The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1922-06-15
NEW TRIAL.
BIGHAM REFUSED
Continued from page y

1iO'iA PeS~ -
He said in the postal matter the
shortage was never shown to be over
81 and the inspector dismissed the
charge.
Began Cain made affidavit that he
married Leatha Cain in 1914 and
lived with her till her death in 1920.
He knew the details of the Bigham
family's business affairs. He knew
Smiley never owed Edmund any $780,
600, or anything else save s4OO on
account of Cleveland. He read the
letters and averred his wife or R. A.
Black always wrote Smiley's letters
on the typewriter. They were in
conceivable to him. He was at the
Florence county Jail from 1917 to
1920 and Smiley used to stay there
a great deal and he always used his
own personal letterheads or letter
heads of Sheriff Burch instead of
plain sheets such as the letters were
written on. He was convinced that
Smiley never wrote or dictated the
letters in question. His style always
was to sign himself "your brother
and never "L. S. Bigham." The saw
mill in question was set up in 1915
or 1916 and the idea Of conveying
the lands to Edmund was preposter-
Gus as the titles of fve-siXths of them
were in his wife and one-sixth of them
in Mrs. Blacks. Smiley never owed
Edmund anything save S4OO for Cleve-
land. Edmund came here and never
claimed anything. He denied the
charge that their mother and Mrs.
Black ever tried to poison his chill
dren. And there never was a type
writer in the home.
r. Kennedy Rutledge, active vice
president of the First National Bank,
swore he had compared carefully the
signatures of the checks and of the
letters and said the signatures on the
letters were forgeries. He noted diff
ferences in characteristics. The writ
ing on the check was free and easy
and light, while the stroke on the
letters was rigid and painstaking, as
if it had been traced.
S. II. Husbands, cashier of the First
National, made practically the same
affidavit, with the addition that in
all their correspondence with Smiley
they never had received any type
written letter from him.
Here the defense put L. M. Cole
man, now cashier of the Farmers and
Merchants Bank Of Pamplico, upon
the stand with notes, which the bank
holds as the notes made and signed
by Smiley Bigham. He was unable
to swear that Smiley signed them
as they were made before he was
cashier and he had not seen him sign
them.
Also at this time, Mr.. Gasque an
nounced that he expected to have
w. M. Gregg, formerly cashier of this
bank, here today from Roanoke, Va,
but that he had not been able to
reach here in time due to delayed
message by the Western Union. If
Mr.. Gregg had been here, according
to a letter he wrote to his brother
at Mars Bluff he would have sworn
that on one occasion Edmund had forg-
ed Smiley's name so adeptly to check
that the bank had paid it and it had
passed the First National Bank too,
not being detected till Smiley found
it among his cancelled checks.
= w. B. Meadors also made an aff-
davit for the state, stating that he
was rot acquainted with Smiley and
did not know his handwriting, but
based his opinion wholly on COM
pariscn.
E. o. White, superintendent of the
Pamplico schools at the time Of the
killing and just prior to it, was put
ON the stand then to testify that Ed
mund's children entered school Sep
tember 20, 1920 and were there till
January II, every day, till they were
out to attend the funerals of the muir
dered Bighams. This was supposed
to offset the letters written during
this period.
w. T. Hyman made affidavit also
for the state that he had been in the
habit of signing the fertilizer notes
for Smiley and had not done anything
unusual for the year he was killed.
He related in detail their financial
dealings leading up to the killing.
He said he was a close friend of the
Bigham family, had read the letters,
never knew of Smiley ever having
to live away from home, or of him