Individual Details

Death

John T Morrison was married to Martha Jane Sowers Morrison with three sons who were 9, 12 and 15 at the time of his death. John Thomas "Tanky" Morrison, an evil character who for more than five years had manned the water tank for the trains, killed Will Floyd and was himself lynched.

Was hung by a lyinging party for the murder of William "Will" Thomas Floyd. The coroner had difficulty finding a place to inter his remains, as "There is not a man in five miles of the place that will allow the body to be buried on his land." Even Morrison's widow refused to take charge of his corpse, though she sent someone for the money found on him after his death. Finally, he was sent to Potter's Field at the county poorhouse for burial.

Excert from Murder and Mayhem in Old Kershaw, Miles Gardner, page 157

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Messrs. Stewart W. Heath, John T. Stevens, Stephen Welsh and S. Frank Hough, of Kershaw, SC, have been arrested on warrants charging them with participating in the lynching of the white man, John Morrison at Kershaw, last October. Two white men and a negro were committed to jail in Lancaster county, Saturday, on the same charge. Hough turned State's evidence. The arrests caused quite a sensation on account of the prominence of the parties.

The Gastonia Gazette (North Carolina) Tuesday, May 2, 1905 - page 1 - provided by: Catoe4

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Citizens Charged With Complicity In S.C. Lynching
Prominent Citizens of Lancaster County Arrested on the Charge of Complicity in the Lynching at Kershaw in October of Last Year.

Trial will be held Friday at Kershaw and a great crowd will be in attendance. One Party has turned State's evidence.

Special to The News
Lancaster, SC - April 26 - Greatly to the surprise of all this section several arrests have been made in the case of the lynching which occurred at Kershaw, this county, last October. The men arrested are the most prominent and influential men of Lancaster county.
They are:
John T. Stevens, manager of the Kershaw Mercantile & Banking Co.
Stewart W. Heath, president and manager of Heath Supply company.
S.W. Welch, also with the Heath Supply company and son of the mayor of Kershaw.
Frank Hough, a beer dispenser and member of a prominent family.
The arrests of the above were made in Chester, where the men had gone on business Monday night.
Warrants are also out for the following citizens of Kershaw: S.L. Gardner Jr., Burwell Truesdale, Henry J. Gardner, John Holden, Wm. Croxton Sr., W.E. Belk, Tom Jones, J.W. Austin and others. It is understood that there are 40 warrants in all, 16 of the men accused living in the town of Kershaw and the others in the county. Two other white men and a negro are already in jail on this charge. The warrants charge the parties with complicity in the lynching of Morrison at Kershaw in October.
The Charlotte News (North Carolina) April 26, 1905