These People Don't Know Who I Am

This evening we shall review my attempts to solve a mystery. I began my search for clues several months ago after attending a funeral service at the Long Branch Baptist Church. The person for whom the service was being held was a member of the community of people known in Sumter as “Turks”. As the eulogy was being shared I realized there was a lot I didn’t know about these “Turkish people,” although my family and I have had numerous connections with them over the years. I am sure many of you have some personal knowledge and interaction with “Turks” as well. My curiosity was particularly whetted by comments about the deceased having attended the “Old Turk School in Dalzell.”

As the service ended and we walked to the cemetery behind the church I noticed the headstones included names such as Oxendine, Scott, Hood, Ray, Buckner, and Benenhaley. As I left that service I set out on a mission to learn more. My research has indicated there is much mystery, contradiction, and controversy regarding the background and identify of this clannish group that has been in Sumter County for over two hundred years. Indeed, I discovered an ongoing controversy among the Turks themselves regarding their heritage. This paper is an effort to share information about their journey and to discover something of their history. We may find, however, that my research raises more questions than answers.

Since this group of copper skinned, dark haired people are called “Turks” one might assume they were from Turkey. Some folks think this is true and some do not. A fascinating article by Calvin Trillin in the May 8, 1969 edition of The New Yorker begins with an astounding sentence, “The Turks who live in Sumter County aren’t really Turks.” The search to trace their history and determine the identity of this group has taken me down several intertwining paths. All these paths take us back to none other than General Thomas Sumter, the Revolutionary War hero for whom our fair city is named. The lines are blurred as to what is fact, fiction, legend, and myth regarding the General’s connection with the ancestors of the Sumter Turks. Let us first consider the more traditional and for many years the most widely accepted explanation of their heritage and identity provided by several historians. We shall see the historians based their accounts on an oral tradition, as there are no primary source documents that connect the “Turks” with Thomas Sumter.

Anne King Gregorie says the ancestors of the Sumter Turks were Joseph Benehaley, who served as the General’s scout, and a man named Scott, his bugler. She says a confused tradition connects Sumter with them, as they were either victims or members of a pirate ship that landed them in Charleston.
Cassie Nichols reports that General Sumter found Benenhaley and Scott engaged in cock fighting in the low country. Nichols refers to Benenhaley as “Yusef Ben Ali,” a “Caucasian of Arab descent” and Scott as a “Frenchman using an assumed name.”
Robert Bass’ account says that in August of 1780, while camped at Land’s Ford on the Catawba River, General Sumter’s forces were growing with regiments of militia and riflemen coming in from the lower Congaree, led by Col. Thomas Taylor, from the Broad River, following Col. Henry Hampton, and from Burke County, North Carolina led by his nephew, Capt. John Sumter. Bass goes on to say “And from the Barbary coast came Yusef ben Ali and one who called himself John Scott.”

The accounts shared above were all “lifted” and slightly paraphrased from Stateburg and Its People, a compilation of previous notes, letters, articles, and writings attributed to Thomas Sebastian Sumter and John Rutledge Sumter, the great-grandsons of the General, published in 1922. The portions of the book that are relevant to our research were written by T.S. Sumter. His knowledge of the origin of the Turks is based on oral history. I will share some direct quotes from Stateburg and Its People, written around 1917. The specific details are very important in our search for answers and will surface later in our discussion this evening.

I quote from Stateburg and Its People, “General Sumter then commenced trading with the Indians for land and bought a plantation from them as high up as the Santee River and made a home near Nelson’s Ferry. It was during this period that the war for American Independence broke out. It was not long before General Sumter had a following of friendly Indians and whites to join him in the fight for freedom. It was on one of his recruiting trips he came upon a crowd of men fighting game chickens at a crossroad.” “It was from this crowd he enlisted Joseph Benenhaley and a man who gave his name as Scott. He made Joseph Benehaley his scout.” “He was a Caucasian of “Arab” descent. Scott, the other man, was always thought to be of partly French descent and had an assumed name. General Sumter made him a bugler.” “General Sumter, after the revolutionary War, gave the two old soldiers a piece of land near his home at Stateburg, where they lived and he cared for them during his lifetime.”

