Six barrels of beer, several jugs partially filled with wine, and a number of fundles (?, probably meant funnels) and empty bottles were found late Sunday afternoon by local officers when sent to arrest Wash Bryant, a white man, alleged to have beaten his son, Sam, mercilessly with his fist and a shot gun, after a quarrel occurring Friday. The liquor and distilling outfit were discovered about 500 yards from the man’s house, which is located about two miles south of Duke on the Linden road.
Sheriff Jernigan and several deputies with a warrant sworn out by Sam Bryant, 18-year-old son of Wash Bryant, charging his father with “assault with fist and a shot gun and threat to kill, choking and beating and other bodily harm,” had driven out to Bryant’s home to make the arrest. There were 10 or 12 people at the home at the time the arrest was made, according to the local officers. A search for the still was made which resulted in the discovery of the above mentioned liquor. Bryant was brought to town but was later set free when he put up a $500 bond. L.B. Bolton, another white man, charged with aiding in beating the boy, was also placed under arrest.
Beating Friday
The assault by the father on son is said to have occurred Friday at the old Porter home, about a half mile east of Duke. According to Sam, the boy, his father came over to Porter’s house in an automobile, and called him out to the car, where he jumped on him, knocked him flat and unconscious with his fist and when he came to stood over him with a shot gun drawn over his head, cursing and threatening to kill him.
He was then forced to get in the car, and L.B. Bolton, another man in Bryant’s company, held the gun on him till he reached home, according to young Bryant’s statement. There, the boy says, he was tied and thrown in a meat house and his father declared that he would remain there two weeks. He was slipped a knife later, by which he loosed himself and made his escape form the house. Since that time he has spent the days and nights at neighbors, the boy declares, and he stated when he swore out the warrant at Chief of Police’s office Sunday that he was afraid his father would kill him if he saw him.
Sam Tells of Still
Sam Bryant told officers that the reason his father gave for beating him up was that he had stolen his liquor still, which he denied. When asked if his father had a still, young Bryant answered in the affirmative. “He has a 70-gallon copper still and has had it for 30 days. He has been running it in the woods about a half mile from the house,” he stated. He added that his father had been engaged in selling the whiskey, and claimed that he now had five barrels of beer, and that 10 days ago he had seen him with 10 gallons of whiskey.
It was due to the testimony of the boy that officers searched the premises of Bryant when his arrest was made Sunday afternoon, which resulted in the discovery of the six barrels of beer and other wines.
Among the number gathered at Bryant’s home Sunday were a crowd of negroes in an automobile with no license number, and in which a pint of wine and an empty whiskey bottle was discovered. The driver was arrested for driving with state license.
Sheriff Jernigan stated that Bryant was drinking when arrested, and that there was evidence of other drinking around the house.
Bryant’s Other Trouble
Washington Bryant, who is one of the wealthiest farmers in this section has had trouble before. He was charged about a year ago with killing his wife, and admitted firing the shot, but claimed it to be accidental. After several trials the result was a nol pros taken out by the state in the last term of Harnett Superior Court.
Bryant has had some little trouble with his several sons since the trial when he was indicted for killing his wife, it is reported. He stated that he had to whip his son to enforce discipline.
When Sam Bryant was in town Sunday there was evidence of the alleged beating on his body, which was scarred noticeably. One eye was half closed and there were finger marks about his face and neck.
From the front page of the Dunn Dispatch, July 19, 1921
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