Hon. T. G. McLeod -

Pink Gaddy (or Gady), Aiken.

Robert L. McIlhony, Deputy Sheriff at Aiken.

Marion Bell, Captain of the Chain gang.

J. Pierce Howard, Blacksmith at Aiken, brother of the late
Sheriff H. H. Howard.

Walter Sheppard, Magistrate's Constable for D. H. Turner
and industrial Constable for the Graniteville Manufacturing Com-
pany.

Arthur Sheppard, Deputy Sheriff at Aiken.

Chester Anderson who works for the Carolina Light and Power
Company.

Ben Tyler, Superintendent of Streets of Aiken.

Joe M. Holley (called "Little Joe"), automobile salesman at
Aiken.

Hart from Edgefield who is Special State Constable
for Your Honor, the Governor of South Carolina.

Ed Anderson, Special Constable for the Governor.

Jim Woodward, Aiken Policeman who wore his uniform to the
lynching.

Ussery, Policeman at Aiken.

John Edwin Stansfield, Attorney at law whose office is in the
Farmers' and Merchants' bank Building in Aiken.

Eugene R. Buckingham, Ellenton. Mr. Buckingham, I am informed
was Master of Ceremonies at the lynching. He served three terms in
the South Carolina Legislature, is a farmer at Ellenton 23 miles
from Aiken, is a graduate of Citadel and is a loyal supporter and
adherent of United States Senator Cole Blease.

J. Crosslene Bush, farmer and merchant at Ellenton, member of
the Grand Jury which investigated the lynchings.

Nollie Robinson, Sheriff at Aiken.

John B. Salley, Traffic Policeman, Aiken.

Rupert W. Taylor, Jailer at the Aiken Jail.

Otto Sommers, butcher, Aiken. Mr. Sommer's father was, I am
informed, the first mayor of Aiken and took office in or about 1892.

John Widener, Constable at Bath, S. C.

Artis Kennedy, Aiken.

James E. Kerr, newspaper correspondent, was "close around."

Hon. T. G. McLeod - 4

I am informed that J. B. Hart, J. E. Anderson and Policeman Ussery acted as sentinels while A. D. Sheppard and Chester Anderson cut the electric wire (furnishing light to the jail) at a point 8 miles west of Aiken and 3 miles west of Graniteville. I am informed that John Calhoun Parker, R.F.D. Mail Carrier from the Warrenville Post Office told Postmaster Theodore Craig that he had been told on his route that the car containing the wire cutters had been traced to Deputy Sheriff Arthur Sheppard's yard. I am further informed as result of threats against his life, Parker has become terrified and how will not discuss the case.

In addition to the above list, I am informed that the following persons were spectators at the lynchings:

Branson, President of the Graniteville Manufacturing Company.

George H. Leightner, Vice President of the Graniteville Manufacturing Company.

Woodhead, Superintendent of the Gregg Dye Plant, Graniteville.

J. B. Williams, Superintendent of the Textile Mills, Graniteville.

C. S. Timmerman, Superintendent of the Warrenville Mill of the Graniteville Manufacturing Company.

Whitehead, Overseer of the Carding Department of the two mills at Graniteville. Mr. Whitehead is also Master of the Masonic Lodge At Graniteville. He did not get him until 5 A. M., October 8th.

Edgar L. Couch, undertaker and funeral director at Graniteville.

Charles Kenney, Second Cousin of Your Honor, the Governor. Mr. Kenney is, as you know, a merchandise storekeeper whose store is opposite the railway station at Warrenville. I am informed also that two other cousins of Your Honor, brothers of Charles Kenney, were present.

To return for a minute to the time when the prisoners were taken from the jail. There is incarcerated at the present time in the Aiken jail a white man by the name of E. A. Worley who was convicted either of man-slaughter or murder and whose case is now on appeal to the South Carolina Supreme Court. I am informed that Mr. Worley was stabbed by the son of his wife and that on the following day we went to Worley's house after having made the threat that he would kill Worley. A number of eminent citizens in and near Aiken expressed the unqualified conviction that the severity of the prosecution of Worley is due to the feeling that Worley opposed the illicit distilling and sale of whiskey and that the Whiskey King wanted to get him out of the way so he could not interfere. Worley, I am informer, saw Robinson, McIlheny, Sheppard and Salley take Bertha Lowman from her cell on the morning of October 8th. An effort was made on either October 14th or 15th to organize a mob to go to the Aiken Jail and lynch Worley to keep him from telling these facts. May I respectfully urge that Your Honor, the Governor, have Mr. Worley moved from the Aiken Jail to the penitentiary at Columbia for it is felt that he will be either lynched, poisoned, or done away with in some manner if he is allowed to remain in

Hon. T. G. McLeod - 5

the Aiken Jail.

