State Senator Sam Lattimore Says He Was Assaulted After Car Accident, Jan. 3, 1923

Senator Lattimore Assaulted by Drunks. . . State Senator Attacked by Drunks—His Car Sideswiped by Another Near Gaffney—Drunks Cover Him with Guns

Shelby Star, 28th

State Senator Sam Lattimore, prominent Cleveland county farmer, was badly beaten up about 1 o’clock Wednesday morning on the national highway between Spartanburg and Gaffney near the village of Thickety by five men said to have been intoxicated. The assault followed a collision between Lattimore’s Buick and a Ford Touring car driven by the men. Charlie Black, young white man, who works for Senator Lattimore, was with him at the time and was also injured during the fracas but was able to leave the hospital at Gaffney Wednesday. Mr. Lattimore, whose head was painfully beaten with the butt of a gun, will likely be a patient in the hospital for several days, both men being taken there following the affair.

Over long-distance telephone from the Gaffney hospital Wednesday, Senator Lattimore gave the following version of the apparently unwarranted assault.

The two Cleveland county men had been to Spartan burg and were returning when upon rounding a curve near Thickety their car collided with a Ford touring car. The Ford struck the heavier Buick at an angle and was turned over by the impact. Lattimore and his companion stopped their car as quickly as possible and returned to aid the men in extricating themselves from the overturned car. It was apparent that the men had been drinking by their immediate demands that the Cleveland men pay for the damages. After some wrangling Mr. Lattimore agreed to give them what money he had a check for the remainder, although he was of opinion that he had already given more than the proper share of the road. The men refused to accept a check for the remainder and flashed a Winchester rifle, marching the couple up and down the road threatening to shoot them.

Finally remembering that he had a pistol in his car Mr. Lattimore persuaded the men to return to his car to see how badly it was damaged and when they complied with his request he managed to secure the gun only to have it taken away from him by the men, one of whom struck him over the head with butt of the rifle, continuing to do so after he had been knocked down. Black, during the scuffle, is said to have given a good account of his fighting prowess but was over powered and with Mr. Lattimore forced down the road, the men shooting at them with Mr. Lattimore’s pistol, which had fallen to the ground.

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Caffney, S.C., Dec. 28—P.F. Rice, 22, Spartanburg county youth, is held in the Cherokee county jail here today in connection with the attack made early Wednesday on Senator Sam C. Lattimore of Shelby, N.C., by five white men following a collision between two automobiles. Rice was arrested at his home 12 miles from Spartanburg yesterday. Police are seeking four other men.

From the front page of The Lincoln County News, Lincolnton, N.C., Jan. 3, 1924. I think Caffney is a typo, and it’s Gaffney.