If you have not read Part I, click here to read it first.
On Monday, January 17, 1921, The Bigham Family became headline news in newspapers throughout the country. The Abbeville Press and Banner’s headline proclaimed “Florence Tragedy Takes Five Lives” with the byline “L.S Bigham, For Whom Officer’s Search, Found Dead in Woods-Thought to be Suicide Following Killing of Mother, Sister, and Two Adopted Children. “.
According to these first reports, Smiley had shot his mother, his sister Marjorie and her two adopted sons Leo and John McCracken. It is then said that he ran into the woods where he shot himself in the head. The pistol, which belonged to Edmund, was still in his hand when he was found. The shootings were said to have occurred on Jan 15th at about 3:30 in the afternoon but Smiley’s body was not found until the next day. According to Edmund, he had eaten lunch with his family and then left the house at about 3:10 pm with his wife and children to see a nearby neighbor. When he was driving back to the house about 20 minutes later he saw his mother staggering out into the yard. He ran to her and he stated that she died soon after he reached her and had told him that Smiley had shot her. He also stated, that at the time he was running to his mother he saw his brother running into the woods. Two neighbors, T. D. Garrison and Hoyt Rostick, arrived soon after and helped him get his mother’s body into the house. Soon after the three men had found the youngest boy John dead near the back of the house. It wasn’t until a few hours later that they went upstairs and found Marjorie dead in her bedroom and then searchers found the older boy Leo wounded, yet still alive in the yard. Leo died early the next morning. Edmund also claimed that his brother had been very depressed recently. His brother’s body was not found until the next morning when Edmund insisted that the woods where he had seen him run to be searched. Continue reading “Bad Neighbors (Part II): The Bigham Family of Florence County”
