Six Miles to Charleston

 

 

Published by The History Press
Charleston, SC 29403
www.historypress.net

Copyright © 2010 by Bruce Orr
All rights reserved

Front cover image:
The Hanging of Lavinia Fisher
by David Gobel.

First published 2010
e-book edition 2012

ISBN 978.1.61423.281.0

Orr, Bruce.
Six miles to Charleston : the true story of John and Lavinia Fisher / Bruce Orr.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
print edition ISBN 978-1-60949-117-8
1. Fisher, John, d. 1820. 2. Fisher, Lavinia, d. 1820. 3. Murderers--South Carolina--Charleston--Biography. 4. Hotelkeepers--South Carolina--Charleston--Biography. 5. Charleston (S.C.)--Biography. 6. Six Mile House (Charleston, S.C.)--History. 7. Charleston (S.C.)--History--19th century. 8. Criminal justice, Administration of--South Carolina--Charleston--History--19th century. 9. Trials (Murder)--South Carolina--Charleston--History--19th century. 10. Charleston (S.C.)--Politics and government--19th century. I.
Title.
HV6248.F47O7 2010
364.152'30922757915--dc22
2010041014

Notice
: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

For my children: I have always taught you to search for the facts in the face of what others may tell you.
Rachel S.: Thank you for putting up with me after I have dragged you through the streets of Charleston in the rain, for tolerating me again after I dragged you through the dust and the dirt of the Old City Jail and also burying you in photos, files and microfiche.
“Catt Vee”: My fantastic friend from Raleigh, I always told you that the first one's for you.

C
ONTENTS

Foreword by John LaVerne

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Lost in Legend

1. The Time: 1819

2. The Victims: Two Corpses and a Cow

3. The Gang: The Forgotten Members

4. The Trial: Colonial Justice Is Not Criminal Justice

5. The Escape: A Last Bid for Freedom

6. The Sentencing: Colonial Justice Equals Colonial Corruption

7. The Execution: In the Words of Those Who Witnessed It

8. The Method: Death by Hanging

9. The Allegations: Colonial Justice versus Criminal Justice

10. Power and Greed: Politics at Its Best

11. Land Swindling: The Keys May Be Key

12. Motive: The Sins of the Father

Conclusion: Things Are Not Always as They Appear

Bibliography

About the Author

F
OREWORD

Many years ago after graduating from the Citadel Military College in Charleston, I, like many young men and women, was still trying to find my direction in life. All that changed with a single carriage tour through Charleston. That one trip was the beginning of a love affair with history, and it was also the beginning of Bulldog Tours.

When I began giving tours in 1991, ghost tours were only popular around Halloween. Ten years later, in the summer of 2001, while riding my bike home, I passed a ghost tour standing in front of a cemetery and was shocked that people would do such a tour, even in the heat of the summer. Two blocks later on that bike ride home, I randomly glanced down Broad Street to pay my respects to the Old Exchange, one of Charleston's crown jewels of historical buildings. It was at that point I had a life-changing epiphany that the dungeon at the bottom of the Old Exchange would be a phenomenal place to take a ghost tour. The “Ghost & Dungeon Walking Tour” started that fall and became an instant hit, especially after the filming of the Travel Channel's “America's Most Haunted Places.” Our “Haunted Jail Tour” at the Old City Jail and the “Ghost & Graveyard Tour” at the Circular Congregational Church followed in the next few years. This was the formula for Bulldog Tours' initial success—taking visitors to historical and haunted locations.

As I approached each of the potential ghost-tour locations, I would not only receive valuable information as to the historical facts of that particular location, I would also hear tales of ghosts and numerous unexplainable events. The history of the buildings and the ghost stories were so often intertwined that it was impossible to separate them. They say every building in Charleston has its own story, and I say that is an understatement. Generations after generations have filled these buildings with numerous tales. Each building is not a single story; each building is a library within itself.

There is no better example of this than the Old City Jail.

Built in 1802 and used until 1939, thousands of people were housed there and thousands more died there. The Fishers were two such people.

The legend I heard as a child was that John and Lavinia Fisher ran the Six Mile House, a boardinghouse on the outskirts of Charleston in the early 1800s. They would rob and murder their guests as they slept. Some versions of the tale have Lavinia sedating or even killing the guests with the poisonous oleander flower that she mixed into a hot tea. John would then butcher the bodies and dispose of them in a cellar under the inn.

