Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-03-01

a LifeEess Hzother-A Weeping Child
and a Midnight AssasssH

a l1AAGAO8S AAO&AGH-A " 90DAmk NnhAu
and a Midnight Assassin.
The Supreme Count yesterday heard the
argument in the case of John Presswood,
who was convicted Of the murder of Mrs.
Rachel Billings, of DeKalb county, and
sentenced to be hung. The murder, which
was committed on Saturday night In jan
uary, 1871, was one of the most brutal and
horrible deeds of crime that ever darkened
Tennessee. No provocation is known, aud
the malice is only equalled by the fiendish
motives actuatiug its committal. As to the
guilt of John Presswood, who is only about
20 years of age, it is not for US to say.
That question rests with tribunal of JUS
tice, the Supreme Court of Tennessee, be-
fore whom the guilt will be established
without question or his innocence declared
openly. At the time of the murder, the
husband Of the victim was absent from
home, having left a day Or two previously
on a raft for this city. The witness whose
testimony, outside of circumstantial evil
dence, is relied on by the prosecution is Inez
Costa, aged thirteen or fourteen, daughter
Of the murdered woman. Her story, as
told to the neighbors, which corresponds
to her evidence upon the trial in the Circuit
Court of DeKalb county, where the defend
ant was found guilty as charged in the in
dictment for murder and sentenced to
death, is substantially, as appears from the
records of the Supreme Court, as follows:
One Saturday or Sunday night, about II
O'Clock, the defendant came into their
house where there was no one except her.
self and mother, and approaching the bed,
seized Mrs. Billings and attempted to drag
her off the bed. mrs. Billings, when APP
preached by the defendant, seized a gun,
which her husband had loaded and left upon
the rack over the bed before leaving home.
Now ensued a desperate struggle between
the affrighted woman and the brutal vii
lain, during which, IneZ seized an axe that
was lying under the bed and struck the de-
PENDANT on the head. Releasing Mrs. Bill
lings, the defendant wrenched the axe from
the little girls hands, and after dealing
her a blow on the head, telling her
to the floor where she lay paralyzed with
fear until daybreak, be struck the mother
several times on the head, producing death
in a few minutes. Through fear Of being
killed Inez lay still as if insensible though
all the while being made witness to the
narrowing reality of this most fendish
work. Alone in a log-cabin with a dead
llOtICI l1lAlE III lev ltCO VI LC1y 114AO AdAl n
ness and keenest anguish was the little girl
left. Indeed was she alone until
morning dawned and ere the streaks
of day fell on the CHASTITY scene
the murder thought himself secure
from an avenging law and no one was left
to tell the deed of that night. But in this
be was mistaken, for Inez went to neigh
boris and told them in substance what we
have detailed above. The startling an
nouucement having been made known,
some of the neighbors Immediately repaired
to the house where a shocking scene met
their gaze. The body of Mrs. Billings was
found lying en- the floor, which was covered
with blood. The person was much exposed
and bloody hand prints were found upon
the floor. Wounds apparently made with
the poll of an AK were seen on the victims
head, as it lay in CHASTITY horror besmeared
with her own LIES blood. The gun was
found near by and the rack over the bed
was broken. Tracks were found leading
to and fro in the direction of the defend
ants fathers residence, where the former
resided. Circumstantial evidence goes to
show that the person Of the victim was
violated by the assassin after the perpetra-
ton of the fearful deed. How the case is
most likely to terminate in the Supreme
Court, we are not prepared to venture an
opinion. Should PressWOOd be the guilty
one, death should be his penalty, justly de-
served by the vile being so lost to his hui
man kind as to commit a deed that appals
every one made conversant with its fright
full reality, seldom paralleled in the annals
OF crime and in the life story of noted muir
deTeTs