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Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 7 Jan 1858:
Fatal Affray—Death of J. Jack.
Jedediah Jack, a lawyer, well known
throughout southern Illinois, met a violent death at
Metropolis, last Friday in an affray with his
brother-in-law, Mr. Stoeffer.
The facts as gained by the Cairo Times & Delta
are to the effect that Mr. Jack was laboring under
the influence of liquor, and being urged on by others, made
an attack upon Stoeffer, with a bowie knife, when the
latter drew a pistol and shot him dead upon the spot.
Mr. Jack was a middle-aged man, had a family
and was doubtless goaded on to destruction while
intoxicated.
Death on the Prairie—The
Bloomington Pantograph of the 28th states
that a married woman named Nancy Troy, died suddenly
on the open prairie, last Christmas Eve, about three miles
from the city.
She and her husband, with a son about ten years of age, had
been in the city during the day, and at the time of her
death they were returning home on foot—a distance of about
nine miles. They
had liquor with them.
And both the man and woman were intoxicated.
The woman fell down, and being unable to rise, called
upon her husband to kiss her that she was dying and in a few
minutes was a corpse.
The opinion is expressed that death was caused by an
apoplectic affection superinduced by drink.
Rumored Murder.
Rumor has it that a most horrible and brutal murder
was committed at the “Deep Cut” in this county, about six
miles from Mound City, on the night of the 26th
ult. by parties now under arrest.
It is reported that three or more persons fell upon
an Irishman named Patrick Luba, at a boarding house
at the locality named, and beat him until his life was
extinct. And then seizing the body by the hair of the head
dragged it a distance of several hundred feet to the Central
Railroad, where it was left lying on the track.
The trains next morning ran over the body and tore it
all to piece.
How far this rumor is entitled to credit, we now cannot say.
It is only publicly known that the body of Patrick
Luba was horribly mangled and torn by the trains on the
26th of December.
Should any other facts be elicited on the examination
now being made, they will be laid before our readers in the
next issue.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 11 Feb 1858:
Homicide—The Trial—The Result
Inquiry into the case of the inhuman homicide
committed upon a stranger near the junction of the Mound
City and Illinois Central railroads, and to which we made
allusion last week, resulted in the acquittal of John H.
Hickey, Bridget Cannon and Ellen Gillen to
the county jail for murder in the first degree.
The trial terminated Wednesday evening.
Proceedings were instituted before Esquire Ferrell,
but upon application the case was transferred to Esquire
McCor__.
Defense moved at the outset for separate trials.
Motion argued and overruled.
Rule to separate witnesses was entertained, as to
witnesses of both parties.—Defense offered Ellen Gillen,
one of the accused, as witness.
Her introduction was objected to.
Question was argued and objections sustained.
We present below in our own language, and we hope
with accuracy and necessary ___tion the facts elicited on
the trial.
A stranger, evidently a German of the higher class,
was seen at different places and in the vicinity of the
“Junction” during Saturday, January 30th.
He wore a long black cloth overcoat, reaching fully
to his knees, a black hat, dark pants, ___ and carried with
him a white seam___ sack, containing his luggage.
His age was about forty—height about five feet eight
inches, his face and forehead large.
His hair was black and he wore very heavy black
whiskers. At a
house in this neighborhood he called, about nine o’clock
Saturday evening, and intimated by signs and otherwise
(being unable to speak the English language) that he was
hungry. Supper
was kindly provided for him.
Before partaking of it, he assumed a kneeling posture
and uttered a prayer, in determination of which the
proprietor of the house understood to be “God the Father,
God the Son and God the Holy Ghost!”
At his meal his conduct was regarded as eccentric,
but it was thought that he was drunk.
About ten o’clock the same night he was seen about
two miles from the junction going toward Cairo.—About two
hours afterwards, however, he was seen returning—shouting
and singing and swinging about his head his bundle.
The same stranger the following morning was found in
the house or shanty of Bridget Cannon, by quite all
the witnesses before the court, lying in the middle of the
floor, dead—his head split open at the brain, a frightful
cut upon his shoulder, two gashes in the back, and other
wounds upon his arms and head.
