The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1920-10-05
,EX-MOONSHINER
ELECTED SHERIFF
Carlos Rector, Brother of Hendrix,
Who Was Sho: Down, Once Dis
titled "White Lightning g"-Will
Try for Seat IN Congress Next
Time.

l.ItS.
Greenv;llc, Oct. 2.-Fiery of
face, lean Of waist, and raw boned,
Carlos \. Rector, who was elected re-
Gently to become sheriff Of Greenvilie
county next January, used to shoot
apples off the top OF his brothers
head to entertain his barefoot friends
when they would call upon him at his
parents hut way back in the heart
of the Blue Ridge mountains.
Mountaineers for miles and miles
around marveled at the expert man.
ner at which Carlos and his brother,
Hendrix, handled the rife in making
close shave shots with each other az
human targets. Hendrix was elected
sheriff in 1908 and was serving his
third wear of his second term when
he was shot and killed on July 4,
1919, by Jake Gosncll, deputy collec-
tor of internal revenue, as result OF
old political strife. Carlos was then
prevailed upon to make the race and
he defeated SIX opponents, including
Capt. Sam D. Willis, who was wound
ed in France, and who was appointed
by Governor Cooper as sheriff to fill
out the unexpired term OF the late
Hendrix Rector.
Product of Log Cabin.
Both Hendrix and Carlos Rector,
together with their brother, Jeff, who
followed General Pershing into Mex
leo and France, and was decorated
for bravery, were born and sralsed''
in little log cabin in what is known
as the clark corner" because for
years and years it was a lair OF
moonshiners, and still is. The Rec
tor boys, like all others who first saw
the light Of day in this dismal Sec
E; ton, did not think it any harm to
make moonshine liquor. It was their
belief-and this opinion still holds
with most mountaineers today-that
they had God given right to do as
they please with scanty crib OF corn
which they managed to raise on the
hill sides. So, they distilled white
lightning" to sell and to drink. About
| 12 years ago Carlos Rector became
intensely interested in a religious "re-
vival" and was converted into the be-
lief that "riaRiS liquor" was al!
wrong-it was not the strong arm OF
the law that changed him, but the
words CT a mouatain "sky pilot" He
even went out himself and beseeched
i his fellow mountaineers to abandon
the still and make an honest living.
Among those who needed the appeal
and reformed was his brother, Hen
dirk, and from .then on they gave
their hearts to lsw enforcement. Hen
dirk Rector was elected magistrate
and Carlos served as constable.
! Goes to creenville.
Then Hendrix moved to Green
: vile and within a short time this
Zion Of the mountains" became a
Ion in politics. and was elected
sheriff, but rot without stirring up
political feuds because he defeated
the sci,n Of ore of the oldest and
most aggressive political families in
the state. His spectacular career
ended when three shots from a gun
caused his big heart to cease beat
ing 90 minutes past IL o'clock, noon,
! July 4, 1915, at a local garage.
Awaiting SECOND trial for the al
legged murder is Jake Gosnell, a
i, "reveauer," the jury having failed
to agree upon a verdict at the first
hearing. Carlos Rector, who was
then deputy collector Of internal rev.
enue, yielded to the solicitations of
friends to ran for sheriff, and after
a strenuous campaign, fraught with
bitterness, he has been nominated to
the highest Office in the gift of the
people of the county.
"Not often does it fall to the lot OF
on old woman of the mountains to be
the mother of two sheriffs of a great
County like Greenville in the grand
old state of South Carolina" was an
expression CT gratitude that poured
out from the heart Of Mrs. ). w.
Rector, who is more than 80 years
old and active for her age.
Congress Hi. Next Goal.
Carlos A. Rector, SO years OF age,
said that it was his earnest ambition
to some day be elected to the seat IN
congress to which his late brother as
.pired. Vixen Hendrix Rector, on a
visit to Wash. ston for the first tlme'
picked out in the capitol what he said