Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1872-06-04
A desperate Kentucky OUTLAW.

n Desper"so hoht"chy Outiu"'
The Louisville Ledger gives the fol.
lowing incidents in the life of noted
Kentucky guerilla and horse-thief named
wild Pat" who lately got into the
clutches of the law:
Wild Pat, whose proper name is
John Mcmahon, has been most truly a
wild" and reckless rascal. During the
war he took the Confederate side and
turned guerilla, and many deed OF
blood and robbery was committed by
him in this disguise. He preyed upon
Union men and so-called rebels alike,
robbing, and when necessary, murder
ing. indiscriminately. His field of ope-
rations was principally in that portion
of Kentucky lying between the Louis
vile and Nashville railroad and the
Cumberland and Ohio rivers, and he is
accused Of more than twenty cold
blooded murders committed under the
cover of hostilities between the North
and South, but for booty alone.
Wild Pat was captured in 1863,
tried as a murderer and guerilla by
court martial, by order of General Walt
Whitaker, and sentenced to be hung;
but the cunning villain managed TO es-
cape the day before the one fixed for
his execution, and after the rope had
been purchased and the gallows erected
After his escape he renewed his work of
robbery and slaughter, and became a
terror to the entire population in the
counties ON Green river, and between
that river and the Cumberland. He
frequently extended his raids into Ten
nessee, having under him from five to
twenty men. 1t is said he and his gang
burned the houses of number of citi-
zens after robbing them.
Before the war wild Pat was q
horse-thief, and was convicted in Lyon
county of horse-stealibg and sentenced
to long term in the penitentiary; but
when the boat upon which the sheriff OF
that county, with Pat, took passage for
Louisville en- route TO Frankfort peni-
tentiary, reached Portland, Pat made his
escape. He has been sentenced to the
penitentiary four times, served two terms,
and is now serving the third. When
placed in the penitentiary he was reeog-
nized by several of the old officers OF
that institution.
We gave the particulars of wild
Pats" daring leap from the cars be-
tween this city and Frankfort while be-
ing taken to the penitentiary. He had
been permitted to enter the water-closet
of the car, Captain Atkinson accompa-
nying him and standing at the door.
While the train was running at the rate
of thirty.fve miles an hour Pat hoisted
the window and leaped out. The alarm
was Immediately given by Captain At
kinson, and Sheriff Spaulding had the
train stopped, when he and Captain At
kinson got off and started in pursuit of
the fugitive. After chase of half a
mile he was captured and taken on a
freight train to Frankfort and safely
lodged in the penitentiary, He says he
cut off the rivets of his shackles in the
Louisville Jail, while waiting the de-
parture of the train for Frankfort, with
knife stolen off the boat upon which
he was brought up from Uniontown.
While on the boat he also succeeded in
nearly releasing himself from the
shackles. The officers of the prison
know the desperate character of "Wild
Pat" and will keep a sharp eye on him.
He was sentenced for mule-stealing.