Turkey Thieves Outwitted By Small Boy

In last week's story of wild horses in the street, we met Will Graham and Tom Mitchell, who were employed by M.F. Heller at his livery stable and who helped Otis Arrowsmith get the wild horses to the stable and later helped him "break" them. I wondered if there were any more stories about these two men.

Although not the turkey involved in this story, this is an example of a gobbler.

Will Graham likely paid the Town of Kingstree $2 in taxes in 1904, but as there were an abundance of Will Grahams living in the area at the time, it is difficult to determine with any certainty which one Bessie Britton mentioned in her story. Tom Mitchell, on the other hand, is easy to find, and there is another interesting story associated with his family and in which he participated.

Born in North Carolina, Thomas Ashley Mitchell, was living in Kingstree on Logan Street in 1910. He and his wife Hattie had been married for a year at that time, and he was working for Mr. Heller at the livery stable, according to the 1910 census. He was still working for Mr. Heller when he registered for the draft in 1918. 

However, by 1930, he was a farmer, living with his family about two miles outside Kingstree. His family at that time included Hattie, two daughters, Mary and Virginia, two sons, George and Ashton, and his nephew Samuel Conyers, whom he had adopted as a son. In March 1933, one of the sons–the News & Courier account of what took place does not give his name–was an eyewitness to a crime. Samuel, who would have been about seven years old at the time, seems the most likely to have been the one involved, although it could also have been Ashton, who would have been age 10.

The youngster was playing in the Mitchells' yard when he noticed a car stopped near their property. He did not recognize any of the four men who got out of the car. Curious, he stopped his play and watched them closely. According to the News & Courier article, "One of the men...shot down a fine bronze turkey hen which belonged to a flock Mitchell was raising for M.H. Jacobs, a Kingstree merchant."

M. H. "Uncle Monty" Jacobs

While the men busied themselves with getting the turkey in the car, the little boy quietly slipped close enough to the back of the vehicle to see the license plate. He quickly memorized the numbers on the plate, repeating them to himself several times as he waited for the men to leave. Once they did, he hurried inside and told one of his sisters what he had seen. She wrote down the numbers he had memorized from the license plate before telling their father. 

Tom Mitchell called the sheriff's office to report what had happened. The sheriff then called Columbia and was told that the vehicle was registered in Charleston. The sheriff put out the word that he was looking for the car which carried that license plate, and later that evening got a call that it had been spotted at a service station in Kingstree. Law enforcement officers detained the four men, finding that two of them were carrying concealed weapons. The also found the unfortunate turkey, which was still in the vehicle,

Mr. Jacobs declined to press charges against them for shooting his turkey, but the two with the weapons were each charged $25 for carrying a concealed weapon. Once their fines were paid, all four men were allowed to go on their way.

Tom Mitchell's tombstone in Greenlawn Cemetery, Kingstree.

As for Tom Mitchell, he moved back into town before the 1940 census, which lists him living on Longstreet Street. He died in 1958, aged 79. He is buried in Greenlawn Cemetery.