“L” is for Lowman Lynchings. In the early hours of October 8, 1926, Bertha, Demon, and Clarence Lowman were taken from their cells in the Aiken County jail. They were then driven to a pine thicket on the outskirts of Aiken, where according to one account, one thousand persons and several hundred cars waited. The Lowmans were ordered out and shot down by a fusillade of bullets. Demon and Clarence died immediately, but Bertha did not. Eyewitnesses said she tried to crawl away, but was shot in the head by Aiken County Sheriff Nollie Robinson. The news of the Lowmans’ deaths created a firestorm of state and national outrage. Despite public revelations, two successive governors chose not to remove the sheriff from office. And, an all-white Aiken County grand jury refused to indict anyone for the Lowman Lynchings.
“L” is for Lowman Lynchings
