Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-09-26
The Bolton Case an Memphis.


The As1ror has occasionally COMBINED brief par
sIsPns relative 10 the Bolton case" 10 Memphis;
= nase never published the particulars of the
4na'. As Inc case i still exciting good deal OF
orief history Of it may not prove uniI-
s'llis % tne Reader. We give the facts of the
substantially they were related 70 rs By
49, an who vas in Memphis after the
oeee was perpetrated.
~ sIeHs that Bolton was q negro-tradeE, and
man MS victim, acted as his agent. The lat
-, "ule ~ Richmond purchasing slaves FIR his
-. ~ sIs @as offered, at moderate price, ne
So "HVse Term of seFyitude WAS limited to a few
s' oot feeling unwilling 70 make the purchase
~ - ois own responsibility, he telegraph
p ~ Bolton for advice. Bolton instructed him to
1Ie negro, saying that thousand dollars coUli
s Ioi'@eu pJ III sale. The negro was accordingly
"Ousht and sent to Memphis where be was sold
- So,eon Tor very handsome profit, the purcha
~ NeIiesng the negro to be slave for life. By
OiAe u'eansi however, he soon learned that he had
Hlposed upon by Bolton, and demanded that
tue trade should be cancelled aud the purchase
money reiunded. This Bolton refused to do; and
the case was submitted by the purchaser of the q :
gro 20 the arbitration OF the law. McMillan Was
summoned as witness. Bolton fearing that Nc
MHSA evidence would iDjure bis cause, determin-
60 Inat II should not be uesrd. He addressed Me-
mil'an note, requesting the latter to meet him at
ns once at specified time. Unconscious of the
iAte that await him. or that any violence was
70 the place of meeting the time appointed,
"nere ne found Bolton awaiting him. Having elOs-
co. ana perhaps locked the door of his Office, Boil
ton turDed to Mcmillan and enquired toe nature of
Tue evidence he proposed giving in the case in
quesllon hcMill answered, that he would be
compelled to make true statement Of the matter.
6Oiton then drew pistol and shot Mcmillan, in
nictlng wound which proved fatal 10 a few days,
and having thrown a bowie knife near to where
his victim lay wetering in blood, he cried cut as
several men rushed into the room, that ''the id
rascal had tried to cut his throat" Mcmillan told
the by-standers that if they would search Bolton
they would find the scabbard of the knife about
ms person, which proved TO be true Fortunately,
too, for the ends of justice, f, indeed, justice can
reach murderer who boasts OF wealth the amount
OF two or three hundred thousand dollsrs) McMil-
Ian survived long enough TO tell how and why he
had been shot.
1t Is said that the men who first rushed into the
room at the sound Of the pistol, were BoltOh's
completes, stationed at a convenient distance and
instructed TO be 'in at the death, just after,
that they might testify without suspicion when the
matter came to be invested, that Bolton acted in
sef-defence. But Of course the dying testimony
OF the murdered pan knocked this little scheme on
the head. Bolton was arrested and tried before
magistrates court. and committed to Jail to
await bis trial before higher tribunal, 1t being de-
clded that bis case was not bailable one.
Finding that be could not escape the meshes of
she law In Memphis under cover of bail to no sort
OF an amount, Bolton and his friends petitiOned
Judge Fitzgerald, of Paris for a writ OF kabsaS
pHs changing the venue from Shelby TO Haywood
county The writ was issued very readily by Judge
Fitzgerald lWho, 1t seems, is famous for extending
such aid and comfort Fascaty) and placed in the
hands OF the proper officer; but the citizens of
Memphis, knowing THAT il the prisoner was permit
ted TO leave the city, be would escape the ven
geance OF the law, announced that they would re-
sst his removal by force. Thus the first writ OF
ha6eaS corpus having failed OF its obi ct, Judge
Fitzgerald issued second. and then third, with
IKE result. How the matter will end il is difficult
to say but it is very certain that the murderer
must stand his trial where the crime was commit
ted When the sheriff seriously attempts to exc
cute a writ OF hGbeGs corpus in the case, the mob
will exec tie the corpus without the writ. Once
OaIled ont OF the custody of the law, Bolton would
never feel the rope of the hangmar. There is
scarcely any crime from which gold will not pur-
chase Immunity; and it is said that Bolton can com
nand nearly million, his own wealth and that of
ls brother aud bOlher-in-aw amounting to within
a hundred thousand or OF that sum-
" Plate sin with gold-ih- lance ofjustice
aurdess breaks; clothe it in r4gs-s pigmy's straw
Doth pierce it, .