Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1918-08-28
LA, SOUTH CAROLINA. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST %, 1o1s
OCoNEE's CORONER IN BAD.
Captured by Deputy Sheriff Boone II.
Moss and Two Other Officers.

Citizens Of Oconee have been watch
ing and hoping for what has at last
taken place. There have been con-
stant rumors going about that CorO-
ner Hal d. Grant, who has been un-
questionably popular among the peo-
pie Of the county, was engaging in
conduct at once unbecoming an off,
Ger of the law and a good citizen
Mr.. Grant had no enemies that we
know of seeking his downfall, but he
had hosts Of friends ready to stand
by him in right living and clean Of
f1ce-holding, who turned when the ru-
mors became SO constant and so
pointed that there was no mistaking
their truth, which lacked but official
confirmation to transform persistent
rumor into actual, unquestioned fact.
And the official confirmation came
suddenly, unexpectedly on the part
of the public last Sunday night about
9 O'Clock when Deputy Sheriff B. r.
Moss, of Walhalla, Rural Policemen
Mitchell, of Westminster, and Cor
bett, of Seneca, overhauled Mr.. Grant
on the lower road at Knox's Bridge,
about three miles from Fair Play.
His companions were Mrs. Henrietta
Williams, (alias Miss Church), about
35 years of age, and her daughter,
| about years old, who goes by the
name Of Williams; Ruth Church,
about 16 years old; and Joe Brown,
former Fair Play darkey. The
party was driving in a Ford touring
car. which was taken in custody,
along with the occupants and ten
gallons of contraband liquor.
The captured party was taken to
the Magistrate at Fair Play, and a
preliminary hearing was waived by
the defendants. Three members of
the party were bound over for ap-
pearance at the November term of
| court, the Coroner being held in the
sum Of $500, Mrs. Williams, alias
Church, In the sum Of $500 and the
negro, Joe Brown, In the sum of
5000. Mr.. Grant also put up bond
In the sum Of an additional $500 for
the release Of his car.
1t had been rumOred for months
that Oconee's Coroner was engaging
In an occupation classed to-day in
Oconee as altogether reprehensible
| even on the part Of private citizens
and unforgivable on the part Of an
| officer who has sworn to uphold the
| laws Of the State and nation. Yet 1t
was hard to catch the Coroner on his
trips in order to prove the truth or
'eAioiSJ VI ShS iepoilo, lol
did not ordinarily sail in the fleet Of
"ships that pass in the night" his
trips being made In the daytime,
when 1t was not thought at all prob
| able that he was hauling liquor. But
the watch was kept-and "his time
came," just as does the time when all
law-viOlators run amuck. And his
| office, thanks to the sturdiness of
Oconee's other. officials and to pub
lie sentiment - which Is to-day
soundly against the traffic in liquor,
| legal or otherwise-could not shield
him. In right living and law-abiding
citizenship Mr.. Grant held as firm a
place in the respect Of the people of
Oconee as any man Oculd; when he
stepped aside from the path Of recti-
| tude as official and citizen, like Cain,
"the hand Of every man was against
him."
And there is rejoicing and regret
| on all sides-rejoicing that what has
been unpleasant suspicion has been
| changed to deplorable truth. and the
suspense removed; regret that a man
| so we'll thought of on all sides should
have SO far forgotten himself as, act
ing in the capacity OF a county off,
cial, to descend to the level of a COM
mon law-breaker.