The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1854-09-13
A Family Of Fisnds.

"A Family Of Fisnds.
Under this head the Lewisburg Green.
brier) Era Of Saturday last contsins the
following notice OF the fendish and mur.
derous doings Of . family of Grahams
residing in that part Of the State, some
particulars of which we have heretofore
printed:
In Monroe County, Virginia, on the
Greenbrisr River, and about fourteen miles
below Lewisburg, lives man named Jo-
seph Graham. He has three or four gro wn
up sons living beneath his roof, aud (un.
til the 9th ult,) one unmarried daughter.
Miss Jane Graham, aged about As. This
daughter had an illegitima.s daughter by
man who recently died in Missouri,
4 leaving the sum Of 5000 to this child,
who il now married to MIR. Miller .ot
Nicholas County. Quarrels Of the mos,
violent character are represented to have
been common in this family. recsn,
quarrel had taken place, and one OF the
brothers sought to injuse the character Of
his sister by leaving synonymous and dc
tsmstory letters upon III. highway. and
slso by writing to Nr. Miller Of Nicholss
giving tho mother OF his wife . character
as ..blsck as hell aud rotten as osrrion .
and asserting that her daughter Mrs. Mil
ier) was no better.
Without any knowledge Of this. Miss
Jane Graham few weeks ago went 10
Nicholas County to vislt her daughter
found that she end her husband had sep
arsted, were living apart, snd learned tha,
the cause was the snenymOUs letter which
Miller had received. Miss Graham full
Of violence and de,eSmin alton which char
aoterized her, i,nme diately returned homo
A violent quarrel ensued between her and
tho brother who wrote the letter, into which
the man and woman were drawn they
siding with the son)-,he upshot OF which
was the forcible ejecimen, OF Miss Ora
ham from the house. She went to the
house Of Observation-Disclosures Mr.. No.
Ian. who lives hard by-who gave her
shelter and protection. On the night o
the 9th Of July. Nolan and wife went &c
visit neighbor. leaving Miss Graham te
take caro- Of tho children. After they
were gone-(about o'clock, and as ths
children -of Nolan say--one or two o
whom were competent Witnesses )-Miss
Graham dressed herself and went out
She took bonne. belonging to her niece
and pair of stockings belonging eithe
to her niece or to her sister. Remembe
this.) Nolan and his wife soon returned
and were surprised 10 find Miss Graham
gone. At . little past 10 o'clock the,
we're aroused bv the cry Of fire, caused
by the burning of the barn Of Mr.. Joseph
Graham. From her we'll known vindic
tive temper it was at onoe suspected tina
she burnt tho barn, and hence her ab
senoe was not noted as anything remark
able after such an act
/ The Grahams made no effort 10 lesrr
anything of the absent member of thei
family-nevcr even suggested pursuit o.
revenge for the injury done them.
Their conduct in this respect adde(
, strength to the rumor that was beginning
to fiud tongues-a rumor charging tht
family with putting Miss Graham "out o
the way" This rumor grew SO strong
that on Friday last, 4,h inst. party o
neighbors gathered together for the pur
pose of searching for the body of IA,
f absent woman. They went to the hous,
of Graham to ask his permission to searcl
for the body on ,hea premises; his answe
was, go look in the ashes of the barn
/ if her bones amt there. they are in hell.
, The party went forward on their search
few rods below the ruins Of the barr
they found indications of a scuff1e-ther
Of running fght-then. again, Of a NOR
severe scuffle, in which person appear
ed to have been thrown down. Th,
, ground was imprinted thickly with foot
marks of human beings and of dog
, From this place they detected such sign
, as indicated the drawing of human DO
!, dy along the ground towards a Creek
> This ralthey followed to the creek, wher
it was,lost: but on The other side they re
discovered it. Here dark stains. whic
appeared to be oi blood covered owe
with fresh ashes, were occasionally de
;ected. This trail was followed with iol
5 erable case until they reached the banl
!. Of another creek or booklet beyond
h Here there were such appearances a
] induced the searching party to think III
!. body, before dragged had been rested
\ moment and then shouldered. The prir
9 of PERSONS knees and the toes OF tw
q booted feet were seen plainly imprinte
{ in the soft earth, exactly as they woul
e have been had person got down upo
his knees. From this point blood wa
Q occasionally detected on the leaves tw
!, or three feet from the ground-addin
j fresh conviction to the suspicious Of tn
!. party that the body had been shoulderet
Q Ashes were still occasionally seento b
g scattered along the path. But about ha
9 dozen rods from the place where III
e body was supposed to have been shoulder
$ ed all traces Of the trail were lost. On
Of the party looking in the direction {
v the sun, saw an unusual number OF blu
y or carrion flies flying about. He took
o as an indication. and by using a switc
). succeeded in establishing line Of bua
e zing flies toward blown down-tree, b.
r low, on the bank of the creek, The ir
S stinct of flies was superior to that of
!, man. and enabled them to detect sign
Q that might have otherwise escaped then
r Coming to the tree, they found footsteE
/ leading into the water. and by going in,
e the water and following down 50 rs I