The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1871-09-21
TRAGEDY IN KENTUCKY.
The Brother and Sister Of old Mr.. John
Harper, the gunner Of Loagelloac,
Murdered.

From the Courier-Journal of Tuesday, 18th,
The brother and sister of old Mr.. John
| Harper, the owner OF Longfellow, were
murdered in their beds. at their residence,
! in Woodford county, just before daylight,
yesterday morning. Who did the terrible
| deed is not known. Mr.. John Harper and
| his old bachelor brother and maiden sister
were the only white persons who lived on
| the place. They were born there. and had
/ lived there together until the youngest was
! over seventy years OF age. 1t was an i'm
/ menSe estate-one of the larRest-and the
owners the most wealthy farmers in Ken
| lucky. 1t Is about three miles from Mid
way, and fifteen miles from Lexingto \,
! adjolns the great Alexander stock-farm
and is in the heart of the Blue Grass Region.
/ Mr.. John Harper was not at home on the
/ fatal night. He had gone to the Lexington
4 races. at which the famous LOngfellow and
! several other of his horses were TO run.
| MI. Jacob Harper and Miss Betsy Harper
were the only ones at home, except about
twenty or thirty negroes, who are employed
| upon the plantation.
Judging from appearances, the bloody
work must have been committed about 3
O'Clock In the morning. 1t was not discov-
cred until after sun-up. Mr.. Jacob slept in
room adjoining that of his sister upon the
| first floor. About half-past o'clock the
house-keeper, negro woman, went into
the room of Miss Betsy, but noticed nothing
wrong, but she remembers of hearing the
very feeble and had been almost bed-ridden
for long time, no particular attention was
paid to it. A half hour after this MIR. Har-
Per's man-seryant went in to wake him. be
first called, and then took hold of the old
mans shoulder, but still noticed nothing
except he was unusually hard to wake He
then left the room. The first discovery was
made by the woman servant who. having
gone in to wake Miss Betsy, noticed blood
upon the bed-clothes, and, upon looking
closer, found that the old lady's head and
face were horribly gashed, and that she was
Lying in pool of blood. The bed was lit
Ferally besmeared with gore. The woman
ran out screaming and the alarm was given
Word Of the terrible tragedy was sent
through the Deighborhood, and soon excl
ted people began to flock it from all direc-
tions. Mr.. Harper was found with his head
almost beaten TO jelly and dead. He was
cold and stark and stiff Miss Betsy was
unconscious, but still living. She was not
dead at noon yesterday.
A messenger was sent to Lexington for
Mr.. John Harper, and he arrived about zine
o'clock, to find his beautiful home in an up
roar and his aged brother and aged AID fee
BILE sister the victims of a crime so horrid
and brutal and bloody that the shock of it
almost Overcame him. The whole neighbor-
hood had assem- bled and crowded the rooms
and the halls in mute horror.
1t seems that, on Saturday last, MIR. Jacob
Harper went down to Frankfort, and, it is
thought, drew five hundred or a thousand
dollars out of bank. Upon his return to
Midway, he offered to bet large amounts on
the LOngfellow race, aud exhibited large
sums of money, and this came to the knOwl-
edge OF the assassins. 1t was not the habit
of the family to keep money about the
house. Money was undoubtedly the object
of the murder, but whether the murderers
obtained any or not is not known. A pock-
et-book that Mr.. Harper generally carried
was missing from his body, though nothing
else about the house was disturbed.
Upon hearing of the tragedy MIR. Harper
set out Immediately from Lexington, and
was driven home by his trainer, Rolla, a
colOred boy whom he raised, and who is de-
voted to him. About four miles from town
they met negro man who had been hired
upon the place only few days before. They
inquired about the trouble at home, when he
repli that there was nothing the matter;
that he had left only an hour before, and
that everything was all right. He then pass
ed on, when ROlla remarked that he saw
'blood on that fellows shirt" This negro
whose name is not learned, was afterwards
sent after and arrested In Lexington. Fur
Their developments go to prove undoubtedly
that he took leading part in the murder.
A boy named William, who was raised by
DIR. Harper, and who is about twenty-five
years of age, is also suspected. His mother
testified before the Coroner's jury that he
could not get out without coming through
her room, unless he climed out the window
and over shed at the side of the cabin
sometime during Lne nlRnI she says she
heard a log or something at the side of the
cabin fall. Upon examination yesterday it
was found that one of the rafters, or long
poles, which laid upon the shed to hold the
boards to their places had rolled of the shed
to the ground. The roof gave unmistakable
evidence of some one hNving passed over it.
Several other negroes are missing, and are
suspected of having hand in the affair."
Three in all had been arrested at last ac-
counts. Blood was found on the clothes of
the negro whom Mr.. Harper met coming
from Lexington, and he failed utterly be-
fore the Coroner's jury to account for it.
The whole bluegrass region was i'm terri
BILE state of excitement yesterday. About
Midway and in Lexington people quit work
so gre atty was the whole community APP
pallcd by the horror of the thing.
1t is as appalling as the famous Nathan
murder, and more bloody. The victims are
among the most wealthy people in the State
of Kentucky, and the murder, aside from
its cruelty, will attract attention from the
close connection of the murdered with
man whose name has so recently been in the
mouths of everybody in the country.