A Most Brutal and Horrible Deed

Last week we looked at the February 22, 1889, fire at the Williamsburg County Courthouse. Eight years later, on February 22, 1897, Kingstree residents awoke to the news that Frazier Baker, the African American postmaster at Lake City, had been assassinated by a white mob, along with his baby daughter, Julia. Four other members of the Baker family had been wounded in the assault, and the post office and their home had been burned.

Frazier B. Baker

Later that day, Williamsburg County Coroner Henry M. Burrows convened a coroner's jury of both white and black men at the scene of the crime. They then went to the house where the surviving Baker family members were staying, as the family members were the only eyewitnesses available. A reporter for The County Record, who likely was the owner Louis Bristow, was also present at the inquest and was allowed to talk to family members, as well.

The reporter noted that speaking with the survivors was "heartrending." Lavinia Baker, widow of the postmaster, testified to the coroner's jury, and later in court, that the family was awakened at 1 a.m. by a fire in their home. As her husband and oldest daughter attempted to put out the blaze, she aroused the younger children. They could hear the mob outside the house and shortly after the fire started, shots were fired into the house. Lavinia Baker said her husband decided they should make an attempt to escape. She quoted him as saying "We might as well die running as standing." Mrs. Baker picked up the baby, and as she turned to flee, the child was shot, dying instantly in her arms. Mr. Baker opened the door and he, too, was gunned down. He fell back against his wife, also dying almost instantly. Her other children then began to scream that they, too, had been shot, although their wounds were to their extremities and not life-threatening. The family fled the house, and to their surprise, the mob disbursed once the men realized the family had left the building. The family hid in a field across the railroad tracks until they were certain it was safe to go to a neighbor's house where they spent the rest of the night. The next morning, they moved to a friend's home, where the inquest was later conducted. Later, they went to Charleston, where Mrs. Baker and three of her remaining children were treated for their gunshot wounds. Only two children were unhurt.

Lavinia Baker and her surviving children.

Newspapers across the state generally condemned the action of the mob, but no one was more vocal in calling for justice for the Bakers than 22-year-old Louis Bristow, owner and editor of The County Record. The initial story in The County Record began, "One of the most brutal and horrible deeds that had ever occurred in this state..." It went on to note that the assassination was "without parallel in the history of this county."

He noted, as well, that Baker had faced much tribulation at the hands of the citizens of Lake City since his appointment in August 1897. Shortly after his appointment, he was shot, although his wound was not serious. In December 1897, the assistant postmaster, who was also black, had been ambushed and shot, as well. He, too, was not seriously injured. The month before the assassination, the post office building had been set on fire and burned to the ground. That had stopped mail delivery to Lake City, but two weeks before the assassination, Baker had moved the post office into an old, abandoned two-room school building. He operated the post office from the front room, while his family lived in the other. The Wednesday night before the assassination, someone had fired shots into the building.

Louis J. Bristow

Like editorials in many other papers, Bristow acknowledged that the patrons of the Lake City post office might have had reason to complain about the service they were getting, but "that fact was no excuse for so wanton a crime as was committed. The deed was that of fiends in human form, and the perpetrators of it should be brought to justice and made to suffer for their crime."

The next week, Bristow interviewed a postal inspector who had been sent to investigate on behalf of the U.S. Post Office. The inspector argued that while Baker had not had prior experience in public service, he was certainly not incompetent as Lake City's white residents claimed for he had been certified to teach by the State of South Carolina. The inspector noted that Baker's letters to the department were just as well-written as those from white postmasters. He also noted that the department had been investigating the complaints that had been filed, although he verified that no formal opposition had been raised at Baker's initial appointment.

Bristow was also quick to squelch another rumor that had taken hold in Lake City. It was widely rumored there that the black men of Kingstree had met and were planning to converge on Lake City and burn the town. Bristow noted that while he, too, had heard rumors of a meeting, he could say with certainty that no one had left Kingstree for Lake City on the night in question. He also printed a letter to the editor from James Tharpe, one of the leading African-American residents of Kingstree. Bristow noted that Tharpe was a leader in political affairs, had once served as Probate Judge for Williamsburg County, and had been elected to several terms on the Kingstree Town Council. In his letter Tharpe deplored the violence and concluded, "Concerning the meeting of indignation said to have been held by the colored people of this community, I know nothing and I do not believe that any prominent or respectable colored men had anything to do with it."

