Obituaries
and Death Notices
in Pulaski County, Illinois Newspapers
The National Emporium
12 Feb 1857 - 31 Dec 1857
Mound City, Pulaski County, Illinois
Transcribed and annotated by Darrel Dexter
The National
Emporium,
Thursday, 12 Feb 1857:
Dr. D. T. Smith, upon whom rests the
charge of murdering Dr. Blackburn, in the streets of
Cairo, a few weeks since, made his escape last Sunday night,
and beyond all probability, effectually. There is a mystery
enveloping this matter which should be explained away.
Immediately after the commission of the crime,
Dr. Smith fled from Cairo, but after the most
untiring search of several days, was overhauled in the
swamps of Missouri, bound and brought back. The case was
then investigated by a court of inquiry, and adjudged
bailable. He was required to fill a bond for ten thousand
dollars for his appearance at the next circuit
court. Failing, at the time, to do this, he was taken to
Jonesboro to be imprisoned, but the following day we heard
of him in Cairo. Subsequently, we learn he was taken to
Thebes, the county seat of the county in which the offence
was committed, there to be imprisoned, but in a few days,
afterwards, he was seen in Cairo, proclaiming that he had
given bail—could have filled three such bonds—that he was a
badly abused man—would see the matter through and clearly
demonstrate that he had been wronged and foully
wronged. Now we learn, as a finale to the whole affair,
that last Sunday night he escaped from the officer having
him in charge, stole a skiff from the landing, left the
city, and has not been pursued! If he had answered the
demands of the law—given satisfactory bail—why was he still
retained in the charge of an officer, and why was the public
kept profoundly ignorant of the names of the sureties after
the most diligent inquiry? This feature of the transaction
is, we confess, unaccountable also to the public. There
might have been necessities which rendered the procedure
imperative, but without a knowledge of them, the friends of
the deceased, at all events, can urge with a show of reason,
that unwarrantable steps have been taken by those to whose
care Smith was consigned. We make no direct charge
against any person concerned, but in common with the public,
regard the whole affair as enveloped in a mystery which
should, if possible, be explained away. To that end, we
offer our columns.
The National Emporium, Thursday, 30 Apr
1857:
The Times & Delta infers from an article
recently published in the Emporium, relative to the
escape of Dr. Smith, who is charged with the murder
of Dr. Blackburn, that we claimed to create the
impression that the people of Cairo were averse to Smith's
trial. Most assuredly we had no such intention, whatever
may be the impression the article created, and we cannot see
that the deductions are justifiable. So far as our
observation has extended, we were induced to believe public
opinion decidedly against Smith, in fact we never
heard the offence characterized otherwise than as a foul and
atrocious murder—one richly meriting the punishment
generally awarded to such in "civilized places." Cairo's
sins are numerous enough, we think, without adding to the
list any from which it is possible for her to escape. In
attributing to us, therefore, an intention which at the time
and is now foreign to us, the Times & Delta does us
injustice.
DIED—On Monday morning, 18th inst., William Jinkins, son of Daniel and Ann Hopper, aged 6 years.
The National Emporium,
Thursday, 11 Jun 1857:
Self-Destruction
Last Sunday afternoon, an Irishman by the name of John
Kenneday
committed suicide by drowning.
The facts of the case, as nearly as we can arrive at
them, are these:
After ending his work on Saturday, in Messrs.
King
&
Lyle’s
brick yard, he made several purchases about town, among
other things, a suit of common clothing.
These he put on his person and commenced a round
among the liquor shops at the Landing, ceasing it only when
his power of locomotion ceased.
Next morning, symptoms of
delirium
tremens
presented themselves, which he attempted to dispel by a free
use of liquor.—Instead of allaying them it had a contrary
effect—aggravated them until they entirely dethroned his
reason. At three
o’clock, while under this terrible mental derangement, he
repaired to a point on the Ohio, immediately below the
Foundry and there, divesting his person of all clothing,
plunged wildly into the river.