Between twelve and two o’clock Saturday night,
persons residing in the immediate vicinity of the junction
were disturbed by someone singing in a foreign language and
tone, on the railroad.
About this time Mrs. Cannon called her dog,
and demanded of some person to “fetch it back” or she would
set the dog on him.
She left her door and the person addressed came back
with her. They
both entered her shanty, when a rumpus immediately ensued,
which with slight intermission, was kept up until about five
o’clock in the morning.
One witness introduced stated that he heard two sharp
screams and Mrs. Cannon call for Ellen and John.
The same witnesses was called upon about five o’clock
in the morning by John Hickey “to come to Mrs.
Cannon’s to put a man out of the house who was trying to
kill them.” He
went over and saw a man lying on his back in the floor
covered with blood “jabbering” in a language to which he was
a stranger. He
told the wounded man to get up and wash his face—Hickey
insisted that he should be put out, but Mrs. Cannon
objected—said “let him alone.”
The accused were all present at that time and Ellen
Gillen said the man had hurt himself by falling on
the stove.
Shortly afterwards the wounded man died.
The nearest neighbors of Mrs. Cannon testified
that during the disturbance referred to they heard Mrs.
Cannon exclaim, “There! There! Lie still”—heard her at
another time call upon “Ellen to hit him with an axe,” which
command was followed by a blow, which sounded as if
descending among bones—heard her also say, “Shut the door,
don’t let him out.”
Some persons heard John Hickey exclaim, “I’ll
shoot you, as sure as you are born,” which exclamation was
followed by an explosion like that of a cap.
Ellen was discovered next morning throwing ashes upon
the blood which had flowed from the deceased, and upon being
questioned in reference to the homicide made foolish answers
and repeatedly laughed.
The body of the deceased when first seen Sunday
morning was without hat, coat or boots.
A bed in a room communicating with that in which the
body was found, was bloody, the blood having collected in a
puddle near the center run entirely through the tick.
Blood was also observed on the floor wiped in the
direction of the body.
A committee of ladies examined Bridget Cannon,
and found upon her person no bruises, scratches or burns.
It was proven, in addition to this, that the
furniture of the house was disordered, one bedstead being
torn entirely down; and that Bridget Cannon, at the
time the body was first seen by visitors, declared that
deceased had attempted to put her on the fire, and that she
called for Ellen and John and that Ellen struck him.
This statement was corroborated by the fact that her
clothes were badly burned and torn.
Deceased had been seen in possession of a wallet
containing ten or fifteen dollars in bank bills, but no
pocket book was found on the body at the time of the
inquest. Secured
about the body in a belt, the jury found two hundred dollars
in gold. Aside
from these facts nothing of importance was elicited,
excepting that the accused made no efforts to escape, or to
conceal the evidences of the homicide only as before stated.
The investigation consumed a day and a half and its
progress was watched with eager concern.
The attorneys employed in the case showed themselves
watchful, wary, cautious and keen.
Each discharged his duty well and faithfully for
which they should receive the fee that they bargained for.
Our citizens in this matter have acted a commendable
part. They felt
that crime had stalked abroad long enough in the country.
They felt shocked at the atrocities and this
homicide, though it did not occur among them, and provided
for a thorough and searching investigation in reference to
it. With a
willingness amounting almost to eagerness, most of them
assumed the expense of the prosecution, and for the future
as now they stand ready to maintain at any hazard the
supremacy of the law.
To Col. Ed Burke Pickett they feel grateful.
In the investigation of the case he proved himself
both able and faithful—a lawyer of unquestionable acumen—a
criminal prosecutor of the first and highest order.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 18 Feb 1858:
Suicide at Wetaug
A young man named John Anderson engaged at
one of the mills in the vicinity at Wetaug, in this county,
committed suicide last week by shooting himself in the head.
On Wednesday, we learn he mounted a horse and rode
into the woods a mile or two from the settlement, and there,
placing a pistol to his temple, fired.
