The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-03-10
TIE MOB EXCITEMENT IN HaWEsyILrE.
KENTUCKY-TERRIBLE SCENES IN THE
STREETS

brief account Of the tragedy at Hawesville
KY, In which Thomas S. Lowe lost his life at the
hands OF mob has been published. The Louis-
Vile Courier publishes history Of the affair,
which is as terrible as any in the bloody record of
Kentucky. Cicero Maxwell, the Prosecuting At
torney, had refused challenge from Lowe. and
had also refused to name the arms and place for a
street fight. The Courier says:
q a short time. Lowe, with three D;stols in h;s
lett arm and one in his right hand approached the
crowd, which was near the court house, and in a
loud voice said "If Cicero Maxwell is in the
crowd, or in the sound of my voice, let him come
forth. He has stated that am political iuepler
In return, pronounce him liar, calumniatcr,
coward, aud son of w." This be repeated
several times. The denuuciaton was conveved
to Maxwell, or heard by him, and in few minutes
be mase his appearance in the street with double
barrel shot gun. and accompanied by Mr. Harris
aud Morton of Hartford, Judge Me yhalI, and Thos
Withrow, of Hawesville, and others When within
about so yards Of Lowe, who faced his foe Maxwell
discharged one barrel of his gun, which was
loaded with bUck-shot, the contents striking the
left breast of Lowe; who staggered, but instantly
recovered his position, IA coat of mail saving him.
as alleged. He returned the fire, but missed, and
seeing the mob present arms, took refuge in the
crowd, and eluding pursuit for the time got in to
the house of a widow lady.
Maxwell and his friends, discovering where he
wss, surrounded the house and threatened tc.tear
i. down if Lowe was not given up. The lady i'm
p!ored them to desist, aud said it WAS true Lowe
was there, but she had no power to bring him eut
A parley took place. and three friends Of Maxwell
entered the building. Lowe asked that his life
might be spared They assured him be should not
be tnolested provided he woud disarm himself and
accompanied by them be re-appeared on the street
The sight of him only added fuel to the fame and
he was again fired upon. Mr. Harris one of the
gentlemen who gave assurance of protection said
"Mr Lowe, | cannot risk my life longer to save
you," and MIR. Lowe broke aud ran, followed by
Al IIr.A
seems to have had, fired at the mob, aud as he
turned to fly was killed by ball from a rifle A
gree number of shots were fired at Lowe in his
figAs. He was wounded in several places, and
his clothes riddied with balls. He ran as far as
the bank of The river, his foes still firing at him
in his flight and there fell apparently exhausted.
One Thos. Withrow also cut at him with his bowie
knife while he was running. but the coat of mali
which it is said he wore prevented his being burt
Mr. Harris went to him where he law and one
of the mob run up and swore he would kill him
anyhow, and put pistol to loves head Harris
knocked the weapon up, and it was discharged
without iujuring any one. The crowd then gath.
cred around Lowe, and Maxwell asked him in he
would make retraction. Lowe replied that he
retracted everything he had said, that be was a
coward, and had disgraced himself Maxwell. it is
said, begged bis friends not to hurt his fallen foe
as he had done all he required. Lowe was then
taken back to the court house aud delivered to
Judge Stuart. Some of the mob mauifestips A
wish to lynch Lowe, Judgs Stuart rose and said
he was in the hands of the law, which should be
honored, and Lowe should not be injured until the
mob passed over bis dead body. His speech pro.
longed loves term of life at least for few hours
and after his wounds were dressed in the court
house, accompanied by Judge Stuart, he was ia.
ken to Jail. The Judge remained with him until a
late hour in the night, when It was thought the
excitement was st an end, and the prisoner safe
from the fury Of these who had sought bis life.
On Wednesday morning Lowe sent for Harris,
and thanked him for saving his life on the pre-.
vious day, but expressed fears the mob would hang
him, and solicited bis visitor to iptercede for his
life in behalf of bis wife and children. Harris
left, and about that time report was started
that Lowe told Harris that he only asked protec-
tion then for revenge that would follow, and
when he was released from Jail he would kill
the last one of them. This again aroused his vim
dicative enemies, but no violence was done open.
ly. In a very short time, however, two men, Dr.
Davidson and John Withrow, went.to Oldham, the
jailer, aud demanded the keys of the prison. The
presentation OF pistols at the head OF the officer
potent. and the two men thus reached the
room where the unfortunate Lowe was confined.
lie was lying on bed, PROSTATE from his wounds,
and excitement and suspense. As soon as he saw
them, divning their purpose. he asked them to
spare his life but the cruel and relentless were
there to slay, not to spare.
Withrow 6rst fired, then Davidson, both balls
entering loves breast, aud killing him instantly.
The assassins then went out of the cell, but fear.
ful the bloody deed was not yet done, returned and
fired four balls into the lifeless corpse. Five
of the balls entered his breast, the sixth euteriug
the head above the eyes. The damnable murder
having been executed to their satisfaction, they
then retired.
The Grand Jury of HawcsyiIle has refused to
find any bill sgainst the participants in the mur.
DOR