Woman Succumbs to Burns

Mrs. Bunion R. Sharpe of Lexington County Dies After Two weeks of Suffering
Special to the State.

Lexington, May 9. ------ Mrs. Bunion R. Sharpe died at her home, near Pelion, this county, today at 1 o’clock after suffering terrible agony for more than two weeks, caused by burns received in a mysterious manner. Yesterday two weeks ago Mrs. Sharpe was standing before the fireplace, when her dress became ignited. Her husband was nearby at the time, but it seems that there was no water in the house at the time, and the unfortunate woman, not knowing what to do, was horribly burned, every vestige of her clothing being burned from her body.

The case has excited considerable interest in the community and all sorts of rumors have been rife.

She is survived by her husband and two little children.

Her remains will be burned tomorrow in the Lucas burying ground, near her late residence.

Source:The State, published as The State; Date: 05-10-1910; Issue: 6786; Page: [1]; Location: Columbia, South Carolina

Merry Christmas

Under the Waters of Lake Murray

One of Hampton’s Horses

One of Hampton’s Horses
      ____________

A Successful Attempt at Horse Stealing in Lexington

On Friday night some rascal broke into the stable of Mr. Frank Hampton at his Lexington farm and stole a fine horse, saddle and bridle. He was traced to a point six miles from Columbia, but there the trail was lost.

The loss was reported at police headquarters and to the sheriff yesterday afternoon, and every effort will be made to capture both the thief and the animal.

The horse is a flea-bitten gray and is fifteen hands high.

Source: The State, 30 Aug 1914, p 5.

 

On His Trail
  ______

Description of the Thief Who Stole Mr. Hampton’s Steed.

Sheriff Rowan yesterday received a letter from a gentleman in Prosperity, stating that he was on the track of the man who stole Mr. Frank Hampton’s horse. He describes him thus: “The man on the horse wears a set of light thin side whiskers with moustache, florid complexion, slender build, wearing straw hat and thin checked summer coat.”

The fellow when seen was on the road to Newberry, and got dinner at a negro house on Saturday evening. At a point two miles from Prosperity he must have turned off, for he did not enter that town. There is but little doubt that  he will be caught.

Source: The State, 1 Sep 1914 p 8.

Lexington Man Hurt in Runaway Accident

Lexington Man Hurt in Runaway Accident
J. H. Hite Was Injured When Horse Became Frightened and Dashed Into Telegraph Pole and Rock

When his horse became frightened near the corner of Lady and Gadsden street, J. H. Hite, who lives about two miles southeast of Lexington, was thrown from his wagon and seriously injured. Mr. Hite was taken to a local infirmary, where it was stated last evening his condition was unchanged.

Mr. Hite stopped his one-horse wagon in front of the store of S. G. Wilson, and getting out, hitched the horse to a large rock. the horse became frightened, broke the lines, and the hitching strop. Mr. Hite jumped in the wagon. The horse ran into a rock and telegraph pole at the corner of Gadsden and Lady streets, throwing Mr. Hite. Mr. Hite, who has many friends in Columbia, is a brother of Walter Hite of the Columbia police department.
Source: The State, December 25, 1912, p1

Mrs. Mary Shaw Dies

Mrs. Mary Shaw, 

Special to The State

Leesville, July 16 – Mrs. Mary Shaw, wife of John Shaw, died at her home Thursday at the age of 84 years. She was a daughter of Jesse Black. Besides a husband and father, she leaves one child. Five brothers, Messrs. Ernest, Virgil, F. C., Dr. J. S., Rev. H. J. Black and two sisters, Mrs. M. Smith and Mrs. Michael Lester.

The body was buried in St Mark’s cemetery Friday.

Source: The State, 17 July 1910, page 3

David Craps Will

 

State of South Carolina
In the Name of God Amen. _____
I, David Craps, of Lexington District, and state aforesaid, being of sound and _____ mind and memory, blessed be God for the same, but calling to mind the uncertainty of life and the certainty of death, do make and ordain this my last will and testament.
1st My will and desire is that all my just debts be paid.
2nd I give to my beloved wife Sarah Craps one hundred acres of land whereon I now live and fifty acres of my adjoining tract whereon my gin house stands known as the Drafts tract, for and during the term of her natural life or widowhood, and in case of either event, the same to be sold and equally divided amongst my children.
3d I give devise and bequeath unto my children my tract of land on Long Branch except one hundred acres, whereon the mill stands, to be equally divided amongst them. The one hundred acres excepted in this clause to be sold and bought by one of my children and the proceeds to be equally divided amongst them.
4th I give devise and bequeath unto my beloved wife Sarah Craps my gray mare and her colt, and a black sow shoat, and her bed and every other species of property she owned when I married her.
5th I give to my daughter Laurah E Craps one bed.
6th My desire is that all my property both real and personal not herein before disposed of to be sold by my executor herein after named, and the proceeds arising there from be equally divided amongst my heirs, here and heare alike.
Lastly I, David Craps, hereby nominate my son, Henry H Craps, and my son-in-law, William T Jumper, Executors to this my will, hereby revoking all other wills by me heretofore made, and declare this to be my will, signed by the said David Craps, as his last will and testament, in the presence of the undersigned who subscribed their names as witnesses to the due execution of this said will on the fourteenth day of January Anno Domini 1865.

