The Index-Journal from Greenwood, South Carolina • Page 6

PACK SIX AL, KEEN WOOD, S. C. SUNDAY, FEB 8, 1924. DEX 0 UN fWT. k.

THE i 'Ms Is There a Madman Hiding in the Grim Okefenokee, Where Eleven Have Been Lured to Death in The very airwhich lifts from the dank masses of deca. rng vegetation of Okofenokce awamp aeaos. imprag-nated with death'. Its trees are hung With Spanish it At It lit it ,7 4 plicable manner, underfed. Children play Ail are pale, wan, listlessly in the muck.

A few have tattered clothing. Mnny have none at all. In this weird fast noun, Blinking through path known only to himself, leaping from tuft to tuft of marsh-grass over treurherouH and bottomless slime pits, crouching in some unknown thicket, lives the mailinnn of the Okefenokee. Subsisting, supposedly, on roots and fiingi known i.nly to hiimielf as food, hC cdnhH-t his devilish plots, constructs his ambush, awaits his victim. And then.

Again the Okefenokee has taken its Ml. of the islands. He arrived, and left the home in the swamp. That jvas" the last time he was seen alive. he failed to return home at the time, distraught members of his family notified officials, and a search wjm uunuuieu immeoiaiciy.

uanua oi men'combed the swamp lands for weeks. the mysterious disappearance. Thrift was, tracked for orne distance on, one of the winding paths that lie half a Short Time r8 iiiii' 1 0 A gunshot in the gloom, a corpse in the illme, moam and pra en. at the my steri- oua wlll-o'-the-wisp cull upward into the Stygian glocm of the tamp, foot-1 prims leading oil into the tang Wd r'eceiiaci of the marsh- JaixfrteJeven timet the mys- tcrioac madman of the Okcfeoo-. kte swamp in Georgia hat claimed his victims under mystifying cii-iumataneea.

he? Wh he kill? How lonk will' the kprll ol disaster continue before trwV rmirder man of the swamps and hi, ghoulish pfiiCtices stopped WHO in the murdering madman of the il It that has ruthlessly matched from eleven person in six months? pi-ff of moke; a bedded lair In the ttiurr. empty cartridge; path that Irsd nowhere in th morass. The are the only an-wcra to the mi that ha placed all of South fieor-iU in a state of terror and suspense, f.srtsir, like the miasmatic breath of the Vnokee, has spread, lnfctini the at ajndlnf country with horror. IVy say thrre.it afnadman tlisre. 2' haps 1 Tin Oksfenokee is that vast inland of msnhes, moorland, fi-rmvntinir stuntod tree, jrrotcsque rot -t lof and monstrous ferns which for milos on th houndsry line (t-een Gsorgi and Florida.

I.t dark recewet lurk the survi -TfS the ralcotolc Age, Qiiter um-piiViiuii creatures that- exist in the i'u'te, toads whose meager span of life is tjient in the green ooze of tlu-avoiiipg, slinking beast thnt never knew th" is) bt sunllRht, rtptile with )ol. soj'cus fangs- all Infest the Okefenokee. And amid this conglomerate population of the font thert in a demented of the iuiman race. So assert Itl (in tUi 111 lit! ill Hi' .1.. (Hi m.

Mil SKI lil' Til hir.Utcif had T.cr.i wild flight, through its dismjl fastnesses frequented the out-of-the-way corners the morass. Finally the search was abandoned. Kveryday matters owe more obllie-rated the flaming hatred and unreasoning featv Security again was felt. THEN Jock Hagan was killed. One evening, just as dusk was clothing the tangled mass of nglincss that Is Okefenokee.

with the nearest approach to a weird beauty that ever is seen in that region, a two-horso wagon made its way slowly through the tigt of the woods and came out into a clearing that marked the site of a little village. Several persons on the main thoroughfare of the hamlet glanced Idly at conveyance. Then they looked again. No driver was to be seen. The horses plodded slowly onward, their heads down.

They were flecked with white foam, as if they had been running. The reins dragged tho ground. Curious spectators halted them. Thoy glanced into the wagon. There lay Jack Hagan, atone deed.

Four wounds in torso and head told their tale 'of murder. Three of the bullet holes were in his back, the other had torn a path through the skull from the bask. The grisly find awed the discoverers. "The Okefenokee!" they said in hushed tones. Again, an ambush waa found, and another set of cartridges.

A trail was followed. This time it led to the awamp homo of A. D. Crews. He was seised.

When questioned by officers he definitely established an alibi. He had been miles from his home, hunting, whetf the hooting occurred. He was released. It was found, however, that several articles bad been taken from his home during his absence. other homes in tho recesses of the fens hava come re porta, of mysterious disappearances of different articles.

Midnight sallies into) these little huts, housing a simple andi i i. nipTwuoue ioik, nave siartea ine cur-. eulation of many reports concerning supernatural personages. None of these ever has been harmed ia their homes. The raadm" ft" mymKwm, nun, urn uiaj iwik iui lairauea sacrifice ensconced in some impenetrable covert Lately two more Negroes have beea offered 'as bloody sacrifices on altar of the demon of the slime land.

Terror again names. As the mysterious will-o'-the-wisps curl upward in the Stygian gloom of a swamp sight moans and prayers hurst from the trembling and ashen lips of terrified black folk. A scream, of terror shivers forth on the wings ot th sobbing night wind." "Tho Okftaokee--wU luaawaT" aat-Jt Mf eV- r'Jilii ulacal to sweep at many at pos- ible into oblivion? These seem the only Bossible eon lectures aa to whv the mad' man had murdered them. IN THE center of the Okefenokee lies Billy's Island, one of the few habitable spots in tho wasteland. On the island ia a tiny store, housed in a tmpainted structure.

