The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1922-05-16

The three men, Jeffords, Harrison
and Treece, are now confined in the
regular cell house at the state pen:-
tenitary, their cells being in the up
per tier, each member Of the trio
being several cells apart from his al
legged confederates. Treece at the
penitentiary yesterday afternoon ap-
peared to be the least concerned over
the affair, while Harrison, the small
est and youngest of the trio, showed
the strain under which he must be
laboring by an almost nervous eager
ness to talk. Jeffords appeared to be
somewhat morose and moody.
Native of Columbia
Jeffords is a native Of Columbia
and will be % years old May 25, he
saws. He has lived in Columbia prac-
tical!y his entire life and at the time
of his arrest was living at llO8 Price
avenue. He was employed at the
Columbia compress company for
about - wears, of which Mr.. Annette
was at one time foreman. About six
months ago he became associated
with Mr.. Annette as the now dead
mans partner in the filing station
at the corner of Elmwood avenue and
Main street. Jeffords is married and
/ has one child.
, Harrison, who first told the story
of the crime to the officers, admit
ting. they say, that he struck the first
blow. was born in Hampton county
and is only q years old. His family
however moved to Columbia when
Harrison was only two years old and
he has spent II years Of his life IN
Columbia. Harrison served in tn2
United States navy two years, enlist
ing in Columbia in 1919. His enlist
ment expired last December and he
then returned to Columbia, beginning
work for Jeffords & Annette at the
filing station last February. Harrl-
SON has known Jeffords and Treece
about four years, he said:
Has Prison Record
Harrison is the only one OF the
trio known to have q prison record
and is now in the penitentlary for
mis- second time. He was sent to the
state prison February 10, 1919, from
the mayors court in Lexington coun-
ty to begin the serving Of a six
months sentence for various minor
offenses. A. that time, the prison
records show, ne gave his age as IS,
while his family stated his age as
under IT, according to penitentiary
officials. Ee.was released under ha-
beas corpus proceedings July TO-,
1919.
Glenn Treece is % years old and
! is a native of Asheville, N. c., but
has been living in Columbia since he
was four years old. Treece went to
work as an employee at the filling
station last December, having, like
! Harrison, had some experience in au-
tomobile repair work. Treece, also
! like Harrison, served in the navy, en-
listing in 1918 from Asheville. His
enlistment expired last August.
Only one thing, the fire in the fill
ing station, remains Unexplained by
the alleged admissions made to offi-
GERS by the three men. The blaze
was started at about 1920 o'clock, Of
ficers think, in a pot of gasoline in
the rear room of the filling station,
the pot being placed almost directly
over the spot where Mr.. Annette had
been killed, This fact leads officers
to hold to the theory that the fire was
tstarted in an effort to destroy evil
dence of the crimes having been
committed at the filing station. Both
Harrison and Treece denied any
knowledge of the fire, officers say,
while Jeffords, who has had very lit
tie to say to officers about the crime,
has told officers nothing about the
blaze.
The body of J, C. Annette was car
ried to Kings Mountain, N. c., yes
terday morning, funeral being held
at Kings Mountain at o'clock yes
terday afternoon. M. Annette in
the three years that he had lived ir
Columbia had made a large numbe,
of friends. He was native Of Mon
ticello and was As years old.