Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-05-28
NEW SERIES. No : aSa

.Ik33 'tlsI q W.
g then Eli seized pine torch, lit il
} and with his shirt drawn out owe
his waist, and his right arm AMI
: shoulder bare, held bis biazin.
torch up in the middle : Of til,
l room; the rest of the family danceC
about it, shouting and clappins
their hands, until they put out tht
toreh, when they exclaimed sWt
Ihaye conquered the, devil" Seem
ling then to notice their visitors
for the first time, they approached
i them, shouting, Here are FIVE
Ismore devils, and on the floor we'll
| lay them, and on the. Eve persons
| SO aeeosted, fleeing atfrighted from
the house, they followed them into
1 yard, exclaiming, gu" Out of the
| door they go, and in the
| yard ofws'll edlay o them, ]" "a and
so. Chased them, away That
night the mother and Sally ordered
the whole party, except the little
| one, to strip naked, themselves set
ting the example, barn their clothes
and shoes and go some fifteen or
twenty yards to- a cold, spring,
where, with exhortation, prayer and
song, they washed and were cleansed
again. Returning to 1.-the house,
they put on new clothes, but had
nod more, shoes. IA Nearly all that
night, . bitterly. cold one, they re-
manned up, engaged in prayer; the
next day they passed the same way
eating nothing from morning tin
night. cat night, while Sally and
her mother discussed some passages
in Scripture, q dispute arose, ,oe-.
easioned, as the defendants told
me, by both of them claiming to be
God. The mother thought Sally
was the devil, and ordered her sons
and husband to tie her. They did so,
and thrust her, her hands tied to-
gether, out of the door. She at.
tempted to get in; james seized q
bit of board and tried to push her
away, while the mother, unable to
hold the door against her, ordered
Eli to shoot the devil he fired, hit
ting her in the hand, and then, as
they described it afterwards, ''the
devil scrambled off the doorstep
Soon she was back again, putting
her bloody hands in a hole in the
top of the door, when Eli was again
ordered to shoot. "Tt seemed like y
said he, relating it. to some one,
'4ike as if he had got in he
would have destroyed Us ALL I
saw his eyes, as big as dinner
plates" and the mother saw him
too. "The real big, black, bald
headed old devil" Nimrod loaded
the lifle With two bullets, gave it to
Eli, who said, Gather, must
shoot 2" eff nothing else will do, )"
said he, "you must shoot" and,
said Eli, "This time Iplum5ed him
right between the eyes" The body
lay outside the door until daylight,
then the mother ordered the rest to
carry the devil to the log heap and
burn it. This they did, all taking
part therein but Polly, whose mind
seems to have given way that night,
and to whom the whole scene
seemed, as she testified, like q
dream. The remains of Sally were
discovered next day-nothing be-
ing left but d bit of the spine and
skull, rib or two, some portion of
the abdomen, and the outlines of
the swelling shoulders and hips, in
the ashes. Her funeral pile was in
a-->.,I,l;o ,,Iano faw wards from the
by. A quarter of mile-eYen less
distant was q dense wood, with
many q rocky hollow and gorge,
| suited for eoncealment. Tuesday
| thew we're arrested, and made fran
| tic efforts to retain their rifle, aRpa-
renIly regarding it as sacred. The
same day the whole of the survivors
were seen busy about the old man,
James, their hands and fingers in
his mouth, calling out, '.LOrd have
mercy! spit it up He submitted
quietly to the rest. That day, too,
| while visitor asked them what had
become of Sally, Jane said: "The
devil is. in the fire yonder we killed
him last night" The old man,
who was unconcernedly stopping
up the hole in the door, said This
| is all the old woman's work; she
has scattered tcitch truck over US. "
That day, too, NimrOd asked why
he was going barefoOted in the win
ter, and what had become of his
shoes, answered "Don't tempt me
III have sold them to Peter for the
price of two souls" They were
taken to Taylorsyille, Andersen
| county, and confined in Jail, where
| a few nights afterwards, they all oc
cupying the cage, q room gratet
| with iron on the top and sides, the
sons killed the mother by choking
| her. All that is known of this las
is, that Eli, being questioned as t.
, it, said when l got awake she
| was dead"
Indictments were found agains
| James and his sons for the murde
| | of Sally, and against the sons 10
, the murder of Jane. IS -.f-. -.4T
Intense excitement in the com
munity followed these Developments
: and the venue was changed to
I neighboring county for trial. In
, trial resulted in the acquittal OF a
5 the prisoners, it having been show
/ to the satisfaction of the jury tina
/. | they were of unsound mind.
FL WEDDING OVER A CORPSE.
= A wedding under extraordinary ci
I eumstanees was celebrated IN POugl
: kespsie on Wednesday, the 10Th ms
:, The couple move in fashionable circle