The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1921-03-17
Body of Unknown Negro, Robbed
and Murdered, in Lemon Creek

What has every appearance OF be-
ing a murder and robbery came to
light Monday afternoon about 2:30
o'clock when several white boys fish
ing in Lemon swamp discovered the
body Of a dead negro man in the
creek. The boys hastily returned to
Bamberg and reported the discovery
to Sheriff Ray, and by a quick and
clever bit of detective work. Sheriff
Ray had landed a strange negro man
in the county jail within six hours,
charged with the double crime. Both
parties to the crime are strangers in
Bamberg. Both have been seen here
for some days past, and had done
some work here, but neither their
names nor their homes were known
to any of the people in Bamberg,
white or colored.
That the divine Injunction, "your
sins will surely find you out" was
strikingly exemplifed in this case.
Although when the crime was COM
mitted three hundred yards from the
public road to Ehrhardt, in the heart
of a dense swamp, with every indi-
cation that the tracks of the murder
er had been carefully covered and with
little likelihood of the crime becom-
ing known for days, perhaps, it so
happened that the killing was discov-
cred in not more than an hour or two.
The prompt finding of the body was
responsible for the apprehension of
the man charged with the crime. The
accused negro was arrested in Branch
Vile about 5 o'clock in the afternoon,
following a telephone message from
Sheriff Ray, and the negro was
brought to the Bamberg jail at 9
o'clock Monday night.
The boys decided early Monday af-
ternoon they would spend a few
hours fishing in Lemon creek, and
while they we're following the run of
the creek, they discovered the body
Of the man partly exposed. They
made record run for town, reporting
their find. Coroner Zeigler, DR..
Black, Sheriff Ray and others hur-
riedly left for the scene of the
crime. The body of the man was
taken out of the creek, and was
found to have knife cuts on the face
and throat. It was first thought the
crime had been committed several
days, but when closer examination
was made, it was found that the
wounds were fresh, that blood was
still gunning from them, and that
the body was still limp. DR.. Black
was of the opinion that neither OF
the knife wounds would have pro-
duced death, but that the negro
died from drowning, the theory be-
ing that he was probably pushed or
thrown into the creek and that he
was either too weak to help himself
out of the water or that he was un-
conscious at the time. The negro's
left pants pocket was turned out,
while the right pocket contained a
.,,oJ1 of ci1vor
Immediately on getting to the
swamp, Sheriff Ray learned that sew
eral parties had seen two strange ne
groes enter the swamp about 1890
O'Clock, and when he learned this
he hastily returned to Bamberg and
ascertained that two strange negroes
had been seen to get off the IL
O'Clock train, and he also ascertained
that these negroes had been absent
from town for a few hours after
ward, one of them returning an hour
or so later. This caused him to make
inquiry regarding this negro, and the
sheriff found out that he was in Bam-
berg when the boys had reported the
finding of the body, Immediately
after which he became very excited
and went to several colored transfer
drivers seeking to get out of town.
He offered one driver $500 to take
him to Orangeburg. This driver
could not go, and he went to Fletcher
Breeland and offered him $3.50 to
take him to any town nearby. He
finally made arrangements with
Breeland to take him away, but no
one in Bamberg knew at the time
his destination.
This called for hasty action if the
culprit was to be landed, and the
sheriff Immediately put in calls for
Orangeburg and Branchville, request
ing the arrest of the party. About
fifteen minutes after the Branchville
call had gone through, the sheriff
received. a summons to the telephone,