The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1920-02-12
FOUR ARE DEAD
AND MANY WOUNDED
MILITIA USES MACHINE Gun
WITH FATAL RESULTS.
Mob Attempting to Rush Court Hon>e
is Halted When Soldiers Open
Fire.


Lexington, KY, Feb. 9-Martial
law prevails here tonight. Six hun
dred federal and Stale troops are pa
trolling he streets TO prevent further
rioting which during the day eXacted
a toll of four dead and fifteen wound
ed.
The city was quiet early tonight,
but authorities fear recurrence OF
violence. Five hundred additional
United States troops aIe en- route
from Camp Taylor. Ky.
Lexington and all uf Fare.te Ccun-
ty was placed under martial law at
8 o'clock by Brig. Gen. F. =. Mar
shall upon his arrival frolE Camp
Taylor with 800 troops of the famous
First division, which helpcu repulse
tn, Germans at Chateau Thi'.r!.
Rioting began this morning wien
q mob bent on lynching william Lock-
EFT, a negro who confessed 20 The
last week of ten year old
Geneva Hardman, was firc1 upon
with rifles and machine guns by state
as the mob was storming
the Fayette county courthouse TO get
the negro during his trial.
Had Just Confessed.
The attempt to lynch Lockett was
made just after he had confessed to
the murder and as the jury found
him guilty of murder in the first de-
gree. He was sentenced to die in the
electric chair March IL.
The shooting temporarily disper-
sed the mob and gave the authorities
time in which TO rush Lockett to a
secret place of safety. The mob re-
formed, however, and looted pawn
shops and hadware stores to get fire
arms.
Following an attack upon the hand
full of national guardsmen on duty,
the authorities appealed to Governor
Morrow for assistance. AS a result
800 troops, members of the Twenty
sixth and Twenty-eight infantry ar
rived at clock on special train
from Camp Taylor.
The federal troops Immediately be-
gan the work of patrolling the streets
to keep crowds from congregating.
Lockett, arrested last Tuesday
night and held in the State peniten-
tiary at Frankfort for safe keeping,
was indicted last week and was
brought here on special train this
for trial. He was heavily
guarded.
Hundreds of farmers from the sur
country arrived early TO at
tend the trial, and sullenly watched
the prisoner as he was marched from
the train to the courthouse between
lines of State troopers. When the
trial opened, the court room was
crowded to capacity. Everyone was
searched for firearms before being
to the courthouse. Hundreds
were unable to gain admission TO the
court room and congregated in the
street in front of the courthouse.
Lets Get Him."
The cry, Lets get him." from a
brawny farmer on the outskirts of
the crowd, turned the crowd into a
mob which began surging toward the
entrance to the building. Soldiers
and police dropped back into close
formation and trained their guns OH
the mob, which never hesitaieG.
Adjt. Gen. Deweese, in command
of the militiamen, shouted final
warning TO the crowd and then fired a
revolver into the air. 1t was the sig
nal for the troops TO fire.
Soldiers and police fired point
blank into the crowd and a nearby
machine gun ratified From the Win
dows of the court room above anOth-
er hail of bullets spattered down on
the asphalt street.
Four men fell at the first volley.
The mob. which had surged half
way up the steps, pressed back and
broke. Quick action on the part of
the authorities got the negro out OF
the building.
Those killed in the clash were r
E. Carrier, and L. NJ. King, both OF
Lexington and John Thomas and
William Ellington, both of Versailles
Among those wounded were j. W.
Stansell, w. J. Rose, Otis Sharp, En-
met Dozier, Irwin Gwynn, Emmett D.
Anziger, Fred Swoders, S. C. Wealth
ers, Mrs. f. T. Cross. James Massey
gall and ]. w. Rogers.
Failed in it's first attempt TO get
the prisoner the mob broke up into
small crowds. which paid hurried WIS.,
its TO all of the pawnshops and hard
ware stores in the city in n quest for
firearms. There were ominous NUT
terings on all sides. In some stores
as many as fifty or sixty revolvers
and guns were seized.