In early 1819, one of their victims managed to escape and flee back to Charleston where he alerted the authorities. The next morning the sheriff of Charleston, accompanied by many others, rode out to the Six Mile House and arrested the Fishers. While searching the property, the sheriff opened the cellar and made a gruesome discovery. The cellar contained the decomposing remains of numerous victims of the Fishers. Legend estimates thirty or more victims were found, but the butchering made the exact body count impossible to obtain.

In 1820, the Fishers were condemned to execution. Lavinia was convinced that she would be pardoned by the governor, and that he would not execute a woman. Her beauty and charm had saved her more than once, and she was sure it would save her now. She also requested to be hanged in her wedding gown to invoke sympathy from the large crowd gathered to witness the execution. She was said to be a very beautiful woman, and the image of a young woman in her wedding gown on the gallows would begin to burn in the minds of all those who witnessed the events as they were unfolding.

As a pastor attempted to lead Lavinia in repentance for her sins, she stopped him. She responded to his efforts by saying, “Cease! I will have none of it. Save your words for others that want them. But if you have a message you want to send to Hell, give it to me; I'll carry it.”

And with that she leapt from the platform, hanging herself and denying the hangman the opportunity of executing her. Lavinia Fisher spent the last moments of her life waiting for an earthly pardon that never came and defying a heavenly pardon a minister had offered her. Many believe that very statement trapped her spirit between both worlds. The governor would not pardon her; God wanted to but she refused it; and the devil did not want to hear what message she was bringing. That blasphemous curse left her spirit to return to the last home she had in life, the Old City Jail, and await an earthly pardon before her trial and judgment in the afterlife could begin.

The tale of John and Lavinia Fisher is one of many tales historic Charleston, is famous—or perhaps infamous—for. The legend, in many different forms, has been handed down generation after generation. With each telling, the story has been embellished just a little more. Once again the truth, the paranormal and generations of embellishment became so intertwined that it was hard to separate—until now. The author of this book, Bruce Orr, searched through historical records, archives and eyewitness accounts to separate the fact from the fabrication. Maybe after 190 years the facts need to be reexamined. This book serves that purpose.

It is a well-known fact that justice in Charleston in the 1800s may have been swift but perhaps was not always fair. As Bruce often says, colonial justice was “Fast-Food Justice.” They were more interested in quantity served and not quality served.

In reality, in 1820 Lavinia Fisher was sent to the gallows. With her pardon denied and her long white gown fluttering in the breeze, she did indeed scream defiantly in the face of those attempting to lead her to salvation. Her words accompanied by her appearance burned into the minds of everyone in attendance. As the platform dropped, John and Lavinia were not only executed but also launched into legend. The end of their lives is the common ground between the legend and the facts of the case. What leads up to that moment is where the two take distinctly different paths.

What happened then in the name of justice would never be tolerated in this day and age. Things that we take for granted such as freedom and individual rights were subject to the laws of the state. We cannot even fathom the horrors subjected to the Fishers and those like them at the hands of their captors in the Old City Jail. We cannot grasp the cruelties of the Sugar House, where slaves were sent and received punishment—actually more torture than punishment—just because of the color of their skin and the belief they were subservient to their owners. It is a disservice to those who suffered and died in this manner to ignore its harsh realities. History is an opportunity to learn from our mistakes, and colonial Charleston made its fair share of them.

Perhaps the Fishers were one of them.

John LaVerne
Owner, Bulldog Tours

A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to take this opportunity to thank those people who helped me along the way in this endeavor.

John LaVerne, owner of Bulldog Tours in Charleston, South Carolina, for valuable information regarding the legend and for his time in creating the foreword for this book;

David Gobel, artist in Charleston, South Carolina, for his time and the use of his painting, “The Hanging of Lavinia Fisher”;

Frank O. Hunt, retired Lowcountry investigative reporter, news anchor and former investigator for the Ninth Circuit Solicitor's Office in Charleston;

Dr. S. Erin McConnell Presnell, Medical University of South Carolina associate professor of pathology, director of medical and forensic autopsy;

Rick Presnell, retired crime scene supervisor/investigator, Charleston County Sheriff's Office;

Sgt. Mike Ringley, former crime scene supervisor/investigator, Charleston County Sheriff's Office;

Michael Murphy, Murphy Whips WA Australia, for his assistance in explaining the weaponry of the period;

Chaplain Ely “Eddie” Driggers, Coastal Carolina Chaplaincy, for his assistance in providing information regarding the Old City Jail and its inhabitants;

Master Deputy William “Bill” Reed III, Charleston County Sheriff's Office, for his assistance in providing information regarding cellars and beer cellars within the Charleston, South Carolina area;