No interference could be made in time; before it was
attempted, indeed, he threw his hands aloft, and without a
word, sank beneath the water forever.
This morning (Wednesday) his body arose to the surface of
the water—he had been taken out, we believe, and properly
disposed of. Every reader may comment for
himself upon the facts we have presented.
Should we denominate the occurrence “murder” we do
not know that the term would be misapplied.
Distressing Accident
Last Monday night, during the violent storm which passed
over our city, Mrs.
Olney,
wife of our fellow townsman, J. W.
Olney,
was killed by the falling of a tree.
Mr.
Olney
is a newcomer in the place, and had located temporarily in a
log cabin, in the upper part of the city, around which
remained heavy standing timber.
The storm arose about half past seven o’clock, at a
time when Mr.
Olney,
his wife and Mr. Wallace
Kirkpatrick
were sitting in front of the cabin, discussing means whereby
danger might be avoided.
The wind increasing in violence, the parties at once
determined to seek refuge elsewhere, and were in the act of
doing so, when a tall oak tree, overshadowing their cabin,
was suddenly snapped, and commenced falling.
Mr.
Kirkpatrick
was prostrated by its fall, and narrowly escaped
destruction. His
escape indeed may be considered miraculous.
Mr.
Olney
was knocked down while attempting to shield his wife by a
limb which detached itself from the main trunk of the tree,
and for a moment remained unconscious.
When he recovered his senses, he found his wife lying
beneath two heavy fragments of the tree in a state of
unconsciousness—her head shockingly wounded, her thigh
broken and body badly bruised.
She was at once picked up and carried to a
neighboring house, where she received the kindest attention.
Physicians were called and expressed hopes of her
recovery, but within an hour after the accident, the breath
left her body.
She never spoke after receiving the injuries. Tuesday afternoon the body
was interred in the Mound City Cemetery, but upon the
receipt of a metallic coffin, the same evening, it was
promptly disinterred.
It will be taken, we understand, for final interment
to Higginsport, Ohio, where her parents reside.
The National Emporium,
Thursday, 9 Jul 1857:
Fatal and Deplorable
Accident
A middle-aged man named
Peck,
engaged as a lath sawyer at Messrs.
Palmer
&
Clawson’s
Mill, near this city, was killed last Wednesday, by a blow
upon the head from piece of timber which he was converting
into lath. The
timber had passed beyond the saw, and one end falling from
the frame to the ground, threw the other end in contact with
the saw while revolving.
In an instant it was hurled back upon the head of Mr.
Peck,
injuring him so seriously that he lived but fifteen minutes
after the occurrence.
He was a poor man, and has left, in almost destitute
circumstances, a wife and six children.
His remains were shipped to Joliet, in this state,
where his family resides.
Dead Body Found
Under the head of “Man Murdered” on the 18th
ult., we alluded to the discovery, a few weeks previous, of
the decaying remains of a man in the woods in this county,
near the junction of the Mound City Railroad with the
Illinois Central.
Since that time we have received from Mr. Z. P.
Sinks,
coroner of the county, a letter conveying such information
in reference to the matter as he and the jury were able to
gather. The
verdict of the jury was that the man had been murdered, but
in what manner could not be determined, no indications of
violence being apparent.—His clothes, which were badly torn,
were of the finest material and had been well made.
They were buried with the remains.
Three of his teeth had been plugged with gold foil,
one of them having two plugs, the other two, one plug each.
Near the remains was found a gold mourning pin
containing a common Whitestone or flint glass set, conical
in shape and about the size of an ordinary May pea.
To the casing containing this, is a stem, slightly
curved, about five eighths of an inch in length.
This pin is at present in our hands.
The teeth are in the hands of the coroner.
Nothing whatever was found to indicate the
unfortunate man’s name, where he had resided or any other
fact through which his friends might readily identify him.
The supposition is that at the time of his death he
was in the country with a view of making investments in
lands. These
facts, conclusions and suppositions, are cheerfully given
with the hope that they will furnish some person a clue to
the awful mystery.
