
creased by the addition Of the search
ers who had been securing the country.
the crowd Of excited people was swell
ed to large proportions, II was not q
great while before the mob which had
been collecting about the jail began to
develop serious aggressions, and Sher-
iff White, who was within with several
armed deputies, let II be known that he
would defend his prisoner, to the limit.
After becoming satisfied that II
could only get the prisoner by genuine
force, the mob began to batter down the
gates Of the jail yard, and succeeded;
but on being confronted by the sheriff.
with the declaration quoted above,
night the mob began throwing sticks
Of dynamite over: the wall, and Sheriff
White and his deputies replied with
yolleys Of pistol and rifle shots, wound
ing Frank Epperly, J. G. Owensby and
John Turner. None Of them, however,
were fatally hurt. ~. s .,s.
Magistrate R.. l. CAN'T wired Gov
ernor Blease for authority to order out
the militia, but received no answer to
the request, except he was informed
that a special term Of the court would
be held on September /, to try the
case. 49,.
Word had gotten about the streets
Of Spartanburg this morning that the
sheriff had succeeded In running Fair
out Of town on q Southern train, and
while the story served somewhat to
distract attention from the jail there
were a good many people who were
more or less doubtful about It all.
Later Developments
BY Telegraph to Yorkville Enquirer:
spartanburg. Aug. 1s.-wfli Fair, a
negro prisoner charged with assaulting
q young white woman was spirited out
Of the county jail and placed on
north bound passenger train at four
O'Clock this morning after Sheriff w.
J. White had successfully held the Jail
four hours against mob Of five hum
dred bent on lynching the negro. It was
presumed Fair was taken to the state
penitentiary for safe keeping, but word
has been received from the penftenti-
ary that he has not arrived there. To
distract the attention ofmen watching
the, jail so that the negro might be re-
moved without being observed, friends
OF the sheriff made demonstration at
the armory Of tn Hampton Guards fir- 8
Ing many rifle shots and thus drawing
the crowd. Previously the mob had
broken into the arrnory and taken sew
enteen rifles 2 but were dlsarmed by q
lone militiaman.. The damage done to
the jail wall by the dynamite used by
the mob is not so great as It appeared.
- te tit9 Max Henrici -