The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1921-03-23
JUDGE OVERRULES
PLEA FOR BINGHAM
Refuses to Grant Continuance Of
Case
TRIAL TO START THURSDAY
History of Case of Great Interest to
People of South Carolina


this afternoon overruled the motion Of
Attorney A. l.. King for continuance
of the case Of Edmund d. Bigham.
3 Bigham is charged with the murder
of his mother, Mrs. M. M. Bigham,
his sister, Mrs. Margie Black, his
brother, l.. S. Bigham and Leo and
John McCracken, adopted children Of
Mrs. Black
Mr.. Kings motion was based upon
reports of the case in the newspapers,
which he claimed tended to influence
opinion against his client, and also
upon what he termed the present op-
position to Bigham as shown by the
community at large.
He also presented his own affidavit
that he has not been able to secure
the attendance of one person, who he
claimed, is a material witness to the
defense, having knowledge Of insane
members of his family.
Judge Memminger in refusing the
continuance characterized the conten-
.tion of Mr.. King as irrelevant and not
calculated to show that the interests
of Bigham would suffer through be-
ing tried at this time. Witnesses were
then called to appear for the trial of
the case on Thursday.
The case Of Edmund Bigham fur
nishes one Of those rare instances
where the finger of circumstance has
pointed directly at one man, and then
after one little waevrlng turned sud
denly and indicated another in such
way as to impress a community and
a State with the justice of its accusa-
tion.
So unusual was the crime, so brutal
the manner Of it's carrying out, so
contradictory the first and last as
sumptions of the public as to the
blame that the cause will be one that
will be remembered for many years
and cited wherever crime and crim-
inals are discussed.
1t is of first interest to Florence
county, because of the fact that the
principals have from time to time fig
ured in the history of the county and
State and more than once in the
criminal records of South Carolina.
The victims Of the wholesale homi-
eide that shocked the section when
it became known on Saturday, Janu-
ary Is, were Mrs. M. M. Bigham,
widow of l.. Smiley Bigham, for
Mrs. Marjorie A. Black, Mrs. Bighams
daughter and Leo and John Nc
CGackcn, adopted children of Mrs.
Black. A day after the community
surrounding Pamplico, in Florence
county, had been shocked by the news
of the murder of these four, sensa-
ton was piled upon sensation by the
discovery of the dead body Of L..
Smiley Bigham, son of the older
woman, and the man who, up to that
time, had been suspected of the crime.
And it was just there that the whole
aspect of the case changed and that
an pIpn)nnf Of n a prip,o IA Of
until that time had no feature that
cvershadowed its wanton brutality.
Story of Crime
The first story of the crime to get
publicity was that Edmund Bigham
IA brother of Smiley, had left the
Bigham homestead on the afternoon
Of Saturday to see q ncighbor, Bob
Foxworth, Edmund said he had had
dinner with the family and that there
had been nothing to indicate any
trouble in the family. He had been
absent from the house only few
minutes when he returned to see his
aged mother staggering down the
walk to the road, faint from the
wound that caused her death a few
minutes later.
"Smiley has shot me" was the old
woman's cry to her son as he left his
automobile to meet her.
Two neighbors, according to the
son, came up. These were r. D. Gar
rison and Hoyt Rostick Accompa-
MED by them, Bigham said he went
to the back piazza where they found
the mothers cap on the floor and near
it the body of the you~gcst child, John
McCracken. Two hours later the body
Of Mrs. Black was found in the up
stairs room she had occupied. On Il
pile of straw behind a potato bank in
the backyard the scarchers, directed
by Edmund Bigham, found the body
of Leo McCracken, the other adopted
son of Mrs. Black. The child at the
time was not dead and a messenger
was hurried to DR.. POSton Tic died
at 5 o'clock Sunday morning.
According to Edmund Bigham's
story, he had seen his brother Smiley
going toward the woods near the
house just at the time he saw his
mother, wounded, running toward the
road Smiley, he said, carried his right
hand up toward his breast so that if
he had carried q pistol in it it could
not have been seen.
Appeared Depressed
Smiley, Edmund said, had been in
financial difficulties and had often
spoken of them. That Saturday morn
ing his brother had appeared to be
very much depressed. He did not
know that his brother had pistol
In fact, the pistol with which he did
the killing, according to Edmund
had belonged to Edmund. He had left
it in bureau drawer when he went
away to Foxworth's with his wife and
daughters in their automobile
Edmund Bigham's story was cor
roborated in every detail by his wife