Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-11-03

time longer. He claims to have discovered
the true source of the Nile.
|
ROBBERY IN MACON COUNTY
The Trial OF the Robbers i'm Louis.
| Vile.
AS much on account of the large sum o.
money involved as from any other eonsid,
! Grafton, says the Louisville COuTier-,JOur.
| nal of the LIST inst, the late robbery of old
man Joel Blankenship, in Macon county,
Tennessee, of 81, 600, and the arrest of the
| guilty parties in this city, have created
much excitement here, especially among
Z the barristers After the usual prOcrastin-
! alton, the alleged robbers, J. H. Meadows,
H. Blankenship, and j. c. Simmons, were
put upon their examining trial in the City
Court yesterday. The counsel and wit
nesses on each side, the culprits and the
money, made up heavy and imposing
spectacle-one seldom vouchsafed Judge
Craig's tribunal.
representing the prisoners were Judge
Bunch, Gen. Whitaker, of Louisville, and
Mr.. Bush, of Simpson county. Prosecuting
were the Commonwealth Attorney, Col
Frank. Hagan; n. w. Mcdonald, Esq, of
Sumner county, Tenn, and j. W. Gate
wood Esq, of Allen county, Ky. The
prosecuting witness, Mr.. Joel Blaukenship,
is over 20 years old, and lives on Long
Greek, Macon county, Tennessee. He
stated that he lost his money, about 81, 900
altogether, sometime between the 9TH and
18th of September, having last seen it on
the 9TH. He described the various kinds
and denominations of money, and explained
his method of hiding and taking care of it
in a very straightforward manner. but not
devoid of quaintness of language There
were 81, 600 ON the State, Planters, and
Union Banks of Tennessee, s., 900 on the
Northern, Southern, Peoples, Farmers,
Louisville, and Ashland Banks of Kentucky,
some $3.50 in gold, five dollars in silver.
and the balance in United States Treasury
notes.
Many burst of laughter was heard
during the old countryman's examination.
Most of the stolen money had been in his
possession before and since the war
During the troublous times Mr. Blanken-
ship, in common with nearly or quite all
the farmers, exposed as he was to the visi-
tations of soldiery and predatory bands of
non-cOmbatants, was in the habit of Sc
creting his funds in curious places. His
plan was to put his bank notes between the
leaves of old almanacs, pack those in a
box, and shove the box under his kitchen
floor, far out of reach. 1t not being pru-
dent for the treasure to remain long in one
spot, the old man would draw the valuable
box out, to save the money from ''spilin'
and moldin' (says the old GENT, as well as
TO keep it out of the clutches eff depreda-
tors. After well Summing" the damp
IL oIJ ,,oy ,,-o1,l1 4boro
in a closet under the kitchen stair
way. From this private corner the
seven thousand were spirited away.
The witness identified several of the bank
bills by specific ear-marks and by their gen
eral appearance. He also recognized the
three prisoners, all of whom he had known
from their boyhood. Simmons lived about
five miles from the witness and bore a good
reputation. Meadows lived three miles and
half from the Blakenship farm, and was
love as he did some others. Young Bla-
kenship was a nephew of the witness, with
whom he had lived several years before,
and about one year after the war. He
knew the old man had the money and
where it was kept, and had visited the
house in his uncle's absence two days prior
to the missing of the money. All the
accused parties were said, by Mr.. Blanken-
ship, to have been too poorly off to own
the amount of money found in their pos
session. The old farmer was greatly rugged
by the lawyers, who evinced extraordinary
zeal in cross-questioning, but he came out
all right.
Mr.. W r. Hamilton, President of the
Peoples Bank, deposed that on Friday
week last man appeared there and pro
posed to exchange $500 or $500 of the is
| sue of that bank for greenbacks. The
cashier, Mr.. Huber, remembered that notice
| had been received of Mr. Blankenship's
robbery, and, suspecting that all was not
| as it should be, he referred the man to Mr..
Hamilton. Going into the back room, he
| gave his name as j. H. Meadows, and told
Mr. Hamilton that he had obtained the
| Peoples Bank money from his father. He
| denied having any more of that kind of
money, but pulled out $500 or $500 on the
| Bank of Kentucky, which he also proffered
to exchange Mr.. Hamilton told him he
was a stranger, and could not accommo-
date him without some responsible party
identified him. Meadows then told Mr..
Hamilton that he could bring Mr.. Sim
MONS or Mr.. Blankenship; but these per-
sons being unknown to Mr. Hamilton, he
! demanded other reference. Meadows then
asked if Mr.. Heeter would be acceptable
Being told yes, he left the bank, and in a
short while returned with Mr.. Heeter
At this juncture policeman Bart Justa
| entered the bank and arrested Meadows
He was searched and relieved of about
$500 in Kentucky, Tennessee, and federal
money. In a short time Blankenship came
up and Was nabbed by officer Hendricks.
| He at first blush said he did not know
| Meadows, gave his name as Gibson. and
| alleged that he was from Sumner county,
| Tenn, instead of Macon county A TWEEN
| ty-dollar gold piece and considerable other
money was found upon his person. Suisse
| quently Simmons was arrested at the
United States Hotel by officer White. and
the three we're lodged in jail
1t was proven by one witness that Sim
mons came TO Louisville on invitation OF
Meadows and Blankenship, who promised
to defray all his expense, he having no
knowledge whatever of the robbery COM
mitted The money found upon Simmons,
about $50 in greenbacks, was clearly and
satisfactorily accounted for by his brother,
with whom he had been working, and fol-
whom he had made collections. He was
discharged on motion of the prosecuting
counsel.
The case was argued at some length by
Gen. Whitaker and Judge Bunch for and
by Mr.. Mcdonald and Mr.. Hagan against
Meadows and Blankenship. They were re-
auired to give $4,000 bond each to answer
in the Circuit Court the charge of felonious
lv stealing and carrying away the money IL
question. In default they were remandet
to jail