Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1921-09-28
Three Doomed Men, in State
Penitentiary Face Death
in Electric Chair.


in each heart, three of the most not
able criminals South Carolina has
has ever brought to justice, were
snapped at the state penitentiary sby
The Recorders staff Photographer,
Sergeant. The men are S. J. Kirby,
|C. o. Fox and Jesse Gappins, and
they are spending their last few
weeks on earth, for on OctobeE2 81,
one month hence, they pay the death
penalty.
Each of the three presented a diff
ferent study when seen by q repre-
sentative of The Record Tuesday.
Kirby PAGES the front of hiscell
like a Gagged tiger, and today he was
heard to say ri wish it were all
over"
Fox stands and looks through the
bars, his jaw set on his throat, his
eyes covered by a frown. But there
was an audible sob in the throat of
the condemned man when he went
back into his cell today, after stand
ing to have his photograph made.
Gappins, the young boy of the trio.
twenty-five years old, chung to the
bars of his cage and talked freely,
especially of the eternity ahsad of
him. And on his face is an expression
of resignation, and from his heart
there seems to sound a note of eter-
nal hope.
The three men are to die on the Fl.
for the murder of William Brazell,
for which on September 13 they were
condemned to pay the severest pen
atty. The young mar they killed, a
taxi driver in the city of Columbia,
they lured to a lonely spot in the
dead of night, on the highway be-
tween Columbia and Augusta, Ga,
and there they blackjacked him and
then stabbed him to death. Fox stuck
the boys breast, and turning
around, brought to an end the life of
a boy who had done them no harm.
At the hands of a Lexington county
jury on the afternoon of September
10 they were declared guilty, and by
Judge Sease they were condemned to
die. The men are now counting their
days.
Gappins talked freely. He said he
reads mostly his Bible, "the best
thing a fellow in my fix can read, |
guess" He said he had read the story
of Christ on the cross and of his for
giveness of the thief who was dying
nearby. Gappins said he believed any
man would be forgiven who had not
committed the objectionable sin, who
had not rejected God to the limit. II
don't believe I've committed the I'M
%pardonable SIM" the young fellow
volunteered. GAS long as any maj
can get down on his knees and cry
over what he has done and ask for
%giveness, I believe God will listen"
The crime committed by these 8
men stirred the entire Southeast. On
the early morning of August 9 they
hid his body in the field near the
road and drove on towards Georgia.
At Augusta Kirby stopped a passing
automobile and told the story, i'm
plicating two other men. He was ar
rested as were the others. All three
later confessed. A mob tried to take
them from Augusta Jail. They were
secretly taken to Savannah, and from
there they were slipped in dead of
night to Charleston, later being
brought to Columbia under heavy
guard and lodged in the state peni-
Tertiary. Their confessions, the ac-
tivities of the mob and the horror of
the murder put the crime down in
the annals of South Carolina crimi-
nology as one of the most heinous
ever committed in the state.
Friday is "shave day" at the state
penitentiary. The three men will be
clean shaver then. Kirby asked the
photographer today, after being
Snapped" to come back Friday and
get a picture of him with his face
clean-shaven and with his collar on.
He said he wants to leave this picture
for his twelve year old girl.-Colum-
bia Record.
now To Give Quinine To Children.
1RnEIIJNP "a Tire trade.naark name given TO an