Excerpt from History of Edgefield County From the Earliest Settlement The author of this book is a native of Edgefield District, born before it was shorn of its fair proportions, as it was in1S 17, before a part was cut off to form the County of Aiken, and long before it was further divided to form Saluda County. He was born within three miles of Saluda River on the old Charleston and Ninety-Six Road, which, in Revolutionary times, was one of the main highways leading from the low countr and the Congarees to Ninety-Six. The place is now in Saluda Count. From his boj hood the author was a great reader and student of history. Nothing pleased him better than to get hold of some good book telling of the deeds of other times, and stories of Marion and his men, and others of that heroic age. Unfortunately, books that told the history of that period were too few; but he had Weems Life of Washington and of Marion, and a book of American Biographies published in 1830, all of which were well suited to cultivate a taste for history and make the reader long for more. With such a training in earh life it is not surprising that, as he grew older, he read everything that could throw light upon the early history of his State and the formation of the Union and the rights and duties of the States in the Union. In writing this book he has faithfully sought and drawn from every source of information available. All books, of which he could get hold, giving information of the first settlers and their struggles, he has used; and individuals and friends in all parts of the Counties of Edgefield and Saluda, and some outside, have freely and gladly helped him in his work. To these, one and all, he gives his grateful and heartfelt thanks. One dear friend, who loaned him many old books, and who assisted him greatly otiierwise. has only recently, 1 S 96, left this stage of life for a better, William G.Whilden. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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The definitive story of a South Carolina newspaper editor’s murder at the hands of a 1902 gubernatorial candidate, and the dramatic trial that ensued. On January 15, 1903, South Carolina lieutenant governor James H. Tillman shot and killed Narciso G. Gonzales, editor of South Carolina’s most powerful newspaper, the State. Blaming Gonzales’s stinging editorials for his loss of the 1902 gubernatorial race, Tillman shot Gonzales to avenge the defeat and redeem his “honor” and his reputation as a man who took bold, masculine action in the face of an insult. James Lowell Underwood investigates the epic murder trial of Tillman to test whether biting editorials were a legitimate exercise of freedom of the press or an abuse that justified killing when camouflaged as self-defense. This clash—between the revered values of respect for human life and freedom of expression on the one hand and deeply engrained ideas about honor on the other—took place amid legal maneuvering and political posturing worthy of a major motion picture. One of the most innovative elements of Deadly Censorship is Underwood’s examination of homicide as a deterrent to public censure. He asks the question, “Can a man get away with murdering a political opponent?” Deadly Censorship is courtroom drama and a true story. Underwood offers a painstaking re-creation of an act of violence in front of the State House, the subsequent trial, and Tillman’s acquittal, which sent shock waves across the United States. A specialist on constitutional law, Underwood has written the definitive examination of the court proceedings, the state’s complicated homicide laws, and the violent cult of personal honor that had undergirded South Carolina society since the colonial era. “Since the 1920s, the United States has had dozens of sensational trials—all of which have been labeled “the trial of the century.” There is no question had the trial of Lieutenant Governor James Tillman for the murder of N. G. Gonzales, the editor of the State newspaper, occurred in our time that it would have had the same appellation. . . . Riveting . . . as gripping as any contemporary courtroom drama.” —Walter Edgar, author of South Carolina: A History “An insightful and in-depth look at the assassination of Columbia newspaper editor N.G. Gonzales by South Carolina Lt. Gov. James H. Tillman in 1903. Jim Underwood’s carefully researched work not only reports on the killing and ensuing trial, it explains the forces that created a society where it was acceptable to kill a man to silence his pen.” —Jay Bender, Reid H. Montgomery Freedom of Information Chair, University of South Carolina “Finally, Jim Underwood has unraveled the killing, the murder trial, and the aftermath, and through his narrative tells a story of unfettered freedom of the press versus hot-bloodied Southern manhood honor. Without question, Deadly Censorship is a remarkable, eloquent, and important book.” —W. Lewis Burke, Director of Clinical Legal Studies, School of Law, University of South Carolina