The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1867-08-03
Correspondence of the Cincinnati Commercial.
KENTUCKY REGULATORS.

Correspondence of the Cincinnati Commercial.
KENTUCKY REGULATORS.
HOW MAJOR BRJDGEwATER WAS KILLED
THIRTY MEN MURDERER AND OUTRAGED
REPORTED DEATH OF MAI. CARPENTER.
LEXINGTON, KY, July %, 1867.
A gentleman who witnessed the killing of
Major Bridgewater gives this account of the
affair: The Major had been assisting his
brother to move and was returning home,
when he stopped in Stanford and sat down
to play game of checquers with friend.
While the game was progressing and Major
Bridgewater sitting in store with his back
to the door, a number OF mounted men en-
tered the town and approached the store
Six of the Regulators dismOunted, and run
ming up to the door fired upon Bridgewater,
killing HIM instantly. The first shot, it is
said, was fired by a man named Sanders, who
is Captain of the band, and as Bridgewater
raised up in his chair the rest of the assas-
sins discharged their revolvers. Some thirty
shots in all were fred. eight entering his
head and ten passing through his body
One of the balls fired by the regulators hit
man in the leg who was standing behind the
counter in the store, and another ball woun-
ded gentleman in the arm. Immediately
after firing the party mounted their horses
and rode out of Stanford at full speed
There were eleven of them in all, and no re-
sstance was offered or attempt made to ar
rest them. They are reported to have come
from Crab Orchard, and had evidently been
watching Bridgewater, whom they attacked
some three weeks ago when he, with party
of friends, drove them Off, wounding two of
their number Major Bridgewater leaves
wife and several small children to mourn his
loss. He was personally one of the bravest
men in the State, and had they given him a
fair fight more than one Regulator would
have bit the dust; but he was shot in the
back by pack of towards who did not dare
meet him face to flce.
Some idea of the lawless condition of af
fairs in parts of Kentucky may be inferred
from the fact that this one band has whip
ped or hung over thirty men.
Some of the most noticeable of their acts
are the following: Hanging of John Taylor
until he was almost dead; hanging of Will
liam TAYLOR. his brother, until he was dead;
attack on the negro population of Lebanon,
cutting stores and shooting at the terror
stricken and fleeing citizens; hanging of
William Goode, Glen Crowdus and Tom
Stevens; hanging, i'll a graveyard, of negro
named AL. McRoberts; attempting to cap
ture Edward Brown, the Regulators being
driven off, one of their number killed and
two wounded; the next night they burned
Browns house: in April last they hung Jer-
~ Trowbridge, at Danyille and Alfred Jen-
nings, in Washington County; Thomas Car
rier was taken from the jail and hung in
Danville, and an attempt made to hang
Lewis Halligan, but he escaped. The same
night the Regulators fired on a negro. but he
got away, and they then took out Thomas
(Nnr Il to,,
sight of his agoniZed family. They next at
tempted to hang William Bennington, near
Perryville, but he hid away. On May 7
they took Thomas Gabeheart from the Jail
at Campbellsville and hung him. On the
3rd of June they captured John Devine who
in attempting to escape, was shot in the back
and then hung to a tree. Capt. William
Shively, for speaking against the mob, was
shot at, but escaped. The same mob drove
from their homes Gen. Fry, Capt. Goodloe
and Hon. John Harlin, and hung two negroes
to seize Davis and White, citizens of Mercer
County, and j. D. Hale was compelled to
flee for his life. David Warren, a colored
man, was killed, and Thomas Beggarly,
John Crowdus, William Rineheart (white.)
and three negroes whipped Mr.. Goode and
family Henry Crowdus, William Wilson,
Crosby Elliott, James Crowdus, J. J. Nash,
Hutchinson Speed, Riley Crowdus, Eddie
Brown, Thomas Beggarly, George Elliott, and
several other citizens whose names we do
not know, have been driven from their
homes.
On the 22d of June the Regulators visited
Capt. j. NJ Fiddler and Col. Hays, Union
candidates; but the meeting was POSTPONED.
and neither of the gentlemen fell into their
hands. Of the political character of the
men who have been shot, hung or maltreated
we can only say that, so far as we know.
they were all Union men except two, who
were bad characters.
1t is said that the men who hung the ne
groes at Nicholasville, and who resisted the
United State troops and shot Col. Rice, be-
longed to the same band, and that eleven
members oft live in Lexington, Ky.
We have endeavored to give faithful &C
count OF one OF the bands Of Regulators now |
lnfesting Kentucky, and have only to add |
that several civil officers are known to be
members OF the band. Little or no informa-
ton can be got from the citizens as to who |
the laWless mon are or what they Go, for to |
inform is to incur the displeasure of the mob
and jeopardize life and property.
Major Carpenter, who few DAYS ago. was
attacked by three men in Lancaster, XIV, is
reported to have been killedon Friday night.
but we cannot trace the report to any relia-
BILE source, and it is hoped to be false. A
few days ago both Bridgewater and Carpen-
ter were in this city and said they expected
to be killed. One is already dead, and if
the other is not yet killed it is likely he will
be unless he seeks safety in flight from his
home and family.
FTTrI2rT Tho
that crew which had spent three weeks in
catchincr turtle in the 1ua tors Of Al, 1u,:al-.