The National Emporium,
Thursday 16 Jul 1857
Hung Himself
Last Saturday, in the early part of the day, a German named
Thomas
Fry,
who had been for a short time engaged in one of Messrs.
King
&
Lyle’s
brick yards in this city, repaired to the woods in the rear
of the pottery, and there, fastening a rope to the limb of a
tree and then around his neck, deliberately hung himself.
On Sunday morning the body was discovered, and
readily recognized.
After the necessary inquiries into the “manner and
cause of the death,” the remains were properly interred on
the spot, at the expense of the city.
The deceased had just returned from Nicaragua, where he had
been in the service of Gen.
Walker,
and where, perhaps the habit of dissipation (to which we may
attribute his self-destruction) fastened itself upon him.
He had a decided aversion to work and shortly before
destroying himself, declared that he would rather die than
labor for a living.
In this we must certainly accord him sincerity—“he
has shown his faith by his works.”
He formerly resided, we understand, in the state of
New York.
We do not wish to speak of this matter with too much
levity—it is a serious occurrence and is suggestive of
corresponding comments, but we must express our admiration
of that judgment which induced the unhappy man to hang
himself here, where his remains would be cared for.
Had he hung himself in Cairo, he would be hanging
yet!
The National Emporium,
Thursday, 23 Jul 1857:
Death of David Y. Bridges
From the
Jonesboro
Gazette,
we gather intelligence of the death of David Y.
Bridges.
He died at Vienna, Johnson County, in this state, on Friday,
the 10th instant.
As a public man and private citizen, Mr.
Bridges
ever commanded universal respect.
At the time of his death he was the representative of
Johnson County, in the lower branch of the Illinois
Legislature—a position he filled with credit to himself and
the satisfaction of ________.
Man Drowned
An Irishman named
Hopkins,
while bathing in the Ohio, last Sunday evening, in company
with four other persons terminated his existence by
drowning.—quite unobserved, he sank beneath the surface of
the water, to reappear only as a corpse.
Mr. F.
Fair,
who happened to be at the landing, rescued the body within
two minutes after its disappearance, and, assisted by
others, promptly endeavored to resuscitate it, but all to no
purpose.—We trust this will, hereafter, serve as a warning
to such persons, as have hitherto similarly outraged decency
and desecrated the Sabbath.
The remains, we learn, were conveyed to the cemetery.
The National Emporium,
Thursday, 30 Jul 1857:
Excitement at Cairo
Cairo, just at this time, is a perfect whirlpool of
excitement.
Business being dead—utterly destitute of vitality—the
citizens of the place, in order to avoid excesses in such
vices as idleness is the parent of (!) are just now busy
fighting, lawing, drinking and gaming at billiards, etc.,
with an earnestness that rather indicates that they like it.
Monday last we visited Cairo, and inquiring into the cause
of the excitement so prevalent throughout the city, were
informed that a number of belligerent white folks, the
Saturday night previous, had made a descent upon a nest of
negroes with a view of driving them out of town, and
otherwise punishing them for previous insolence.
The negroes made a resistance, and in the rumpus one
of them shot a white man, named Thomas
Hill,
in the face, wounding him so severely that his life, on
Monday, was despaired of.
Edward
Willett,
Esq., deputy sheriff of the county, one of the editors of
the
Times & Delta,
attorney at law, etc., summoned a
posse
commitatus,
and in turn made a descent upon the aforesaid belligerent
whites. His
force was composed of forty picked men, selected not with an
eye to size and beauty, but to unflinching courage.
It was truly a warlike group.
Early Sunday morning the strongholds of the rioters
were attacked by the “posse” and three persons,
Gatlin,
Ewing,
and
Stancill,
were taken prisoners—not, however, without a desperate, yet
bloodless struggle between the “posse” and the two old women
who chose to interfere with the sheriff while making the
arrests. The
prisoners were at once thrown into the calaboose, where they
remained until Monday morning, when they were bailed out.
This event was followed by vigorous proceedings against
negroes for remaining in the State contrary to law.—During
our stay a number of suits were instituted, and the
determination to rid the place of that class of population
seemed to have taken quite a deep root among the citizens.
