USA > Kentucky > Henderson County > History of Henderson County, Kentucky > Part 51
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MURDER OF LEMUEL CHEANEY BY CHARLES C. CARR. 1818.
On the fourteenth day of December, 1818, Charles C. Carr, or Stephen Grimes, shot and killed Lemuel Cheaney, while riding through the silent, solemn woods, near Colonel Elias Powell's meadow farm. It is not known to this day which one of the two did the shooting, al- though Carr was hung and Grimes cleared. Of one thing, however, there is a certainty, and that is, that no incident in the history of Hen- derson County, from the beginning up to that time, had ever created such a profound feeling of indignation, and such a determination to crack the neck of the murderer, should he be found. This was the first murder since that of Mrs. Stegall and family, by Big and Little Harpe, in 1799, and, from its surroundings, was equally as horrible. Suspicion had pointed to Carr and Grimes, and when, perhaps, they were least expecting it, an officer of the law presented himself where they were quietly domiciled and made them prisoners. They were brought to the county jail and there confined to await the action of the Grand Jury. At the March term, 1819, of the Circuit Court, the following Grand Jurors were empaneled ; Daniel McBride, foreman,
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HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
Jacob Hopkins, Nathaniel Dozerne, John R. Bently, Samuel Burks, Laurence Robertson, Rowland Starks, Thomas Jones, Daniel Smith, Furney Cannon, Martin Friley, Thomas Hart, Jr., Elijah King, John Williams, Mark M. Yeargin, George Higginson, Daniel Lock- well, Simon Sugg, Thomas H. Herndon and Alfred Williams. These gentlemen, after a thorough examination of the testimony, returned to the Court an indictment charging Charles C. Carr, a la- borer of the County and Circuit of Union, with feloniously, will- fully, and of 'his malice aforethought, shooting Lemuel Cheaney from his horse, while riding along a by-path of Henderson County.
At the June term, following, the case was called, and both par- ties announced themselves ready for trial. The following jurors were then sworn to try the issue : Jonathan Fellows, Aaron Wilson, John Wilson, Samuel W. Hammond, Gabriel Holmes, Robert A. Cobbs. Thomas Ladd, William Carter, William Robards, William Miller, Christian Smedley and Jonathan Anthony, who, after hearing the evi- dence, returned the following verdict : "We, of the jury, find the defendant guilty of the murder in the indictment charged against him."
At the same term Carr was brought into court, in custody of the jailer, and it being demanded of him whether he had anything to say why the Court should not give judgment against him, declined to speak a word in his own defense. He was thereupon ordered to be again committed to jail until Monday, the twenty-sixth day of July, on which day, between the hours of eleven and twelve, he should be taken by the Sheriff of the County to some suitable place on the Public Square, in the Town of Henderson, and there hung by his neck until he should be pronounced dead .. Why he should have been hung on Monday, and on an empty stomach, the records signally fail to explain, and yet such was the case.
From the depositions of James Townsend, Jeremiah Riddle, James Holloway and Carr, the murderer, the following facts concern- ing the killing have been gleaned :
Lemuel Cheaney was a trader by profession, from the upper part of the State. He had taken a raft of lumber to Cairo, Illinois, and was en route on his return over land, when he was seized with chills and fever while passing through Union County. He halted at Mor- ganfield, where he remained some weeks. During this time Charles C. Carr lived near the town of Morganfield, and became, to all in- tents and purposes, on intimate terms of association with Cheaney. The two were frequently seen together, and on the morning of the
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HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
twelfth day of December, 1818, both men went to the house of James Townsend, in Morganfield, where an exchange of money took place between Cheaney and a man by the nam of Paxon. Townsend counted the money . and remembered two five dollar bills, one on the Bank of Utica, the other on the Bank of Niagara, New York ; also, a twenty dollar bill on the Bank of Vincennes, Indiana.