He died immediately.
His spirits seemed singularly depressed during two or
three days previous to his death, but no person was aware of
any cause for it.
Starved and Froze to Death
An Irishman, whose name we have not learned, was
discovered in the vicinity of a burning log heap beside the
road leading from this city to Cairo, one day last week, so
feeble from the effects of starvation and cold as to be
unable to help himself.
The persons who discovered him passed on to Cairo,
and informed a number of the citizens there of the
discovery, and urged them, as he was within the limits of
Alexander County, to at once provide for the unfortunate
man. This they
failed to do.
The attention of our citizens was directed to the matter
next morning, and a number of them immediately repaired to
the scene, but too late.
The poor man was dead.
An inquest was held over the body, the result of
which was that the stranger had come to his death through
cold and want of food.
He was a miserable looking object—undoubtedly the
victim of intemperance.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 10 Jun 1858:
We are informed by a respectable man (therefore not a
Cairoite) that a man fell from the door of his boarding
house in the upper part of Cairo into the street last week,
and drowned. We
believe every word of it and are somewhat astonished that
children in the place are not drowned in a similar manner
every day.
Dr. D. T. Smith, who killed Dr. T. F. Blackburn
in the streets of Cairo about a year ago, was tried for
murder at Thebes during the last term of the Alexander
Circuit Court and acquitted.
The acquittal struck every person familiar with the
facts of the case, with utter astonishment.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 17 Jun 1858
William Scott, under sentence of death for the murder
of Daniel Harper in Mound City, about one year ago,
escaped from the jail at Caledonia last week and up to this
time no clue has been gained to his whereabouts.
It is believed that assistance was rendered him from
the outside of the prison.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 24 June 1858:
Strange Case—Instantaneous Death
Mr. Harrell—Sir:—Thomas Morris came
to Mr. Woods’ one mile from Valley Forge on the 4th
inst. to work.
He observed at night that he felt better than he had for
some time previous—in the morning about daylight he remarked
to his partner, (as it was raining), they would not make
many rails that day—turned over and died instantly!
Twenty-four hours after I made a post mortem
examination, assisted by Mr. Wood, and found the left
ventricle of the heart ruptured, the pericardium filled with
blood. There was
no other material organic derangement.
He was from Pennsylvania.
He was a large man, upwards of six feet high and
apparently in good health.
His parents reside about 30 miles from
Hollydaysburgh, on a small stream called Bloody Run.
He was about 40 years old.
H. F. Delaney
Valley Forge, Ill., June 16
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 8 Jul 1858:
DIED
At Caledonia, Ill., on Thursday, the 1st
inst., Mrs. Rebecca Gunyan, of this city.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 15 Jul 1858:
Murder at Ullin
An atrocious murder was committed in the town of
Ullin in this county, last Saturday, the details of which,
as we received them from a citizen of the place, are as
follows:
About three weeks ago a man by the name of Mooney,
living in the vicinity of Ullin, called at the mill of
Messrs. Blakesly and ___ to contract for a lot of
lumber. While
there, two men (brothers) whose names we shall withhold,
accused him of having made remarks injurious to the
character of their sister.
Mooney emphatically denied having made any
such remarks, and demanded from the accusers the name of the
informant. They
named Isaac W. Sketoe.
Mr. Mooney remarked that he had never breathed
a word to Mr. Sketoe derogatory to the character of
the lady in question, and that he would state as much in
that gentleman’s face in their presence.
Promising to visit town __ Mr. Sketoe on the
following ___day, and to convince them of the injustice of
their accusation, Mr. Mooney left.
On Saturday last Mr. Sketoe was in town, and
while standing in front of a grocery in the place, observed
Mr. Mooney approaching.
When Mr. Mooney had approached within hailing
distance, Sketoe harangued him—“Come on, d---m you,
I’m ready for you”—and immediately started to meet him.
Mooney told him to keep off, that he wanted no
difficulty.
