Burlington Saturday Evening Post
1846
THE KNIGHT AFFAIR AT MONTROSE
A week or two since there was a great excitement at
Montrose, and two men came very nigh being lynched, it
appears that a man by the name of Mellancthon Knight, who
kept a kind of grocery at Montrose, had had some
altercation with one or two of his companions on a certain
night, week before last. The next morning Knight was no
where to be found. Search was made. Two bloody cloths, a
bloody letter and a lathing hatchet, stained with blood,
with some hair upon it, were found, and there was no doubt
that Knight had been murdered. A skiff was missing and it
was supposed that the murders had taken the body out into
the river to cover up their infamy. The excitement was
intense and suspicion rested immediately upon the two men
with whom he had the altercation the night previous. Some
declared, that they had heard one of the men threaten to
take the life of Knight. Others brought other charges
against them, until the outburst of feeling got to such a
height as to lead the mob to proceed to violence. They
were just in the act of lynching the supposed murders, so
confident were they of their guilt, when word came that
the skiff had been seen with a man in it some miles below.
This suspended the lynching operation, and the men were
lodged in the Fort Madison jail. Knight’s brother
pursued the skiff and after hearing from it in several
places on the way, he found it finally at Hannibal. Here
he learned that his brother was still alive that he came
to that place-had enlisted and was then on his way to
Jefferson Barracks. He afterwards told his brother, that
becoming involved in business, he adopted the expedient of
absconding at the time stated, and in order to punish the
man who had threatened his life, he left behind him the
indications of murder. The letter which he found after his
disappearance was smeared with blood from his nose, which
was then bleeding.
He took the hatchet which he found, put his hat with
its stained blade with blood, cut from his head, some
hair, attached it to the blood upon the hatchet, collected
blood in his hand and rubbed it upon the door jam, went to
the river, got into a canoe and floated down under the
guards of the boats to prevent being seen, arrived at
Hannibal and enlisted in the army.
Had no one noticed the skiff as it floated down this
wretched man would have caused the death of the innocent
individuals.
No stronger argument could be opposed against lynching
law than the above statement of facts.