Next morning Cheaney told Townsend that he had a lot of plank which Carr wanted to buy, but hadn't the money to make the purchase. This conversation, as well as the exchange of money, took place while Carr was present. On the same day Carr and Cheaney left, as Carr stated, for Henderson. On the way up, and when in sight of Colonel Robert Smith's house, near Smith's Mills Postoffice, the two met Stephen Grimes, who rode along with them. At this point, Cheaney complained of being very sick, and was really shivering with a hard chill. Grimes advised him to go on to Colonel Smith's and there remain until the ague was off, and then to come on to a certain point on the road nearer Henderson, where he would await their com- ing and have them come over and spend the night with him. Chea- ney and Carr remained at Colonel Smith's one hour and a half, or . more, when they remounted and proceeded on to the designated point where they were to be joined by Grimes. When they arrived at this place Grimes was found sitting on a log waiting, as he had prom- ised. The three then started on the road to Henderson, and after riding awhile they came to a log lying across the road, at which place there was a bush cut down. This, Grimes told them, was cut down by one of his sons, as a turning out place for a nearer route to his home.
This place was a short distance from Colonel Elias Powell's mea- dow farm, and here they turned and proceeded about a half mile, when Cheaney was killed. As to who killed him, no one has ever positively known, many persons believing that Carr was the murderer, while as many believed it to be Grimes.
Cheaney had a large amount of money on his person, and this was taken and divided between the two. It was a well-known fact that Carr had no money and was unable to pay his smallest indebtedness, yet, after the shooting of Cheaney, he was seen with several hundred dollars. This, coupled with other circumstances, created heavy sus- picion, and when James Holloway and James Townsend were shown some of the money passed by Carr, they recognized the same bills they had counted for Cheaney only a short time before. Townsend
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recognized the two five dollar bills of the Bank of Utica and Niagara, New York, and the twenty dollar bill of the Bank of Vincennes.
This was, then, enough to guarantee an arrest, and in a few days both men were arrested and confined in the Henderson County jail.
Old Grimes, as he was called, turned State's evidence, and Carr would have done the same thing, but Grimes was too quick for him. Carr's deposition is on file in the indictment, and, if one-half of it be true, old Grimes was the murderer, and ought to have been hung. Carr protested his innocence, and openly charged Grimes with the outrage. He did not deny sharing the money after the death of Cheaney, but declared that he stubbornly opposed the killing even up to the time the fatal gun was fired. Carr had had his trial, had been found guilty, and sentenced to be hung on Monday, the twenty- sixth day of July, 1819. The few life's moments left him were now flittering away as rapidly as the melting snow before the rise of a burning sun. He confessed his sins, yet protested his innocence of Cheaney's murder. Old Grimes had done the deed for which his life was to pay the penalty. James M. Hamilton, Henderson's lead- ing blacksmith, had forged the iron anklets which bound his legs to- gether. Moses Morgan had builded the wooden casket which was to become the home of his mortal frame. Fayette Posey had builded the gallows beneath whose beam his lifeless body, in motionless hor- ror, was to hang, as a propitiation for the sins of Grimes. He also had prepared the sepulchre, whose funeral pile awaited to inclose him forever. The day had arrived, and, with its coming, thousands of anxious people.
In that great crowd stood Old Grimes, to witness the execution of a man who was dying, as he protested, while facing death for the sins of this old sinner. For the space of an hour before the awful moment, Carr sat in his silent prison buried in deep thought ; nor was this monologue of the wretched prisoner very strange or wonderful. He had nerved himself to meet disgrace, to meet the scorn and taunts of his fellow men, and to meet with serenity, even death itself. The clock had struck eleven, and as the last echoes died away, Peter D. Green, special bailiff, and his attendants, made their appearance and bade him prepare for execution.
Quickly dashing away the briny evidence of his late weakness, and with a mighty effort of will he stilled the beating of his heart, and resumed once more his careless manner. Turning to the Sheriff he said :
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" I have been waiting, and am ready. Do your duty."
A few minutes sufficed to remove his fetters, and the Sheriff waited a moment that he might arrange some of his apparel, quietly and without a word either of reproach or pity, led him forth from his dungeon. Carr followed the footsteps of his conductor with a firm, bold tread, evincing neither alarm nor hesitation, until he was lifted into the wagon and commanded to take his seat. Then, indeed, he started back with a slight exclamation of horror, for the seat men- tioned was the dread tenement he was so soon to fill, a dungeon far more dark, gloomy and contracted than the one he had just left. Yes, it was his own coffin.