Signed, sealed and delivered? in the presence of                                             David Craps
P H Craps
M J Craps
J Kiesler

Source: Family Search.org

Pearl Harbor Day

Col John Marcellus Steedman

18 Sep 1833-7 Jan 1867
Married Henrietta Amanda Spann
Buried first in the Steedman Family Graveyard; moved by his sons to
Batesburg Cemetery, Batesburg SC

As They Were Sitting Around a Bright Winter's Fire

Col. J.M. Steedman, in the vigor of his manhood, and in the midst of his usefulness as one of the best of citizens, came suddenly to his death under the following heart-rending circumstances, illustrating the deplorable state of affairs to which our once peaceful and happy country has come:
Engaged in merchandizing in a part of Lexington District, where since the termination of the war, it became necessary to guard against the depredations of burglars, he and his little family occupied apartments within his store
On the night of the 7th January, as they were sitting around a bright winter’s fire, the doors and windows all bolted or locked, seeming to give security to all within, the dogs, as faithful sentinels, gave evidence of approaching danger without. The Colonel arose, advanced toward the front door, when his wife, taking counsel “from her fears,” from information that day derived from a negro woman, of which she had also advised the Colonel, remonstrated with him against the imprudence of opening it; begging him instead to go up stairs and look out at the window; but this fearless man, having faced danger on many a bloody field during the late war, now that peace prevailed, regarding it as weakness not to feel secure within his own castle, heeded not her gentle admonition. He had barely unlocked and opened the door, when his devoted wife’s worst fears were fully realized by t he report of a gun; the entire load from it having lodged in her husband’s body. He still, however, retaining a proper presence of mind, had barely time to close and bolt the door before the vile assassins-three negro men-were thundering at it, to force an entrance. The Colonel called for his gun; the resolute wife hastily handed it to him. He warned the assailants that so sure as they entered he would shoot them. Still, they knocked, kicked and pushed the door to open it; the wounded Colonel and his feeble, though resolute, wife, pressing in return to keep it closed. What an awful moment! The Colonel, against the foot of the door, still to aid his wife in keeping it closed, directing her, at the same time, to shoot them if they entered. Declaring aloud her purpose to do so, she called the name of one of the fiends, the supposed leader of the band, and told him to go away; that if money was what they were after, they could get none there, as all had been sent away. This, perhaps, with the fear that the Colonel was still able to resist, and would unto death, caused them to desist from further efforts. The Colonel lived but about three hours after receiving the fatal wound; his wife and three little children, with perhaps a nurse, being the only witnesses of the awful scenes within that beleaguered house, not knowing how soon it might be set on fire, and that then they would have to choose between being burned alive or meeting death by violent hands of the murderers of the husband and father, there lying a corpse. The day after the murder, a jury of inquest was properly empanelled by the nearest magistrate, and succeeded in drawing out such evidence from various witnesses as justified the rendering a verdict that they believed the deceased came to his death by a wound from a gun, fire from the hands of one of a party of three negroes-Henry, Emery and Joe-known to have been prowling about the neighborhood doing mischief, and all of whom the jurors aforesaid believed to have been parties to this infamous crime of murder, with intention to rob.
The two former went off with Sherman’s army, and had but recently returned to this part of the county-entirely too lazy to work for an honest living, and fully imbued with the radical idea of equality, boastingly telling other negroes of the various murders they had committed, and saying that they had papers from the “Yankees” which would protect them from harm, do what they would, should the white people here attempt to molest them. Of course they found but few believers in the miraculous stories. Still, it appears they succeeded in making a dupe of the fellow Joe, who became involved with them in their last sad transaction.

 

Find a Grave 

 

Text Source: Spotsylvania Virginia: Crossroads of the Civil War
Photo of Col Steedman: The Lexington Chronicle