We have no doubt that the law carried into execution,
will answer the demands of the whites.
If it does not, however, force will be resorted to,
which, very likely, will result in bloodshed and loss of
life. The white
offenders were to have been tried Tuesday morning.
This negro excitement, if we may so call it, was originally
started, we believe, by the sudden disappearance of one or
more negroes from the place, and their subsequent appearance
in Missouri.
Facts in connection with this matter, if we are correctly
informed, justified the arrest of two or three persons for
kidnapping. The
persons so arrested are now under heavy bonds to answer,
etc. From this
promptness on the part of the authorities, the negroes took
license to become insolent to an intolerable degree.
They would, if in crowds together, insult white folks
grossly, crowd unprotected females from the sidewalks, and
blackguard them.
These outrages could not be well borne, and may be given as
the direct cause of the outbreak on Saturday night.
The
conduct of the persons accused of kidnapping is very
generally condemned, yet as it is regarded as no
justification for the insolence of the negroes, we predict
that the excitement will not be fully allayed so long as a
colored person remains in Cairo contrary to the provisions
of the law.
Mound City Weekly Emporium
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday 13 Aug 1857:
A man, supposed from the description to be one of the
murderers of the woman and children found in the Illinois
River, near Merdosia, was arrested in Boonville, Mo., on the
29th ult.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 3 Sep 1857:
DIED.
In this city, on the 29th ult.,
Josephine, adopted daughter of I. D. & S. A. Long,
aged six months and seven days.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 10 Sep 1857:
Suicidally Determined.
A man named Roberts cut his throat on board
the steamer, Gladiator, at Cairo a week ago, or so
since, but fortunately or unfortunately, we don’t know
which, didn’t succeed in killing himself.
He was transferred to the hotel, where he repeatedly
tried to get out of the window to effect his destruction.
Last week, says the Times & Delta, while on
his way home, he attempted to jump from the cars while in
motion, and but for the close attention of the person having
him in charge, would have succeeded.
He seems determined to kill himself, and beyond
probability will carry out his destruction.
Mound
City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 17 Sep 1857:
DIED.
In this city, 10 o’clock, on Monday night, the 14th
inst., of bilious fever, Pierre A. Badeau, aged about
thirty-six years.
Mr. Badeau, up to the time of his death, was
in the employment of E. R. E. & M. Co., as civil engineer.
He was a gentleman highly esteemed by our citizens,
although among them he was comparatively a stranger.
His death was sudden and unexpected, and has cast a
shadow over the hearts of all who knew him.
His remains were sent to Alton for interment.
A wife, upon whom his death fell with the most
heart-rending effect, and two small children survive him.
DIED.
In Putnam, Ohio, August 8th, Ida,
adopted child of Samuel and Lettie Chapman.
Tread lightly; our Ida is dying.
Slowly the life light is fading from her bright eyes.
Colder, still colder, grows the little hand, until
its icy touch sends a chill to fond hearts that have
cherished it.
The breath grows fainter, the taper of life burns lower—it
wavers—now it is extinguished forever.
Our babe is gone! And a deep gloom settles over the
household. The
little form is robed for the last time in white, a fit
emblem of its own purity.
Softly lay it in its cradle bed; close the blue
veined lids over the glassy eyes, gently fold the white,
waxen hands; quietly, peacefully, let it rest.
Then comes the long, weary night.
The dear little one heeds not now that strangers have
bend over it.
But shall we leave it there alone?
Shall a stranger watch over it the last night it will
be with us? Yes,
it must be so!
And with an aching heart we go to rest.
The morrow comes.
The coffin is here.
Lift tenderly that little form as you lay it in its
last resting place.
We have laid the loved one, the household idol, in
“Woodlawn” beside its mother, where flowers will bloom above
it, where birds will warble praises to Him who “doeth all
things well.”
Father!
Strengthen us that we may bow to the blast that has shorn us
of our darling and meekly say, “Thy will be done.”