The mournful cortege moved slowly away from the prison door, and with funeral tread, for it was the funeral of the living dead. Carr sat upon his coffin, guarded by the special bailiff and his assistants, and sadly and solemnly did the actors in this bloody, but legal, drama move along to the foot of the gallows. The terrifying structure and judicial instrument of death was erected on the Public Square, di- rectly in front of the two-story brick now occupied by Captain Charles G. Perkins as a family residence, and tradition tells that the large locust tree now standing in his front yard was one of the posts sunk in the ground which supported the beam, or cross bar, underneath which Carr hung. Carr sat in the wagon gazing around upon the sea of upturned, unsympathizing faces, with apparent unconcern. Yet he felt more than his manner indicated. At the command of the bailiff, he stood alone in the wagon, and immediately beneath the beam, from which a rope dangled, swaying gently to and fro under the mild influence of a soft southern breeze. Folding his arms tightly across his breast, as if to keep down the tumultuous beating within, and giv- ing one look to the broad, bright heavens, and another to the frightful rope, he at last fixed his keen gaze intently upon the human mass below him, but his eye rolled too rapidly from man to man, and his look was too eager and intent, to be the mere result of curiosity or listless indifference. His look was that of a man rapidly scanning the faces of others in search of some familiar countenance, or of some one he had reason to believe was then and there present. For several minutes, as his eye turned from face to face, his pale, rigid features exhibited no emotion, or, if any, only that of disappoint- ment. But, all at once, the object of his search met his gaze. The doomed man's face lost its pale indifference, a rush of color passed rapidly into his countenance, and that there was some disturbing emo· tion those who stood near were well satisfied.
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In a moment more his eyes were scornfully fixed upon a heart- less old wretch who stood prominent in that great assembly of curi- ous spectators. The eyes of the multitude followed the eyes of the condemned. Voracious curiosity now centered upon the individual at whom Carr was so intently gazing, yet he could not be seen. The multitude moved in shapeless confusion, wedging in here and there, that one glance might be gained of the object of Carr's scornful and unremitting ocular penetration. Then it was that he raised his arm and pointing his index finger with unerring precision, said, with un- mistakable emphasis :
" Fellow citizens, God knows there stands the murderer of Lemuel Cheaney, Stephen Grimes !"
A wild shout went up and a rush was made for the dastardly old scoundrel who stood in unblushing indifference to witness the hang- ing of the one he had basely betrayed.
Grimes could not stand the accusation, but ran for his life, pur- sued by many men, and was not seen again that day. As for the general mass, the contest going on was, with them, equal to a gladia- torial combat, and for the entire time their interest continued undi- minished, and their numbers were only increased until the close of this judicial tragedy.
The dread hour of parting was now over with Carr. He busied himself making bare his throat for the fatal rope. A slight shudder passed over his person as the cord touched his naked neck, but, be- yond this, he showed no signs of trepidation. He stood alone upon the trap of the wagon ; a moment of breathless silence, followed by a quick, heavy blow of the bailiff's axe, and he stood no longer upon plank, or earth, or solid rock, but hung a dangling, struggling, horri- ble spectacle in the air. A few convulsive movements of the limbs, a quick heaving of the breast, a trembling shudder throughout the body, and all was over. Carr was dead. His fate was no longer a thing of doubt. The rope and death had torn away all darkness, and his dreams were dreams no more. His body was cut down and sepulchred a few steps away, where it reposed and mouldered from Monday, July 26th, 1819, until exhumed by the foundation diggers twenty years ago.
After the death and burial of Carr, public sentiment bore down upon Grimes. It was evident that his life was not safe in the neigh- borhood in which he lived, but of this feeling he seemingly knew nothing, and continued to pursue his daily avocation. Finally, pent up, yea, outraged society, could stand it no longer. The belief grew
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stronger and stronger, day by day, that the gallows had been de- frauded of its legitimate and most guilty subject, and that the least guilty, alone had paid the penalty. A company was formed with the determination of ridding the county of Old Grimes, and, to this end, they cautiously approached his home, where he was found, taken out, and most unmercifully thrashed. This terrible scourging, it was thought, would terminate his earthly career, and he was thus left. But not so. Next morning found him gone, and from that day to this has never put foot in Henderson County.
Thus concludes the story of the first murder and public hanging in Henderson County.
SECOND MILITARY EXECUTION-TOM FORREST AND FIVE COMRADES SHOT TO DEATH.
