The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1916-12-01
JONESVILLE

State meeting of the U. ID. C.'s at Un-
ion last week and was much pleased
and entertained at the large attend
ance of delegates from every part of
the State. There was large amount
of real beauty shown in the faces of
many of the delegates and as to intel
ligence it was very conspicuous and
then harmony that prevailed and the
smooth and business like manner in
which business of the convention was
conducted was edifying and uplifting
to one of feelings and temperament.
/ met with many ladies whom I knew
that / had not seen for quite awhile
and then | made many acquaintances
and while | was so well pleased with
the convention / was somewhat sur
prised to see so few Confederate Vet
Grams in attendance. Yes, the Vet
Grams practically give the convention
the "go-by." Let my tongue cleave to
the roof Of my mouth or my right
hand forget its cunning if ever I for
get the good women of my country
who have honored the Confederate
Veterans, both dead and living, with
such lavish hospitality as has been
shown them.
| have heretofore been opposed to
woman suffrage, but have right late
iy come across and I am now with
them in claiming equal rights with
the men and hope they may succeed
in getting them.
Miss Alma Large Foreman of Nor
folk, Va, is the guest of Miss Bell
Free.
Mr.. Forest E. Spears of our town
will go over to Coleman, Ga, on the
9th of December, where he will be
united in marriage to Miss Jimmie c..
Hartley. Miss Hartley is we'll known
in Jonesville, as she taught in the
graded school here several years.
/ read with great interest the long
and very correct account of the organ
ization and work Of the Ku-Klux- Klan
nearly half century ago in The Un-
ion Times of the last weeks issue.
The organization of the order up in
Tennessee was not so familiar to me
except by history, but when the order
moved down in this Piedmont country
I can write or speak of it of my own
personal knowledge and the account of
it last week was like much of the real
doings passing in review. AS to the
raw head and bloody bones disguise
worn on the heads many of them were
made in my home and my wife was
reported to the Yankee garrison for
making them and she fled the country
to place or city of refuge in Geor-
oI w hn E.,
fourteen months. Did the Ku-Klux
do their duty and were their deeds of
tragedy right? Well, here is, or
was, their answer to this, "Justice is
lame, otherwise these things would
not occur" When justice was re-
stored to our country these awful
deeds of the Ku-KluX-Klan ceased; !;
one case in point-when Mat Stevens
was murdered by the negro militia
Duck Pond church, two negroes, Hen
ry Cannon and Taylor Palmer, who
took part in the murder, Henry Can
non especially, for after poor Nat
Stevens was dead and lying upon his
back, Henry Cannon punched him in
the face with his gun and cursed him
but Henry and Taylor made their
escape and were not heard of until
after the prosecutions and prosecu-
tions of the Ku-Klux was all over
and the Yankee garrison disbanded.
Cannon and Palmer were located over
in Fairfield county near Blackstock,
were arrested, brought to Union, lodg-
ed in Jail, tried and convicted before
Judge Thomas, Republican and were
both hung on the same gallows near
Union at the famous hig hickory tree.
Henry Cannon and his mother, a good
old negro nanny, and my mothers
cook, both lived on my fathers place
and Henry was such bad fellow that
l told him not great while before he
was hung that he would be hung and
while the feeling against these two
negroes was great that none of the
negroes would help to bury them for
fear of the white people, but for the
sake of Henry's good old mother, my
brother and I took his dead body from
the gallows, carried to our home and
TO his mothers cabin in the yard. got
coffin and buried it in the potters'
field nearby and when "Aunt" Harrie5,
Henry's mother, died, which was not
long afterwards, for she died of grief,
we gave her decent burial beside her
bad son. give this account to show
that when justice was restored the
lynching ceased and the courts were
respected, and the majesty of the law
upheld.
One other KuKlux tragedy and I
will pass the subject. There was
negro man in the Cross Keys COM
munity, named Mack Bobo, who was
accused of burning Mr.. Andrew Estes
smokehouse, who was arrested and
lodged in the Jail at Union near the
same time that Mat Stevens was
killed, when the big raid was made
on the Jail at Union and eight negroes