Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-07-04

. declined to put an electoral ticket In
the field because they did MT wish tC
put him on It; his views ia reference
to the action Of the Committee In
shaping the policy Of the party
. whether II had q direct bearing upon
him or upon general matters, he al
ways construed as having q direct
bearing on him. have heard
him speak of this scheme Of his i'm
migration in very eXTaVagant terms.
He invited me to go 10 his house and
he would explain Il all to me, but
never went, however. Ny reeOllec-
ton now Is, that he had two or three
millions OF dollars, | forget which,
offered him by different parties 10
carry out the scheme, and that he was
told by other parties that it was the
most magnificent affair that had ever
been contemplated by man. His Ian
guage Was as eXtravagant as that, but
| do not now remember his exact
words; and he said he had been told
by one individual that it bespoke him
to be the greatest man of his name; (;
that was the purpOrt Of It. In speak
ing Of his political sagacity and his
requirements, his tendency was
/ greatly to eZaggerate; inferred from
his conversation with me time and
again, that ne thought ne was the
greatest man in the country. He had
a number Of conversations with me
in reference 10 the action Of the COu-
Yention last summer in New York;
the burden of il all was, as ] can best
remember, that he was a good deal
elated at having received more atten-
tiOn, both private and public, than
any delegate from Mississippi, or
probably than al the delegates
put elgGthes, aud he thought
| enYiCd by those who were
there, that his position and popularity
excited the envy Of Others, who were
trying to keep him under; he spoke
10 me freely On this subject, very frs
quently; he said he thought he would
rise up in spite Of all opposition, and
| he would prove that he was a great
man; and, if | am not mistaken, tuat
| he was tho greatest man.of the Yerger
name, and that the parties could not
! keep him down by ell their oppOsi-
ton. In speaking in regard 10 him
self and his schemes, he'w always
| eXtraYagant and visionary; he gen
orally made himself the topic Of con-
Yersation, and Of himself and pros
poets, he was always most fiatteTing
and eXtrayagaut He did not say ne
had received any sums of money, but
that it had been offered him; he
showed me no offers made BY any
one; he wanted me f. & ri house
and &C would explain the matter To
nae in detail; he requested, or rather,
insisted, that I should ca with him to
Memphis to hear his speech on the
subject of immigration before the Con-
yention; he said ne had heen invited
there to address The Convention. !
studied law in the Office Of the pris0-
ner's father; Fulton AHdersg7 WAS /
then bic FaFtHar,
NJ. Mclaughlin said: ! reside IN
Jackson; have known the accused
about twelve years; I saw him on the
morning of the Sth June. The GSy Col, 4
Crane was killed, about g O'Clock; /
was geiHg INTO B5rr1Ws & Smythe's
Ofnce, and I met Col. Merger at the
door; / spoke TO him and asked him
in regard 10 the deed OF 4 piece Of
property ! bought Of him some years
ago; V0ld him that there was par
" who had some claim upon Jht
property. In q moment he HeW of
and said, dam it, a man told Iae the
other day that | sold him q planta-
ton, think he said in Bolivar eOUn- .
tY, which never did. - Ills manner
was very excited, aud he could not
stand still in one place; he was NOV
ing about and looked to me 10 be very
much excited; was about to make
a remark on his appearance, TO Mr.,
Smythe, who was sitting writing st
the desk. but ] saw TIE prisoners
brother, George, was in the room, 50
halted and did MT say anything; his
manner was so strange that ] was go
ing TO call Mr.. Smythc's attention to
il but for the presence Of his brother.
l could get no satisfactory reply with
reference to the transaction as TO the
deed. l didn't see the prisoner again
after that till ] saw himhero.
q. p. Smith said: | have known the
accused for about twelve years. IsIw
him the morning Of the Sth Of June.
He seemed ID be very much excited
when l first met him. He was stand
ing near Angeles bar room when l
met him. He invited me TO take .
drink. l told him thatI never drank. /
Said he, if you viii stick 10 that viii
raise my youngest daughter for you,
and give yOu tOur hundred thousand
dollars. 1 think l met him again
about y O'Clock that day; he looked
as If he had been up allnight; think
/ never saw Col. YeFger drunk In my
life; when l first met him IN the
morning it was about half,past or 9
O'Clock. Some time during the sum-
mer, forget exactly when twas, Mr..
Nerger came to the door of Capt. FitZ-
gerald's office; was sitting in the Of
flee when ne came in, in & very excl
ted manner, beckoning his finger, and
said come here, come here. Capt.
Fitzgerald sprang up and went 10 the
door, and he said | have Just killed
six men, get your arms ready. Capt.
Fitzgerald saida II right sir; that, is all
that passed, and we didn't know what
had happened; he was Very much eX-
cited and agitated from some cause;
nobody had been killed, and nothing
particular had happened. We met
him about ten or fifteen minutes after
ward, and he made no mention Of it.
Carrie Logan said: / live at Mr.
John ID. Freeman's, just across the
road from Mr.. Yerger's residence;
been there six months. About three
months ago l saw Mr.. Yerger act like
as if he was crazy; don't know that
he vas, but he was running about,
and he had knife and 9 pistol, and
the way that he ran was towards the
graveyard; he said he was going to
kill man; didn't see any man; he
went ont of his own yard at the back
way There ewasa e0l0red man, q ser
want, who followed him; | went into
the house and did not see him brought
back home; it was in the everfng, be-
fore dark.
W. +. Fitzgerald said: | am ac-
quainted with Z. NJ. Nerger, the ac-
cused; have known him about ten or
fifteen years; / really do not remeln-
Der how long it has been since he
came to my Office one morning when
Mr.. c. p. Smith and myself were in
there; he called me out in q very ex-
cited manner, and told me that he
had killed six men, and that five Of
them were lying dead in the rotunda
of the Capitol. 1t was while some
Radical Convention was in session
here, and 1 replied TO him in these
exact words: "the hell you have;o ne
said, have, and then he said he said
where are your weapons, get them
and come up here with me. | re-
turned to the Gffice and stated in
substance to Mr.. Smith what ! have