An illustration of the event as printed in a Boston newspaper.

In the same issue of The County Record as Tharpe's letter, Bristow offered a searing editorial, aimed at the perpetrators of the violence on the Baker family. "How can a married man pillow his head by the side of that of a pure, confiding, innocent wife without feeling that he is no longer her protector but one from whom she would recoil in horror did she only know that he was a red-handed murderer?" he asked. "How can he ever sit in the church of God, joining in with Christians in His worship, with the full knowledge of his guilt?" He concluded with these words, "Think of all this and see how you would feel if you were a member of that grief-stricken family?"

But Bristow wasn't finished. He also took the Williamsburg County Grand Jury to task for not mentioning the assassination in its final report, which had been completed after the incident. He noted that while he believed it was an oversight on the part of the grand jury, it was one that could not be forgiven because there should have been some mention of "one of the bloodiest, blackest, most heinous crimes ever committed in a Christian land. By their silence has the Grand Jury of Williamsburg County condoned the most horrible crime ever committed in South Carolina."

Later in 1898, The Charleston News & Courier printed a detailed story about Kingstree. In its profile of Louis Bristow, it noted that after Bristow's strong stand for justice against the white lynch mob that had killed the black postmaster, Bristow was boycotted by a number of his subscribers and advertisers for having the courage to speak out. He was personally attacked in an editorial in the Lake City newspaper for his call for justice for the family and the punishment of the perpetrators.

Historic marker commemorating the death of Postmaster Frazier B. Baker.

Months passed before 13 white men were charged with the crime. By that time, the Spanish-American War had broken out in Cuba, and Bristow had enlisted, leaving The County Record in the hands of C.W.Wolfe, to whom he would later that year sell the paper. 

Two of the 13 men accused pleaded guilty and provided evidence against their co-defendants in exchange for having the charges against them dropped. The remaining 11 men were tried in federal district court in Charleston in April 1899. The jury deliberated 22 hours without reaching a verdict. The case was never retried. Lavinia Baker and her children moved to Boston where they lived for a number of years. Sadly, four of the remaining children died of tuberculosis. Mrs. Baker then returned to Florence County where she lived until her death in 1947.

Damon L. Fordham devotes a chapter to the Frazier Baker lynching in his

book True Stories of Black South Carolina.

In 2013, a historic marker was erected commemorating the horrible events which transpired on February 22, 1898. Last year, on the anniversary, the post office in Lake City was renamed the Frazier Baker post office.

One other spine-chilling piece of information concerning this tragedy is that in May 1898, a number of Charleston's concerned African-Americans met at Emmanuel AME Church, where they took up a collection for the Baker family. One hundred and seventeen years later on a June evening in 2015, Emmanuel AME itself would become the scene of another brutal and horrible deed in South Carolina when Dylan Roof shot and killed nine members at a Bible study.

1886 Earthquake Blamed for 1889 Courthouse Fire

On page 462 of William Willis Boddie's History of Williamsburg, he states, "In 1883, the second story of the County Court House was burned." I've always thought it odd that no month or day was given, just the year 1883. It would seem that an event as momentous as a fire in the county courthouse would be remembered down to the hour of its occurrence.

The Williamsburg County Courthouse after it was rebuilt.

Several weeks ago, I spent the better part of a morning trying to find newspaper accounts of the fire. I found nothing, leaving me to suspect that the fire didn't occur in 1883. 

Last week, while searching for something else entirely, I ran across this article in the February 27, 1889, issue of the Yorkville Enquirer, York, South Carolina: The Courthouse at Kingstree was burned by an accidental fire about noon last Friday. The courthouse was situated in the business portion of the town, and for some time it looked as though the Coleman House and several stores near would also be lost, but by hard work, the fire was confined to the one building, the destruction of which is complete. The county records were all saved.