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 24 Sep 1857:
Dead.
We are truly grieved to hear of the death of our
friend, P A. Badeau, Esq., who died at Mound City,
Southern Illinois, on Sunday the 13th inst.,
after a brief illness.
Mr. Badeau was a civil engineer and surveyor
of much ability and experience, a thorough gentleman, and a
man of singular modesty, integrity and uprightness.
He was for some time engaged upon the St. Louis,
Alton, Chicago R. R, during its construction; was
subsequently for some years a resident of St. Louis and
removed to Southern Illinois only last spring.
He leaves a young wife and two small children to
mourn their incalculable loss.
May He who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, speak
consolation to the desolate hearts of the widow and the
fatherless.
Bloomington Pantograph
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 1 Oct 1857:
Murder or Suicide!
Last Tuesday evening, a foreigner, laboring under the
highest mental excitement, applied at our office and at the
office of John Yaryan, Esq., attorney at law, for “a
paper,” as he expressed himself, which would prevent
someone, whose name he was unable to give in an intelligible
manner, “from murdering him.”
He declared in the most agonizing manner that his
life would be taken during Tuesday night, and finding that
he could not procure the protection he craved, he at once
gave way to a flood of tears.
He stated that he was destitute of money, and could
not, therefore, procure shelter, had no pistol or other
weapons, which he could use in defending himself.
Leaving a small memoranda wallet, his naturalization
papers, &c., in the hands of Esq. Yaryan, he left the
office a picture of utter despair.
Several times previous to eight o’clock in the
evening he was seen wandering about in a wild and distracted
manner, and early Wednesday morning, his lifeless body was
found lying on the wharf, immediately above the principal
steamboat landing, bearing, so far as we have learned, on
the left breast in the region of the heart, a single stab,
from the small blade of a pocket knife.
The knife was found on the ground, covered with
blood.
The facts we have stated, taken by themselves, tend
to confirm the belief that the man was murdered; but taken
in connection with other facts attending the case, render it
more than probable that he destroyed himself.
Among the latter facts we may mention that no noise
was heard by those living in the vicinity—his shirt was not
perforated by the blade of the knife, but had been drawn
aside, so as not to interfere with the blow.
The knife was left on the ground, which we think
would not have been the case had the man fallen by the hand
of another, no knife was found about the person of the
deceased, and it is generally conceded that he was laboring
under a distressing hallucination of the brain.
These facts, in our mind, overbalance his excited
expressions on the day previous.
The deceased was a Swede, was born in Oberdorf, in
the year 1818, and filed a declaration of intention to
become a citizen of the United States, at Jackson, Michigan,
on the 5th day of July 1856.
His name is Joseph Archer.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 15 Oct 1857:
DIED
In this city, on Friday night last, Sarah Belle,
daughter of Wallace and Martha Kirkpatrick, aged two
years and two months.
(Wallace W. Kirkpatrick married Martha
Vance in 1854 in Cincinnati, Ohio.—Darrel Dexter)
Death of Gilbert Boren
Last week under the head of “Terrible Affray Two Men
Killed,” we adverted to a lamentable occurrence on board the
Gazelle on Wednesday evening last, giving the most
plausible ___ the affair we could frame from various and
singularly conflicting rumors in circulation in reference to
it. We made no
claims to accuracy in our ___ment, as from no two persons,
at the time we were seeking information, could gather the
same story. We
promised, therefore, in our present number, to give a more
reliable account of the difficulty, and believe the
following to be.
On the arrival of the steamer Gazelle, at our
landing, on Wednesday evening, the __ last on her way to
Paducah, Edward Hudson, James Hudson, and
Gilbert Boren took passage for Caledonia—the two
former being under the influence of liquor at the time—the
latter, Mr. Boren, manifesting evidence that he had
been indulging in liquor, also, but only to an
inconsiderable extent.
All, however, were jolly and at intervals drank from
liquor that they had, or found on board.