Sketoe paid no attention to this, rushed him and either
struck or struck ____.
Mooney turned and fled and Sketoe
pursued, and after following him about fifty yards, overtook
him and dealt him a furious blow with a bowie knife, in the
left side.
Withdrawing the knife from Mooney’s side, he
deliberately wiped the blood therefrom upon his own
clothing, and returned it to his belt.
Mooney continued to run, beseeching the
lookers on “not to laugh at him,” that he was seriously
wounded. He soon
fell. Before any
person reached him, the blood had commenced oozing from his
mouth and nose, and in twenty minutes after receiving the
wound, he was a corpse.
The knife, it was discovered, had penetrated the
cavity of the body, and touched the heart.
Sketoe
made no attempt to leave the town until Monday morning, yet
no steps to arrest him were taken by the citizens!
If murder in the glare of day—murder to all
appearances so foul and inhuman is permitted to “stalk
abroad” among them with impunity, where, we would ask, is
their society tending?
The part they have played in reference to this
affair—though we are assured they are shocked at its
enormity—fixes a stain upon their young town that years will
not, cannot, effectually obliterate.
Sketoe
and Mooney were both men of families—the latter had recently returned
from Nicaragua where he had held a captain’s commission
under Gen. Walker.
Sketoe, at
the last election in this county, was a candidate for the
office of surveyor.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 22 Jul 1858:
A Distressing Occurrence in Newport.
On Saturday morning, Mr. T. G. Clephane, a
prominent citizen of Newport, Ky., was accidentally
suffocated to death by the fumes of charcoal under the
following circumstances:
The cistern attached to the premises being damp, he,
the night previous, let down into the same, in order to dry
it, a furnace filled with lighted charcoal.
He went down into the cistern on a ladder, to bring
out the furnace, and was overcome by the charcoal fumes, and
fell heavily to the bottom of the cistern.
His wife, who was looking down, seeing him fall,
uttered a piercing scream, which attracted the neighbors,
and soon collected a crowd.
Several citizens attempted to go down into the
cistern, but could not reach the bottom.
At last, Mr. J. K. Pence volunteered and a
rope was tied around him.
He had scarcely reached the body of Mr. Clephane
when he was noticed to fall. Upon being drawn out, it was
with the greatest difficulty he could be resuscitated.
The body of Mr. Clephane was at length gotten
out after remaining in the cistern three-quarters of an
hour. Every
means was tried to bring him to, but all proved unavailing—Cin
Enquirer, 5th.
The deceased was a brother of our fellow townsmen,
Alexander and William Clephane and a nephew of Mr. J.
S. Hawkins.
DIED
In this city on the 18th inst., of
typhoid fever, John C., son of J. S. and M. C. Hawkins,
aged 10 years and 6 months.
C. Bayley Thornbury,
editor of the Hickman
Argus, died on the 15th inst., after a short illness.
Mr. Thornbury
was a young man of a high order of talents, and commanded
the respect of all who knew him.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 12 Aug 1858:
Man Drowned
A young man named Ernest Dickman, bar keeper
of the steamer Alvin Adams (which boat is now laying
up at our landing for repairs) unaccountably plunged into
the river from the guards of the boat last Saturday evening
and drowned. A
number of persons at the time were bathing in the vicinity,
but before any of them could reach him, he finally
disappeared.
Monday his body arose and lodged in the wheel of
the steamer H. D. Newcomb, and was taken out
and buried. We
understand that the deceased was a German and had no
relatives in America.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 19 Aug 1858:
Death of George Watson
With feelings of profound sorrow we record the
death of George Watson, Superintendent of the Great
Western Road. He died at Springfield in this State, on
Sunday the 15th, of bilious cholic.
His remains were taken to Canaan, Connecticut, for
interment.
Upwards of three thousand persons, with bands of music,
accompanied them to the railroad.
To the majority of our citizens, and indeed of
southern part of the state, Mr. Watson was personally
known, and none knew him but to esteem him most highly.
