The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1873-12-21
CAUGHT AT LAST.
VickSburg Times.l

About q year ago the state Of Illinois
Was thrown into q state Of intense excite.
ment by an attempted murder Of . lady
and gentleman o. Robinson, Crawford
county, the circumstances Of which appear
to have cen as follows:
A man named Thomas Is. Finn, . sort
Of ns'er.do-well, had boon paying hi, sd-
dresses to . young lady connected with
one Of the beat families in the county, but
she finally became disgusted with his way
ward disposition, and became engaged TO
. lawyer named Parker. This so incensed
Finn, that, ono day meeting the couple
while out buggy riding, no discharged his
| shotgun fairly ~ them, wounding Parker
! 90 that he was In q precArious state for
some time, and the young lady in such q
manner that she became hopelessly para
| lyzed in tho lower limbs.
The would DO assassin, however, escsp.
| cd, and has since eluded the vigilance of
the police, though reward Of one thou
sand dollars was offered for his arrest
by the friends OF the injured couple and
seven hundred dollars by the county. His
photograph was sent 10 all the large cities
in the country, and one Of them has fgur-
cd in the rogues gallery Of Lew Hall,
chief Of police Of this city.
A few months ago he was seen in Weeks
burg, and 1t was ascertained that he was
engaged in trapping and hunting on tho
various rivers OF this state, but no effort
was made to apprehend him until h few
days ago, when Mr.. Tom Arrison re-
| ceived some communications from .
friend In Illinois respecting tho matter,
| and upon that information he determined
to make On effort to capture the rufiian.
He accordingly went to Justice Hunt, who
deputized him 40 constable for the pur-
pose, and with this authority he, on last
Monday, started up tho Yazzo river to
hunt for his prize.
After difficult and dan gerous recon moi.
ter of three days he succeeded in finding
the object of his solicitude near Haynes
Bluff, in . thick canebrscke, almost in
penetrable 70 the animals of the woods,
| where he had established his camp. Arr.
son and y man whom he had taken with
him 81 once saw that they had desperate
| character TO deal with, armed With two re-
volvers and bowie knives and . shotgun
which he never for q moment left out OF
his hand. They introduced themselves as
hunters, and remained with him tina,
night, after which they left to procure re-.
Inducements. Having done this a negro
who was one Of the new aids engaged, was
sent to the camp TO get him to take him
across the river in his dugout, the plan
being to catch him at the water unsuspi-
cious and probably unsrmed.
| Tho plan succeeded so far as getting
him to the water was concerned, but he
! had been privately informed Of the errsnd
OF Arrisop, and when he presented himself
at the banb, warrant in hand, Finn imme-
diately lsve!ed his gun at him and fired,
but ArrisOn dropped and was not hit.
Finn then turned round on the negro to
shoot, but the dsrky was too quick for
him, and emptisd the contents Of his gun
Al Films head, carrying away nearly the
whole Of The lower Law, when Arrison
jumped on him and captured him.
Finn, who 10 now in tho Jail in this
city, says Arrison fred ut him frat, but
this is denied He also says that his reasons
for shooting the couple in Illinois WAS not
because OF his being Tilted by the girl, but
because Parker had foully spersed his
mothers name. Some letters were found
on him which somewhat modify the hard
! character given him, and It il possible
1 may not be - bad man as 10 represented
| though he was considered on tho river a
most desperate character. When tina ma
| cessary papers arrive from Illinois. and ss
soon - he 10 sufficiently recovered, he will
be taken TO Illinois, and tho trial will
prove how far he has been guilty and how
much be has been sinnsd against.