Okay, so I now had a date, but this article differed from Boddie's description significantly. Boddie wrote, "When the fire was discovered, the county officials who had their records in their offices on the ground floor very quickly removed their books and papers from these offices. The second story was burning for three days, during which time the officials learned that their offices were fire proof and began using them before the embers above had ceased to burn." So the newspaper article said the building was completely destroyed, but Boddie was positive the ground floor was unharmed.

A wide-angle view of the Williamsburg County Courthouse as it looks today.

A search for other accounts in 1889 turned up a number of stories. The most complete was in the February 27, 1889, issue of The Manning Times.

From that I learned that about 11 a.m. on Friday, February 22, someone noticed flames on the roof of the courthouse. According to The Times, "As soon as it was known that the building was burning, several men endeavored to enter the courtroom, but owing to the dense smoke, they were unable to remain there. Everybody then turned their attention to the offices in the lower part of the building, and everything of value was removed to a place of safety."

The Times then verifies Boddie's assertion that the lower floor was not destroyed in the fire by stating, "The work of cleaning the offices was altogether useless as the whole lower portion of the building remains intact; but, of course, this could not be foreseen." Whether or not officials went about conducting business in their offices while the fire still burned is not verified, but it seems that it might be unlikely as the story goes on to say, "The county records are very much mixed up, and the officials will be occupied many days in getting them properly arranged."

Toucha Gray performs in front of the Courthouse during The King's Table.

This article notes that had it not been for an incessant rain which fell the day before and for the wind which blew the fire directly away from neighboring buildings, "the whole business portion of the town would, in all probability, have been destroyed."

The Times states officials were speculating that as the courtroom was locked and the roof was made of tin, the fire had likely started as a result of sparks escaping through cracks in one of the chimneys. The cracks were caused by the 1886 earthquake which destroyed large portions of Charleston and was also felt in Kingstree. The article notes, "Several breaks had been made in the chimneys by the earthquake and had not been repaired."

The fire does seem to have burned for at least two days. The News & Courier article the day after the fire reported, "There was a lively time securing the records, furniture, etc. from the lower part in which the county offices are located. The fire is still burning."

The county had no insurance on the building, and the loss was estimated between $6,000 and $10,000.

The Williamsburg County Courthouse decorated for the holidays.

Apparently there were those who wanted the courthouse to be relocated rather than rebuilt. In a letter to the editor of The Manning Times, printed in March 1889, a Greeleyville resident who signed himself J.M.B. stated, "The United States wants to annex Canada. Canada wants to annex the New England states, and to cap the climax, somebody wants to build a courthouse at Lake City because the top of the one at Kingstree has been destroyed by fire..." I don't know if there was any serious discussion of this, but I'm sure there were rumors.

In addition to rebuilding and putting the offices on the ground floor back in order, there was the matter of where court would be held. The next term was called to order in the Knights of Honor Hall, although I don't know where that was located.

According to The Manning Times, the Williamsburg County Commissioners met in April to consider repairs to the courthouse. John K. Gourdin, architect and civil engineer, and State Representatives Edwin Harper and John A. Kelley were also present at the meeting. The Times reported, "Mr. Gourdin made estimates of the costs of repairing the building with brick, so as to replace it as it was before the fire, and the cost to rebuild the upper story with wood. His estimate was brick was $5,000 and with wood $4,000. The Commissioners have decided to rebuild the courthouse with brick as it originally stood, and have advertised for proposals to do the work."

By August, the work had begun. I have not found any indication of when it was completed, but it seems that court was once again being held in the regular courtroom by early 1890.

So, on Saturday, as we mark the 131st anniversary of the day the courthouse burned, let's be thankful that we still have a beautiful building that continues to play a major role in defining the Town of Kingstree and Williamsburg County.

