Six Miles to Charleston

by Bruce Orr

  Fortunately there was the wagon trade.

  Wagons loaded with materials traveled far and wide to reach the Carolina coast. It was not unusual for hides, cotton or tobacco to travel three or four hundred miles to market in efforts to reach the wagon yards of Charleston. While the economy may have been bad and exports dwindling, farmers, trappers and traders still flocked to Charleston to sell their products.

  The trips were long and tiresome. Horses wearied and so did their owners. Teams of six to eight horses were needed to pull the loads to market. They needed places along the route to stop and rest and receive water. These places took form in the stage taverns or inns known as “Houses” that dotted the roadways on the outskirts of towns and cities. These inns were usually designated by the distance from the appointed destination. The Four Mile House was, of course, approximately four miles from Charleston. Five Mile House, Six Mile House, Ten Mile House were likewise and so on. Eventually the inns and taverns took on other names in the following years, but the mile marker designations seemed to endure. Most still endure to this day.

  In 1819, ships such as these were becoming less of a common site as commerce slowed, and piracy still continued. Courtesy of author.

  The stagecoach taverns or houses were not what we imagine an inn or tavern to be today. The countryside inns or taverns were more social centers for the countryside. The latest news and gossip was spread by passengers to the taverns and later diffused to the people of the city. The inner-city inns and taverns served food and drink and provided lodging. These were more of what one considers an inn to be today.

  Of course being a proprietor of one, or several, of these inns could be advantageous. Traders, avoiding the higher costs of the city, may take advantage of your inns. If you were an honest proprietor, you could make a fair wage taking care of your customers. Add the care of the horses and the price goes up.

  A map of the Charleston district by Robert Mills, dated 1825, actually has several of the taverns locations denoted. Six Mile House, rebuilt after being destroyed by fire six years earlier, was a little beyond the intersection of Goose Creek Road, now Highway 52 or Rivers Avenue, and Dorchester Road. The Four Mile House was, of course, a little closer to the city.

  The Four Mile House is often, erroneously, said to be the location of the Fishers’ crimes. In the South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine (volume 19, January 1918–January 1919), it appears that Judge Henry Augustus Middleton Smith identified the Four Mile House as being upon a tract known as Discher Farm. That is true but then he states, inaccurately, that it was the scene of the incidents with the Fishers. His confusion may be due to the fact that the Four Mile House was originally called the Six Mile House in the 1700s, not the 1800s when the incidents took place in the location ran by the Fishers. The first mention of the place Smith is referring to being called the Four Mile House Tract is in a 1786 deed of sale from James Donovan to John Bowen.

  According to research, the Four Mile House was demolished in October 1969 after several efforts were made in a four-year effort by the preservation society to maintain it as a landmark. The house and its four-acre plot were purchased by the Milton F. Truluck Trust and was the remaining portion of the seventy-acre plot on which the inn was built. Edward Evans, a member of the demolition firm, was interviewed and stated that he saw no hidden compartments, trapdoors or cellars on or around the house during the demolition.

  Leaving Charleston along what was once Goose Creek Road, one can locate Discher Road and Four Mile Road. They are apparently the only reminders left of the Four Mile House and its seventy-acre tract.

  A little over a mile from that location is Five Mile Viaduct. A little over two miles from there behind Whipper Barony subdivision is an area known as Seven Mile and lastly, at the Intersection of Highway 52 (Rivers Avenue) and Remount Road is a business park known as Ten Mile Station. Although the taverns have been long gone, it is obvious that the mileage designations created back then are still used to this day.

  In overlaying and comparing plat 6881 and a current map, one gets a general idea of where Six Mile House was. The Six Mile House would have been in an area now occupied by the Charleston Naval Health Clinic, previously known as the Charleston Naval Hospital. This nestles it directly between and across from the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office and the North Charleston Police Department Substation. It is quite ironic, and somewhat humorous, that this legend of one of the most vicious female serial killers in the state of South Carolina originated on the very doorstep of not one but two of this state’s largest law enforcement agencies. What is even more ironic is that one of those agencies evolved from the elected position of the person who arrested the Fishers. The Office of Sheriff of Charleston back then is now known as the Charleston County Sheriff ’s Office today. This agency now employs hundreds of deputies and is divided into numerous specialized divisions.

