John P. Hunter died in 1939 but there are plenty of people around Lancaster who either remember him or have heard one of the many stories still told about Hunter's 51 years as a law-enforcement officer. In 40 years as sheriff, Hunter "never killed a prisoner nor allowed a lynching," according to his obituary. In his day, the maintaining of law and order was difficult. Sheriff Hunter personally sought out lawbreakers and was known to single-handedly break up a mob.

The story is even more remarkable when the details of his life are examined. He was born on a farm in Lancaster County, October 8, 1855, the son of a farmer who served the county as coroner for 4 years, tax collector for 12 years, and as sheriff for 8 years. The boy's health was delicate, and farm work proved too difficult for him, although he tried to do his share. The country school he attended was open only a couple of months in the year.

When his father moved to the courthouse town of Lancaster, John Hunter was able to attend the high school. He went ot work at the age of 18 carrying the mail from Lancaster to Camden. A few months later, he became a trial justice, constable, and deputy sheriff under his father.

As deputy, John P. Hunter soon got a reputation for "slipping on and arresting some very bad and desperate violators of the law, and in almost every case without assistance, as he was more successful when he went alone."

In 1880, his father retired and John Pierce Hunter ran for sheriff for the first time. He was 25. He soon had the reputation of being absolutely fearless and determined to enforce the law, but also extremely polite and considerate of the rights of others.

Hunter once wrote a newspaper article titled "How to Solve the Race Problem," in which he said that the solution for settling differences among the races could be made to disappear by "instilling morality, politeness, and industry into every child, both white and colored."

When Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, was in his second term of office as president, he appointed Hunter as United States Marshall for the district of South Carolina, with headquarters in Charleston. When Cleveland was followed by William McKinley, a Republican, who wished to re-appoint Hunter, Hunter refused, saying that he was a "straight-out Democrat." He came back to Lancaster, farmed for two years, and, at the next opportunity, ran again for sheriff.

Hunter's record shows that every lawbreaker for whom he took out a warrant was eventually captured by him. The newspaper obituary described Hunter's fearlessness this way: "On two occasions, he captured murderers who had him covered from the moment of his approach and who reiterated their determination to shoot to kill. With his hand on a small Smith and Wesson in right hand coat pocket, Mr. Hunter stared the murderers unflinchingly in the eye and under the spell of that cold and penetrating stare advanced steadily. Had he shown intimidation by halting his pace or dropping his gaze he would probably have met instant death."

Hunter once stopped a lynching when he was the only law enforcement officer present. By his own testimony, he "waged a lone battled to prevent a lynching and I was successful." The incident is referred to as the "Riot of 1882."

In the early 1900s, the toughest spot in the county was probably the Haile Gold Mine area. Clyde Calhoun Pittman, who recalled his youth at the mine in the book Death of a Gold Mine, wrote: "Once in awhile I remember seeing Sheriff Hunter from Lancaster drive by in his buggy. He would be looking for someone. Always there was a Winchester leaning against the seat beside him. Nobody, I mean nobody, fooled around with Sheriff Hunter."