Sheriff Bryant Harrison and his deputies, J.E. Stell and Will Mangum are today investigating the dynamiting of a little country store owned by Mr. and Mrs. Zack Jackson, the explosion having followed warnings signed by the K.K.K. to leave the community in which they were regarded as “undesirable residents.”
The dynamiting of the little country place which has been for a time something of a gathering ground for the community, was knot known to Mrs. Jackson until after breakfast, though neighbors heard the explosion and looked for fire which did not come. Mrs. Jackson had sought an attorney’s advice when she received the letters warning her to leave within 48 hours, but the lawyer advised her to take no thought of it and she really did not.
The reputation of the Jackson couple in the community is good and Mrs. Jackson has been a leader in community work. Nearly two months ago she received the first letter indicating the difference of opinion as to her desirability as a citizen. The lawyer advised her to ignore this communication. The second letter was so treated without advice. The Jacksons were in a community which had a school row and they may have made some enemies by reason of their interest in improving conditions. The little store was generally kept open until well in the evening, but if there had ever been a whisper against the couple nobody knew it.
The neighbors say the K.K.K. writer told Mrs. Jackson that the gossip at the store was exactly what the writer thought it should be and it was the opinion of the writer that she should leave. Neither she nor her neighbors got excited.
The wreck was a complete job and merchandise was scattered all over the place, lodging in trees, falling far away from the center of the store and every article breakable going up in a smash. The sheriff takes two of his best deputies and they hope to lead to a clue which will settle this thing on somebody.
From the front page of the Durham Morning Herald, Saturday, Aug. 11, 1923
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