If walls could talk, many could write a novel, especially the walls inside older buildings around the state. Spartanburg, South Carolina, is no stranger to haunted history, with a dark past marked by unthinkable atrocities. At The Lantern, we have highlighted many of these paranormal hotspots and the city’s history in the past.
One story that we have never written about is the murder of T.J. Trimmier on Tuesday, March 1, 1898, when a local dentist, Dr. Sidney J. Bivings, entered through the doors of the bookstore at 156 West Main Street in Spartanburg, carrying a pistol. Bivings fired three rounds, striking Trimmier with a fatal blow when one ball entered his heart, killing the local entrepreneur instantly.
The two men had been friends, and the cause would forever remain a mystery. Bivings surrendered and was later found guilty of the murder of Trimmier and sentenced to life in prison. But justice would never be carried out because on May 11, 1898, Bivings took his justice and life into his own hands when he used a cribbed case knife and severed the femoral artery in his upper thigh.
T.J. Trimmier is buried in Oakwood Cemetery, also known as Hells Gate. Sidney Johnson Biving’s final resting place remains a mystery, much like the crime itself. What made the good doctor snap? We will never know, but another question may be, do the spirits of both men still walk among the living or even inside Hell’s Gate today? Many questions still surround the 127-year-old tragedy that forever changed the lives of two men.
Written By: John G. Clark Jr.
Image: Johnson Development