Baton Rouge tri-weekly gazette & comet., 1866-05-29

slohi@i VI tii6 uESG Glas5 Vi cnlVHITY,
while in the rebel service, in which
he continued until the war closed, he
nevertheless turned a professional
thief, upon being again thrown upon
his own resources.
Coming to this city about three
months since, he planned, and for a
time successfully executed, thefts of
valuable horses and vehicles from
three livery stables--Fay's Bigler's
and Hierman's. lie would make
himself familiar with the proprie-
tors-one after the other-hire and
return q few tunes, talk of purchasing
a fine horse, and when ready fer the
theft, hire the most valuable "turn
out" of the stable, as if to go few
miles ont, and then take the whole
establishment, horse, buggy and har-
ness, to Bowling Green or Louisville,
and sell it.
On the 18th of March last he was
recognized as a horse thief, in the
Louisville Hotel, at Louisville, i'm
mediately arrested and placed in Jail,
to await the necessary requisition
from Gov. Cox. Then it was that
he invented the lie as to the assas-
sination of President Lincoln, de-
claring that he was the assassin, and
that John Wilkes Booth had nothing
further to do with it than to hold his
(king's) horse while he entered the
theater, fired the pistol shot, made
his escape and remounted. His OBJ
1ject in telling this story was to in
duce the authorities to take him to
Washington, where he would be
liberated, and 50 escape both charges.
Failing in this, and being reduced
to the extreme of despondency and
modification at the position to which
he had degraded himself, ne resolved
to put an end to his wretched and
apparently uncomfortable existence.
AT about 4 o'clock one night, when
all save himself and the jailer were
in bed, he cut an artery on the left
arm, and allowed the blood to gush
out unimpeded. The loss of blood
produced sickness at the stomach
and violent vomiting, which awak-
ened fellow-prisoner in the same
cell. The man gave the alarm, and
assistance came in time to save the
life that the would-be suicide sought
to thus cast off.
But the resolution to die was not
to be thus conquered. Sterling King
was man Of inHexible will. He
ceased entirely to eat Of anything
that would feed the fire of life, which
soon began to wane and then, day
by day, grew more and more feeble.
In forty days this man tasted but
five times of food, and all that he ate
in that entire time did not amount to
one full dinner for hungry man.
Rapidly his flesh began to disap-
pear, and the bones of limbs that
could be easily spanned with the
hand grew horribly prominent. He
ceased to walk or stand he only re-
clined, breathed and refused to eat.
They told him that the requisition
from the Governor of Ohio would
reach him at a certain time. He
wanted to die-not in the jail of
Louisville, but out somewhere where
he could breathe the pure air and see
nature once more. And so this liv-
ing skeleton coolly calculated the
length of time he had yet to live,
and finding that, if he did not eat,
he would die too soon, he took some
soup, bread and preserves-fve times,
as already mentioned.
Day before yesterday, Detective
Larry Hazen, of this city, reached
his prison, produced the requisition,
took King up as though he were
child, and conveyed him to the car
riage, and thence to berth on the
mail boat. He then endeavored to
induce him to eat; and said King,
in voice scarcely audible, l"Mr.
Hazen, if you will promise me to
make such an arrangement as will
enable me to compromise this matter
by paying for the property, l will
commence eating to-day" Mr.. Hazen
could not promise this, and the dy-
ing man shook his head and refused
the food. He calculated that he had |
three days to live which would ena-
bic him to reach Cincinnati and set
tie up his little affairs but, at about
2 o'clock of yesterday morning,
little after the boat reached the land
ing here, the death-rattle sounded in
his throat, and the detective found
him dead.
The jury called by Coroner Carey