In 1856 Henry Christian, a young "unoffending mechanic," was shot and killed in the Planters' Hotel on this site by George Dionysius Tillman over a game of faro, a card game popular during the 19th century. Tillman, born in 1826 and died in 1901, was a brilliant but erratic young lawyer from a prominent Edgefield District family and a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives. According to testimony at his trial, he mistook an innocent movement by Christian as an impending attack and shot him fatally. Rather than face charges, Tillman fled the District, went west to California, and then joined William Walker on his unsuccessful filibuster to conquer Nicaragua. Several years later he returned to Edgefield and surrendered to the sheriff. He was convicted of manslaughter rather than murder and sentenced to two years in prison. He was allowed to serve his sentence in the county jail and continue to practice law from his cell, while the ladies of the town took turns bringing him meals. He was apparently remorseful for killing Christian and helped support Christian's daughters. After the Civil War, Tillman was elected to the State Senate, serving from 1865 to 1866. Following Reconstruction, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives, where he served from 1879 to 1882 and from 1883 to 1893. Loud and boisterous in personality and demeanor, he was viewed by his constituents as honest and forthright, and he championed the interests of the common man by seeking fairer representation and more responsive government. He was the older brother of "Pitchfork" Benjamin Ryan Tillman, who became Governor and United States Senator.