The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1914-02-11
Tells OF MURDER
WOMAN SAYS her LOVER CAST
BABY into CREEK
They TRIED TO ESCAPE

Couple-Young Mother Says She
Did Not Want to Part With Babe
But Man Refused to Marry Her.
Charged with murder, the alleged
parents of girl baby, whose dead
body was found in a mill pond near
Spartanburg Saturday, were arrested
Tuesday afternoon; the woman in
Spartanburg, as she was about to
take a train for Charleston; the man
at Chesnee, S. c., as he was prepar-
ing to leave for San Francisco. He is
Clyde Caldwell Clement, twenty
three years of age, until recently a
student at Wofford college fitting
school. She is Miss Fleta Pendle-
ton, aged nineteen, until recently a
student in a Spartanburg business
school.
Miss Pendleton was identified as
the mother of the baby by Mrs. W. NJ
Hodges Of Greenville. When Mrs
Hodges was taken to see her, Miss
Pendleton is said to have burst into
tears, and exclaimed, "Oh, God, why
did I kill that dear little baby?"
Miss Pendleton collapsed. When
she had partly regained her compo-
sure she said Clement dropped the
baby Friday night from a bridge into
the creek which forms the mill pond
She said she did not want to lose the
baby, but that Clement told her he
did not love "the ID brat, and he
would not marry her unless she
would consent to his doing away with
it.
Weeping piteously in the Spartan
burg Jail Tuesday night, Miss Pendle-
ton begged to see the baby, and the
corpse was carried to her to fondle
Miss Pendleton said she gave birth to
the baby, named Virginia, at the
Presbyterian hospital in Charlotte
December 6. Clement then took her
to Greenville and got a room for he1
at the boarding house of Mrs. Hodges
In a confession made to Solicitor
A. E. Hill and recorded by a stenog-
rapher, she said:
"Clyde Clement came to Greenville
last Thursday and spent the night
with me and we talked of marrying,
Clyde said that he would tell me in
the morning what he would do. Clyde
said would have to make away with
the child, and I told him I did not
want to, because I loved her. He
then said he would not marry me
with the child, but if I would get rid
Of her he would marry me. I was
crying and pleading with him nearly
all night not to get rid Of the child.
"The next day he said that we
would come to Spartanburg. We left
Greenville, ana arrived here about s
o'clock at night, and caught public
hack; the hack had curtains on it.
We drove down East Main street,
until we got near the bridge. Then
we got out of the hack and walked
on down toward the bridge. I was
carrying in the baby. Before we got
to the bridge Clyde took the baby
from me, and we walked on across
the bridge. Just as we got across the
bridge I turned my back and went up
the left hand road by myself. Clyde
went down. I never looked back.
don't know how he threw the child
in the river. 7 didn't hear the child
hit the water, because didn't want
to hear it, as I loved it so much.
1.-THE child was alive when Clyde
took it from my arms, and when he
came back to me he did not have the
baby. 7 didn't know what he did
with it. Then he and I crossed the
bridge and came on back up the road
together. We didn't talk about it,
because I couldn't stand to hear it
mentioned"
According to Mrs. Hodges Miss
Pendleton tried to place the baby in
the Salvation Army rescue home, in
Greenville, but the matron refused
to accept it because Of its tender age.
At Miss Pendleton's request Clem-
ent was brought from his cell to see
her. She reached her hands out be-
tween the bars Of the cell and clasped
his hands with many expressions Of
love and devotion. Tears streamed
down her face as she chokingly told
the man of her love. She begged
Solicitor Hill to let Clement remain
in the cell with her, but the solicitor
would no. sent to this. Clement
never VI -, word during the girls
demonstrate l.
Clement Is the son of Robert C.
Clement, merchant at Sandy
Springs, N. C. He attended Wofford
college fitting school last year. Miss
Pendleton is the daughter of a shoe
salesman at Durham, n. G.
SlSuSuL Cdu0 " Spd4 lau Jul .
Tuesday morning and gave Miss Pen
dleton SIS, telling her to leave the
city at once. She was preparing to
take the first train out of the city.
the Carolina Special, and had sent her
trunk to the station when Mayor Jno.
F. Floyd, Chief John Hill Of the police
force; Solicitor Albert E. Hill and
Robert E. Miller, accompanied by
Mrs. Hodges, called at her boarding
house and arrested her. Clement, in
an automobile, was on his way to
Sandy Springs when he was over
taken at Chesnee by Sheriff W. j.
White and detective and arresetd.