Keowee Courier

FORGED CHECKS
ADD MYSTERY
To the Willis Murder Case
in Greenville—Officers
at Work on Case.

(Greenville News, July 4.)

Forgery of the late Sheriff Sam D. Willis' name to six checks in the amount of $15 each on Saturday, June 11—a few hours before the chief peace officer of the county was slain at midnight at the rear of his home—is still a baffling mystery to officers who are investigating the check case.

Was the forgery one of pure coincidence, in that the checks were passed only a few hours before the slaying, or was the forger aware of the fact that the sheriff was to be killed that night, and that the impending deed would offer an opportunity to get as many of the vouchers cashed as possible, letting them turn up at the bank after the murder?

These questions are confronting officers. Those who investigated the sheriff's slaying and caused the arrest of Mrs. Ethel Willis, the widow, and Henry Townsend, close friend of the sheriff, take no stock, apparently, in the theory that the forged checks had any connection with the killing.

Members of the Willis and Townsend families and others who are not convinced that the two defendants had any connection with the murder, see in the checks the possibilities of the forgeries being made in anticipation of a slaying that was planned and executed through malice.

Three checks were cashed, according to officers. They were presented to the J. O. Jones Company, the Ottaray Hotel, and the Southern Grocery Company. The vouchers bore the signature of "Sam D. Willis" and were all made payable to "W. A. Jones." The voucher cashed at the J. O. Jones Company is said to have been paid by the Woodside National Bank, on which it was drawn. Others were turned down by the bank. All checks were written on the blanks from a pocket check book, and the writing was very coarse, apparently done with a stub pen. Sheriff Willis' signature was rather delicately executed, with several distinctive curls.

Persons who took the checks for cash are not able to identify the person who presented them, although a general description of his appearance has been given. One store questioned the voucher, and the presenter said the sheriff and he were on a raid the other night, and the officer was short on money, making the check, which the bearer said he cashed.