When supper was announced, all three proceeded to the
table, determined to “behave themselves,” as they expressed
it, out of respect for a lady passenger—a determination in
which it is said Mr. Boren readily joined.
Shortly after seating themselves at the table, Edward
Hudson called for a glass of water.
The cook ____ Wallace serving as a waiter,
brought, in obedience to the call, water in a common tea
cup, whereupon Hudson remarked that it was not
exactly what he asked for, but
it was water, guess he’d make it answer.
To this remark the cook instantly replied, “There it
is—it is the best we have—if it don’t suit you, go ashore.”
Hudson at once rejoined, addressing himself
partly to the cook and partly to Mr. Boren, “D—n you,
we’ll put you overboard; won’t we Gill?” “Yes,” replied
Boren, “we’ll take him down some, certain.”
At this juncture, the Captain of the Gazelle
ordered the cook into the kitchen, and as, in compliance
with such order, he was in the act of passing into the door
of the same, Ed Hudson threw a ___cer at him, which
was immediately followed by a teacup, thrown by some other
____on. We
are not informed that either of these missiles took effect.
Shortly after the occurrence, the Captain saw the
cook __ding the middle of the kitchen floor with a large
butcher knife, the blade of which proved to be some eight or
ten inches long, partly concealed in his coat-sleeve, the
handle resting in his hand.
He at once took the knife from him, and urged him to
remain in the kitchen—fearing that he would endanger his
life by returning—that the parties named were ___ed, and
would surely attack him.
The injunctions the cook regarded only long enough to
again arm himself with a knife of which the captain had
divested him. He
again appeared in the kitchen door which communicates with
the cabin and stood there, in an attitude, under the
circumstances, somewhat defiant, until ___ed by Ed.
Hudson, and drawn into the ___, scuffling and using his
knife from the start.
In a moment, James Hudson and Boren
became engaged, and a scene of the wildest confusion at once
ensued. The
conflict became one of the most fearsome and desperate
character.
Knives were ___ with an apparent indiscrimination; tables,
chairs, stove, etc., were overturned, displaced and broken;
so savage and indiscriminate, indeed, became the ___y that
no one with safety could remain in the cabin.
The cook finally removed himself from the engagement
___ from the cabin of the boat, and plunged overboard into
the river. This
course ended the dreadful affray.
In short time a comparative quiet was restored—the
parties to the riot on board being satisfied that the cook
had come to his death by drowning.
Mr. Boren, meeting Edward Hudson,
immediately afterward addressed him as follows, “Ed, I came
to your rescue, to keep you from getting killed, and am
badly hurt myself.” Turning then to the Rev. M. Olmsted,
who was a passenger, he apologized for his conduct in
connection with the difficulty.
___ was then passed to the cabin of the ___ where
reason and speech at once de___ him and death set its
unmistakable ___ upon his features.
He had been stabbed in the brain, through the temple!
At Caledonia he was transferred to the shore, __
among relatives and friends, he expired.
Thus perished Gilbert Boren—a man whose only
essential fault was his rash and daring excitement—a man of
a universally obliging and generous disposition.
At the time of his death was a Councilman of Mound
City—a position to which he was elevated by the almost
unanimous vote of his fellow citizens.
Edward Hudson was seriously wounded in the
melee. His
person bears five cuts—one upon the hand, one in the back,
one in the thigh, and two upon the head.
James Hudson received a cut across the head.
An hour or so after leaving Caledonia, Captain of the
Gazelle discovered Wallace, the cook, whom
everybody supposed drowned, on board his boat, concealed, if
we are correctly informed, in the wheel__
He promptly brought him back, as he should have done,
and surrendered him to the authorities at Caledonia.
Here summary punishment would have been meted out to
him no doubt had not Mr.
___am Boren, brother of the deceased, _____
that the law should take its course.
Had it not been for him, it is altogether possible
that Wallace the cook would have been summarily
disposed of by the __ed people.
In the melee, two knives were used, but the cook
sustained no injuries excepting a slight cut on the hand.