The narrative continues with, “Joseph Benenhaly and the man Scott were either pirates or had escaped from pirates - the writer has forgotten which, but they were ‘white men’.” He then relates the story of how “their dark complexion brought up the question of their having a right to sit on a jury and when General Sumter was sent for – the writer (T.S. Sumter) was told this by the late Col. Jas. D. Blanding, who was about 18 years old, who said he saw General Sumter walk in, place his pistol on a desk and deliberately shake hands with both men and turning asked if that was sufficient. Of course this was sufficient to establish them as belonging to the white race.” T.S. Sumter then writes “I got all of this information as written above from my father (Sebastian D’Amblemont Sumter), who remembered General Sumter well, being 18 years old at his death, and was told this by General Sumter, whom he conversed with and rode with often as a boy. He, my father, showed me the very spot on the Stateburg hill where he said, ‘My son, here is where grandfather, (meaning the old general) jumped his horse over this ditch and escaped thence into the Waxhaw country, after the Tories had surprised him over there at the Ruins.’ I asked him if Benenhaley or Scott were with him and he laughed and said he did not know.” T.S. Sumter writes further, “I was born and raised at the ‘Home House’, near where the Benenhaleys and Scotts and their families lived. They got to be called ‘Turks’ by the country people.” “I know that if they ever wanted advice or anything they would come to my father or uncles or some of the family as their ancestors did to my ancestors and as they have done with me.” “It is or has been unfortunately, but nevertheless true, that on account of their inherited dark complexions they have been confused with that class of people known as Red Bones, scattered about in North and South Carolina, but this is entirely as mistake. They have never made any alliances except with white people as all of us know who are conversant with their history.”

Let us now consider a significant contradiction regarding the very essence of the “history” of the Turks we just shared by T.S. Sumter. This contradiction comes directly from T.S. Sumter’s father, Sebastian D. Sumter. In a letter written by Sebastian Sumter to McDonald Furman, dated August 16, 1889, responding to an inquiry by Furman about Benenhaley, Sumter writes, “As to the original Ben-En-Ali, I know nothing having seen him only once or twice in my early boyhood nearly sixty years ago. I am very certain that General Sumter had no hand in his importation and do not think that he made his appearance here until after the first decade of the present century.“ This is quite a different story from that reported in Stateburg and Its People, in which T.S. Sumter says he was told all this “by my father.” (Sebastian)

What about Joseph Benenhaly being of “Arab descent”. There were certainly people of Arab descent and Muslims in South Carolina, before, during, and after the Revolution. There are numerous documents that confirm their presence. One such document is the record of the SC House of Representatives from January 20, 1790, when a petition was presented to the House by four “Free Moors, Subjects of the Emperor of Morocco,” asking that should they ever be charged with a crime that they be tried under the same laws as the Citizens of this State and not under the Negro Act.” Those making the petition were named Francis, Daniel, Hammond, and Samuel, their wives being Fatima, Flora, Sarah, and Clarinda. There are other documents as well that could be presented that support the presence of Muslims and Arabs in SC during this time.

No written records can be found with the exact spelling of the name “Yusef ben Ali.” The 1810 census for Sumter District names a “Joseph Belenhaly” as the head of a family of seven including his wife Elizabeth. This could be the “Southernized Anglican” version of the spelling. The 1820 census names “Joseph Benenhali” as head of a family of twelve. The 1830 census listed seven in the household, but Joseph was listed as deceased. His wife was listed as “Elizabeth Bennenhaly” and his sons as Joseph, Francis, and Ferdinand Benenhaley. Note the different spellings for the last names, for which there is no explanation.

In an article in the 1943 Baptist Courier, entitled “Long Branch in the Santee” the author, J.H. Mitchell, a former pastor of Long Branch Church, makes a connection between the pronunciation of the Sumter Turk named Benenhaley and that of Benengeli, a Muslim character in Don Quixote, the Spanish novel written by Cervantes in 1615. Many who believe that Joseph Benenhaley was of “Arab descent,” use the pronunciation of the name as evidence to establish that the name Benenhaley is of Arabic origin.

As an aside, you have probably surmised that Long Branch Baptist Church is made up primarily of Turks, which is true. Initially, the Turks attended High Hills Baptist Church, along with their neighbors, White and Black. The Whites sat on one side of the isle, the Turks sat on the other, and the Blacks in the balcony. There are three cemetery areas at High Hills as well, one for Whites, one for Blacks and one for Turks. In 1904, many of the Turk families left High Hills Baptist Church and formed the Long Branch Church.

