The Bamberg Herald

Two Arrests Sequel to Bennettsville Mystery of Thanksgiving, 1910.

Bennettsville, Dec. 21.—The arrest here to-day of Joe Malloy and Charlotte Easterling, charged with the murder of two white boys, Guy Rogers and Prentiss Moore, on November 24, 1910, came as a surprise and sensation to many. It is understood that negro detectives have been working on the case for several months, and that they have secured strong testimony, and those who know the work of the detectives in this case say that there is little room to question the guilt of Joe Malloy, as principal, and Charlotte Easterling, as accessory.

Bodies Found in Ditch

It will be recalled that these two little boys left their homes in Bennettsville on a hunting trip Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1910; that they failed to return to their homes that evening, and that searching parties were organized, and for two or three days the river swamp was searched; that finally the bodies of the two boys were found in a ditch, in an open field, very near Charlotte Easterling's house.

The coroner's jury deliberated several days and finally returned a verdict that the boys came to their death from gunshot wounds inflicted in a manner unknown to the jury. There were many who suspected Joe Malloy at that time.

Mystery Explained.

There were three theories advanced at the time to explain the mystery, one being murder, one accidental shooting of Prentiss Moore by Guy Rogers and then suicide on the part of Guy Rogers, the other an accident as to both. Joe Malloy, who has been arrested, is a negro man who had at that time a wife and several children. His wife died a few weeks after the verdict of the coroner's jury under somewhat suspicious circumstances.

It is probable that Joe Malloy and Charlotte Easterling will be given a preliminary hearing before Magistrate S. J. McInnis to-morrow or the next day.