I got a letter from Hemy. This after he had written and published the book called The Torrents of Spring, and I thought it the most completely patronizing letter I had ever received.
In the letter he spoke of what happened as something fatal to me. He had, he said, written the book on an impulse, having only six weeks to do it. It was intended to bring to an end, once and for all, the notion that there was any worth in my own work. This, he said, was a thing he had hated doing, because of his personal regard for me, etc., but that he had done it in the interest of literature. Literature, I was to understand, was bigger than both of us.
The Memoirs of Sherwood Anderson
Abshire, who asserted he did not have his own gun out of its holster, said he then walked toward the boys and told Jack that neither he nor Rakes was afraid and that although one car had gotten away the best thing for them to do was to surrender and “take their medicine.” Rakes then drew his gun, Abshire continued, and told the boys they were under arrest, but Jack turned sideways as if to draw his gun and Rakes fired as Abshire failed in his effort to catch Jack’s arm.
Forrest, hearing the shot, ran toward them and Rakes shot again, dropping him in the snow covered road.
“Deputy Abshire Gives Version of Shooting of
Bondurant Boys,” The Roanoke Times, June 11, 1935
Soon there will be no such thing as individuality left. Hear the soft purr of the new thousands of airplanes far up in the sky. The bees are swarming. New hives are being formed. Work fast, man.
The Memoirs of Sherwood Anderson