156 HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL SKETCH OF 



dore Gourdin, a member from the Northeastern 

 district, both lived in Pineville. Mrs. Anna Peyre 

 Dinnies, now so favorably known in American litera- 

 ture, was also, in her youth, a resident of Pineville, 

 and so w^as the late Rev. Edward Thomas, rector, 

 formerly of the church on Edisto, afterwards of St. 

 John's Berkeley. John Gaillard, who so many 

 years represented the State in the Senate of the 

 United States, and Judge Gaillard, were both na- 

 tives of St. Stephen's, but never, I believe, residents 

 of Pineville.' 



Among the lions of Pineville was John Wall, an 

 Irishman by birth, who lived there in the capacity 

 of factor or general agent for Mr. Theodore Gour- 

 din. He was an old, weather-beaten man, with a 



^ Craven County may enumerate, among her notables, the notorious David 

 Hines. This person has been the subject of two biographies, one of which 

 is, we believe, written by himself. We have never read either of them, but 

 the last happening to fall into our hands, during a disengaged hour, we 

 skimmed over a few of the introductory pages, and found them a tissue of 

 falsehoods. He was born in St. Stephen's Parish ; his father was a poor but 

 worthy and inoffensive man ; of his mother we cannot be certain of any 

 information, and choose, therefore, to be silent. He first appeared before 

 the public, as a rider in one of the Pineville races, when, being thrown from 

 his horse, considerable interest was excited in his behalf. He got employ- 

 ment on the plantation of Mr. John Palmer, of Maham's, in the humble 

 capacity of cow-minder, and soon after was charged with the commission of 

 a forgery, the trial for which resulted in his acquittal, but led the way to a 

 subsequent extensive acquaintance with the Court of Sessions. He has no 

 pretensions whatever to the title of M.D., which he assumes. We have 

 always considered his career as a proof of the extreme gullibility of the 

 American people. He has assumed, with success, the best names in the 

 State, without possessing the manners, the address, or even the external ap- 

 pearance of a gentleman, and he is destitute of all talents requisite for the 

 profession of a rogue, except that of matchless effrontery. 