But let us return to our mystery and see what of Scott, the General’s bugler, a “Frenchman under an assumed name.” Our search takes us again to McDonald Furman, about whom we shall say more later on. In a letter to McDonald Furman, dated September 7, 1889, we read: “I would cheerfully write an article on the history of the “Red Bones” of this township if I had the information to do so. I like yourself am fond of history and have been much interested in the several articles from your pen on the subject. All I know of the Scotts et cet of this township is that Dave Scott, some sixty years ago, the progenitor of the Scotts here was living and subsequently died in Kershaw County - he living on a portion (of) that vast domain granted by the State of South Carolina to Gen Sumter for Revolutionary Services. Dave Scott was quite old when I knew him and he was said to be one of Gen Sumter’s soldiers of the Revolution and had been brought down or induced to come down from North Carolina to settle upon his (Gen Sumter’s) land. As to the other families of “Red Bones” I have never heard anything said concerning them but I presume they came down under the same circumstances that Dave Scott did as they all settled on Gen Sumter’s Land. Respectfully, K.E.L. Peebles (?)(I am unsure of the writer’s name)

This letter is dated within three weeks of the letter from Sebastian Sumter to McDonald Furman. Furman was obviously seeking information on the mysterious group of copper skinned, dark haired folk he referred to as “Red Bones” whom we may now call Turks. It is clear that the writer of the letter (Peebles?) also referred to Scott and his family as “Red Bones”.

Why was Furman seeking information about “Red Bones?” He was an amateur ethnologist and anthropologist living in the Privateer area of Sumter County, and the great grandson of Rev. Richard Furman. Held in high regard by the Smithsonian Institution Bureau of Ethnology, most of his fellow South Carolinians, however, considered him an eccentric. Many of Furman’s writings were published in the Sumter Watchman and Southron.

He studied groups of people of mixed ethnicity all over the south but was most interested in a racially mixed group very near his home who he called “Red Bones”. “They are a mixed race and have never been slaves.” “They are supposed to be descendants of Indians and negros, but nothing is definitely known of their origin,” Furman writes in an 1894 issue of the Watchman. These “Red Bone” families bore the surnames of Goins, Chavis and Oxendine. Furman found there were many other mysterious groups of mixed blood peoples, living in small isolated groups all over the South. These groups all share similar ethnic characteristics but have many different monikers for their groups. Melongeons, Croatans, and Brass Ankles are some of the more well known. These people, sometimes referred to by anthropologists as “tri-racial isolates,” were not considered white nor black, but existed in small isolated, and often endogamous groups.

In his book Almost White, Brewton Berry, originally from Orangeburg, provides a study of many mixed race sub-groups across the United States which he refers to as “mestizos.” He identifies the Sumter Turks as just such a group of mixed race peoples. Berry also maintains that peoples identified as tri-racial isolates or mestizos all have some level of Native American ancestry. Could the people living not as whites or as blacks but as “Turks” in Sumter County have a Native American connection in their ancestry?

This question takes us back to where we started with General Thomas Sumter. As you may recall Thomas Sumter was born in Virginia and served in the militia there. In 1761, Sgt. Thomas Sumter accompanied Lt. Henry Timberlake and an interpreter into the Virginia backcountry (Tennessee) to verify that the Cherokee war had ended. During the four month expedition Timberlake and Sumter had extensive contact and communication with the Cherokee, spending considerable time living in their villages.

In 1762, Timberlake, Sumter, and an interpreter accompanied three Cherokee Chiefs, one of which was named “Stalking Turkey” to visit King George III in London. During the trip the interpreter died and Sumter became the defacto interpreter for the Cherokee Chiefs. Sumter returned to Charleston with the three Chiefs spending some time with them in South Carolina.

We know that after Sumter’s initial visit to SC, he returned and purchased land from the Indians on the Santee River and established a home at Nelson’s Ferry. It is also well known that during his campaigns during the Revolution he spent significant time in areas of North and South Carolina where there were large numbers of Native Americans and that his guerilla bands included Indians. The bottom line here is Thomas Sumter was well acquainted with Indians and was very successful in dealing with them.

