The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1914-05-01
GIRL GOES FREE
Man IS CONVICTED
End OF pENDLETON-CLENENT
CASE II NPARTiNBURG
Jury Arrives at Verdict in Long Trial
Alter Deiiberati0n OF Two
Hours.
The Sta e.

The Sta e.
Spartanburg, April 27.-"Clyde
Clement guilty with recommendation
to mercy; Fleda Pendle,on not guilty"
was the verdict in the case against
CLYDE Caldwell Clement and Laura
Fleda Pendle,on, charged with the
murder of the two-months-old infant,
Virginia Virl, alleged to have been
their daughter, who was drowned in
Whites mill pond at Lawson's Fork
here on the night of January 80. The
indictment was handed to the jury
a. 5:26 o'clock this afternoon and at
7:1O o'clock tonight the verdict was
returned.
When the verdict was announced,
there was demonstration in the
crowded court room. Many of those
present cheered and clapped their
hands. When the jury filed in young
Clement Strengthened up, his muscles
tightened and his face whitened.
When he heard his fate, he fell over
on the breast Of MS aged mother
weeping. The Pendleton girl retained
her composure, and when the YER
dict was announced, she sank into
her chair as if relieved of a great
strain. The face of her mother, Mrs.
J. H. Pendle.on of Durham, lightened
up with joy.
In summing up the evidence the
lawyers consumed practically the
whole day in arguments to the jury.
The speeches are said to have been
the most eloquent ever heard in the
Spartanburg county court house.
Counsel for Clement will probably
make an appeal for new trial. Judge
Shipp reserved sentence.
In her testimony the girl admitted
that she accompanied Clement to the
mill pond on the night OF January
80, but she denied that sne knew
what was to be the fate Of the baby.
She claimed that she came from
G:eenville to Spartanburg under the
supposition that she was to marry
Clement, and that he was taking her
10 a boarding house.
Clement in his testimony asserted
that he accompanied the girl to Law
sons Fork, but he was under the opin-
ion that they were to discuss their
predicament. He testified that the
Pendleton girl suddenly threw the
baby over the side Of the bridge be-
fore he could stop her.
Both the defendants testified that
they did not report the murder be-
cause each desired to shield the other.
The body of the infant was dis
covered on the morning of January
81 by Buck Seay. the miller, and
the girl and Clement were arrested
almost simultaneously on February 3,
the former in a local boarding house
and the latter as ne was nearing the
North Carolina line on his way home.
When the aged mother of Clyde
Caldwell Clement was led to waiting
automobile to take her to her home in
Polk county, n. c., she had to be sup
ported and she moaned for her son,
sobbing in heart anguish:
"Oh, my God, spare my son. Oh,
will they kill him? Oh, save him.
Qui-e different was the demeanor of
the other mother. She was all smiles,
and she and her daughter took sup
per at a Spartanburg hotel. From
there they went to the home Of
Spartanburg family, where they will
stay until Wednesday, when they will
depart fer the home CT the Pendle-on
Family at Durham, n. c.
Tonight hundreds of women Of
Spartanburg visited the girl and con-
graduated her on her deliverance.
The funeral services over the body
OF the dead infant, Virginia Virl,
which has lain in a Spartanburg un-
dertaking establishment since it was
discovered in Whites mill pond by
Puck" Seay the miller, on the
morning of January 81, will be neld
at Oakwood cemetery tomorrow after
noon at o'clock, the Rev. c. c. Her
bert, pastor of Central Methodist
church, who has befriended Miss Pen
d!eton since her Incarceration in the
oa,oGr io;I ci0oo Fnhruarv 2 Off1pia-