Commerce on the River

We've looked at how Black River has brought pleasure to Kingstree residents through the years at both Wee Nee and Boswell Beaches, and we've looked at some of the tragedies and near-tragedies that have occurred on the river. We also touched on the commercial appeal of the river when we recently looked at Thorn's Mill. Today we'll expand on the income possibilities of the river and take a look at a number of ways area residents over the years have used the river to their advantage.

Black River

To the early settlers, the river was a lifeline to Georgetown. Those who were able to navigate the river could buy goods there they could not produce on their own and could sell some goods to provide  income outside their farm labor. We get a small piece of information from the January 31, 1823, issue the Southern Patriot, a Charleston newspaper. "Mr. Gibson's two boats from Kingstree with 144 bales of cotton have arrived in Georgetown." In the May 22, 1823, issue of the same newspaper we learn that E. Gibson's boat from Kingstree, carrying 25 bales of cotton had arrived in Georgetown. E. Gibson was likely Ebenezer Gibson, Jr., who died in September of that year. His estate records show that while he farmed, he hauled freight for others, as well. It is also of note that his estate was never closed.

One of the most surprising pieces of information I've run across concerning the river was published in the Kingstree Star on February 21, 1866, and reprinted in the Charleston Courier on February 24. It reads: "PORT OF KINGSTREE–The steamer Adie, Capt. Daggett, from Georgetown, arrived at this port on Sabbath-last and discharged her cargo at the Kingstree bridge. Her principal cargo consisted of molasses, salt, furniture, etc. and was consigned to M.(orris) Schwartz and Henry Solomon. We understand that this is the first time that steam navigation has reached as high up Black River as this place. The Adie draws three feet water and is 60-feet long and 18-feet wide."

Capt. Daggett was likely Thomas West Daggettt, a native of New Bedford, MA, the center of the New England whaling industry. At some point, he made his way South and into the history books as the person who built the exploding mine used to sink the Harvest Moon off Georgetown during the Civil War. He had operated a rice mill before the war, and with the decline in rice production afterward, he captained the government's dredge boat which kept the Waccamaw River navigable for paddle-wheelers. It seems likely that in February 1866, he also brought the Adie to Kingstree. Capt. Daggett is buried at Kingston Presbyterian Church in Conway.

Kingston Presbyterian Church, Conway, SC.

The Charleston Daily News noted in October 1869 that a large quantity of tow timber was lying upon the banks of Black River at Kingstree awaiting the rise of river for shipment to Georgetown, but I've found no other evidence that any other steamboat found its way upriver to Kingstree. However, by the early 20th century, there was a great deal of interest in deepening the river to accommodate larger boats from Black Mingo to Kingstree. (The Rhems had a steamboat company operating from Black Mingo to Georgetown.) In 1908, the Kingstree Board of Trade sponsored an initiative aimed at opening up the river to commercial traffic. W.H. Carr and J.D. Gilland were responsible for gathering information to help in the decision making. That year, Carr attended a Rivers and Harbors Conference in Washington, DC, to put in a request for funding to remove obstructions and to dredge the river. Later, the Coast & Geodetic Survey of the U.S. Corps of Engineers conducted a study of the river. Their report, however, dashed any hope of large-scale commercial traffic coming upriver as far as Kingstree. The survey pointed out that the river had too many bends and curves to make it practical for this kind of traffic.

Beginning in 1907, however, many Kingstree residents were able to enjoy the river when Capt. Conrad Constine began taking them on pleasure cruises, both up and downriver. His first boat, named The Mercedes, was a flat boat on which he installed a 10-horsepower engine. The boat was eight-feet wide and 32-feet long. On its maiden voyage on April 25, 1907, it carried 27 people from the river bridge on Main Street to the railroad bridge, a six-mile trip, which it accomplished in 30 minutes. Constine also used his boat to haul logs to the mill, and on occasion was called upon to ferry a body that had been found floating in the water to Kingstree. For eight years, he went up and down the river on one of the four boats he owned. The others were named Rover, Rover II, and The Wanderer. The landing near the bridge was often jokingly called Constine's Wharf.

The Williamsburgh Museum has collected Conrad Constine's

letter to The County Record into a book: Poor Conrad; Tales From a River Rat.

