Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-07-19
THE CUBA TRAGEDY.
The Alleged Murdsrsrs Before the. Grand
Jury.
Further and More Correct Details Of the
Horrible Affair.

Further and More Correct Details Of the
Horrible Affair.
At two O'Clock yesterday afternoon, the
case Of the young men charged with the
murder by hanging of John w. School
field, at Or near Cuba, was to have come
up before Judge Flippin. in the Criminal
Courtroom for examination. The grand
jury having been ~empannelled in the
meantime, the Court thought it best to
turn the affair yer to them, and did so
which will be found elsewhere on this
page, emphasizing that part relating to
deeds ofIawlessness, etc.
The grand jury was composed of the
following good and T men" citizens
of Shelby county: Charles Meehan, fore
man; J. ID. Davis, William +. Taylor, j.
T. Fargason, j. W..Gay, +. Glassiok, W.
w: Schoolheld, J.. F. Frank, ID. Finnerly,
John l.. EichbSrg, has. Stout, s. Ven
dig, aud NJ. II. Miller, grand jurors.
Here, of course, we are obliged to leave
the affair for the present, as nothing can
be known of what proceeds before this
body. We can only say that several i'm
p0rtant witnesses were examined, among
them, n of the accused who has turned
States evidence. The court room was
crowded all the afternoon with citizens
of the neighborhood where the horror
was perpetrated, and OF this city, who
are acquainted with the accused. In talk
ing with several OF the former, we
learned that we, in COMMON with the bal
ance of the city press, had been misin-
formed in. regard to many points in the
affair, and we therefore present the fol-
lowing amended version as related TO US
yesterday
THE PLACE
where the tragedy occurred is Cuba, a
village in the Fourth District, some sew
enteen miles nearly north OF the city,
and about three miles from Big Creek, on
the Rembert's Mill road The village
consists of a grocery store, kept by
Graves, one of the accused, a dry goods
store, blacksmith shop, kept by Mr.. Sat
terwhite Zone of the principal witnessesl
and several dwellings. The n~eighboring
country is very rich, and is settled by a
most excellent class of citizens, such as
Squire Carroll and Squire Estell, equal
~ well known in this city. Cuba had,
until recently, been overlooked by Mem
phis, but of late it has been thriving and
attracting considerable attention, and by
none are the recent acts oflawles5ness and
cruelty deplored more than by the ma
jority of us citizens, who declare that
bneN Will cltdiS no ShtEb ~ NihlACaAp LAAC
majesty of the law, and rid themselves of
the foul blot on the fair fame OF their
neighborhood.
THE TOT
of the murder, as told us by one of the
most respectable citizens, who was on the
juryof inquest, and is a witness in the
case, is as follows: A barbecue was to
have been given at Big Spring, on
Wednesday last, according to a custom
that has prevailed for years, of giving an
annual barbecue at that point, but a heavy
rain came up during the morning, filled
the pits and spoiled the chances of SO do
ing.
It was proposed by some to postpone
the affair, but the proposition was over
ruled and the meats, etc, were removed
up to the village CUBA, and he frOlic
held there, winding up, as usual, with a
dance. Considerable liquor was drank
during the day by the party accused and
a few others, and one or two quarrels oc-
CURED, but no one dreamed of any such
serious results as the frolio eliminated in.
During the afternoon the unfortunate
young man Schoolfeld, who Vas en-
ployed by Graves, either in his grocery or
dry goods store, was accused OF having
gone to the till and stolen two dollars and
a half. The accusation was made by
young Shivers, who was also clerking for
Graves, and the latter, on hearing it, got
very much enraSed, and swore
$50 we are iniormed) that he
would kill Scheduled. When the
accused was confronted with the
charge, he denied it, and on being searched
no money was found on his person. He
was nevertheless arrested, underwent a
preliminary examination, and was put
under bonds for his appearance on charge
of larceny. Not being able to give the
bond, he was turned over to the tender
mercies of one McAtten, a Constable who
is also one of the accusedl. This officer
put the prisoner in a vacant room of an
unused''tce house, which was so close and
hot that he nearly suffocated, and
while endeavOring to get a breath of fresh
air, was heard by Mr.. McAtten, who
accused him of trying to escape. This
gave the "offieer of the Law" a pretext
for still greater rigor, and he obtained a
rope, with which he tied the prisoners
hands behind him, and then dashed him
in a half bent position, to a rsfter. After
torturing the poor creature awhile in this
manner, he united the rope binding him
to the rafter, and allowed him to lie down,
putting a negro on guard yer him.
This much was ELECTED from our in
formant, as what he kReV: The next
morning, nearly or about daybreak,
he (our informant) was aroused by
ASNd "bANAS ~ IL o Ah5o eS9
going on. He heard four pistol shots,
fired in rapid succession, and a scream,
which he took to be "Oh, Lord!." and
then all was quiet. He thought that it
was q drunken froiic or fight, Oh maybe
that somebody was shot, but hearing
nothing further went back to bed. At
breakfast he was informed that School
field had been taken from the ice-hOuse,
carried down to a hollow about two hun
bred yards from Graves house, inst out
side his orchard, and there hung-'hung,'
said our informant, "like a dog; strau-
gled to death within the very sound ofthe
dancing at Graves housed He was heard
while he was strangling and seen toO-but
all will come out at the proper timer The
rope was knotted around the pool crea-
lures neck, thrown over a limb, and
drawn up until his feet were some two or
three inches from the ground. There
were no marks of violence on his person
(save those made by the rOpe), except one
blow, made apparently with the butt OF q
pistol, or top of the head. He was cut
down and an inquest held, where the
facts above detailed, and much more were
elected. There arc said to be two men
iOko saW the deed, and who are on hand TO
testify to the particulars. One was seen
by the lynchers, seized and threatened
with death if he did not swear to conceal
the deed. He states that he promised,
but with a reservation, and at the risk of
his life has made developments to the
State which will lead to the arrest and
conviction of all concerned in the horri-
BILE deed.
AFTER.
About three O'Clock Judge Bullock and
General sale appeared for the defense,
and made a motion to stay the inVestiga-
ton before the grand jury, or rather to
have the prisoners brought before the
Court and examined for eOmmittal. The
proposition was argued at some length
by the counsel for the State and defense,
but was not entertained by sthe Court.
Late in the afternoon a bill Of indict-
was found against all of the accused
and they were committed to jail, without
bail, on charge of murder.
The compilation which appeared in
the SUNDAY APPEAL, headed ''Theater
of War" and which has been so much
sought after by our readers, viii be found
in the WEEKLY APPEAL, which will be
published to-day, price i've cents.
WONDERFUL, BUT TRUE.
Western Energy VS.. Eastern Capltal--.Ths
ST. Louis Bell Treble Piano.