A woman operates the little trading post in the wilds, and barters coarse edibles to the families of the swamp. Mrs. Dora Daren is her name. Ia her store another life waa blown but like a candle. A revolver bullet car tied the summons to death.

In lanuta an vfotan. ni tha vie. Urn. Be entered the etore, ostensibly to settle aa account For perhaps two minutes ha remained Inside. Then a shot broke tho alienee.

He ran from the store ecxeaming, blood pouring from his Inouth; A gaping wound through his ifhest, He-dropped Jead in the path in front, fit the atora, MRS, klso acreamuig, followed him outside. Some few neighbors who lived on tho island caW harrying to tho scene. "Some one killed him," sobbed Mrs. Duren. 1 didn't do it didn't do it Ho waa talking to me and somebody shot him." But ahe was arrested and taken to the jail in Waycrosa.

a town on the edge of tho Okefenokee For three months she remained there. She refused to break her alienee on the killing, waiting the day of her trial. Her husband attempted to obtain a statement from her in vain. Without uttering a word' to throw any light on the mystery, she waited for the hearing tt'reosmJber, 1.. moss a3 if Death his cloak in a Then she made a statement that has not been fully understood by observers of.

the case. She' claimed that James had attempted to attack her after entering the store, and that she shot him with a pistol through a showcase that had been covered with newspapers. But the statement did not ring true. Even attaches of the court wondered if it were not an attempt to save herself because the true version of the affair was of such nature as to cause disbelief. Some think that the shot was fired by some one else, from the rear of the store.

"The madman," aay many. But Mrs. Duren wss convicted of murder, and sentenced to a life term in the penitentiary. "The Okefenokee-who knows AFTER the murder of James there waa a lull for a time. For almost a month peace rligned over the awamp land, Then two Negroes were slain in two days.

Horror and indignation, fear -and a cry for vengeanda arose from all aides. The death curse was becoming an obsession. Negro families became panic-stricken. They refused to go near the swamp at any time. Even among Tlitat 4 Vina WniVef PVODll lW MlVUlafct.

sa iift wo. rJcoinina- a menace to entire com- i munities. A posse was organized. For days every conceivable hiding place in the swamp was beaten out. Guards watched all pointa where there was a possibility .1 t.i.nir mat ine aiayer nuui.

nw mimnh All proved fruitless." Demoniacal cunning waa matched against the Ire of an aroused popula tion. But some traces of the killer were discovered abandoned sleeping places, charred embers of tiny rlres, two empty shells, faint paths in the heart of the Ash scale r- Taoat ahewM that a humaa being had suivivors tt hia fiendish lust to slay. elevf.H murder oecurred last April. In tl.e dim the Okefenokee i- 1. 11.

Thrift, prominent young in Je last few Ten of them frmer of Ware County, disappeared. I.r heeii acnt to their deaths under Ihe'lle hud gone into the swamp to carry Ujiionie autibliei a familv Mn on ons empty cartridge from a rifle lay by hia bony hand. He had been dragged into his slayer's lair after the death shot had been fired, from all indications, Thrift was the first victim. Henry Steedley was the second. ne wu slain two days after Thrift's body, was found.

This time the report of at i gut was heard. Two men of the swamp were foiling a tree, when they heard ftwo shots which teemed close at hand. The men dropped their axea and ran in the direction from which the shots came, Within 200 yards of wlrcre they had been working they found the body. Steedley hy, on his face, his arms stretched out before him, hia stiff fingers grasping the, tough marsh grass. bolee pierced his body.

One bullet went through the heart. Besido Him lay a heavy pack which he had beeolcwrrymg. It had not been disturbed. 1 Near his outstretched hand ly his old brisr pipe, the smoke atiU curling from its bowl. 1 Investigation revealed anotihe, lair constructed like that in which ithe body of Thrift had been found.

Tracks of bare feet led a short way into the depths of the swamp. No other clue over was fooztd. "The Okefenokee who knows?" Next, in swift suecession, thwe peace able Negroes were sent to thedr desths by mysterious rifle shots. -j None of the bodies bad boen mutilated, or even fonchd after the shot that ended the Uvea had been fired. Money was found in the pockats of al, Bobbery evidently was aot tbe purpose of the assassin.

Am insatiata thirst for blood! A m- A tjuiuhot in the utooni nd a corpse in the Rlime. That 1 the story of the murders. Four of tho men 'were white and scvoi were Netroes. No known mortal enemies of any of them have been discovered by officers wha have investigated the killincs. Each, ko far as ii known, lived in harmony with his neigh.

bors. None hsd entfiiged in any occe- Braving the dangers of unexplored por-pation or basinet to warrant hatred or tions of the morass, the searchers Apparently, there is no mo? erted every effort to find some due to live that could And lodgment in a sane 'The Okefenokee who knows sat' eld residents, shaking their head, Onl the misty vapor rising from th fetid waters answer. Scattered through the swnmp are tiny Islands, rising H)te lush bubbles on the, wummy water, on which live women and children -who have never been Included In a census. Sonjy Ll IrV fishermen. Fame till tiny plots of eaadT? OtJwraeiistdi' some Insa in water," entirely in mud, but at a stretthf that is' almost impassable all trace of his footsteps was lost.

On the day that the concerted search was, to4be abandoned a "find was made. Hundreds of rods from the point where the trail hod been, lost a cleverly eon JtfnHtmbiiah was found. In this spot, i. with a bullet hole ttrouh bis skutt, lay I Jf.