The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1916-12-19

nine Of whom are now married ana
settled in homes Of their own, near
enough to their fathers home so that
all could hear his voice when he call
ed from the front porch. For nine-
teen years their father was secretary
of the Chapel A. NJ. E. church, anu
as it's chief financial prop he was
undoubteuly something OF a dictator;
but aside from that, three days dill
gent conversation did not unearth all
other tagible thing against CraW-
IuIts character.
While he lay on his couch 'S pain
in the Jail, the afternoon W. 'eace-
fully on in Abbeville. For all who ar
rived on the noon train could see no
tragedy was impending more lmml-
men tnan the boil weevil hundred
miles away over in Georgia-not UP
to three forty-dye. Then some evil
/ ,ungue turned loose the rumor, "The
, sheriff is fixing to take the niger
away on the four o'clock train"
No such conception of his duty was
! in the sheriff's mind; indeed, the mob
was making for the Jail as quickly as
he. for Sheriff Burts is not built for
speed. They swarmed in the front
door to meet him coming in the rear.
! Neither he nor Jailer Foster McLain
! made effective protest when they took
away their guns and keys. Up the
three flights of stairs the leaders rush
ed as fast as they could unlock doors
| (for the Abbeville jail in unusually
well built) and let themselves dnto
the cell where the magnificent vitality
of Crawford was battling with death.
They dragged his broken body down
and threw it to Tie cheering t!irong
at the door. Through tie negro quar-
ter they dragged Crawford by :he
neck as a hint to good niggers' to
continue so, but on coming into a
white residential district they threw
their victim on top of passing load
! of slaSs, and SO passed in triumph
! through the streets Of this city OF
handsome homes, surrounded by
we'll kept lawns adorned with late
blooming marigolds and the lovely old
fashioned princess feather.
Although he was dead before they
reached the fair grounds, they hang
ed Crawford to the solitary great pine
that stands in the row of jumpers at
the gate, and expended couple of
hundred cartridges in firing at his
body. Coroner F. w. R. Nance Led
jury up the hill at sunset, good
men and true who, without going
through the formality of taking evi-
dence, announced their verdict that
Anthony P. Crawford came to his
death at the hands of parties unknown
to the jury.
That Saturday night the boys were
drunk and propositions to go out and
clean up Crawfords fifteen children
and their kith and kin met with suc.l
hearty response that, as one eminent
citizen said, "I knew if they ever
| started they'd shoot every nigge-
a,ong that seven miles of road" 50
three or four leading business men
interviewed and postponed the party
. by suggesting meeting on Monday
to settle the fate of the Crawford
family.
The Monday meeting proved as big
an attraction as the Democratic pri-
mary, even Anderson county, twen-
| ty miles to the north, being well repre-
sented. The boys were all for i'm
mediate action. Things were looking
so ugly that Jack Perrin, for thir-
teen years clerk Of the court and one
Of the most respected men in Able
vile, hurried over to the bank and
persuaded its president, Mr.. ]. Allen
Smith, to assert his influence. AS a
/ sop to Cerberus, these eminent -citi-
zens suggested to the riff-raff, the
Cams and the crackers that they
would try to get an agreement with
| the Crawford boys to quiet the state
quietly by November Is. Captain Per-
rim, Mr.. Smith, and ]. IS. Stark, b
dealer in the town, thereupon jumped
; into machine and drove out to the
; Crawford place.
A solemn deliberative assembly was
called in the court house upon their
return, attended by several hundred
people. The three committee men re-
ported that the Crawford boys were
very polite and took off their hats as
good "niggers'' should; and that they
agreed to abandon twenty thousand
dollars worth Of property and quit the
State any time the white citizens OF
Abbeville requested it, although they
would prefer to stay in the home OF
their father and Of their fathers faith
er. A revolver shot interrupted the
words Of the first speaker just as an
expression Of respect for their COM
mittee, the court house in which they
were meeting, the sheriff there pre-
sent, and deliberative assemblis IN
general Cries of run 'em out to-
day and lynch the black bastards,"
was all the applause the leading citt-
~ ronorr