Klansman Killed In Horry County Gun Fight



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Tabor City Tribune 8-30-50
Klansman Killed In Horry County Gun Fight
Editor’s note: In keeping with The Tribune’s statement of August 16, we will express opinions on the Ku Klux Klan escapade at Myrtle Beach last Saturday night because it was not within the Tabor City community. However, the basic news involved with comment is contained in the article below. Despite the fact that three days have elapsed since the shooting occurred, no statement of consequence has been issued by any law enforcement channels. To get any information on the -----, newspapers have had to resort to their own news sources, eye witnesses and smatterings of details that will not be verified or denied by investigators.
“Details of a Ku Klux Klan – Negro gun fight in Myrtle Beach Saturday night during which a Conway policeman, wearing a Klan robe over his uniform, was shot to death, remained sketchy tonight,” the Associated Press said Tuesday in an article datelined in Conway. Details on Wednesday remained just as sketchy with neither state, county, or local law enforcement officers releasing any information on the events that took place.

Killed during the gun fight, which took place in the colored section of Myrtle Beach about midnight, was James Daniel Johnson, 42, who was shot under the left shoulder blade with what is believed to be a .35 caliber pistol. Johnson was carried to the Conway Hospital but died a few minutes after being admitted. It has been impossible to find the names of the persons carrying Johnson to the hospital.

Horry County Sheriff C. Ernest Sasser, according to the Associated Press report, said that “300 shots were fired by about 60 robed Klansmen and an unknown number of negroes in front of a dance hall and tourist court.”

Johnson was wearing both his police uniform and a Klansman’s robe at the time he was shot.

Held in an undisclosed jail, said to be the hospital section of the State Penitentiary in Columbia, S.C. by unofficial sources, is Charlie Fitzgerald, Myrtle Beach Negro who owned and operated the business in which the shooting took place. No charges had been filed against Fitzgerald in so far as is known. First reports stated Fitzgerald was being held “for safekeeping.”

Sheriff Sasser said in the Tuesday article that he understood that another Negro was wounded, but he did not give any names involved. No official report has been issued on this to date but reliable witnesses say that Gene Nichols, 30 year Negro, was shot in the foot: that Charlie Vance, also colored and about 30 received internal injuries; and that Cynthia Harrell, brother of Fitzgerald, was hit in the back several times and required medical attention.

In so far as official statements are concerned, it has not been determined whether Johnson was killed by a bullet fired by Fitzgerald or by some one else. He was arrested about 3 A.M. Sunday morning after having undergone medical treatment for a severe beating presumably administered by the Klan after the shooting occurred.

Eye witnesses to the Klan parade say that 27 cars were involved. That all but one bore South Carolina license plates. That one was a North Carolina car.

Thomas L. Hamilton, grand dragon of the KKK in South Carolina, has announced that he will say nothing until the investigation had been cleared up, according to the Associated Press report.

Chief Highway Commissioner Claude R. MacMillian asserted emphatically that no State Highway patrol cars participated in the parade, as was previously reported to the Myrtle Beach police. He declared that if a patrolman ever took part in a Klan parade “It will be the last time he would ever wear a uniform or draw a check.”



No official word has been released as to why the Klan started the demonstration at Fitzgerald’s place. However, persons in that area say that Fitzgerald’s businesses included the operation of a taxi fleet, the operation of a dance hall, where the violence occurred, and the operation of several tourist cabins. The cabin phase of his operations was generally believed to be some what of a shady nature. However, no official reports have been forthcoming in this regard.

Funeral services for the deceased were held at 4 P.M. Monday afternoon in Conway. Survivors include three sons, James Monroe Johnson, Bill Randell Johnson, of Conway, and John Dan Johnson, in the Army in Korea; and two daughters, Ernestine and Ella Rae Johnson, of Conway.
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