During the early part of November, 1864, six armed highwaymen were frequently seen prowling on foot through the country, engaged in promiscuous robbery. They were known to have come from Indiana, for they had crossed the river at Newburg only a short time prior to their discovery. They had the temerity to pay a visit to and rob Mr. Curtis, the ferryman, opposite Evansville. They had visited a Mrs. Randolph, widow of a Methodist divine, from whom they stole $50, a cloak, two fine dresses, her night robes, etc. They halted at the residence of Mrs. Edmund Robinson, where they called for supper, and during this time, gave to William S. Johnson a brief history of their military lives. In this conversation they stated that they were members of Captain Ollie Steele's command, had been captured and were at that time making their way back to him. Rang- ing around on their nefarious career, they committed frequent thefts in the neighborhood of Diamond Island Bend, and when not on a raid, confined themselves within a dense canebrake. The citizens determined to rid the neighborhood of their pestiferous presence, feel- ing fully assured that they were not soldiers of either army, but a clan organized for petty thievery. To this end, therefore, B. F. Martin, William J. Alves, A. J. Anderson, James Lilly, and several other citizens armed and equipped, and went out in search for them.
They were traced to the cane, and upon entering its tangled and violently matted territory, the pursuers, when least expecting it, came suddenly upon the thieves in camp. Without hesitation or resistance the wholej six surrendered and asked to be turned over to the civil authorities. Upon taking an invoice, they were found to have in their
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HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
possession, four fine new revolvers and a double-barrelled shotgun, the last having been stolen from William Vickers, and several coats and pants which they had pressed-not as tailors-but as a military necessity. They were brought by a guard of citizens to the city on Thursday evening, November 10th, 1864, and placed in the county jail. On Friday afternoon they underwent a preliminary examination before Judge C. W. Hutchen. At this examination they denied be- longing to any military command, and plead guilty to larceny, but the evidence of William S. Johnson, who had heard their story several days previous, settled the question to the satisfaction of the court, who held them severally in a bond of $5,000 to appear at the ensuing term of the Circuit Court. Failing to furnish bail, the six were sent to jail. On the date prefixed, General Stephen G. Burbridge, com . manding the Military Department of Kentucky, issued the following order :
HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION KENTUCKY. - LEXINGTON. October 25th, 1864.5
General Order No. 8.
The irregular bands of armed men disconnected from the rebel army, who prowl through the country and subsist by depredation upon the property of citizens and of the government, are guerrillas and will hereafter be treated as such. They are without any idea of occupancy or without a reasonable hope of seriously injuring our communications They form no part of the organized army of the rebellion, and if captured are not entitled to the treatment pre- scribed for regular soldiers. but by the laws of war, have forfeited their lives. Frequent robberies and murders committed by these outlaws, demand that the laws of war be stringently meted out to them Hereafter no guerrillas will be received as prisoners, and any officer who may capture such and extend to them the courtesies due to prisoners of war, will be held accountable for diso. bedience of orders. By command Major General,
S. G. BURBRIDGE.
In view of this mandatory order, Col. John Glenn, then in com- mand of the Henderson Post, demanded and was given possession of the six prisoners. Deeming it his imperative duty to enforce the order of Burbridge, he accordingly informed the men on Saturday that they had only a short time to live, but that on Sunday afternoon they would be taken hence and shot in compliance with orders. They were also told that every facility would be afforded them to meet their Maker.
On Saturday night the Revs. J. Woodbridge, of the Presbyterian Church, and H. M. Ford, of the Methodist Church, called to con- verse with the doomed men. Five of them expressed a preference for the ministration of the Methodist divine, and Rev. Ford passed
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much of Saturday night with them, and was with them nearly the whole time until they were ushered before the Almighty. The other, Forrest, obtained the services of a Catholic divine from Evans- ville. The above and following facts are taken from the News, of November, 1864 :
" After being put in jail, the three men who had given their names as John Williams and D. and W. Riley, admitted to their spiritual advisor that their true name was Horton, and that their mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Horton, as also two of their wives, were residing in Evansville. Forrest, or Young, a Canadian, asserted that he was a Confederate soldier, belonging to Captain Steele's command, and had relatives residing in . Iowa. The real name of Jamieson is John Fry, and he has a wife and two children at Evansville. Moore is from Nashville, where his mother now resides.