  Plat 6881 shows the location of Six Mile House near the intersection of Dorchester Road and Goose Creek Road, which is now Rivers Avenue. Courtesy South Carolina Department of Archives and History.

  Four Mile Lane in the vicinity of where Four Mile House once stood. Courtesy of author.

  Discher Street where Discher Farm once stood, a tract containing Four Mile House. Courtesy of author.

  Five Mile Viaduct where Five Mile House once stood. Courtesy of author.

  The Charleston Naval Clinic, formerly the Charleston Naval Hospital, now sits where Six Mile House once stood. Courtesy of author.

  With the wagon and stage trade prevalent, the traders themselves became targets for highway robbery. If a full wagon was heading into town, one could easily hijack the wagon and take the goods for themselves. If one were leaving town with an empty wagon, then one could assume that the goods had been sold and the trader was carrying cash.

  In the early months of 1819, highwaymen were busy. A citizen, James Addison, had been robbed of a little over $10.00 at dusk by a white man mounted on a white horse. John Brown had also been robbed and deprived of $140.00. Others had been lured into the inns where they were cheated in crooked gambling games. Added to those complaints was that of Stephen LaCoste, who had gone to his pasture to check on his cow and found the creature missing. Mr. LaCoste was quite certain the cow had not wandered off and had met with a much more diabolical fate.

  Those involved in the wagon trade, along with anyone else traveling to and from Charleston, felt it necessary to carry their rifles for protection. This frustrated the citizenry of Charleston, and they had had more than enough. They feared that the news of such robberies would deter trade and create even more problems to the already failing Charleston commerce. Younger and smaller towns such as Cheraw, Camden, Columbia and Hamburg were already in a position to intercept the wagon trade, and the threat of robbery was sure to divert these merchants to these smaller towns and their smaller wagon yards.

  On February 16, 1819, a mob set out from Charleston to take the matters into their own hands. Well armed, determined and riding under their own authority, they set out for the Five Mile House. They set forth under “Lynch’s Law” and no other authority at all.

  The term Lynch’s Law was used as early as 1782. A prominent Virginian named Charles Lynch created his own laws and terms in suppressing a suspected loyalist uprising in 1780 during the Revolutionary War. The suspects were given a trial at an informal court. The sentences handed down included whipping, property seizure, coerced pledges of allegiance and forced enrollment into the military. Charles Lynch’s extralegal actions were retroactively legitimized by the Virginia General Assembly in 1782.

  A second explanation of Lynch’s Law comes from another source. In 1811, Captain William Lynch claimed that the phrase “Lynch’s Law” actually came from a 1780 compact signed by him and his neighbors in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. The compact allowed them to uphold their own brand of law outside of legal authority. Regardless of the origins of Lynch’s Law, it was nothing more than mob justice without legal authori
ty. The state of South Carolina eventually created laws against such acts.

  Lynching is now a felony. Lynching in the first degree, section 16-3-210 of the South Carolina Code of Laws, deals with the death of a person at the hands of a mob. Any person found guilty of lynching in the first degree shall suffer death unless the jury shall recommend the defendant to the mercy of the court, in which the defendant shall be confined at hard labor in the state penitentiary for a term not exceeding forty years or less than five years at the discretion of the presiding judge.

  Lynching in the second degree, section 16-3-220 of the South Carolina Code of Laws, is an act of violence by a mob in which death does not occur. It is a felony and any person found guilty of the crime shall be confined at hard labor in the state penitentiary for a term not exceeding twenty years or less than three years at the discretion of the presiding judge. While lynching in the first degree is rarely used when a charge of murder will suffice, second-degree lynching is still utilized in cases of gang violence within the state. It is considered by investigators to be the state’s gang statute. That is exactly what a gang is: it is a mob gathered together in unison to commit violent and criminal acts. Then again, in present-day South Carolina, lynch mobs, or gangs, are illegal. The year of 1819 was quite different. Remember that colonial justice does not equal criminal justice, but we will cover that in a later chapter.

