The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1914-02-07
ACCUSED OF KILLING BABY.
c. G. CLEMENTS AND FLETA
PENDLETON ALLEGED PAR
ENTS, ARRESTED.
Young Girl Breaks Down and Con-
fcsscs to Having Permitted Her
Lover to Drown Child-Both i'm Jail
Awaiting Developments.


Spartanburg, Feb. 3.-Developments
in the case of the 2-months-old baby
girl found drowned in Whites mill
pond Saturday came to a startling
climax when the parents were ar
rested today almost simultaneously,
the mother in boarding house on
Magnolia street, as she was arranging
father at Chesnee, as he was prepar-
ing to leave for San Francisco. The
mother is F'leta Pendleton, 10 years
old, daughter of shoe salesman of
Durham, n. c.; the father is Clyde
Caldwell Clement, aged 23, Of Sandy
Grove, \. c., son of Robert c. Gle
ment, a merchant. He was until re-
cent? a student at the Wofford COL
lege fitting school. The girl was a
student at local telegraph school.
The arrest of the girl was dramatic
in the extreme. Mrs. w. NJ. Hodges of
No. 2O5 Richardson street, Green
vile, had come to Spartanburg this
morning and identified the baby as
that Of a young woman who lived in
her boarding house as Mrs Cald-
well' last month. The police had rea-
son to believe that the young woman
was living at a boarding house in
this city.
! Taking Mrs. Hodges with them,
Mayor John F. Floyd, Chief John Hill
of the police force, Solicitor Albert
E. Hill and Robert F.. Miller, a spe-
cial officer, went to the house. The
girls trunk was being taken to the
station as they entered.
When Mrs. Hodge saw the girl, she
burst into a flood Of tears and cried
"Oh, God, Mrs. Caldwell, why did you
kill that dear little baby?" Miss Pen
dleton collapsed. WI en- she had been
partly recomposed she told this
story:
She and Clement became very ia
miliar last year when he was a stu
dent at Wofford and she was taking 9
course in telegraphy at a local bust
ness school. After completing the
course she held various positions in
/ Spartanburg and Georgia. Clement
paid her frequent visits. Later she
went to Charlotte, n. c., living foi
while in boarding house there
and later going to a hospital there
where the baby, named Virginia, was
! born December 6.
After various vicissitudes, Clement
took her to Greenville on January 10
and they obtained a room at the
home Of Mrs. Hodges, where they
gave the name Mr.. and Mrs. c. c.
Caldwell. Clement did not stay there
but frequently visited the girl.
Clement, the girl said, constantly
importuned her to get rid of the
/
! d-d brat and would not marry
her while she had it.
They took a train last Friday night
and came to Spartanburg, arriving
here at $40 o'clock. They had de-
cided, the girl said, to put the baby
out of the way.
They engaged a hack at the station,
drove to the outskirts of the city, and
then dismissed the hack. They then
walked to the bridge over Lawson S
Fork creek. There the girl faltered,
she said, but Clement repeated to
her that unless they made way with
the child he would not marry her
The mother could not stand it. She
turned and fled. Clement. she said.
cool!y rejoined her shortly afterwards
without the baby. They returned to
the city and he engaged a room for
her at the boarding house where she
was found Me returned 20 his fathers
home in North Carolina.
When the hue and cry became hot,
Clement, she said, decided it would
be well for both of them to leave this
vicinity He came To town this morn
ing, gave her $40 and bade her leave
at once for Charleston. He told her,
she said, that he would depart to-
morrow for San Francisco.
The girl confessed to Solicitor Hill
this afternoon, claiming that Clement
was the father Of her child and that
he threw il into the mill pond.
Tonight the police discovered the
negro hackman who drove the girl
and Clement to the end Of east Main
street when they went on their fatal
mission Friday night. He substanti-
ated the confession OF the girl in
which she narrates what happened on
the hack ride. He will he taken to
the county Jail tomorrow morning to