" Mr, Curtis, the Evansville ferryman, who had been robbed on the night of the seventeenth ult., went with us to the jail to ascertain if any of the pris- oners had belonged to a party of four who had forcibly entered his house opposite Evansville, on the night of October 17th. Two of them admitted that three Horton brothers were in the party, another, Pritchett, was at large. They had robbed Mr. Curtis of near $300 in greenbacks and a large amount of family clothing. These four, the Horton brothers and Pritchett, had been arrested by the military authorities at Evansville and placed in the guard- house, but before their cases were acted upon, they succeeded in cutting out of prison and escaping.
" At three o'clock, Sunday afternoon, a guard of sixty negro infantry were drawn up in front of the jail, from whence they escorted the six doomed men to the place of execution, which had been selected upon the bank of the river, above the city, near the old coal shaft, where a large grave, capable of holding all the rough coffins had been prepared. A large concourse of our citizens accompanied the cortege to the fatal ground. Arriving at the selected spot, the prisoners were allowed to hold brief converse with some of their acquaintances and the ministers of religion. Their arms and persons were free from irons or any pinions. After the detailed guard had taken position, the prisoners were called from the midst of the troops and placed in line, when Col. Glenn read Burbridge's ' Order No 8,' above published, and informed the trembling victims that the office of an executioner was not a pleasant one, but that the order was a mandatory upon him, and that they obviously came under its provisions. The Colonel then bandaged their eyes, (their arms and legs being left unfettered) and led each one to his coffin where they were seated. Their lips were moving in prayer, imploring the Father of Mercies to pity them and forgive their manifold sins. The three Horton brothers sat side by side, in full vigor of youthtul manhood, soon to become cold and rigid in death. The sable executioners were formed in two lines, thirty in each rank, and stood facing the victims, fifteen steps. The front line had been severally instructed what man to aim at The fatal order was distinctly given : 'Make ready ; take aim ; shoot low ; fire !" and the death-dealing volley went forth. Instantly five of the unfortunate fell over their coffins without a groan or
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struggle, stone dead ; the sixth, Forrest, fell forward from his shell to the green sward, and after a few spasmodic quivers, lay still. Most of them were shot in the head, and the large conical balls had scattered their warm brains about, while purple stre»ins deluged the coffins. After becoming satisfied that the vital spark had fled, Col. Glenn detailed some of the negro troops to put the corpses in their coffins and commit them to the grave-the name of each being attached to his coffin so as to enable their relatives or friends to identify and remove the remains."
They were buried where they were shot, and some years after- wards their remains were removed to the City Cemetery by order of the Council.
SHOOTING OF BEN. O'NEAL AND THOMAS RISLEY.
The history of the subjects of this sketch furnishes another evi- dence of the fool-hardiness of men, and the utter recklessness which oftentimes characterizes inveterate violators of the law. It shows, too, how innocent men suffer for the misdeeds of others, for in this in- stance Risley was guilty of the violation of law prior to the time of the shooting, but was endeavoring to cheat the law of a violator whose capture had been determined upon. In the year 1845, Ben. O'Neal, a native of Union, but a resident of Henderson County, was suspected of belonging to a gang of horse speculators, whose main object seems to have been to relieve stables at night, and run the animals to Illi- nois, where they found a ready market. William Crenshaw had lost a fine horse and his brother Joe. was not the least timid in charging the theft to O'Neal, who hearing of it determined upon revenge, and that of the blackest kind. He carried in his pocket for months, a bowlder or rock, symetrically shaped and about the size of a goose egg, with which he practiced at a target until he had learned to throw it with absolute precision. It is said he could hit his mark at sixty feet with almost as great certainty as the rifleman could with his unerring gun .. On the first day of Januray, 1845-always a great day in town prior to the war-O'Neal came to town, and shortly afterwards saw Joe. Crenshaw walking upon the street. A large crowd had congregated on Main Street, in front of where George Lyne's drug store now stands to witness the sale and hireing of slaves, and in this crowd Crenshaw was standing. O'Neal approached a friend and soon se- cured his services in getting Crenshaw to walk out of the crowd, pre- tentiously for the purpose of engaging him in conversation, but osten- sibly for the purpose of killing him with the rock which he carried in his pocket. The friend asked Crenshaw off, and while he was talking, O'Neal drew his rock and let drive at his head, luckily, however, just
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