Wendell Voiselle has it for sale at the Museum, 135 Hampton Ave., Kingstree.

Some residents earned extra cash by selling fish they caught from Black River. However, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Fish Laws governing the river were strict. In 1898, it was illegal to fish with nets or gigs or to set traps or to shoot fish between May 1 and September 1. It was also illegal to fish with a hook and line between June 15 and August 15. The County Record noted that despite these laws, there were multiple fish fries on the river bank that summer both day and night. The paper also noted, "The river has fallen considerably, and the fish bite quite well, in spite of the fact that it is not lawful for them to bite."

A May 1903 story in The County Record recounted the tale of Sam Strong, a Black River fisherman, who regularly sold his catch on the Courthouse Square. On May 4, 1903, Strong had several strings of fish for sale. At the entrance to the Courthouse, a gentlemen bargained with him to buy four of his strings. As he handed Strong the agreed-upon four quarters, two of the quarters fell and couldn't be located. Both Strong and his customer searched their clothing and all around the area but found nothing. Strong began to wonder if one of the catfish on his strings had swallowed the money. He quickly performed surgery on the fish right there on the Courthouse Square, and there were the two quarters wedged together inside the fish.

One of the arguments made later that year by then Sheriff J.D. Daniel for fencing off the Courthouse Square was that it was time for those who spent their days trying to sell "spoiled fish" on the Courthouse Square to find someplace else to peddle their wares. He noted that jurors had often "agreed to disagree" to end trials so that they could escape the odors that wafted up through the open widows of the court room and jury rooms from below.

Two ladies enjoying an afternoon of fishing in Black River.

And while we recently detailed the operation of P.B. Thorn's mill on Black River, we should note that Joel E. Brunson operated the Black River Cypress Mill on the river just on the other side of the railroad trestle. That mill produced 30,000 feet of lumber a day and 20,000 laths.

There are also tales of residents using the Black River swamp as a cover for ill-gotten gain obtained through gambling. In 1909, six unnamed African-American men appeared before Kingstree Magistrate Richard Wallace, charged with gambling in the swamp. The all-white, all-male jury could not reach a verdict on the case that morning, so Wallace called in a second all-white, all-male jury for the afternoon. That jury reached a verdict of "not guilty" due to insufficient evidence.

The river and the surrounding swamp have also provided a treasure trove of wildlife that caught the fancy of Kingstree residents. Baby alligators were often displayed. In September 1897, Sam Carter caught six of them on the river bank and spent the rest of the day "exhibiting them around town." In 1910, young Nappie Nelson had three baby alligators which were the talk of the town, especially the one that was prone to bite.

Also in 1910, a fisherman caught a flounder in Black River near Kingstree. Many residents were awed that a saltwater fish had found its way so far up the river.

In 1898, a young African-American boy killed a 5-foot, 4-inch rattlesnake near the second bridge. The snake had seven rattles and a button. The boy proudly displayed the snake all over town before T.J. Brown, foreman on The County Record printing staff, "taxedermized" the snake for the boy. 

And Paul Wheeler was hunting in the swamp in the spring of 1915 when he killed an eagle which had a wingspan of 75 inches from tip-to-tip.

The Great Fire of 1873

It's winter, and a cold January day (although given the fickleness of the weather lately, it may not be cold by the time you read this) is perhaps a good time to consider that those who lived before us in Kingstree were most concerned during cold weather with the danger of fire. Open fireplaces and wood stoves inevitably led to the loss of property. However, one of the largest fires in downtown Kingstree, believed to have been caused by an arsonist, is also remembered as the first fire to do great damage to the town, although more loss of life was recorded in the jail fire of January 7, 1867.

Today, the Kingstree Fire Department has equipment to deal with fires of all kinds,

but in 1873, there were no trained firefighters and no equipment except for buckets.

