"An Outrageous Crime"
News has just just reached here
from Salyersville,a mountain town,
that one of the most outrageous crimes
that stained the records of Eastern
Kentucky was perpetrated on John
Stapleton on the night of(date unreadable),
at Salyersville,Ky. The facts pertaining
thereto are about three: Two months
ago (Abt. Nov. 1884) the son of this man
without provocation,shot and killed
Calabar White, (This is a typo. It should read-
Calahan Whitt.) which outraged and incited
the people of Magoffin to such
an extent that for safety of the prisoner,
after an examing trial,which resulted in
holding him without bail,was sent to
Mt. Sterling for protection, and is there
now. The indignant friends of White
(Whitt) and bitter enemies of Stapletons,
the father of the murdered man,
on the evidence of two women, had him
arrested, charged with being an an
accessory to the crime. It is not
believed that there is anything in it.
But on the evidence, Stapleton was held
over on a bond of $500, and failing
to give it was remanded to jail about
10 o'clock that night. Twenty or thirty
men, a masked mob, yelling and making
themselves hideous, entered the town,
overpowered the jailor, took the prisoner
to a tree nearby and hung him. It is
believed that Stapleton was incocent
of the charge and the infuriated mob was
aroused solely by the women who
proved he had made threats against
White (Whitt). The better class who
stand by law and order,are now
enemies to the mob and something
more seriuos may come of it.