Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1854-03-22
A Bloody Chapter.

The following horrible Murders, Casual
ties, &C., caused by drunkenness, have oe-
Cured in North Carolina within the last
three weeks:
On the night Of the 18th inst, at Chapel
Hill, a drunken loafer by the lame of 10.
B~rockwell, obtruded himself upon the family
of Mr.. James Davis, a highly respectable cit
izen. His language being offensive he was
ordered to leave the house but refused, and
on being told he must leave, he drew his knife
and cut Mr.. Davis throat, causing his death
almost Immediately. Mr.. D. was a worthy
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
and leaves a wife and child to mourn over the
loss Of their protector and friend, sacrificed to
the Moloch of Intemperance. Think of this
melancholy case, ye who say, Intoxicating
drinks will never injure me, for l have moth
ing to do with them" Neither did the I'M
fortunate victim in this case he was a sober,
christian man, yet the invader entered the
sanctuary of his own quiet home and spilled
his hearts blood upon his hearthstone, in the
presence of his wife and child. Horriblel
B6rA gentleman writes us from Morgan
ton, that a few nights previous to the 9th
inst, a negro man belonging to VIM. Murphy,
Esq, of Mcdowell county, stole his masters
horse, a very fine animal, and crossed the
Catawba river while in a very swollen con-
dition, SO as to visit a grogshop on the other
side here he became intoxicated and then
attempted to recross the river on his return
home, but the rider and horse were both
drowned! Mr.. Murphy, it may be, may not
indulge in the ntoxicatingdraugh t, but wheth-
f er he does or not, he has been called upon to
g pay some fifteen hundred or two thousand
dollars for the tolerance of the liquor traffic
in the State.
e The same writer also informs US, that some
. three weeks since a young man by the name
$ of Kiah Smith was thrown from his horse
n A hard shell Baptist had been treating a
wedding company with bald-face, a number
n of whom became boisterously merry on
starting for home Smiths horse became frac-
tious and threw him across a log, from which
le he died in q few hours.
M "a Died, in Dallas, CASTOR county, on
Saturday evening, the 4th inst, Martin Phi
10 fer, ST., aged about seventy years. Mr.. Phi
s. fer came to his death by intemperanco he
Q had for many years been a very Incorporate
ne man and his death was caused by the ex-
cessive use Of the miserable stuff. He died
81 at the door Of the doggery, with a bottle Of
81 spirits in his pocket.
" BaP The Asheville Spectator says-A few
= days since a mar named Moses Freemen was
= : killed by his wife. She stabbed him with
knife causing his death almost instantly
freeman hVeo IN HENDERSON county VI
informant carried the painful news to tn
Mother of the deceased and the reply of th
poor old woman was, that she expecte
nothing better, for they were both Away
;. drunk"
nd BF A young man named Whitaker wa
M committed to Jail in this place last week VI
~Anaa;oiA~ hAHinR shot Exams Snttlas1
tn Henderson County. 1t was thought at frs
RS. that Suttles would not live, but he has reco,
on cred so far, we understand, as to be able
walk without any inconvenience. Whitake
es- is still in Jail.
the In all of the above cases (says the Specta
use tori as well as in that of Gentry mentione
,dy a short time agos the cause is found to cor
art sist in the diabolical influences of ~intoxici
.es- ting drink.
gh, HF We have been told two suicides hay
be been committed recently, while the unfortl
nate individuals were laboring under delir
uor UNI tremens, or the effects of long protracte
its intoxication. One occurred in Franklin, an
ian the other in Granville counties-both I'll
men had occupied respectable, influential p
IAN s%itions in society but the monster vice i
avs temperance got the mastery over them, al
ned hurried them, with their own blood upo
our their hands, into an awful eternity. We r
Ind frain from mentioning the names of the 81
cides, as we are not in possession of the Ct
rise cumstances attending the commission of IL
t in dreadful deeds.