CHARLESTON COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA - NEWS - Captain  Dawson's Death 1889

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Contributed for use in SCGenWeb Archives by:
Phyllis Thompson http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00011.html#0002524 August 24, 2005

The Georgia Enterprise July 4, 1889
     The horrible story of the murder of Captain  Dawson, in Charleston, S. C., 
was told on the stand Wednesday by the only living eye witness of the tragedy, 
T. B. McDow, his slayer. “I was sitting in my sitting room; heard the office 
gong ring; went down stairs and opened the office door;  Dawson asked if this 
was Dr. McDow; I replied yes, and invited him in, closing the door;  Dawson 
said, ‘Dr. McDow, I have just been informed that you have been guilty of 
ungentlemanly conduct to one of my servants.’ I replied, ‘It is untrue.’  Dawson 
said, ‘I give you to understand that I am responsible for that girl, and you 
must not speak to her again.’ I replied I would speak to her as often as I 
desired until I was convinced that he had authority to prevent me. Then, said 
 Dawson, ‘If you do, I will publish your name in the papers.’ ‘And if you do, I 
replied, you infernal scoundrel, I’ll hold you personally responsible. Get out 
of my office.’ At that time  Dawson struck my hat off with his cane and hit me 
with his hand, knocking me down to the lounge. The two blows were almost 
simultaneous. He followed me up and struck me again. I drew my pistol and, 
raising, fired at him. I had my pistol in my hip pocket. I habitually carry a 
pistol. Have done so every since I entered the practice of my profession.” He 
fired the shot, he said because he didn’t know but the next blow would hurt him 
seriously. Immediately after he shot him  Dawson turned and began to stagger, 
saying, in broken language and almost inaudible; “You have killed me.” Witness 
replied: “You tried to take my life; now I’ve taken yours.”  Dawson, he said, 
fell with the back of his head to the ground. “I stood for a moment; then 
stooped down and felt his pulse. Next I dragged him by the feet so as to get 
his body in a recumbent position and thought of calling for medical assistance, 
but saw death approaching and wondered if I could do anything to revive him. He 
was dead, however. He professed to have a most indistinct recollection of what 
took place after the  shooting. He remembers seeing a policeman on the corner 
when he rang the gong. The body was at that time in the closet. He had removed 
it. He had no difficulty in getting the body into the closet. He broke the 
nails off and tore open the closet door. As soon as life had left the body he 
closed the windows of his office and taking the dead man’s hat and cane threw 
them in the privy,  got a spade and returned to the office, picked the body up 
under the arms and dragged it out of the office through the hallway to the 
closet and put it in the hole. Then he tried to take the body out again, but it 
was too heavy. Then he lay down in his sitting room to rest awhile; went out 
and brought the candles, and returning succeeded in getting the body out. He 
raised the body up, dragged it back brushed the dust from his clothes, wiped 
the blood from the face of the corpse and laid it out. Then he went and fished 
the cane out of the vault, washed it off and put it on the sofa. He hunted for 
the hat, but couldn’t find it. When he had arranged everything he went out to 
surrender himself. He gave as a reason for removing the body from its grave, 
that he wanted the benefit of the giving up of the corpse at the same time.

In the same edition
The Georgia Enterprise, July 4, 1889
IN AND AROUND THE CITY, WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT INTEREST YOU. 
     Dr. McDow, who killed editor Dawson in Charleston, has been acquitted and 
is now a free man so far as human law is concerned.


Additional Comments:
The Georgia Enterprise was published in Newton County Georgia up to 1905.

File located at:
http://files.usgwarchives.net/sc/charleston/newspapers/dawson.txt