Could it be that Scott and perhaps even Benehaley were Native Americans or part Native American, recruited by the General on his trips around SC and into what is now Robeson County NC, to fight with him? Could Scott and Benehaley have been invited, along with some of their kinsmen, to live on the 150,000 acres of land around Stateburg granted Sumter by the State after the Revolution, with the General and his heirs becoming their benefactors? Many believe this to be the case and it has caused quite a bit of controversy within the Turk community. Some want to claim Indian heritage and others resent that position, believing they are the descendants of an Arab named “Yusef ben Ali”.

In Strangers in Their Own Land, Stephen Pony Hill shares information about the eight tribes of Native Americans in our State. In chapter five Hill discusses the Cheraw Tribe which he says is primarily located in Sumter County. Hill argues that “the core ancestors of the Cheraw Indians were six men who arrived in the area of the High Hills circa 1804.” He believes John Scott, Aaron Oxendine, William Deas, and John Chavis came from the “Charraw Settlement” in present day Robeson County, NC. The other two ancestors of the tribe were John Buckner and Joseph Benenhaley. Regarding Benehaley’s ethnicity, Hill concedes that he may have been of Arab descent, although it seems illogical for an “Arab” to become a “scout” in the back country of SC. He also points out the legends surrounding his background and connections with General Sumter are fraught with contradictions. Regardless, he argues, the descendents of Benehaley married men and women of Indian ancestry living in Sumter County.

As time went by, Hill believes that the Indians of Sumter County formed two communities, with the Chavis, Gibbs, Goins, and Smilings near Privateer and the Benenhaleys, Buckners, Deas, Oxendines, and Scotts near Dalzell. Initially both of these communities were called “Red Bones” by their neighbors. Around 1910 the Chavis, Goins, and Smilings of Privateer began gradually moving back to Robeson Co. The community at Dalzell continued to grow and soon came to be known as “Turks”, Hill submits. So the community that ethnologists might call “tri-racial isolates”, which we know as “Turks” may be the descendents of Native Americans, Christianized at some point, who came down from Robeson Co. NC which is the land of the Lumbee. Is this possible?

Some of you more seasoned members of our group may recall that our fellow Fortnighter, Roger Ackerman, wrote a paper on the Lumbee Indians some years ago, connecting the Lumbees with the “Lost Colony of Roanoke”. What a fascinating topic that could have a connection with our search for the identity of the Sumter Turks. You may be pleased to hear, however, we are not going there tonight as time is of the essence.

We need to return to McDonald Furman for just a moment, however. A letter written to Furman dated, August 8, 1889, which is the same time period as the other letters of this nature, from an unknown writer living in Red Springs, NC indicates that the writer believes the Oxendine name was derived from Ocksenstein of German origin. He goes on to say that a German immigrant married a Croatan Indian which was the beginning of the different families of the Oxendine name found near the Lumber River. Here is yet another connection with the Lumbee’s with a very familiar Turk name.

Many Turks in Sumter now believe that they are descendants of Native Americans that most likely came down from Robeson Co., N.C. For several years now they have been amassing documentation to that effect. On November 22, 2013 the Department of Minority Affairs for the State of SC officially “recognized” the Cheraw Tribe of Sumter as the eighth Native American Tribe in South Carolina. Ralph Oxendine, the Chief of the Tribe, says there are now more than 900 registered members. The tribe is currently negotiating the purchase of some property near the Highway 378 flea market in order to establish their “tribal grounds”. Mr. Oxendine shared some interesting points with me regarding why the “Red Bones” and subsequently the “Turks” maintained the mystery regarding their identity and ancestry until recently. There have been times in our past when being identified as a Native American was not in one’s best interest.

The Indian Removal Act of 1830 resulted in an “ethnic cleansing” and relocation of 46,000 Native Americans from their homelands in the south to federal lands mostly in Oklahoma. The “Trail of Tears” refers to the relocation of 16,000 Cherokee during which as many as 6,000 died along the way. Not until 1923 were all Native Americans, regardless of tribal affiliation, recognized as American citizens with the right to vote.

Perhaps the Turks were advised by their greatest benefactors, General Sumter and his progeny to maintain their “whiteness” as it was certainly in their best interest. We recall that T.S. Sumter in Stateburg and Its People referred to Benehaley and Scott as “white men” and was emphatic they were not Red Bones. He shared the story of General Sumter striding into the courtroom asserting their “whiteness” and their right to serve on a jury, an opportunity no Indian would ever have. T.S. Sumter also states that if the Turks “ever wanted advice or anything” they came to the General and his heirs. No doubt there was some kind of symbiotic relationship between the Sumter family and the copper skinned clan living on their land.

