Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-10-11

every mousse tney stoppeu Ut W Ret ioou
for themselves and horses and particu-
larly describes the growing illness Of the
girl " no was sick before they left Iowa.
She had several fainting fits, which,
while they alarmed him, seemed to give
the mother no concern. When they
tied up at night, in the woods, their
mode of sleeping was as follows:
"Mrs. Hagerty had two beds along, a
good many bed-clothes and four trunks.
When we camped at night we took the
trunks out of the sled; the beds were
then laid in the bottom of the wagon
box, they covered it all over, one bed
was straw and the other feathers. Mrs.
HI. and Anna slept in tho hind end, the
boys almost crosswise, at their feet, and
| slept in the front end. After the COW
er was properly put on, and we were all
in the sleigh, and both ends closed up,
it was quite warm and comfortable.
In this way, without any knowledge
of the road, except by inqniring the way
from one town to another, and without
any definite idea as to where he was
going, except her general wish to get to
Illinois, they proceeded on their jour
ney. After leaving Prairie du Chen,
they went to Bridgeport, Patch Grove,
Tafton, North Andoyer, Cassville Ton
the river), Beetown and Lancaster At
Lancaster the girl Anna was very sick,
and he wanted to stay there all night,
but the mother refused. They left Lam
caster at dark, and resumed the jour
ney, which was so soon to end. We let
Thompson tell the awful story in his
own words;
1T was beginning to get little dark
when we left Lancaster. When we had
gone along the Plattville road, about a
mile, | should judge, we had to cross
quite deep ravine. just as we got to
the top of the hill, on the south side of
the ravine, one of the boys said Anna
had tainted. We stopped and Mrs. Ii.
dashed some snow into her face, and
chafed her hands, and in a short time
she recovered. Mrs. IL. then wanted
her to drink some wine, but she would
not taste it. Mrs. II. then drank about
one-third of the pint Of wine herself. |
nrged her strongly to go back to Lancas-
ter and remain over night, and see 1t we
could not get something done for it, but
she wouldn't hear to it. We then started
on again, and travelled two or three
miles, when the boy said he thought
Anna had tainted again. 1t was quite
dark then; there was timber on both
sides of the road ] turned off to the
left of the road into the edge Of the
timber, intending to stop there for the
night. / stopped about five or six rods
from the road. As soon as ! stopped |
handed Mrs. H. match, and told her to
light the lantern and see to Anna. l
unhitched the horses from the sled, and,
Just as | was in the act of fastening
them to tree, Mrs. H. called out, Boss,
Anna is dead. MRS. II. generally
called me Boss when she spoke to mel
| said, surely not She said, Yes, /
am sure she is dead. ] lifted the two
trunks out of the front of the sled and
then got in and looked at the girl. felt
her pulse, and put my ear to her mouth
and listened. / chafed her hands for
some time without effect. She was dead.
When fully satisfied that the girl was
dead, said to Mrs. H., what are we to
dor She said, We must dig a grave and
bury her. | said that wouldn't do; if we
were to dig grave and bury her there
in the woods, without a coffin, and the
grave be found and the body dug up, il
would be thought that we had murdered
her, and we would be followed and ar
rested for murder. She said the girl had
died a natural death, and it was nobody
business how she was buried l said
that was all very true, but people would
make it their business if they found II
out, and that the only way for us to dc
now was to go back to Lancaster and
tell how the girl had died; have an in
quest, if it should be thought necessary,
and then bury her decently | would
here remark that Mrs. H. had treated
Anna very harsh and unfeelingly all
through the trip, and | am sure some OF
the people where we stopped must have
noticed it. When | told Mrs. II. that
we must go back to Lancaster, she got
into terrible passion and said II we
went back and had an inquest we would
have to tell who we were and all about
ourselves, and then my folks would
know where was and would come after
me; that it would keep us two or three
days at Lancaster, and by that time my
folks would be there. She said she
knew all / wanted to go back for was to
leave her there and go back to my id
law - of n wife. She then called
my wife and myself, and all my folks,
every mean and insulting name she
could lay her tongue to, and swore she
would have all sorts of revenge. l was
very angry at her, and said to her,
There is no use of your storming and
threatening; ] am going back TO Lancas-
ter. | turned to leave th6 sled, and Just
as had got one foot out and had my
hands on the end-board, Mrs. Ii. said.
I'm have your life first. She picked
up hammer that was hanging on the
sleigh and jumped toaard me and struck
me on the neck. ! think she intended
to strike me on the head, but missed her
aim, as ! was raising my head at the
moment. The hammer belonged to Mrs.
H., and was used by me in the mornings
to knock the balls of snow from the
horses feet that had formed during the
night. The next blow that Mrs. II
dealt we was on the point of the shout
der, right on the bone, and was very
painful. She was striking me with al
her might. She struck me several other
blows on che arm as | was in the act o.
raising up and bringing my foot in the
sleigh. As soon as | had got my foot IN
the sled and Strengthened up, slatehed
the hammer out of her hand and struck
her two or three times on the head with
it, -.
Il was mad with passion at the time
and scarcely knew what l was dong
All these scenes didn't occupy a minute
As soon as | realized what ] was doing
| dropped the hammer out Of my hand
Mrs. II. stood few seconds and then
threw herself down on the bed across the
feet of the girl and between the girl and
the boys-the boys were laying little
lower down on the bed than the girl
Soon after Mrs. H. threw herself on the
bed she commenced screaming at the
ton of her voice; and the boys screamed
with her. asked the boys to stop cry
ing, but they paid no attention to me
They screamed few inmates and ther
stopped. As soon as they we're all
quiet, / tried to apologize 90 Mrs. b tol
what / had done. told her that wa
sorry / had struck her; that the insulting
LANGUAGE she had used, and the blow