Saturday last a preliminary examination of Wallace
was held, before two justices at Caledonia during which the
facts above recited were elicited, the case was placed under
the head of Riot, though affidavit was filed for
murder.—The Hudsons were to have been examined
Monday. Since
that time we have heard nothing of the case, only that
Wallace failing to give bail in the sum of two hundred
and fifty dollars for his appearance at court, etc., was
committed to the jail of the county.
More we might add, by way of detail, but enough has
doubtless been said.
It is a matter we are loath to write about—an
occurrence to which we never advert without a shudder.
P. S. We
deem it due Mr. Abram Clemson, to state that he was
not on board the Gazelle at the time of the
difficulty, and consequently in no manner participated in
it. At the time
of this occurrence, he was several miles up the railroad.
Last week, however, we were positively informed that
he was on board.
It affords us pleasure to make this correction.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 22 Oct 1857:
Murder—At
a ball given in Mississippi County, Mo., about fifteen miles
below this city, a week or two ago, an altercation arose
between two men named Eads and Pierson. A
fight speedily ensued, in which Pierson stabbed
Eads so seriously that he died a short time afterwards.—Eads
it is said, was clearly the aggressor.
Pierson left town.
Dr. D. T. Smith Re-Arrested
Most of our readers will recollect that Dr. D. T.
Smith, sometime last spring, shot Dr. Blackburn,
in the streets of Cairo, and subsequently escaped from the
charge of the authorities, in a manner, at the time,
regarded as somewhat mysterious.
Recently, it was ascertained that he had located near
Memphis, in Tennessee.
The citizens of Cairo, at once obtained from Gov.
Bissell a requisition for him to the Governor of
Tennessee.
Properly authorized by the latter functionary, C. D.
Arter and J. C. Lynch started in pursuit of
the fugitive.
They found him in Bolivar Tenn., arrested and brought him
back to Cairo, arriving last Friday morning.
Smith had, a few weeks previous to his arrest,
married a highly accomplished Tennessee lady, and of course,
was somewhat loath to leave her—indeed, seemed determined
not to do it, until overpowered by superior numbers and
bound. At one
time he presented a pistol at the breast of Mr. Arter,
with the murderous intent of firing—an end he would have
accomplished had he pulled the trigger instead of the guard.
He is now, however, securely confined in the
Alexander County jail, and will doubtless, at the
approaching term of the Circuit Court, be brought to trial.
A Hair-Breadth Escape
“A hair-breadth escape” in connection with the recent
riot on board the steamer Gazelle we esteem eminently
worthy of record.
John Wallace, upon whom was charged the death
of Gilbert Boren, to avoid the fury of the parties
with whom he had been engaged, repaired to the hold of the
boat and there concealed himself.
While the boat was founding to at Caledonia, however,
he concluded that if search were made for him, his hiding
place would be readily discovered.
He therefore, celeritously gained the starboard
guard, let himself therefrom into the river and passed to a
position between the yet revolving wheel and the hull of the
boat, where he remained during the boat’s stay at the
landing, it is said, hanging to the shaft.
When it was announced at Caledonia that Wallace
had killed Mr. Boren, the most intense excitement
ensued, and the determination was expressed to deal out
summary punishment to the accused, the moment he was
discovered. With
a view of carrying out this purpose, several friends of the
deceased armed themselves and commenced a search of the
boat. The hold
was searched from stem to stern, the nook Wallace had
but a moment before vacated was narrowly eyed, then the
cabin, the engine room, the kitchen and every hole and
corner on deck.
It remained now only to search the wheelhouses.—With
feelings of despair Wallace heard a determination to
do this expressed. Expecting detection and no mercy, if
detected, the desperate resolution to drown himself was
taken, but a moment hesitating, a trap door above him was
roughly raised, a light flared fully upon his face, and two
searching eyes seemed fixed intently upon him!
In almost deathly dread of the triumphant shout of
“Here he is!” he remained breathlessly silent—regarding his
discovery beyond question—his destruction inevitable.
