Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1858-09-25
From the Detroit Free Press. 9th.
a Long Concealed Murder Brought to
Light.

Light.
We gave an account several months since
OF the discovery of tho remains of human
heng in the township of Taylor The re-
mains consisted of homes. which had'been ex-
posed to the weather for such Il length of
time that they were entirely devoid of iesh
These, together with fraSH:en!s &c clothing,
were collected and preserved The search
being continued, II valise so found.
which. upon investigation, re- / q num-
Der of articles, onoug others pu,e Il stock of
letters. which were published in the Detroit
| Free Press, with view 10 asccrtaining. if
possible, the identity of the man So far
from surprising that the case involved any
mystery, it was merely thought that the per-
son, whoever he was. had wandered off in Il
fit of insanity and died in the woods. Facts
developed themselves differently. however.
Buta short time elapsed before we received
letters from friends and relatives of tho nm
fortunate man. giving statement which set
tic matter in Il Hcw light, and demanded at-
teEtun at once BY these accounts it was
nSccrta;ue,l that the remains were. beyond II
doubt. those of n Nj. John Hickey. n railroad
freight conductor recently. ut the time of his
death. from Union Point, Georgia The cir
cumstanCcs. rs given us by his relatives, re-
siding at Milford. Conn, were as follows:
Hickey left Connecticut in July. 1857, in
company with an irshman named John Ken
ncdy, intending tn go to Chicago. lie took
with him about $500 in @ Id, tho result Of
his savings mt tie South Kennedy had no
money and Hickey paid his fare for him.
Nothing more was heard from them until
tho following October, when llickcy's rcll-
tivcs received letter irom Kennedy. stating
that he had returned to New York. and that
Hickey had gone to Ireland. lie incloscd
the key tn IIckcys trunk. and stated that
when they got to Detroit. Hickey changed
his mind aud concluded to go TO England
leaving his truck and other personal proper
ty in his hands. tu he returned to his relatives
The absurdiiy of these statements at once
aroused suspicion. but as llickcy's relatives
and friends were of the poorer class of pco-
! Pie, ro steps were taken to arrest Kennedy
Tic discovery of the remains and the publ
cation of the letters in the Free Press, which
| were signed hy the persons from whom we
! rccci'cd communications. disclosed the facts
revealing 10 MS the existence Of an enormous
crime and of the friends of the murdered
man tho locality and the l'crpctratur of tic
murder. The latter was known to lie in
| Charleston. S. c., mt the time of these dcvcl-
+ opments, doing nothing and sporting plenty
of money. lie had written from that place
Il second letter, Ieitcrating his former state
mcnts. and rendering suspicion stronger bv
! the anxiety he manifested to cover up crime.
|
tancc. the letters were at once placed in the
hands of MeSsrs Tuulc and Champ private
! detectives of this city. and it was left for
! them to prosecute. Communication WAS cs-
tnLliShcd with the police of Charleston, s. c..
! with directions to arrest Kennedy Several
weeks had elapsed, however. and in the mean
time the Free Press had flun1 its way ,herc,
and Kennedy had become informed OF the
discovery of his crime. The Mayor OF Charles
Al, a, .ls. 4
camped few days previous to the receipt
| by him of directions for his arrest. llcwas
lost sight of here. A icw days afterwards
word came from Milford that Kennedy had
arrived in New York city, aud was staying
there with relatives. Officer Champ at once
started for New York, and with the aid of
/ eX-Chicf MatSclps independent Police Agen-
| cy, after several days search. found that the
murderer was again out of reach, having
gone West after II stay of IL day OF two in
! New York.
! Mr.. MatSel Mt once established a system
of espionage which WAS calculated to cntrap
! him if he ventures to return on communicate
with his friends in that city, and officer
| Champ returned. The private police agcn-
cies in all the ptincipnl cities in the Union,
from Boston to New Orleans, were notified
Of the case. and plncclo their guard. These
o.itcUGc;, cn@%ets SC":: i,"c.i"e"h . furI'rr de-
Nclopmcnt, through tlc agency ol McsSrS. g.
b. Bradley and Co.'S detective police 5cncy
in Chicago. These energetic detectives sue
cccdcd in tiacing thc nurdcrcr to Joliet H..
aud sent an officer down to apprchend him
Again the agent of Justice was too la;c. and
the mortifyng intelligence was retrncd tliat
| Kennedy had received letter three days
before from friends ut Charleston, 5. c..
warming him OF his danger. lie at once took
10 iligbt. AMI has not since been heard from.
This occurred in june last.
We have here ~ case which does not often
occur. n man is mrrderc0. robbed and left
in the woods. in the midst OF u swamp. The
murder remains n secret fnr nearly year,
and is finally revealed by dog which brings
the skull pf the murdered man to his master
having gnawcd it for his supper. The le:-
ters found reveal the name OF the murdered
man and the murderer, after the silence of
months had rested upon the terrible decd.
Tho murderer is tracked fran one extremity
of the Union to the other, three times escapes
as il by the interpositinn of a supernatural
aid, and still remains at liberty. The proofs
that can be brought against him are over
whclming, and would result in his convic-
ton if lie could be found. Tho facts until
now have been confined to those first cogni-
zant Of them. but, SD long time haying
elapsed. the propriety of making them public
is no longer doubtful The murderor is
thmght to be somewhere i'll the North. prob
ably in Illinois, or some other Western STATE
Publicity. through the medum of tho press,
may reveal his whereabOuts, whe'l seems
unlikely to he fond in any other manner.
Those nf our brethrcn in the profession who
will inquire for the whereabouts Of John
&. a 4 Il. ~