As previously mentioned, there is quite a controversy currently within the Turk community regarding the ethnic makeup of their ancestry. Some have embraced the notion that they are the descendants of Native Americans. Others are adamant they are of Arab descent and argue that the Turks who are claiming Indian ancestry are doing so “for the money”, meaning they are hoping to profit from the special status now being afforded Native American “Tribes” in our state and across the country. Moreover, some criticizing the Native American faction argue they are participating in “pagan ceremonies.” Believe me, the folks on opposite sides of this fence are very passionate about their position.

Greg Thompson, a resident of Stateburg with family ties to the Turks, has done extensive research on the Turks through personal interviews and a review of the few historical documents available. He is the co-author of a book, as yet untitled, to be published soon with a comprehensive history of the Turks of Sumter. He shared with me there will be DNA testing results in the book that will be of interest to those in Sumter that are curious as to the ethnic background of the Turks.

As we near the conclusion of our time together, let us now consider the “Old Turk School” that initially stirred my curiosity and started this research project. I found that indeed the Turks did have their own schools, the first being established near Stateburg around 1870. The “Benenhaley School”, located on what is now Shaw AFB, was in operation from 1885 through the First World War. When this school closed, the Turk children attended schools in various spots, including the old American Legion building in Dalzell, an old house on Craven Lane and the old Sunday School building of the Long Branch Baptist Church both of which were off of what is now Peach Orchard Rd.

In 1934 the Turks appealed to the school district for a more proper facility. The school district offered for the Turks to attend the black schools but they refused. When the Turks threatened to litigate, a new building was constructed in 1935 on Stamey Livestock Road, a short distance before the intersection of Frierson Rd. This school was in operation until 1961.

As you know, the 1950’s and 1960’s saw the beginnings of sweeping social changes in our country. Sumter County was no exception. Around 1950 the Turks petitioned Sumter School District 2 to allow their high school aged children to attend Hillcrest High and threatened litigation. The school district acquiesced and a handful of Turk students began attending Hillcrest. The white parents and students were very upset. The Turks were not allowed to participate in any organized school activities including athletics. Many school social events, such as the “Prom” were cancelled and “private events” were organized by the white parents. The Turk students were treated very unkindly by the white students. They were subjected to derogatory comments, and many humiliating and physically harmful situations. Academic success was difficult as well because their previous learning lagged behind that of their white cohorts. Some of those admitted dropped out. It was not a happy experience for the Turk students. General Sumter was not around to come to their aid and no one seemed to believe that these were the descendants of “white men.”

In 1953, Turk parents petitioned the school district to allow their younger children to attend white elementary schools. The school district refused and the Turks brought suit in federal court in Charleston. On Monday, August 31, 1953, Judge Ashton Williams issued an order restraining the school district from refusing to allow the children to attend the white elementary schools. The school district could no longer require them to attend only the Turk School.

That evening in Dalzell there was a mass meeting of more than 100 white parents who decided to keep their children out of school if the Turks were allowed to attend. On Wednesday, September 2, 1953, Judge Williams issued a second order removing “the mandatory clause of his first order and in effect allowed the school board to designate a school of attendance for children of Turkish descent.”

In 1955 and 1956, Turk parents brought suit again, this being after the landmark 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education case which found that separate but equal schools for Blacks violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. However, this next round of hearings ended with the same results. The courts upheld the district’s right to require the Turk students to attend the Turk School and deny them admission to white schools such as Shaw Heights Elementary. The basis of the Turks’ argument in all these cases was that they were “Turkish descendants” and were “white people”. The school district argued that they were of “Negro descent.”

Enter Ira Kaye, a New Yorker who came to Sumter via Shaw AFB and married Ruth Barnette of Sumter. During his time at Shaw he became familiar with the unique social position of the Turks in Sumter. The Turk parents approached him and asked for his help. Kaye told them he would take the case if they would abandon the argument that they were white. Initially, the Turks would not agree to that tact as they said it was “dividing their community” but eventually agreed.