He was a finished businessman, a high-toned gentleman
and every way worthy of the universal respect he commanded.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 26 Aug 1858:
Two Men Drowned
John Wolff and Casper Kopp, both
German and residents of Mound City, were drowned in Hess
Bayou in the upper confines of the city, last Sunday
evening, from a gunwale upon which they were attempting to
affect a crossing.
When well out upon the water, Kopp, who it is
alleged had been drinking to some extent, lost his going and
fell into the water while in the act of rocking the float.
His fall caused the float to bound suddenly and in an
instant Wolff was precipitated after him.
Presence of mind deserted both them, or they could
have readily saved themselves.
After floundering about on the water a few moments,
one after the other went under and perished.
About a half an hour afterwards, their bodies were
recovered, but it was deemed too late to attempt to
resuscitate them.
Esquire McCormick promptly summoned a jury and
held an inquest, the result of which, as we believe, a
verdict of accidental drowning.
They were both large fine looking men in the prime of
life and unmarried.
Kopp was a carpenter; Wolff, a striker
in the foundry smith shop.
Their bodies were decently interred they having left
effects, we learn, sufficient to cover all expense.
Man Torn to Pieces.
Thomas Armstrong, the engineer of Mr.
Conner’s steam stave factory, fell between a pair of
revolving cogwheels in that establishment last Sunday night,
and was literally torn to pieces.
He was killed instantly, and when his body was taken
from the machinery it presented a spectacle shocking in
extreme. One of
his feet and one of his legs were cut entirely off, his hips
crushed, his abdomen torn open and his entrails
scattered—part of them being wound around his face and neck!
The body was mutilated, was carried beneath the
wheels to the ground, where it stopped the operation of the
machinery. From
this position it was soon extricated.
An inquest was held over it under the direction of
Esquire Ferrell Monday morning and a verdict
according to the above statement returned.
A late number of the
Frankfort
Commonwealth notices the death of Mr. John
Lewis, known to
some extent in this city. And very generally and favorably
known in Kentucky.
He was in his 75th year of his age.
Mr. Lewis was distinguished for his learning and had acquired a high
reputation as a contributor to many of the leading journals
and periodicals.
He is the author of a system of arithmetic and various works
of fiction, in both poetry and prose.
He devoted much of his time to teaching and as a
teacher was eminently successful.
We formed his acquaintance about a year ago and, in
the language of the
Paris Citizen,
can say most truly that we have rarely met a gentleman whose
manners were more pleasing or conversation more attractive
than his. “He
died a Christian and in the triumphs of his faith.”
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 30 Sep 1858:
Death of Cyrus G. Simons.
Cyrus G. Simons, died at his residence in
Jonesboro on Tuesday last, between the hours of ten and
eleven a.m. His
disease was inflammation of the brain.
Mr. Simons was a lawyer of much ability and
as such was widely known.
A more industrious persevering man we never knew.
To his unremitting study and application to the
business of his profession, his disease is attributed, his
labors were incessant—his mind ever overactive in the line
of his duty.
In social life, he was a man of most estimable
qualities, loved by quite all who knew him and known as
honest almost to a fault.
His death will be long and deeply deplored; he leaves
a position among us it will be difficult to fill.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday 4 Nov 1858:
We learn from the White County Advocate,
that the Hon. E. B. Webb, after a long illness, died
at his residence in Carmi in White County, on the 13th
ult. Mr. Webb
was one of the most prominent men in Southern Illinois, an
able lawyer and a distinguished politician.
(Edwin B. Webb married Nancy Jane Ratcliff
on 2 Jun 1831, in White Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
DIED
In this city on the evening of the 1st
inst., Mr. A. Kyes, after an illness of several
months.
Mr. Kyes was a gentleman, well esteemed by our
citizens, a man of a good, strong mind, honest in all his
acts and purposes, a Mason and a useful citizen.
He came to this city from the state of Kentucky.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 18 Nov 1858:
Desperate and Bloody Fight
On Wednesday, last, a fight occurred on board a
flat boat opposite James’ Bayou, about twenty miles below
this city, on the Mississippi, of a most bloody and
desperate character.
