Background
The morning after Christmas, a 14-year-old African-American girl named Lula Sherman was alone at home when she heard a knock on her door. When she opened the door, she saw a white man named Manse Waldrop, who inquired about the location of her father. After Sherman stated that her parents were not home, Waldrop proceeded to enter the home and rape her. To conceal evidence of the rape, he forced her to swallow medicine and stuffed cotton inside her to stop the bleeding. He then pulled on his jeans jacket, picked up his gun, and walked away.
Three days later, Lula's mother returned and found her visibly shaken and upset. She had another child fetch Dr. T. W. Folger from town as Lula experienced worsening fevers and a series of convulsions. After initially refusing, Lula told her mother the story. By the time Folger arrived, the shock of the assault and the infection from the dirty cotton had killed Lula a quarter hour before. Folger concluded that she died from being "ravished." Waldrop was eventually arrested and found guilty of his crime. [1]
Lynching
Cato Freeman, Lula's father, and a sharecropper, gathered a mob to assist in the lynching of Waldrop. This mob included one white man, Gaylord Eaton, and four black men: John Reese, Bill Williams, Harrison Heyward, and Henry Bolton.
On December 30, 1887, the men forcibly removed Waldrop from police custody as he was being transported from jail and later executed him by hanging. [2] On Monday, January 16, 1888, warrants for the arrest of the men were issued. Harrison Heyward, Cato Sherman, Bill Williams, Henry Bolton, and John Reese were charged with murder, while Gaylord Eaton was charged with being an accessory to murder.
The first trial against Cato Sherman and his friends was held on July 9, 1888. They pleaded not guilty. The trial continued until July 10, 1888, resulting in a mistrial.
The men remained in jail until their second trial on March 6, 1889. Cato Sherman, John Reese, and Gaylord Eaton were found not guilty. However, Harrison Heyward, Bill Williams, and Henry Bolton were found guilty. Bolton received a new trial, but Williams and Heyward were both sentenced to be hanged on April 5, 1889. The result of Williams and Heyward's sentence sparked uproar in both Black and white communities. Petitions for their release were circulated among South Carolina citizens. Black ministers even met with South Carolina Governor John P. Richardson, to appeal for Williams and Heywards.
On July 8, 1889, Williams and Heyward were pardoned and released. The petitioning and support from citizens forced the court to reconsider the original sentence of death for these two men. Specific details for Bolton's trial are unknown, but he was eventually released. [3]
