LIFE IN SOUTH CAROLINA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7200, 11 September 1901, Page 2

LIFE IN SOUTH CAROLINA.

„ V CAN THE WIND WHISTLE THROUGH A BULLET-RID-DLED CORPSE? THEY ARE ASKING THERE. - The following tele hss been scat to " The Sun" by a. correspondent isx South Carolina: "Can the wind whistle throughi ft foul* let-riddled corpse? Never was weirds* query propounded than thiis, which startled Judge, jury and oourt room in the SudtteM; murder trial, Greenville, iS.C. Bsifik ef it is a story of misplaced «nd be<lr-ay«d esnfidenco vrhidh horrified oven itho 'P&rir Corner,' that blighted spot of fair BavXh Ctvrolina watered in blood waiik wjU «te« ewviug it.3 twine, thougta its laauatedn peak* reach the skies, ita winds ars Heaven's own,, and only mm or ths devil which, lurka ia corn whisky is vile. "The 'Dark Cornier' is the countey <xf moonshine, that pale, gold'ea- liquid "which drips from tho stHl-iik© filtered sunshine and bums xuMbooustomed throate lika a fire. To tho mouDitaia people it is food and drink, as necessary «s the air they breath*. # A 'wee nippi© 1 is unheard of. They quaff it in huge draught* «a if it were milk and water. Evea the children like it, and grow up strong: and. fierce on ib. "Every other wm in the 'Dark Oornsr * is a moonshiner. Jim Suddetbi was. I say was, because Jim will n-ever mako lnoonsßme more. He is serving a life sen>t«no3 in the State Penitentiary for lira murder of Edward Hayes. Big Jim, os he is called, is typical of Jus kind, the kind that inhabit Glassy Mountain, on© of the darkest comers of 'Dark Corner.' ' Deeds have been committed there which are only whispered of among men. Ooa of than was done by~ Stbdd«th. "Jim fears meitiher God', the devil nor man ; nevertheless he has a cod© of morals of ihia own. When jho found himself ' betrayed by the man he had fed and housed he set to work to kill him. Hayes was a revenue spy, a 'reporter? they call tiem, of all men the one most feared and hated by the mountain people. The revenue officer is a; brave one who will venture into the 'Dark Corner.' He is too likely ito be laid low by a bullet. "He is a shining mark, and the men -of 'the 'Dark Corner' are unerring in their aim : so he hires some ignoble specimen of humanity to inform on tfoe moonshiner amid when he comes to town for his flour and 1 bacon the strong arm of the law is (rtratcihed out for him. But woe oatade tihe informanifc if he, is found 1 out. Death is as certainly his portion as it was Hayes's. " Sudfteth, took in Hayes wSsen, Ihe was ip. hard luck and could! find no -work. He hadi a place at the table with, Sudkleth's wife ajid babies, a bed io the already crowded cabin and was well paid for hia work in the little still which furnished the wherewithal to feed and 1 clothe the wife and babies. " Then came a day wihem tifra big mountaineer rode into Greenville and did not come back. In^ his stead there caun* an armed force tha* naidted- the mountain cabin and' the little still. Sudkfetib knew who had betrayed ihim and the Eyed withi but one idea, to' revenge himself on the man who had made such a base return for ihia hospitality aad> aid. One afternoon he met him in, the -woods ©ear 'his house and shot Mm dead, - "At migihitifall he rabumed, cut the head eff hia vfotwa, budleidl it at itih© fooib of a tree, and lihjpo.wing the trunk over his back starbed downi^tlhe moumtaim side for the Saluda. He was not afraid nor consdencestiickKini. In Ms owaii eyes !his< act -was one of justice— -primitive justice, such as aippeala to pnkndttdve matures like Sudidferih's; lie had no misgivings, amdl !he bore hds hideous burden down tihe sfceep sidles of the mountain without a mis-step, without a quaver, and with mo moire cowx/m thim it it haid been a bag of corn, lihoiugh the ncigtib was a wild one, and the wind -bowled in his tracks. " Presently he detected in it a new note.He knew every sound' on the mountain. Those who are ihunted by men as lnooashiners are become preteraatcrally- k«en d ear. There was not a strain in nature's gamut with which he was mot familiar, ftnd this variation — something ibetween a whistle low and dirge-like and a moan—instantly caught his attention. It was right at his back, too, following ihim. "He halted to listen, but the sound ceased too. Again he started, again tfhat peculiar whistle, starting low and spreading out at the base of his ears as if it ihadl something -to tell him. What could it be? Suddeth stopped and threw the headless body to the ground and almost with a shriek the wind tore through the severed windpipe. "He had not an atom of fear in his body, but in that moment, as he told Jim Howard afterward, he had the 'creeps.' He stooped down to examine the corpse, and saw the gaping wound in th& back. He tore aside the coarse cotton shirt, stiff with blcod, tapped the body as ihe would! the trunk of a tree, turned it over and saw that his bullets thad gone through and 1 tia'ough. " ' Did their work well,' ihe told Howard with grim, humour. " Suddeth's mind worked slowly, but he concluded after his examination that the wind whistling through those gaping wounds made the peculiar noise he 'heard. Having satisfied himself, ihe shouldered his burden and started down the mountain side once more, his weird piper, tho wind, following him with, ghostly tunes. He went on unfalteningly to the Saluda, weighted the body and heaved it over into the dark waters. They parted like a gash — there was one brief gurgle, and Suddeth started up the mountain. " The matter weighed on Suddeth's. mind, not the. murder of Hayes, but the strange circumstance of the wind whistling through the wounds of the body, and finally, to get rid of it, Ihe confided tho weird story to his neighbour, Jim Howard. Howard told it to another mountaineer, and it went co, and on until it reached the relatives of the murdered man. Terrible confirmation came soon after. The Saluda washed 1 up the trunk of the body, and a pack of hungry dogs unearthed the head. " One day Jim was arrested a. second time and marched to gaol. Then he wa-s tried before Judge Bennett, of the District Courb at Greenville. He did not deny his crime, nor did he make any defence. In !his eyes it was a case of just retribution — nob exactly a' life for a life, but like it, '• Jim Howard was brought in' and made to testify againsb him, HowaTd told the story of the wind's song through, the spy's body as Suddeth had told ib "to him. The truth of ib was beyond Judge, jury or learned lawyers. Some scoffed; some, knowing the materialism of the mountain men, believed. But Jim was sentenced to life imprisonment. " On Glassy Mountains there are the ruins of a little still, a woman and six children, practically widowed and fatherless, and ancther tragedy has been added to the long and terrible list, of the ' Dark Corner.' "