But only a moment thus, and the peering eyes were
diverted, the light withdrawn, the door above him replaced,
and, to this infinite, his unspeakable relief, the search
was abandoned!
The famous “Old Put” may have made narrower escapes, but
this will certainly do to denominate a “hair breadth” one.
The boat soon afterwards left Caledonia, Wallace
still clinging to the shaft and at times revolved in as it
did. This
position he managed to maintain until the boat ran a
half-mile above the town then he abandoned it, worked his
way back to the yawl and from thence gained his cabin.
Here he was discovered by the captain, and the rest
we have already reported in a former number of the
Emporium.
These facts we gather from a Caledonian who stands
ready to vouch for their correctness.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 12 Nov 1857:
Committed Suicide.
Last Saturday night, while the steamer J. W.
Cheeseman was laying at our landing, one of her cabin
passengers named P. Riley jumped overboard and
drowned. The man
was evidently deranged.
Shortly after the arrival of the boat at this place,
he assumed a kneeling posture before a chair in the cabin
and called for a Bible.
The steward, after considerable persuasion, got him
into his stateroom and closed the door on him.
Instead of going to bed, as it was supposed he would,
he passed through the door opening on the starboard guard
and jumped into the river.
The yawl, well manned, was immediately sent out to
rescue him, but the fellow observing its approach evaded the
most desperate determination to be overtaken by it.
He finally sunk from pure exhaustion.
We are informed that Riley took passage on
the Cheesemen at St. Louis for Coalport, Ohio, that
he has a family residing somewhere in this state and that at
the time of his death he had some money about his person.
He was a well-dressed man, of generally respectable
appearance. His
body has not been discovered.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 19 Nov 1857:
Terrible Explosion—Three Lives Lost
The boiler of Messrs. Fincher & Bragg’s
saw mill, which mill is situated about two miles from the
junction of the Mound City Railroad with the Illinois
Central Railroad in this county, exploded yesterday
afternoon about 2 o’clock, instantly killing Mr. Fincher,
a Mr. Johnson and a fireman, whose name we have not
learned, and breaking the leg of another person.
Mr. Fincher, it is said, was most horribly
mutilated—was in fact, torn into pieces.
We have no space for details.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 10 Dec 1857:
Mr. Robert Martin, a merchant and respectable citizen
of Columbus, Ky., was found dead last week in the river
bottom near Point Pleasant, Missouri.
He left Columbus, the Crescent says, last
Sunday a week ago on the steamer Moses McClelland,
and got off near the point where his body was found, for the
purpose of visiting his sister who resides in Dunklin
County, Missouri.
In attempting to cross the bottoms in company with
two other gentlemen, he became belated, lost his way and
wandering into the swamps he finally sank down from pure
exhaustion and froze to death.
His companions by the most extraordinary means
escaped with their lives, both however, with frozen limbs.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 17 Dec 1857:
Murder in Cairo.
The dead body of a strange man—to all appearances
an Irish man—was found in Cairo last Monday night lying in
the streets. His
skull immediately above the right temple was fractured,
evidently by brass knuckles or a slung shot.
Several persons are under arrest on suspicion of
having committed the murder, but we are assured that the
guilty man made his escape.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 31 Dec 1857:
Young Sloo, the man who killed John E. Hall at
Shawneetown in this State and who was acquitted on a plea of
insanity and afterwards committed to the lunatic asylum, has
recovered his reason and been discharged.
This is certainly a most astonishing cure in short
time, reflecting a great credit upon the managers of our
lunatic asylum or evidence that Mr. Sloo’s insanity
was not very deeply seated.
We have been informed that he has returned to Shawneetown,
his former home.
Execution of G. O. Mullenix
On Friday last, Greenbury O. Mullenix was
hung at Greencastle, Indiana, for the murder of his wife, on
the 10th day of last April.
He insisted upon his innocence, though the proof of
his guilt was most conclusive.
Up to the last moment he entertained an utter
disregard for death and as he swung off into eternity, he
exclaimed: “Let
her rip! You are
hanging an innocent man, Bill!” |
Pulaski Index Page |