Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1918-08-28

ants for some office work they were
to accomplish together later in the
day, and after communicating with
Orangeburg relative to a trip he in
tended to take there Sunday, he left
the State House for his home.
Cleaning Gun.
Reaching the McGregor residence
he went into a room across from his
own and asked j. C.. Whitaker, who
was complaining Of a headache, how
he was feeling. He likewise inquired
for some rags to clean his gun.
Shortly afterwards Mr.. Whitaker said
he heard gun shot In Mr.. Sawyer's
room and Immediately rushed into It.
He found Mr.. Sawyer lying on his
back IN front of dresser, with his
20-gauge shotgun lying by his right
side. He picked up his head, he
said. and inquired how the accident
happened. Mr.. Sawyep gave no rec
ognition and apparently was dead.
He said this happened not later
than one-half minute after he heard
the shot. The body was lying in a
pool Of blood and hole was drilled
through the neck, said Mr. Whitaker.
DR.. w. A. Boyd, who reached Mr..
Sawyer shortly after the accident,
said that apparently the deceased had
bled to death from the wound, which
was small hole drilled through the
center Of the neck by No. 6 or Z bird
shot, Just above the base of the col
lar bone.
There was a dark discoloration
around the entrance to the wound, he
testified at the coroner's inquset. He
said that If Mr.. Sawyer had commit
ted suicide he took an unusual way
to do it, as he had never heard of a
case where the victim shot himself
through the neck He usually
chooses the temple. He further test
fed, that in his opinion If the gun
had been held to the throat the
wound would have been considerably
ploded the gun barrel Apparently,
he said, the shot was fired short
distance from the throat.
The theory is that Mr.. Sawyer, who
apparently was cleaning the gun at
that time, from the evidence adduced
at the inquest, turned over the bottle
OF oil on the dresser and in reaching
for 1T, in some manner exploded one
Of the shells in the gun. One of the
barrels Of the gun was fired and the
other contained loaded shell. On
the dresser there was bottle of oil,
which he took with him from the
State, House, according to several of
the attaches there who saw him leave
with it.
IInivecs0l SOrrnxv
There was deep sorrow at the un-
timely death of Mr.. Sawyer expressed
by Governor Manning and other State
officials and the citizens Of Columbia
generally. The Comptroller General
was one Of the most popular men in
the city, particularly among the So
cial set, of which he was a leader.
He had made an exceptionally COM
petent State official, as is atteSted by
the fact that he was unopposed In the
primary of 1915 and again this year.
Carlton Wilkes Sawyer, who sue
ceeded A. w. Jones, chairman Of the
State Tax Commission, as Comptrol-
ler General, April 1915, as an ap-
poin'tee Of Governor Manning, was q
native Of Orangeburg county, having
been born at Sawyerdale in that
county, 80 years ago. He was the
youngest Of eight children. His mo-
ther was elizabeth Bamberg, a
daughter Of Isaac Bamberg, former
State Treasurer, and the late Gen.
Francis Marion Bamberg, of Bam-
berg, who died shortly after his
birth. His father, Wilkes Sawyer,
then moved the family to the town
Of Orangeburg in 1887, In order to
oh Cot ho-
served the State throughout the War
Between the States as a member Of
Company A, First South Carolina
Volunteers, (Hagood's Reglment), :,
and following the war, he engaged in
farming until his death, in 1888.
Carlton w. Sawyer. in 1890, was
sent to Columbia, where he attended
the city graded schools, there remain
Ing for four years, later attending
the South Carolina Military Acad-
emy, at Charleston, from 1895 to
1898. After leaving the Citadel he
kept books for few months in the
Bamberg Cotton Mills, then return
ing to Columbia, where he undertook
work for wholesale firm, later be-
coming Its secretary
In 1906, a year after the General
Assembly passed the corporation IL
cense tax, the Comptroller General
found 1t necessary to secure more
help in order to carry out the law,
and Mr. Sawyer was appointed by
Comptroller Jones as license clerk,
and In ]910 was promoted to chief
clerk, the position he held when he
was commissioned Comptroller Gen.
eral. Ills administration, because of
his experience as an accountant and
his knowledge OF the tax problems of
the State, caused him to be elected
in 1916 and he entered the race un-