  Apparently a gang of these robbers had set up shop in the area of Ashley Ferry just outside of Charleston. The robbers could not be identified by any of the victims, so the lynch mob set out to find and disband the group and force them away from the inns in the area. They allegedly had permission from the owners of several small houses in the area to proceed as they saw fit. The fact that the Charleston newspaper, the Courier, reports that this group set forth to find and drive away a group they could not even identify is quite interesting.

  The mob arrived at a house commonly called the Five Mile House and found a small group gathered there. The group was ordered to vacate the premises and was given fifteen minutes to comply. When they protested, resisted and failed to comply in leaving the building, the lynch mob responded by setting the building on fire. In a very short time it burned to the ground along with some adjacent outbuildings. The Five Mile House was completely destroyed.

  The lynch mob then reorganized and proceeded farther up the road to Six Mile House to repeat the process. The same order was given to vacate, and this time the occupants thought it best to comply quickly. Rest assured that the smoke and ash in the February air blowing from the remains of Five Mile House was incentive enough. So were the warnings of its former occupants. After the occupants had departed and the Six Mile House was vacant, the lynch mob placed a young man inside to watch over the property. That man’s name was David Ross.

  Armed under the pretext of Lynch’s Law, the mob had ridden out from Charleston first to the Five Mile House and, after administering their own brand of justice, they then proceeded to the Six Mile House to do the same. They had no legal authority and were not represented by such in any way. Documentation also shows that not one of the robbery victims could identify any of their assailants. Regardless of these facts, the lynch mob returned to Charleston with the feeling they had successfully and completely driven out and disbanded the occupants of both inns. An account of their actions was reported in the Charleston Courier on Saturday, February 20, 1819.

  CHAPTER 2

  The Victims

  TWO CORPSES AND A COW

  Sometime after the lynch mob returned to Charleston, the occupants that had been driven out of the Six Mile House returned to the inn. An altercation occurred with David Ross as he stood guard over the Six Mile House. He was attacked but managed to escape into the woods and make his way back to town. His sworn affidavit, given to the authorities on February 20, 1819, described what transpired according to Ross.

  David Ross being duly sworn deposeth that on yesterday about the hour of nine, William Hayward came to Six Mile House of which he was in possession, accompanied by another person, whose name is unknown by him, that the said Hayward cursed him, collared him violently, and pushed him out of doors. The deponent then again reentered the house, and asked to take away the few articles that belonged to him; Hayward put his hand into his bosom, and said you damned infernal rascal, if you lay your hand on anything, I will blow your brains out.—By this time Fisher and his wife Lavinia Fisher came up, with two other men, whose names are unknown to him—that Lavinia Fisher laid violent hands upon him, choaked [sic] and boxed his head through a pain [sic] of window glass—whilst I was endeavoring to get away from them, Hayward and Fisher beat him unmercifully, with loaded whips aided and assisted by the other two men, whose names are unknown to him, there was also another woman, who aided and assisted, whilst they were beating him, the deponent leapt out of the piazza, and crossed the road through the woods then he got to the Four Mile House, but just as he had entered the woods, they fired at him, he got at least into the main road and on his way to town, near Freightous Bridge, he saw the whole party coming to town, Fisher exclaimed several times, you damned infernal rascal if ever I catch you, I will give you a hundred lashes.

  First page of David Ross’s statement. Courtesy South Carolina Department of Archives and History.

  Second page of David Ross’s statement. Courtesy South Carolina Department of Archives and History.

  As an amendment, the following appears to have been added after the judge’s signature: “and deponent doth believe that James McElroy was one of the above party concerned in the nefarious transactions above mentioned.”

