Plymouth banner. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1852-1855, 1854-01-12
Exciting Trial for Murder, and Suicide of the
Criminal i'm Court.

George IL. Caravan. for the murder Of
c. III. L1ssiter. in Hyde county, North
! Carolina in November o last year. Car
avian was first arraigned before the Supe-
rior Court of Hyde. at the spring term Of
this year. and on his affidavit that he
could not have justice done him in Hyde.
ithe case was removed to Beaufort. Tie
testimony elected on the trial, (Which
i closed on the 30th ult, after continuing
one week is very voluminous. The
! main facts, are as 70 flows:
Caravan is fifty six years old, and for
many years has ben d popular preacher
in the BiptisI Chutch-a man OF strong
WILL exercising powerful influence over
his friends. and feared much hated
by his foes. Lassiter was quiet young
nan. engaged in The business of teaching
! Some months before The murder, Lassiter
boarded in the house of Caravan, and a
qnarrcl arose between them, Caravan al
leging that LasSitcr was TOO familiar with
(C's) wife. Caravan iulked freely among
his nelghbors on the iubject; said that l..
ought to be shot; that shooting was too
good for him, that he and l., could not
live in the same neg ghborhood, &C.. and
/ finally tried to get GU, peace warrant
against l.. alleging that he had attempted
10 take his life. He went on in this way
( for some time, when L. sued him for Sian
/ der laying The damages al two :housa nd
dollars. few hours after the writ was
! served on Caravan, Llssi!er was killed.
He had finished School on Rose Bay.
and on Monday, Nov 18th, 1852. started
on foot. with carpet bag in his hand. to
/ 90 TO the Lake, where he had engaged an
other school Abou. 3 o'clock, z. NJ he
passed C's house. on his way TO the Lake.
Shortly after he passed c. left his house
and went across the field toward the
woods his vile following him with gun
/ wrapped in her apron. She returned to
the, house ateiy--Cdrawan uot un
til sundowu That night he was gone,
the witness could not tell how long; he
Was not at home when the witness went
! To bed. Tuesday he remained home.
! bnt on Wednesday,. rainy day, he took
hoe and went into the woods. and was
gone several hours. Thursday, before l..
was missing. the people on the Lake
thinking h- was on the Bay. and the peo-
pie on the Bay, thinking he was at the
Lake c. went TO one OF the neighbors and
inquired if he had seen any thing Of L..
stating that (C's) family had seen him
pass his house OIL Monday. with pack
age Of clothes. and he was thinking he
had run away. Friday evening, when
told that the people were searching for l..
he expressed great surprise that he should
be missing; never heard anything of it,
Saturday morning. the search fer L. still
going on, he wrote a friend to come and
See him; that l.. was missing supposed TO
be killed; and added that he Co was at
home all day Monday. Tuesday and
"Wednesday. and tha. he could prove it
by Caravan Sawyer, (he main witness
on the trial for the state) his phew
boy who was living with him.
The body Of h.. was found on Satur-
day evening in the dismal back of C's
house. In an open spot. which was sur
rounded with briars, under brush, &c,
and which was covered with moss
The moss over the grave had heen care
fully removed. the grave dug just large E.
nough to hold the body the body pressed
into it the grave filled up ev with the
surrounding earth and pressed down and
the moss carefully laid back upon it,
The moss leaving no trace OF foot print,
there was no sign that any body ever had
been there but moss over the grave had
faded a little. and about handful Of
fresh dirt was near il, and dead limb of
tree had apParantly been recently dis
turbed the bark. which had evidently
just fallen off, was lying in one spot anu
the limb in another. The men who were
searching for the body had stopped in
this lonely spot TO rest, having given up
the search for the day. when those APP
pearances attracted their attention, and
the body was found.
IL. was killed by gunshot Wounds
Several shots were taken from the heart.
There were three sizes of shot found in
the body and III one of the barrels Of C's
gnn. found in his house. just such
shot, and of three sizes were found. That
night c. left Hyde county. telling his
nephew, Sawyer, that il he stayed there
he should De hung; that he should send
for his family. and that he (S) must 90
with them. Sunday morning he landed
from ID canoe al Durham's Creek Mills. in
Beaufort county. about thirty miles from
his home. telling the man who rowed him
over that he was after a piece Of land
which another man was trying to buy
and that was ;he reason of his hurry, and
caarged him to keep his movements a Sc.
cret.
"From this time till his arrest at night
in his house. in January following, tho
State did not show his wheresbouts.-
But. from letters received by the Sheriff