Defendant Acquitted But Not Until After Another Delay Occasioned by a Sick Juror – One of the Attorneys Superstitious.
Special to The State.
Camden, Oct. 7.-A final termination of the Gillis case has at last been reached. The jury after a deliberation 20 minutes this morning rendered a verdict of not guilty. Another delay, although only for a couple of hours this time, was added to the history of this case.
This morning one of the jurors, Mr. Hunter, failed to respond to his name at the opening of court and Dr. Brasington reported that Mr. Hunter’s absence was occasioned by his having been taken suddenly ill during the interval between the adjournment and convening of court. The Juror was brought in the court room suffering considerably with a bilious attack and chills. He was placed on a pallet, morphine was injected in him and the court suspended further proceeding until he could be sufficiently at ease to hear the charge of the Judge. He was allowed to rest on the improvised couch for about an hour, when he expressed himself as feeling able to listen to the instructions of the court as to the law of the case. Judge Gage then charged the jury and they retired, the sick juror being supported so he could accompany them in the jury room. A few more hours of the session of court might have resulted in withdrawing the case from the jury altogether, if the condition of the juror had not improved.
As Judge Gage remarked during the progress of this case, an evil star seemed to hang over it, and one of the defendant’s attorneys was heard to say in summing up all the mishaps that have entered into the case that it made him feel superstitious.
J. E. Gillis has been justified by the jury for taking the life of John McRae Whitaker and that makes an end of the case.
First of all, thank you for the tremendous amount of work you have put into this website. It’s a great resource for those seeking information on Kershaw County families.
Ed Gillis was my great grandfather. He lived with my grandfather Heyward in Lancaster, SC for several years prior to his death in 1939. My dad was born in 1931 and remembered him well. Ed often told my dad stories about the day he shot Mr. Whitaker. However, I have learned over the years that his version of events did not match very well with historical accounts and he invariably proclaimed his innocence and total exoneration via self defense. For instance, he had a crooked finger on his right hand and told my dad it was caused by a bullet from Whitaker’s gun hitting his finger, prompting him to fire in self defense. In truth, his finger was broken by the men trying to wrestle the gun out of his hand. I don’t think he was evil, but I do think he was guilty, and very lucky that the jury saw otherwise. Unfortunately he, and his father, made several bad decisions that day that ended in a tragedy.