During the latter part of 1867, the Lowry gang staged several raids, “in retaliation” for past injustices, but there were no lives taken at least during this time. Then in 1868, North Carolina Gov. W.W. Holden, a Republican pledged to “law and order” was petitioned from the white citizens of Robeson County to restore order by peaceful means between its citizens and the Lowry Gang.
In an attempt to do this, a meeting was set up between Benjamin A. Howell, sheriff of Robeson County, Dr. Alfred Thomas, local agent of the Freedmen’s Bureau, and Henry Berry Lowry. The meeting was held at Lowry’s house. A lot of past events on both sides were discussed.
The main purpose of the meeting was to try to persuade Lowry to turn himself in, and to take a chance with the new system of Republican courts. It was said at least he would stand a chance of a fair trial. Lowry agreed to the proposal on conditions that he would receive good treatment and security. Then before he and his guest headed for Lumberton, Henry played several tunes on his fiddle, for he was a good musician and the music seemed to calm him down.
When the trio reached Lumberton, the county seat of Robeson County, Henry was housed in the new county jail and was given the treatment he was promised. However, his very presence and the fact he was not shackled and not given hardtack to eat really upset many white Robesonians. There were threats to remove him from his cell and drown him in the Lumber River.
Henry Berry somehow got wind of these threats and on Dec. 12, 1868, when a jailer brought his meal, Lowry confronted him with a knife and a cocked pistol.
Lowry told the jailer, “Look, I’m tired of all this.” Then he told him to open the cell door and step aside and not to leave the jail for 15 minutes unless he wanted to meet his maker.
Lowry then escaped from the jail, took cover along the river, stopped off at a house, where he managed to steal some food, and crossed the bridge heading out of Lumberton. This had been Lowry’s second time in jail and it would be his very last.
Henry Lowry and his band had enough of trying to solve things legally — especially with a new county sheriff by the name of Reuben King taking over. You see, King had earlier made threats against Lowry’s Indian band, but to make things worse, King was overzealous when it came to enforcement of laws against all minorities living in the county.
King was reputedly a very wealthy man who people said, “kept a lot of money at his home.” Thus, the Lowry gang decided to rob King at his house. A plan was hatched up and John Dial, a member of the gang, prophetically said, “the old sheriff may resist us.”
To which Boss Strong replied, “if’n he does, we’ll just kill him.”
On Saturday night, Jan. 23, 1869, the Lowry gang appeared at King’s home and walked in virtually unnoticed. King and a neighbor, S.E. Ward, were talking together when Henry Berry appeared from the shadows right in front of them. King stared straight into the eyes of the outlaw as Lowry pointed a pistol at him and demanded his money.
‘Bout that time, King foolishly lunged for Lowry’s gun. In the fight for the gun, it went off and blew a big hole in the floor. The fight went on until another member of the gang, George Applewhite, who had been standing just inside another room; shot King in the back — mortally wounding him.
At about the same time, another shot was fired by John Dial, severely wounding Ward.
While the gang did find $150 in currency and $20 in gold, Henry Berry was always ashamed of this incident, for he had never wanted King to be killed.
The murder of Reuben King lead to a dire effort to capture the Lowry Gang. The outlaws had crossed the line from slaying only those men responsible for the death of Allen and William Lowry to trying to kill anyone who would get in their way or pursue them and bring them to justice.
The leader of the new forces trying to capture the members of the Lowry gang was Owen Clinton Norment, known as “Black Owen,” because of his dark eyes, black hair and beard. By the fall of 1869, Norment had managed to capture six Indian members of the gang, one being John Dial; and two blacks, including Shoemaker John. The two Johns were probably persuaded with a combination of threats and bribes to cooperate with the authorities.
The trial of the eight gang members was scheduled for the spring term of the Robeson County Superior Court; and it promised to be a historical session.
However, with Henry Berry Lowry, Boss Strong and lesser-known allies still on the loose, “Black Owen” was high on the gang’s hit list.
On the night of March 19, 1870, just two weeks before the trial, Owen had just tucked his children into bed and was sitting by the fireplace talking with his wife. Both heard a noise just outside the door. Owen picked up his rifle, opened the door, and stared out into the night. Just then, a blast of gunfire hit him in the chest.
He groaned and fell back into the house. He was still able to keep his rifle pointed at the door, but not a sound was heard. Since he was badly wounded, some of his folks went for the local doctor, a Dr. Dick. As the doctor was making his way to Owen’s home that night, someone stepped out in the road and shot the mule that was pulling the doctor’s buggy.
Being shaken up and in a hurry to get to Owen’s home, Dr. Dick forgot to get his bag with all his instruments and medicine in it. Finally, someone went and brought the bag but it was too late for “Black Owen,” who had become yet another casualty of the Lowry War.
The capture of some of the members of the gang definitely didn’t put a stop to the terror in southeastern North Carolina — not by a long shot. During 1870 and the three years to follow, 18 people — pursuers, outlaws and innocent people alike — died in the Lowry War.
Next time I’ll try to finish up this story about some of the dark history that happened in our state and what some folks believe happened to Henry Berry Lowry.
J.A. Bolton is a member of the N.C. Storytelling Guild, Anson County Writers Club, Richmond County Historical Society and the Story Spinners in Laurinburg.
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