MCKI001. McKinnon, Henry A., Jr. “Abiah's legend lives on.” Robeson Remembers column. Robesonian Sunday, 22 January 2000: 1C, 3C.

1 drawing

Publication type: Newspaper article

Reprints a November 18, 1990 Robesonian article about a murder which took place in Robeson County in the summer of 1860. Benny Rhodes, a wealthy farmer and operator of a millpond and store in the Sterlings Township area, had a wife, Abiah, and children. Abiah had an affair with Hardy Barnes, who convinced her to elope with him. Abiah took a flour sack containing Benny's money and met Hardy in his horse and buggy one evening. Hardy drove to a blacksmith shop several miles down the road, killed Abiah, weighted her body with chains, and placed her in the Lumber River. Her body surfaced days later. Barnes was tried for murder in Cumberland County, convicted, and hanged. The spot where Abiah's body was placed in the river is still known as Abiah's (or Apsey's) Cove.

This annotation was edited on: June 24, 2002

Home Page URL: lumbeebibliography.net