During the interim, while the Turks were considering whether to drop the “white” argument, Kaye overhead and observed a Turk couple about to have a baby being admitted to Tuomey hospital. The father was arguing with the clerical person about the race to be put on the birth certificate of the child. In those days in Sumter one could be designated as White, Black, or Turk on a birth certificate. Kaye overheard the Turk father saying “That birth certificate is going to brand that child for the rest of her life, we are white.” The Turk couple left the hospital heading for Columbia. By having the baby in Richland Co. their child would avoid the stigma of being designated “Turk” on her birth certificate. Kaye left the hospital that night determined to help the Turks.

Long story short, Kaye joined forces with the ACLU, (the NAACP turned him down as the Turks weren’t Black) took the case to the Federal Court of Appeals in Richmond and in October 1961 the school district was ordered to close the Turk School and allow the Turk children to attend the elementary schools with the white children. Before the 1961 ruling, Kaye helped an individual Turk family gain admittance for their 6 year old daughter to attend Shaw Heights. She was the first, and for a while, the only Turk in the school. Her story is fascinating as well, but will have to wait to be told another time.

So what is the human connection and the moral of this story? When we study history or look around our own community today we can find examples of man’s inhumanity to man while right alongside we find examples of the hope, resilience and strength of the human spirit to work and find a way to right the wrongs that surround us. Being human, we all make mistakes, as did our forefathers, but we can all work to make things right as they did as well.

As I was researching this paper I was fortunate to have the opportunity to talk to lots of people, young and old, a good number of who are connected with the Turk community. One lady told me her father and grandfather had always said they were the descendants of Cherokee. Others were told by their fathers and grandfathers they were Turkish. Some were told not to ask about their heritage. Some of their stories were troubling and heart breaking. Others were inspiring and uplifting. Some wouldn’t talk at all; some talked reluctantly, while others were happy to share and I think found it helpful to tell their story.

In closing, I will share one story with you. As a child this lady attended the Turk School during her first and second grade years. When the Turk School closed in 1961, she transferred to Shaw Heights. Initially the going was very tough as she and the other Turk kids were not accepted at all. They were often taunted and picked on. As she moved into high school, things were still difficult and she always felt she was “looked down on” by the majority of the white kids.

After graduating from Hillcrest she had the opportunity to attend college in Alabama. There her life changed radically. She made many new friends. Her classmates were very complimentary of her “beautiful tan skin” and many asked if she was from Italy or of Italian descent. She met a wonderful man whom she married. She told me, “As all these good things were happening to me I thought to myself ‘these people don’t know who I am’.” It was during this time that she came to realize she could define who she was for herself, rather than let others determine her identity as had been done in such a negative way during her youth. She came to grips with being different and being Turk.

We set out this evening to solve a mystery, that being the identity of Benehaley the “scout” and Scott the “bugler”. I’m not sure we accomplished that but I hope you enjoyed the trip, I know I did. I look forward to hearing your comments as perhaps you hold the key to unlock the door that leads to the garden in which together, we shall solve the conundrum of the Turks.

John B. Hilton Jr., Ph. D.
The Fortnightly Club
April 30, 2014

Bibliography

Almost White: Brewton Berry (1963)
A History of Sumter Co: Anne King Gregorie (1954)
A History of the Turks: W.D. White, manuscript, South Caroliniana Library (1975)
Charles James McDonald Furman Papers: South Caroliniana Library (1863 – 1904)
History of Sumter Co: Cassie Nichols (1975)
Jewish Heritage Collection: Oral history interview with Ira Kaye and Ruth Barnett Kaye: http://lcdl.library.cofc.edu/lcdl/catalog/lcdl:11792 (1996)
Nowhere Else on Earth: Josephine Humphreys (2000)
Personal Conversations and Interviews (2014)
Stateburg and Its People: T.S. Sumter; J.R. Sumter (1922)
Strangers in Their Own Land: S. Pony Hill (2010)
The Gamecock: Robert Bass (1961)
The Lumbee Indians: Roger Ackerman , Fortnightly Paper (circa 1994)
The Memoirs of Lt. Henry Timberlake: Duane H. King (2007)
The ITEM
The Watchman and Southron
Thomas Sumter: Anne King Gregorie (1931)
U.S. Journal: Sumter County, SC, “TURKS”: Calvin Trillin, The New Yorker, March 8, 1969