1943: Sue Logue, George Logue and Clarence Bagwell

On this date in 1943, as the New York Times laconically led the story, “[t]wo men and a woman died in the electric chair … bringing to eight the number of deaths in ‘The Logue Case,’ which started over a dead calf.”

This culmination to an operatic South Carolina feud has a book all its own, and that scarcely seems equal to the events.

The dead calf in question* belonged to the Logue family, and (your headsman wouldn’t make this up) had been kicked to death by a mule of the neighboring Timmermans. Perhaps mistaking themselves for a cartoon parody, the two leading families of rural Edgefield County, S.C., used the incident to escalate a long-simmering feud.

Killing higher up the food chain soon followed.

The Timmerman patriarch wasted the Logue patriarch — Sue Logue’s husband and George Logue’s brother — but claimed self-defense and was acquitted. (Body Count: 1)

So Sue and George hired (via nephew Joe Frank Logue) a down-on-his-luck plasterer to even the score. Clarence Bagwell said he’d kill everyone in the county for $500, but he earned his fee just by gunning down old man Timmerman. (Body Count: 2)

The investigation brought the law to the Logue doorstep, and the requisite gun battle ensued. A sharecropper on the farm was killed. So was the sheriff — he was Sue Logue’s cousin — and the sheriff’s deputy. (Body Count: 5)

“[T]he only circuit court judge in South Carolina history to have made love to a condemned murderess as she was being transferred … to Death Row.” (Source)

The officers’ death necessitated the appearance of the man who now became the senior law enforcement official in the county: Strom Thurmond, still a local judge and a few years away from his vault into national prominence as a segregationist presidential candidate and 46-year South Carolina Senator.

Thurmond waded through the posse and talked the trio into surrendering. His warning that they were liable to be lynched must have been compelling in any circumstance, but the old goat was a uniquely qualified ambassador: he’d been having an affair with Sue Logue.

Small wonder the trial venue was moved. “[N]o section of the county could be found that did not include a relative of theirs.” (Source)

And small good it did the Logues, who died with their hireling in the early morning hours this day. (Body Count: 8)

For such an outlandish case, it earned only muted national coverage — a pittance reckoned against the feeding frenzy latterly occasioned by such relatively meager gruel as Scott Peterson. World War II stole its thunder, although local interest was intense.

Yet it lives on for the involvement of Thurmond in a second guise that rates as quite possibly the juiciest slice of death row gossip in American history. According to Ol’ Strom: An Unauthorized Biography of Strom Thurmond:

Randall Johnson, a black man who supervised “colored help” at the State House and often served as driver and messenger, drove Sue from the women’s penitentiary to the death house at the main penitentiary in Columbia.** In the back seat with her, he said many years later, was Thurmond, then an Army officer on active duty. They were “a-huggin’ and a-kissin’ the whole day,” said Johnson, whom Thurmond later as governor considered a trusted driver… In whispered “graveyard talk” — the kind of stories not to be told outsiders — the word around SLED (State Law Enforcement Division) was that Joe Frank said his aunt Sue was the only person seduced on the way to the electric chair.

* A “prize calf,” to be fair.

** On Christmas Day, according to Dorn.

Part of the Themed Set: The Spectacle of Private Execution in America.

On this day..

22 thoughts on “1943: Sue Logue, George Logue and Clarence Bagwell

  1. If you are in search of the best firearms store online then i recommend you visit https://solid-arms.com they have a wide range of inventories including new guns and accessories from well renowned brands like Smith and Wesson, SIG SAUER, HENRY REPEATING ARMS, TAURUS, MOSSBERG, Springfield Armory, Heckler and Koch, Marlin Firearms, RUGER and more… Their prices are the best i have seen so far on the internet, they give discount as well as military discounts when you inform them you are an ex service man.
    The most interesting part is the delivery time. They actually ship your order in less than 3 business days depending on your location. Shipping fee is almost free for most firearms, i find this very interesting because when you place an order on most firearms stores they usually take longer than expected to deliver your gun to your FFL’s address.

  2. https://kobekorekort.com/ Køb kørekort

    Køb et kørekort til alle lande i EU-zonen
    Test af kørekort. Kørekortprøven er altid en meget vanskelig opgave for de fleste mennesker. Det skyldes, at den teoretiske kørekortsprøve og den praktiske kørekortsprøve er anspændte. Men vi vil give dig et kørekort, uden at du behøver at tage en kørekortprøve. På den måde sparer vi en masse penge og tid. For det koster mange penge og meget tid at gå på køreskole. Vi kan give et kørekort til folk, der kan køre, men ikke har tid til en eksamen. Vi sørger også for folk, der ikke kan køre.
    Vi kan hjælpe dig med at bestå både den praktiske og teoretiske dykkercertificering inden for et par arbejdsdage og hjælpe dig med at få et rigtigt og registreret kørekort, så du ikke behøver at stresse dig selv med at skrive svære eksamener og bruge så meget tid og penge.

