Guns of Meeting Street

Guns of Meeting Street

A Southern Tragedy

  • Author: Dorn, T. Felder
  • Publisher: University of South Carolina Press
  • ISBN: 9781570036774
  • eISBN Pdf: 9781643361093
  • Place of publication:  South Carolina , United States
  • Year of digital publication: 2020
  • Month: February
  • DDC: 364.15/23/0975737
  • Language: English

An engrossing investigation into the deadly outcome of a sixteen-year family feud

As compelling as fiction, The Guns of Meeting Street reconstructs a series of murders from the early 1940s that rocked rural Edgefield County, South Carolina. Featuring a cast of unlikely antagonists—a prominent store owner, an elementary school teacher, and a law enforcement officer—the acts of revenge resulted in five murders and a trio of executions, including that of the first woman to be electrocuted in South Carolina.

Through interviews with members of the two families involved, T. Felder Dorn probes the longstanding feud between the Logues and the Timmermans to uncover this chilling plot of resentment, revenge, and violence. Dorn's careful research weaves together the oral history of family members affected by the shooting with court transcripts, prisoner confessions, and coroners' reports to produce a truly gripping account of the events.

Although most of the deaths took place between 1940 and 1943, the roots of this tragedy can be traced back to killings that occurred in the Meeting Street community in the 1920s. The story climaxes on January 15, 1943, with the execution, within a single hour, of Sue Stidham Logue, George Logue, and Clarence Bagwell for the murder of Davis Timmerman. Dorn's saga concludes with the 1960 parole and rehabilitation of Joe Frank Logue Jr., the only one of Timmerman's killers to escape capital punishment.

Not for the faint of heart, The Guns of Meeting Street details the circumstances and motivations for the killings, the complexities of the court cases, and the involvement in the proceedings of South Carolina governors Richard Manning Jefferies, Olin D. Johnston, and J. Strom Thurmond.

  • Cover
  • THE GUNS OF MEETING STREET
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • Contents
  • The Logue-Timmerman Case: A CHRONOLOGY
  • Genealogy of the Logue, Timmerman, and Walton Families
  • List of Illustrations and Tables
  • List of Photographs
  • Preface and Acknowledgments
  • PART I The Setting and a Murder: SEPTEMBER 1941
    • 1. Edgefield County, Seat of History
    • 2. The Shooting at Timmerman's Store
  • PART II Roots: FAMILY, COMMUNITY, AND MORES, 1800–1940
    • 3. The Families of Meeting Street
    • 4. A Legacy of Violence
    • 5. A Desire to Serve: SUE STIDHAM LOGUE
    • 6. A Policeman with Promise: JOE FRANK LOGUE
    • 7. Families at Odds: THE TRAGEDY BEGINS
  • PART III Solution and Tragedy: SEPTEMBER–NOVEMBER 1941
    • 8. The Investigation: WHO KILLED DAVIS TIMMERMAN?
    • 9. The Guns of Sunday: THE VIOLENCE CONTINUES, 16 NOVEMBER 1941
  • PART IV The Trial of Three Defendants: LEXINGTON, JANUARY 1942
    • 10. Preliminaries at Edgefield
    • 11. People and Proceedings
    • 12. The Case Against George and Sue
    • 13. Clarence Bagwell: A QUEST FOR MERCY
    • 14. The Defense of George and Sue
    • 15. Verdict
  • PART V The Road to the Electric Chair: JANUARY 1942–JANUARY 1943
    • 16. The Stansfield Appeals
    • 17. The Penitentiary for Women
    • 18. Death by Electrocution
  • PART VI Joe Frank in the Legal System: 1942–1960
    • 19. The Edgefield Trial
    • 20. The Nicholson Appeals
    • 21. Prison and Parole
  • PART VII Afterthoughts and Aftermath: 1960–2000
    • 22. The Elusive Truth
    • 23. Personae in the Legal Drama
    • 24. The Logues and the Timmermans
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Index

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

By subscribing, you accept our Privacy Policy