The daily Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1862-1863, 1863-07-25
JULY 25, 1868.

shoot as? Ii you are gong 10 murder
us, give US at least time to pray. Ooi.
Allen was reminded of his promise to
give them a trial They were informed
that Allen had no authority; that Keith
was in command; and that there was no
time for praying. The order was given
to fire; the old men and boys put their
hands to their faces and rent the air with
agenizing cries of despair; the soldiers
wavered and hesitated to obey the COM
mand. Keith said if they did not fire
instantly, he would make them change
place with the prisoners. The soldiers
raised their guns, the victims shuddered
conyulsively, the word was given to fire,
and the five men fell pierced with rebel
bullets Old men Wood and Shelton
were shot in the head, their brains scat.
tered upon the ground, and died without
a struggle. The other three lived only
a few minutes.
Five others were ordered 10 kneel,
among them little Billy Shelton, mere
child, only twelve years old. He i'm
: plored the men not to shoot him in the
face. You have killed my father and
brothers" said he, g you have shot my
father in the face; do not shoot me in
the face" The soldiers received the
order to fire, and FIVE more fell. Poor
little Billy was wounded in both arms.
He ran to an officer, clasped him around
the legs, and besought him to spare his
life You have killed my old father
and my three brothers; you have shot
me in both arms-I forgive you all this
i can get we'll Let me go home to
my mother and sisters. What heart
of adamant the man must have who
could disregard such an appeal. The
little boy was dragged back to the place
of execution; again tho terrible word
6rel" was given, and he fell dead,
eight balls having entered his body. The
remaining three were murdered in the
same manner Those in whom life was
not entirely extinct, the heartless officers
dispatched with their pistols.
THE BURIAL
A hole was then dug, and the thirteen
bodies were pitched into it. The grave
was scarcely large enough; some of the
bodies lay above the ground. A wretch
named Sergeant n. B. D. Say, Virgin
ian, but attached to Tennessee, compa-
ny of the 65th North Carolina regiment,
stamped the bleeding bodies, and said to
some of the men. Pat Juba for me,
while dance the damned scoundrels
down to, and through he'll The grave
was covered lightly with earth, and the
next day when the wives and families of
the murdered men heard of their fate,
searched for and found their grave, the
hogs had rooted up one mans body and
eaten his head off,
ToRTURING DEFENsELEss WOMEN.
Captain MORLEY in charge of the cav
airy forces, and Gel Thomas, in COM
mand of a number of Indians, acc ompa-
MED Keith's men. These proceed to
Tennessee; Leith's men returned to Lau-
rel, ..and were instructed that the cav
airy bad taken the prisoners with them
to be tried, in accordance with the pledge
of Colonel Allen. In their progress
through the country many Union men
were known to have been killed and
scalped by the Indians. Upon the return
of Keith and his men to Laurel, they be-
gan Systematically to torture the women
tf loyal men, to force them to tell where
their fathers and husbands were, and
what part each had taken in the last raid
The women refused to divulge anything
They were then whipped with hickory
switches-many of them till the blood
coursed in streams down their persons
to the ground; and the men who did this
were called soldiers! Mrs Sarah Shelion,
wife of Esau Shelton, who escaped from
the town, and Mrs. Mary Shelton, wife
of Lifus Shelton, were whipped and hung
by the neck till they were almost dead,
but would give no information. Martha
White, an idiotic girl, was beaten and
tied by the neck all day to tree.
woMLN OF EIGHTY-FIvE HUNG.
Old Mrs. Unus Riddle, aged eighty
FIVE years, was whipped, hung, and rob-
bed of a considerable amount of money
Many others were treated with the same
barbarity And the men who did this
were called soldiers The daughters of
William Shelton, a man of wealth and
highly respectable, were requested by
some of the officers to sing and play for
them. They played and sang few ma
tional airs. Keith learned of it, and
ordered that the ladies be placed under
arrest and sent to the guard-house,
where they remained all night
Old Mrs. Sallie Moore, seventy years
of age, was whipped with hickory rods
till the blood ran in streams down her
back to the ground; and the perpetra-
tors of this were clothed in the habit of
soldiers of the rebellion, and bore the
name of soldiers
KILLING CoNsCRIPT.
On the 18th of February, 1868, a
squad of soldiers were sent to conscript
James McCollum, of Greene County,
Tennessee, very respectable, indus
trious man, thirty or tbirty-fve years of
age. They found him feeding his cattle.
When he saw some of them he ran to
the back of his barn, and. without hail
ing or attempting to arrest him, one of
them shot him through the neck, killing
him instantly. His three little children,
who saw it, ran to the house and told
their mother; she came out wringing
her hands in anguish, and screaming
with terror and dismay.
The soldiers were sitting upon the
fence. They laughed at her agony, and
said they had only "Ailled a damned
Tory" The murdered man was highly
esteemed by his neighbors, and was a
| firm Union man.