  As David Ross was making his way back to town after the alleged attack, a trader named John Peoples was making his way out of town. Two hours after Ross was attacked, Peoples stopped at the Six Mile House to water his horses. As he and a young boy that was with him watered the horses, he was allegedly attacked and robbed. The following is the affidavit that Peoples provided to the authorities upon his return to Charleston.

  John Peeples being duly sworn deposeth that on yesterday forenoon, the 19th into about eleven o’clock as he was returning home from town to his residence in the country he stopped near the forks of the road about 6 miles from town to water his horse that whilst his horses were watering a man came out of the 6 Mile House and told a boy who was with him that he must give him his bucket as he wanted to water his horse, the boy refused to give him the bucket saying he wanted it himself, he swore he would have it and immediately nine or ten persons, among them a tall, stout woman, came out of the same house to the place where he was armed with clubs, guns, and pistols, and immediately made a violent assault on him, some of them beating him with sticks and with their guns, and several times they flashed their pistols at him, that the woman appeared to be the most active in beating him, cutting him over the head and eyes with a stick—that after a while they left him, and reentered the same house, and the deponent proceeded about two hundred yards on the road when two of the same men came up to him on horseback, and stopped his waggon [sic]—and said to him that they would kill him, both of them presenting pistols to him and snapped them at him and demanded of him his money, they then searched his pocket, and took out his pocketbook, which contained his money amounting to between thirty five and forty dollars and then rode back towards the house from whence they came, the Six Mile House—the deponent then came back to Charleston—the deponent doth not know the names of those persons who hath so cruelly beat him and robbed him but that he hath just cause to believe that among them was William Hayward, John Fisher and his wife Lavinia Fisher, Joseph Roberts and John Andrews.

  First page of John Peoples’s statement. Courtesy South Carolina Department of Archives and History.

  Second page of John Peoples’s statement. Courtesy South Carolina Department of Archives and History.

  Third page of John Peoples’s statement. Courtesy South Carolina Department of Archives and History.

  Some interesting things to note about
Peoples’s affidavit are that it is written in several different forms of handwriting and his name is spelled both as “Peeples” and “Peoples.” It is signed “John Peoples.” Included on the affidavit is a list:

  6 Mile Housemen

  John Fisher

  Lavinia Fisher

  Wm. Hayward

  Joseph Roberts

  Wm. Andrews

  Seth Young

  James McElroy

  John Smith

  F. Davis

  James Sterrett

  Side note on Peoples’s statement listing Six Mile Housemen. Courtesy South Carolina Department of Archives and History.

  Davis’s first name is unreadable, and his arrest is undocumented. It appears that these names were added to the affidavit much as James McElroy’s name had been added to Ross’s affidavit. Both affidavits were sworn out at the same time by the same judge. Since the signature is different in spelling than the actual affidavit and the handwriting is different, it is obvious this statement was written for John Peoples. It is also in the same handwriting as David Ross’s affidavit.

  With two victims, the sheriff was now moved into action where he had failed to take action before. With a fairly large “Party of gentlemen,” as the Charleston Courier would later report, the sheriff, Colonel Nathaniel Greene Cleary, set out to the Six Mile House. Upon surrounding the house, the occupants surrendered without a fight and were taken into custody, even though they had been armed with ten to twelve muskets and a keg of powder. Many accounts state John Fisher opted to surrender rather than risk injury or death to his wife, Lavinia. That is one account. Another version is apparently the large group surrounding the house put a quick end to any thoughts of resistance. Regardless of the reasoning for lack of resistance, John and Lavinia Fisher, James McElroy, Seth Young and Jane Howard were taken into custody, loaded into the paddy wagon and taken to the City Jail on Magazine Street. While searching the property, the sheriff’s group located the hide of a cow that had been killed recently. The hide had been hidden inside an outhouse. It was indeed identified as a cow belonging to Stephen LaCoste, one of Charleston’s citizens. He had been correct in his belief that it had met with a very unpleasant fate.