Robeson County, NC - Andrew A. Strong - Swamp Angel, 1872

                          ~~~~~~~~~~

Newspaper: The Sun
December 30, 1872

North Carolina Outlaw Gang - Another Swamp Angel Gone

Brief mention has been made of the death of Andrew A. Strong, of the 
North Carolina Swamp Angels, for whose capture of the officers of 
Robeson County offered one thousand dollars and the magistrates of the 
State of North Carolina offered five thousand dollars more.

Strong and Steve Lowery were, it will be remembered, the only survivors 
of the infamous "Lowery gang" of outlaws who some time ago caused much 
trouble to the neighborhood. An account of Strong's and is given as 
follows:

On Thursday, at Eureka, a small town about eight miles from Wilmington, 
a crowd of non-descripts, but few of them probably of more than average 
honesty, was gathered in a store at the station. One of them, a negro, 
secreted in his pocket a number of locks belonging to the store, and a 
clerk named William Wilson, seeing the theft, demanded the return of 
the locks, and the thief resisting, they were obtained by force.

About an hour after this Andrew Strong, who had evidently been 
drinking, came into the store and ordered Mr. Wilson to leave the 
county, answering that if he did not he would kill him. The young man 
informed him that he would do so, whereupon Strong left the store. 

About 5 o'clock he returned more intoxicated than before, and, repeated 
his commands, telling Mr. Wilson that if he found him there at 6 
o'clock in the morning he would certainly kill him.

After saying this the outlaw turned to leave the store, and as he did 
so Wilson raised a double-barreled gun and discharged one barrel at the 
outlaw, planting eighteen buckshot in his neck and head.

The body of the outlaw was, in spite of the protestations of his 
friends, delivered to the sheriff of the county, and Wilson received 
the reward.

Steve Lowery is now the only survivor of the gang of "Swamp Angels."

______________________________________________________________________

Copyright. All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm

This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by
Connie Ardrey
______________________________________________________________________