Two men named Hewston and Watts,
employed as hands on the boat, while under the influence of
liquor, engaged in a quarrel which soon led to blows.
The difficulty originated in the “cabin” of the boat,
and at the first pass Hewston was knocked into the
fire. As he
rose, he gathered an axe with which he dealt three furious
blows at Watts, one of which took effect in his
shoulder.
Watts immediately fled up the stairs to the roof of the
boat, receiving an awful blow on the back from the pole of
the axe as he ascended.
Hewston pursued, but before gaining the deck
received a blow from a skiff oar in the hands of Watts,
which knocked him senseless, back into the cabin.
Watts now gathered a billet of wood,
descended, and while Hewston lay insensible,
attempted to dispatch him, but was prevented by the captain
of the boat.
Hewston soon revived and grew perfectly furious.
He struck at Watts repeatedly with the axe,
swearing that he would kill him before he laid it down.
Watts now seized a butcher knife, and closing
with Hewston, stabbed him seven times in the leg and
body. Hewston
soon fell, with the exclamation “I’m a dead man”—and here
the difficulty terminated.
When the boat arrived at Hickman, Hewston was
living, but the chances of recovery were decidedly against
him. Watts’
injuries were regarded as serious, but not fatal.
Information Wanted.
Seth Perry and his son, Ira C. Perry,
left Marietta, Ohio, on the 16th day of December,
1857, in company with Philip Kelch, his stepson, and
William Clogston, in a small flatboat, on a hunting
and fishing excursion down on the Mississippi River.
At Hurricane Island, they were joined by Jacob
Bartimus and two brothers named Smith.
At Island No. 9, Kelch left the party, and
wrote home on the 26th of March, which is the
last that has been heard of him or the Perrys.
Seth Perry, the owner of the boat, is about 50
years of age, gray hair, blue eyes and rather stoop
shouldered, and is a clock repairer.
Ira C. Perry, his son, is 17 years old, large
of his age, dark brown hair, black eyes, and a hesitancy in
his speech. The boat was about thirty feet long and eight
feet wide, with about sixteen feet covered.
The gunwales were of pine, about twenty inches deep.
The name of S. Perry was marked on each side
of the boat.
All the crew can be heard from except Seth and Ira
Perry and Philip Kelch.
Bartimus is a dark complexioned man, and the
Smiths sandy complexioned.
Foul play is suspected, and it is supposed both the
Perrys and Kelch have been killed.
Any information concerning them, whether dead or
alive, addressed to the undersigned at Marietta, Washington
County, Ohio, will be thankfully received.
Christina Perry.
Marietta, Ohio, Nov. 10th, 1858.
Lower Mississippi papers will be doing a kindness
toward a distressed lady by copying the above.—ed.
Emporium
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 25 Nov 1858:
An Irishman was run over by
the railroad train at Cairo last Saturday morning and
instantly killed.
His left foot and arm were cut off and his body was
horribly mangled.
It is believed that while drunk he laid down on the
track and went to sleep.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 9 Dec 1858:
A negro woman, known as “Black Cooky,” a native of Africa,
was burned to death, in her cabin, near Dixon, in this
state, last Friday while in a spasm.
She was one hundred and twenty years of age and
beyond probability, the oldest person in the state.
It is believed that if she had lived out her “natural
lifetime” many years might have been added to her age, as
just before her death the old creature could dance with
considerable vim and crack a joke with as much relish as
anybody.
From Metropolis—On the 9th inst., circuit court
was in session there, and a man named
Huckleberry on
trial for the murder of a man named
Carter.
There has been no “civil war” in the county for some
time, and as the prison is not full of counterfeiters, it is
reasonable to conclude that the moral influence of Mound
City is indeed powerful.
Mound City Weekly Emporium,
Thursday, 30 Dec 1858:
William Huckleberry, whose trial in Massac County for
the murder of James Atkinson, we noticed recently,
has been acquitted. |
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Pulaski Index Page |
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