Present in the Aiken Jail also at the time of the lynching
were three other men (and doubtless others who could be induced to talk
if they were sure of protection from vengeance). The names of these men
are: Wade Franklin, a white man arrested October 3rd in a car with Robert
Jordan and Berley Doolittle, charged with violation of the Liquor Law.
Wade Franklin was convicted during the week of October 18th at Aiken and
sentenced to one year on the Aiken Chain gang. Jordan and Doolittle were
acquitted the same week. The live in Augusta and work at the Sibley Cot-
ton Mill.

Sam Lowman, father of Demon and Bertha Lowman and uncle of
Clarence Lowman, who was recently moved from the Aiken Chain gang to the
penitentiary at Columbia was also in the jail that night and says that no
mob entered the jail.

Returning again to the lynching - on the way from the jail
Clarence Lowman, 14 years of age at the time Sheriff Howard was killed
and 15 years old when he was lynched, jumped from the car which was tak-
ing him from the jail to the scene of his death. Clarence was shot and re-
captured. I am informed that to keep blood from getting in the car, a rope
was tied to Clarence and to the car and his body was dragged in this manner
to the scene of the execution. The mob went out York Street on the Dixie
Highway to a point about 1/2 to 2 miles from Aiken near a Tourist Camp. I
am informed that Bertha Lowman begged so piteously for her life that mem-
bers of the mob had a hard time killing her. After being shot she dragged
herself over the ground pleading piteously not to be killed moving about
as she did so. A number of shots had to be fired before one of the bullets
mercifully ended her agony and caused her death.

Pierce Howard, so I am informed, was to have had the honor of
being the Executioner but his nerve failed him. I am informed that Deputy
Sheriffs McElheny and Walter Sheppard and Marion Bell, Chain gang Captain,
were chief executioners assisted by Pink Gaddy (or Gady) and Gary Seigler.

John Stansfield, I am informed, stated on the streets of Aiken
to at least one man whose name I can furnish you that he (Stansfield) "did
not get home until 6 A.M. Friday morning and his wife gave him the devil
for staying out so late".

Several men were invited to come to the lynching who were not
members of the Klan. This, it is believed in Aiken, was done in an effort
to establish the fact subsequent to the lynching that it was not a Klan
affair. I am informed that this effort met with no success. The late
Sheriff Howard, the present Sheriff Robinson, his deputies and all of the
members of the mob were members of the Klan. I can furnish you with doc-
umentary proof from South Carolina sources of the correctness of this state-
ment.

A responsible and well known citizen of South Carolina further
stated to me that as soon as the news got out about the murders certain
people involved in them in an effort to cover up their guilt and to "muddy
the waters" tried to precipitate a race riot. These persons, I am informed,
went about frightening the white people, telling them that the Negroes were
armed and were going to rise at night and kill all of the white people. It
is unnecessary for me to state that there was no evidence whatever to sub-
stantiate such a charge.

Hon. T. G. McLeod -

Finally, may I emphasize the fact that there is a very considerable and influential element in Aiken which is bitterly opposed to the lynching and which is very anxious that steps be taken to punish the lynchers. For example, Col. Sawyer, on the afternoon preceding the lynching and subsequent to the adjournment of Court told Judge Lanham that he feared a lynching had been planned. He also told Bert D. Carter of Bamberg the Solicitor who prosecuted the Lowmans, of his fears. Carter walked away from Col. Sawyer saying, "I have not seen any signs of any trouble." The news of the approaching was widely known in Columbia one hour after the directed verdict and nine hours prior to the lynching. The crowd which went to the jaul numbered between 30 and 40, so I am informed, but at the scene of the lynching there were upward of 200 automobiles and over 1,000 people. The lynchers came from Graniteville, Warrenville, Columbia and other points. All were ready and had been given ample notice.

This entire trouble at Aiken appears to be an outgrowth of the Klan and its activities. The element of the membership which acted as a restraining influence from the early days of the organization of the Klan has largely regisred leaving it in the hands of an irresponsible, vicious and criminal element. There is in the vicinity of Aiken and in the towns nearby a very extensive business of distilling of liquor and transportation and sale of same as well as other criminal practices. There have been floggings and even murders as result of this reign of lawlessness and barbarity. A number of white men as well as Negroes have been flogged and killed and the more law abiding and respectable element is living in constant terror. In all my experience, I have never before seen such a reign of lawlessness as exists in and near Aiken.

I am placing these facts before you at such great length that you may have the benefit of my investigation and that you and the state of South Carolina may take such steps as you feel disposed to take to appre- hend the lynchers of the three Lowmans, to punish them adequately for the murder and to end the state of lawlessness that now exists. I have reasons to believe that as set forth above many of the law enforcement officers who should be apprehending criminals are not only protecting these criminals but engaged in criminal practices themselves. I can, if you desire it and if you will give assurance that they will be protected from the vengeance of those responsible for the present condition, supply you with the names and addresses of reputable citizens of South Carolina who can furnish personal and documentary corroboration of the statements which I have made above.

If you care to do so, you may communicate with me in the core of Herbert Bayard Swoepe, Executive Editor of the New York World, Pulitzer Building, New York.

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