The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1869-07-08


| shot him. without any cause whatever;
asked him afterwards why he did it, and he
| said he did not know. that he could not help
shooting him; that the first thing that
| saw him do that | thought was very bad I;
| he was about 10 or 20 years old then; the
i boy had given no offense, he had been dan
| cling a few minutes before he was shot; 1
| said, suppose you had killed the boy, how
would you have feltg he said, intended TO
kill him, and could not help it /; he felt like
he was bound to shoot him. On another oc-
| casion he had very i'll child; the child had
been given up by DIR. Bailey, the physician /;
was sent for 10 sic up with 1t that night (;
4 when i went over he said he had taken the
| case into his own hands, and he intended to
1 doctor Ii himself; she then had rattling in
\ her throat from difficulty of breathing; /
| thought the child was looking very badly,
l and lac commenced to give her medicine !;
he said he would give her medicine every Is
minutes, but suppose it was not more than
| a minute between the times he said he was
| going to cure her; thought il was very
| strange at the time, and 1 said, don't you
4 give her any more, she will die he said, no
| She sEan't die he WAS determined to make
| her v0mit, and he had his hand in her mouth
| when she died he said he was determined
to cure her but after the CHILD was dead, he
i ran UP and down stairs, pulled his hair. and
went on very much like u man who was in
| sane; he did not look like himself at all he
| said none of his family should come into his
| house TO bury IL the child had died and he
intended to bury it himself; that he intend
| ed TO shut the doors on them and none OF
| them should come In; he pulled his hair; he
| did not act like a sane man then he would
| take her up and say, she is not dead-she
| shan't die.
thought his conduct very strange, and
| went and told his mother, and she told me
not to say anything about il, for IL would
| injure him through life, and she did not
| want anything said about it; she said the
child was gone aud it was good thing for
| child having a crazy father, and she said
not to say anything about iJ so as to let 1t
out; this was his fifth child he seemed to
| be mad about money matters at one time,
and he was rowing about the house back
wards and forwards / don't know the cause
| of il and his mother sent me word over TO
| watch him; she was afraid he would Kill
himself; | watched him all night; he
| would run around the bushes and fire his
pistol off and we would be afraid to go
near him. That was when he was
| living in Mr.. Freeman's house /;
he stayed out OF the house till next morning
just running around the yard in the morning
he came in and threw himself down in the
hall and none of us moved him till about 10
o'clock. When his brother was sick In
Yazoo, Mr.. Herger sent for me TO ask me IL
[ would go with him, to help nurse his
brother; l told him would gladly do so If
he would pay my expenses, which he con-
sented to do; he seemed to be in perfect
good humor then, though very much dis
tressed about his brother; afterwards went
home and came back again; he said / had
better come over there to spend the night, as
we should leave about O'Clock in the MORN
ing: when came back again, he was raving
| and pitching all night till we started; he
was cursing TOO, 90 not know the cause L
was in the adjoining room; i heard him
| walking the floor from his room TO his wife's
cursinR and going on; when we started he
| got very much annoyed at the driver, and
| said if he met him he would shoot hiUl
-. - Oh a AsrF
here, he banged at the door and beat at it,
| and said he wished he had an axe, he would
| cut the door down; did not see any more
| of him till we got TO Vaughn station; we
got there just about light; went into the
| Kitchen to warm myself; when L was la
there, he rushed in and began cursing and
damning the cook, because breakfast was
not ready; she said she would have 1t ready
| in time; he asked her what she had to COOK,
and called her damned poor cook the
cook said he had better go into the house
and stay with the passengers; by this time
the proprietor came out and said 'who Is
that cursing here" and picked up stick
and said, III kill that fellow" i said let
him alone, that is Mr.. Yerger, he is not
himself; he is on visit TO Capt. 1erger,
who is very i'll; he said he belonged TO
Can't Yerger's company, and for that rea-
son, he said he would not hurt him; he said
you must go out ofmy room, and he went
and took hold Ofhim, and said L VIII have
breakfast ready as soon as l can; with that
Edward Yerger fell down and cried ever so
long, and said he was so much distressed
about his brother and could not help doing
| as he did he then came back out of the
| house into the kitchen, and commenced
cursing the cook again; thought 1t was
| strange, but knew he was very much dis
| tressed. and whenever he was distressed or
worried, would generally exhibit something
| of that kind. Afterwards we got into the
stage, and there was gentleman there of
! the name of Morgan, member OF the Con-
vention. He commenced cursiRg and swear
ing at him. Mr.. Morgan took IL very
quietly; when we got to the station and the
| driver got out for the mail and stayed rather
| long, Edward jumped out and called to him
! "you are staying too long" While he was
| gone / said To Mr.. Morgan 81 hope you will
not mind anything Mr.. 1erger says, because
| he is not himself After we got to Yazoo
| City he went on in the same manner. When
we got to the plantation we did not want
| him to go to see his brother for fear he
would alarm him. He wanted to rush into
| the room but his brother George held him
back. lie said bis brother should not die,
| he'd be damned il he should die, he would
| stretch him on litter and carry him out Of
| the swamp. He went on in that way, all
| day, but had little sleep in the night; the
Doctor came about 10 or ii O'Clock next day,
and when he was told that his brother was
decidedly better it seemed to soothe him,
| and he did not do any more as he had been
doing: / came down with the body on the
| boat: his mother said to him, snow, Edward,
| this is good time, you have been out with
Mr.. Stewart for some time, this is good
time for you to come together, If death will
not bring you together, nothing will; :" he
said he would be damned If he should cross
his threshold, or he would kill him; his
mother cried very much, and told MIN not
! to do it: Capt. Yerger's wife thought 1t was
outrageous to inhibit Mr.. Stewart from
| coming to the burial but he swore he should
not come, and if he came he would Kill him.
When he was talking to Mr.. Morgan, he
the (prisoner) said, he had been TO New
Orleans; that was the part l was so much
ashamed of-his praisiDg himself so much.
He told Mr.. Morgan he had been TO New
Orleans and he had the honor and the plea
sure Of seeing five thousand people rising
to their feet and hurrahing hozannahs to his
name he also cursed Mr.. Morgan all the way
and once in a while called him she'll
hound" / remember, cannot exactly
state the time, but it was about three or four
months ago; was employed in his house
TO sew by the week, and one day on SatuEr
day hs told his wife and children that they
must all prepare to go down to Judge VIII
liam Yerger's to see his aunt, Mrs. Shall
Yerger. They all got ready and went. Az
ter they had started, he sent on his dining
room servant to hunt the COW; he sent off
his washerwoman to buy a dollars worth
of bread, and he had three turkeys killed;
/ said it was strange to have so many tur-
keys killed; they would al spoil before they
were eaten; the cook said, she had the or
der, and she would do what he had said
Mrs. Yerger had not been gone, more than
half an hour, when heard some one run
ming about cursing and damning, and say
ing s'hurrah for our side ! looked over the
gallery, and once in while he would come
out, and then go back into the library, ours
ing. would not 90 down, for was little
afraid of him, as had seen him act so be-
fore; his wife came home about o'clock,
and he was still going on; she said, Mr..
KaPUQF had f0rOOffQn hQra ha
wants fire i'm his library, and he Is exas-
pera:ed that he hasn't got one; / said was
afraid to go down, and did not let him know
1 was up here. About 2 O'Clock he went