Hanged In Abbeville - Sloan Hearst Dies on the Gallows After Being Twice Respited he faced death without the shadow of fear. The penalty for the murder of his mistress. The State (Columbia, SC)- April 27, 1895 Abbeville, April 26 – Sloan Hearst, colored, was executed in the jail here this morning at 11 o'clock by Sheriff Nance. He was perfectly calm and collected, and seemed to be the least excited of those who were present. A minister of his own race attended him on the scaffold, and he declared to him that he was prepared to die. The drop was about six feet, and his neck was broken by the fall. The doctors declared that life was extinct in seven minutes. He did not move a muscle after he fell. The body was allowed to hang twenty minutes and was then turned over to his relatives, who carried it to Troy, his former home, for burial. The crime for which Sloan Hearst paid the extreme penalty of the law was the brutal and willful murder, on December 3, 1894, of Lemmie Rapley, a colored woman with whom he had had illicit relations for some years, although he had a wife and several children. He was tried at the January term of court before Judge Buchanan. Col. W. C. McGowan was appointed by the court to defend him, and he did everything in his power for him, but the case was too plain, and the jury returned with a verdict of guilty in a very short time after they left the court room. He was sentenced to be hanged on the 15th of March. On a petition for executive clemency being filed, the Governor granted him a respite till the 12th day of April, in order that he might have time to look into the matter. Shortly before the time for the execution came the Governor announced that he refused to commute the sentence, but he granted a further respite until today, on account of the illness of Mr. James H. Nance, the son of the sheriff, who died on the night of the 11th of April. The sheriff did everything in his power to make the life of the doomed man as comfortable as possible, and the arrangements for the execution were perfect. Hearst died game, and made no statement on the scaffold as to the murder Hearst was tried, convicted and executed within less than 200 yards of where the crime was committed. Murder Trial to Start Today Morning News Review Newberry, SC Oct 19 - Tom Wardlaw, negro charged with slaying Andrew J. Ferguson, Abbeville county farmer in April of last year, will go on trial for murder for the second time here tomorrow. Wardlaw was tried here in October, 1932, after transfer of the case from Abbeville, and was convicted and sentenced to be electrocuted. The supreme court granted him a new trial. Wardlaw is alleged to have knocked Ferguson down during a dispute and then slashed his throat. His counsel is William P. Guene, of Abbeville and Alan Johnstone of Newberry.  Solicitor Homer S. Blackwell will be ? by Steven G. Griffith, of Newberry and Hubert Cod, of Abbeville, ? ? ?.  Judge J. Henry Johnson is presiding at the ? of general sessions court. Morning New Review - Florence News Monday, December 4, 1933 Columbia, S.C. Dec 3 - James "Donnie" Holmes one of two negroes awaiting electrocution at the state penitentiary, was baptized today in preparation for his execution. Holmes and Tom Wardlaw will be put to death early tomorrow, the former for choking to death his aunt, Nora Franklin, in Sumter county, and the latter for stabbing to death Andrew J. Ferguson, prominent white planter, in Abbeville county. Both have admitted the crime of which they were convicted. Wardlaw, however, asserting ? the white man in self defense. Wardlwaw was baptized several days ago. Governor Blackwood has indicated he does not intend to inter? with the sentences of the two men. Tuesday December 5, 1933 Two Negroes Die in Electric Chair Columbia, SC Dec 4 - Two negroes, Tom Wardlaw, Abbeville county and James Holmes, Sumter county, were electrocuted at the state penitentiary before dawn today, for murder. Both admitted the slaying of which they were convicted and said they were "ready to go," but Wardlaw to the last insisted he stabbed to death Andrew J. Ferguson, prominent white farmer in self defense. The 33 year old negro, father of 14 children, in a final written statement said: "I thank God that what ? me ? trouble was only trying to defend myself". Holmes, 26 years old, was executed for choking to death his aunt, Nora Farnklin, allegedly to collect a $125 insurance policy he held on her life. The Rev. G. K. Phillips, prison chaplain, said the Sumter negro told him he had been drunk for two months proceding his aunts murder and remembered it only vaguely. Six relatives of Ferguson saw the negro go to his death in the electric chair, and 13 Sumter negroes, including Rev. S. Tinsley, were present to witness Holmes death and return his body to Sumter for burial. The State February 26, 1918 Victim of Meningitis in Abbeville County T. Huber McLlwain, called for Army Service, Dies Following Trip to Greenville Abbeville, Feb. 25 – T. Huber McLlwain died of meningitis last night at the home of his father, at McLlwaine's four miles from Abbeville. Young McLlwaine had been ill for a week. He was in the draft and went up to Greenville two weeks ago for examination and it is thought he met with a carrier of meningitis while away. This is the first death in Abbeville from this disease.

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