  3. Acquistare una patente di guida per tutti i Paesi della zona UE
    Esame per la patente di guida. L’esame per la patente di guida è sempre un compito molto difficile per la maggior parte delle persone. Ciò è dovuto alla natura tesa dell’esame teorico della patente di guida e dell’esame pratico della patente di guida. Tuttavia, vi forniremo una patente di guida senza che dobbiate sostenere l’esame per la patente. In questo modo, risparmiamo molto denaro e tempo. Perché frequentare una scuola guida costa molto denaro e tempo. Possiamo fornire una patente di guida a chi sa guidare ma non ha il tempo di sostenere un esame. Forniamo anche un’assistenza a chi non sa guidare.
    Possiamo aiutarvi a superare sia la certificazione pratica che quella teorica in pochi giorni lavorativi e aiutarvi a ottenere una patente di guida reale e registrata che non vi costringa a stressarvi scrivendo esami difficili e spendendo così tanto tempo e denaro.

    https://acquistapatentediguida.com/ Comprare patente

  4. Kjøp førerkort for alle land i EU-sonen
    Test av førerkort. Førerkortprøven er alltid en veldig vanskelig oppgave for de fleste. Dette skyldes den anspente naturen til den teoretiske førerkortprøven og den praktiske førerkortprøven. Vi vil imidlertid gi deg førerkort uten at du trenger å ta en førerkortprøve. På denne måten sparer vi mye penger og tid. For det koster mye penger og tid å gå på kjøreskole. Vi kan gi førerkort til folk som kan kjøre, men som ikke har tid til en eksamen. Vi sørger også for folk som ikke kan kjøre.
    Vi kan hjelpe deg med å bestå både den praktiske og teoretiske dykkersertifiseringen i løpet av noen få virkedager og hjelpe deg med å få et ekte og registrert førerkort som du ikke trenger å stresse deg med å skrive vanskelige eksamener og bruke så mye tid og penger.

    https://kjopeforerkort.com/ Kjøp førerkort

  5. Kaufen Sie auf unserer Website einen echten und registrierten Führerschein, ohne eine Prüfung oder einen praktischen Test ablegen zu müssen. Wir benötigen lediglich Ihre Daten, die innerhalb der nächsten acht Tage im System erfasst werden. Der Führerschein muss dasselbe Registrierungsverfahren durchlaufen wie die von den Fahrschulen ausgestellten Führerscheine.

    https://dokumenteanzeigen.com/ Führerschein kaufen

  6. I see my comments, from some time back, were published.
    I only repeated the story as I heard it as a child. The feud started over a teacher, not qualified, one fraction wanted hired. Mrs. Logue had adopted a boy off the streets, who was a policeman in Spartanburg, who came to help his Mother, he brought with him a hired gun from Spartanburg. Back in those days, Spartanburg, SC was a mill town with lots of just mean people. He was convicted. I remember Grandfather saying he didn’t think he should be put to death for defending is mother. His sentence was commuted and his prison job, was taking care of SLED’s bloodhounds.
    I understand the “politics” of the time.
    Part of the story, I haven’t confirmed, is Strom’s father got my Grandfather and another man off a murder charge in Edgefield, SC. Mr. Thurmond also, so the story goes, killed a black man on Edgefield’s Courthouse steps who was suing him over a pig, or something like that.

    I listen to all these stories sitting on the front porch steps of an old two story farmhouse on Hwy 28, about 10 miles out of McCormick, SC, listening and looking the back waters of Clark Hill Lake. I still call it Clark Hill Lake, as should everyone.

    So the story goes, when the actual story got changed, part of it was “paying back” the Thurmond family for Grandfather.

    Is all this true? Well, I only repeat the story I heard sitting on those steps long ago.

  7. My grandfather was Sheriff Brown, from McCormick. One of the official witnesses. I grew up hearing a different version.
    After the sheriff was killed, they called over to McCormick for help. My Grandfather, as he was getting into his car, told my uncle Edward to stay but Edward followed in another car. When they arrived at the scene, Strom was no where around. My grandfather knew her, and called out to her from the yard (no AC back then so the windows were open), she replied something to the effect, “Is that you Willie”, he said yes and she told him to come into the house, she was done fighting. He went it, took her to jail, and that was it. No Strom talking them into surrendering or, another version, Strom walked thru a hail storm of bullets and disarmed them with his bare hands. I met him once and when I asked, after introducing myself, he would not answer me and his aid pushed me along the line.
    Strom did ride with Logue when they were talking her to Columbia and it was always reported they had sex in the back seat. There were also stories about this also being a local power struggle and Strom backed the Logues and he could have stopped it all.
    Within a week the Augusta Newpaper reported the story as is told today. When asked about it, Strom never denied it or said he did it, he would just say something like, “you know how people like to talk” and walk off.
    As is with most stories, it is more legend than truth. The truth is so simple and not heroic except my Grandfather, when he went there, did not know what to expect.

  8. Pingback: 70 years ago today, Strom Thurmond’s mistress was put to death - Palmetto Public Record

  9. Any word on where Clarence Bagwell was buried? We found some graves – unable to find his.

  10. Eerie, my wife’s name is Susan, we’re in Texas (both born in the late fifties).

  11. Read The Guns of Meeting Street by T Felder Dorn – it was published by USC Press in 2001. It will give you the facts. The article published here is close, but has multiple errors and misrepresentations — more sensationalism than accuracy..

  12. My great-grandmother passed away in January and Sue Stidham Logue was her aunt. Before she passed she would tell us (the family) stories of Sue as a teacher.

  13. I was turned on to the story by my grandmother . My great great uncle married Ruby Logue. Would love to talk with ppl and learn more about the story. My grandmother is dying and won’t be able to answer questions or tell me more

  14. Pingback: ExecutedToday.com » Executed Today’s Second Annual Report: Once Bitten, Twice Die

  15. my family was and is the blockers of this incident, now i am interested in this case because my mother would tell me about the day meeting street was shot up and she and her dad hide in the willow spring baptist church

  16. Joe Frank Logue was married to my first grade teacher, Flora Logue. I remember the day he got out of prison. We had a substitute teacher when Flora went to get him.

  17. Pingback: ExecutedToday.com » Executed Today’s First Annual Report: One Year of Dying Languorously

  18. Sue (Stedim) Logue was my grandmothers Aunt. her father changed his last name to Davis when he left S.C.

  19. Great group today. The story behind it makes the daily trip here worth it!!

    Thank you Headsman!

Comments are closed.