According to contemporary newspaper reports of the time, on Monday, January 27, 1873, around 4 a.m. a fire was discovered in the building on Main Street, known as Burgheim's Store. The property, which was vacant, had recently changed hands when baker Charles Hoffman bought it from John A. McCullough a few days prior to the fire. Hoffman was in the process of arranging for repairs to the building so that he could renovate it for his own business.

When the fire was discovered, the building was already engulfed in flames. Although an alarm was sounded, generally at that time by the ringing of church bells, without a trained fire department, there was little to be done except try to remove the contents from stores and homes not yet reached by the fire and attempt to keep the fire from spreading to the opposite side of the street. The fire had already spread to the buildings adjoining Burgheim's store within minutes of its discovery. 

The Kingstree Star noted, "The flames spread with such terrible rapidity that only a very short time was allowed in which to labor in securing the goods and furniture to which access could be had. Some saved considerable, while others lost all they possessed. In a very short time, every building fronting Main Street from Mr. Ward's corner to Mr. James Staggers' residence was in a sheet of flame, and at this period of the conflagration, it looked like the courthouse and all the other buildings on the street would be consumed, and that the fire would extend to the last building at both ends of the street on which it originated, but at this critical juncture a brisk breeze commenced blowing from the north, which threw the flames directly across the street, and Mr. Staggers' building being a brick one, prevented its further progress in a westward and eastward direction, and also saved the destruction of the buildings immediately in the rear of those what were consumed."

A bit later in the town's history, artesian wells strategically placed throughout town

helped townspeople fight fires as buckets could be filled at the wells and passed

down a line to the fire; however, in 1873, there were very few wells available.

Once the fire stopped spreading, it quickly consumed the buildings that were burning and burned itself out. The Star noted that it had rained heavily during the night, thoroughly saturating the roofs of the buildings. This prevented them from catching fire from the many sparks the fire generated. It was believed that had it not rained, the entire town could have been lost to the fire. As it was, almost everyone living or doing business in the main part of the village removed their goods and furniture from their homes and stores, piling them in the middle of the street.

The newspaper recounted "distressing scenes" as townspeople prepared themselves to lose all their worldly goods. The reporter specifically mentioned a young man running into his mother's home to save her from the fire as she was old and blind and unable to reach safety on her own. The reporter also noted that White men and Black men worked together "with great energy and determination" to do all they could to save what they could. "They are entitled to the thanks of the community for the heroism displayed," the paper stated, adding, "We would be wanting in personal gratitude were we to fail to recognize those who worked manfully to save the building in which this office is located."

While the origin of the fire was not known, it was believed to have been arson, based solely on the fact that the building had been vacant for more than a month. The paper also noted, "The very dark and inclement night and the late hour at which the fire occurred would seem to favor the presumption that it was the work of an incendiary."

Presumably the buildings involved were on the north side of Main Street, between Academy and Jackson streets today, based on the mention of the fears for the courthouse and that the wind blowing from the north pushed the flames into the street. In all, nine buildings–both stores and houses–were lost to the fire. Those losing property were W.W Ward, Ward & Maurice, Louis Cohen & Co., W.J. Lee, Joseph E. Wilson, Morris Schwartz, Henry Solomon, the estate of E.J. Porter, Dr. J.S. Brockington, Ann Jones, Charles Hoffman, and George Coleman. Damage was estimated between $45,000 and $50,000. Today that would be $963,653 to $1,070,735. Only about one-quarter of that amount was insured.

According to The Star this was the first time the town had experienced a fire in which more than one building was destroyed. The townspeople thought this remarkable considering the village was 141 years old at the time of the fire. The newspaper concluded its account of the fire with these words, "Luckily for the population, they have been greatly blessed and favored in their exemption from the frequent and devastating fires that have visited all the other towns and villages in the State. But we are told there is a time for all things, and the time for the first fire of any magnitude in Kingstree was on Monday morning last."

The fire made it clear to the townspeople that they were not exempt from disasters such as this for by the end of February a bill had been filed in the South Carolina Senate to incorporate the Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company of Kingstree.

While the fire of January 27, 1873, may have been the first major fire experienced by the town, it would not be the last. We'll be looking at more of these disasters as we move through this year.