From the best reports obtainable on the shooting of Dan and Bracher Lattimore at Camak, Georgia, at midnight Sunday night by two armed railroad guards, it seems that the Lattimore boys were killed deliberately for the purpose of robbing them of their money. Camak is a small railroad junction and because of the railroad strike, guards were placed abut the yard. W.T. Hall guarded the yard and another fellow a bridge some mile or more away. The two guards were together on this particular night, Hall having sent for the other guard. Dan Lattimore lives at Camak and Hall knew him personally. Bratcher, who lives at Hickory Grove, went to Camak to go coon hunting with his brother and they expected to receive some dogs at the express office, sent from their father, Dan Lattimore Sr., of Hickory Grove, S.C., who is fond of hunting. The dogs did not come and about midnight the Lattimore brothers went into a small café to get lunch. The guards were there and saw a roll of money said to be $150 or more on Bratcher’s person when he paid for the two meals.
A railroad workman told the Lattimore boys to get his dog and take with them. Shortly after they left the café two quick shots were heard. A woman living near-by was aroused and going to the door, saw two men stooped over what she thought to be a dog which they had killed on the tracks as she could see only dimly by means of the flash light they were using. Sterling Farr, an engine watchman, fund the bodies when he made investigation after hearing the shots. The Lattimore brothers lay sprawled across the railroad tracks, one shot through the head and the other through the body from behind.
Press dispatches say that one of the Lattimore boys had a pistol gripped in his hand, but this is denied by relatives who attended the funeral at Hickory Grove, S.C., Wednesday afternoon of this week. One had a cigarette stub in his hand and neither man was armed. The theory is that the guards saw Bratcher’s money when he paid the café keeper for the meals and that the purpose of the shooting was to rob the Lattimore boys, Bratcher’s watch, a $20 gold fob and his $150 in cash was gone.
W.T. Hall, one of the guards, admitted doing the shooting and went eight miles to surrender to the sheriff, declaring that he shot them by mistake, thinking they were intruders on the railroad property which he was guarding.
Bratcher and Dan Lattimore were the sons of Mr. Dan Lattimore Sr. of Hickory Grove, S.C. Bratcher was single while Dan was married and leaves a wife and two children. Both were soldiers overseas in the recent world war and were heroic young men.
It is understood that an effort will be made to prosecute the murderers to the full extent of the law.
The funeral at Hickory Grove Wednesday afternoon was largely attended by relatives from Cleveland county, among them being Dr. and Mrs. J.R. Osborne and sons Tom and William; Edley Lattimore, Pink Lattimore, Mr. and Mrs. J.B. Lattimore and daughter, Tom Lattimore, Bob Elliott, Walter Lattimore, Miss Susan Lattimore, Sam Lattimore, John Daniely and John Bynum Lattimore, Bob Lattimore, Andrew Elliott, Mrs. Hoyle Elliott, Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Beam, Bruce Lattimore, Edley Lattimore and perhaps others.
From the front page of The Cleveland Star, Shelby, N.C., Friday, Sept. 1, 1922
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