"The only thing Mr. Knotts said was 'Boys get the doctor, I am shot through the heart.' Mr Knotts realized he was going to die.” - George C. Miller, witness, 1925
For many years, we've wanted to have a memorial for Wagener Police Chief Mike Knotts who gave his life protecting our town back in 1925. We are very honored to say we now have a Memorial for Mr. Knotts.
The Mike Knotts Memorial consists of two parts. One part is a newspaper page from the Wagener Edisto Record, Volume 2, No. 21, Sept. 24, 1925 etched in black granite. The other part of the Memorial is a granite marker that will mark the spot where Mr. Knotts died. Both carvings were created by Memorial Designs of Lexington.
Mike Knotts was killed in a shoot-out at Toole's Corner, near the train depot, between Williamson's Service Station and Dr. Lyston Gunter's drug store.
Two men reportedly were headed to the drug store to get some cigars, also reportedly drunk. It is speculated that one of the men was upset that Knotts had locked him up briefly a few weeks prior.
Knotts was warned that one of the men had a gun and was out for him. Chief Mike Knotts bravely confronted the situation in his duty to protect and to serve the town of Wagener and by doing this, he lost his life.
Check with Town Hall to see when the Memorials will both be in place and when you can go pay your respects and read more.
A quote from the article that describe the scene is below:
TR McElveen Jr.: "I drove up to Williamson"s filling station between 4 and 5 Sunday afternoon and Mr. Knotts was standing under the shed at the filling station with his arms folded. I spoke to him and went on in the drug store and in a about a minute I returned to the door of the drug store, then the shooting began. …. Mr. Knotts was 5 or 6 yards from the corner of the drug store when I spoke to him.”