Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-08-01

1
l was trapping to see me two or three
times; that my wife and Finice lived
near Harmony Mission about ten wears
and then moved to Oregon; that Imet 8
tTapper in the mountains who told me
my wife and son had gone to Oregon.
Moore and myself staid two days this
time over at the hotel, so as to give me
time to study what Moore had written
down for me, SO l could answer the
questions a magistrate would ask me
when We got to st. Louis. As we were
going up from the ferry-bOat Moore
gave me one hundred dollar bill; we
met
GREEN DAVIDSON
on the street, and he took me into a
store and gave me new suit of clothes;
! Davidson and Moore took me to a great
big hOuse-I think il was a hotel; from
! there Davidson and a man Il think his
name was JOhnsOn) took me to pic
! ture gallery and had my picture taken !;
! Davidson or johnson, can't remember
which, told me to write "Joseph Thom-
as" on one Of my pictures and not make
mistake; we then returned to the
/ hotel, and they sent for squire; / re-
peated to the squire the lesson which
! Moore had written down for me to study
as well as l could remember it; as soon
as 1 had done telling my story there was
man Il think it was Johnson) took a
paper or deed, and gave it to the
Squire, who read it to me, then John
son Il think it was signed the name
JOSEPH THOMAS
to the paper, and 1 touched the pen;
Moore then paid the squire three dol
lars. Davidson and Moore then took
me to Lebanon, Illinois, where David
son lived, and left me at hotel; Moore
said he was going to New York to get
money to pay me, and was to stay at
Lebanon until he came back; I think
he was gone about eight days; when he
clme back he took me to st. Louis to
tavern, and paid me one thousand dol
lars, and said he would pay me the bal
ance of the three thousand dollars when
we got 10 Oregon, and when the trial
was over would give me five thousand
dollars more. Moore and Davidson told
me that l would not have to be gone
longer than three months. / did not
want to come TO Oregon, but they said
1 must come and they would pay me
well. While at st. Louis l repeatedly
told Moore and Davidson my true name,
where | was from, and all about N.Y.
self.
MOORE, DAVIDSON AND HIS WIFE,
and myself, all started to Oregon to-
gether; arriving at Portland / staid one
night; next day Moore took me to Ore
gon City on the cars; McCown or John
son took me from the cars to hotel
at Oregon City; the second day, think
it was, after L got to Oregon City, John
son came to my room at the hotel, and
said be had met me in st. Louis; he
said, Don't you know me? was in st. !
Louis with Moore and Green Davidson"
He then commenced talking to me |
about who l was, and where came |
from, and thought he was a partner of
Moore and Davidson, and commenced |
telling him what my true name was and /
where l came from; he then said his |
dinner was waiting and he must go. /
do not want 10 tell on johnson, as he |
never did me any harm. was taken
from
OREGON CITY
to the opposite side of the river, and
stayed a few days; l was then sent to
Green Davidson's, in Marion county;
after went there, Moore sent me two
hundred dollars by Green Davidson.
The paper Moore wrote for me to study
while him and me were at the hotel OPP
posi- te st. Louis, Missouri, he took from
me; do not know what he did with it.
When ! went to Green Davidson's,
Moore came up and wrote another, and
gave it TO me; it was like the one he
gave me at St. Louis, except that the
one at st. Louis made me say / only had
one son, and the one he wrote at Green
Davidson's made me say that had two
sons, Finice and John-and that John
died at Harmony Mission. This paper
was given me about three months after
l went to Green DavidsOn's, in Oregon;
| studied this paper in the presence of
Green Davidson and his wife.
1 STUDIED THIS PAPER
until wore it out, and so they had to
write a third one. About four or five
months after ! went to DavidsOn's in
Oregon, he paid me seventeen hundred |
dollars. While I was at Oregon City,
after the payments in the summer Of
1871, had twenty-eight hundred dol
lars with me, and l lost, or some one
stole il from me, and Green Davidson
slept in the room with me the night !
lost il. All the witnesses who sWOre
that they knew me, and that my name
was Joseph Thomas, swUre falsely, for
my name is John c. Nixon; l never
saw Joe Meek in my life, in the noun
-ains or anywhere else, until l saw him
n Portland; / never was a hunter, or
-rapper, or mOuntaineer; never work
I'd on a mill of any kind; never was at
HARMONY MISSION, IN MISSOURI;
never knew Elizabeth Caruthers or her
jon Finice; my wife's name was Eliza
beth Toler, who l married in Baldwin
county, Alabama, and by her we had
.wO children; my wife's father died and
married again to q man
named Scarborough Melvin, who lives
n Baldwin county, Alabama, sixteen
niles northeast of Mobile; when / lived
n Alabama | boated wood and lumber,
md kept clearinghouse in Mobile,
md after / got crippled ] begged for a
living. The whole scheme of bringing
ne to Oregon as a witness in the trial
.bOut the Caruthers estate, as to my
anything about the matter, in
my way, shape or form, is a grand fraud
hat j was hired by Moore and Davidson
o swear TO; the whole story was manu-
actured and drilled into me by Moore
md Davidson; / had to learn my lesson
ike a school boy; Moore generally wrote
lis; Davidson gave his verbally; David
On was teacher. One time while was
It Green Davidson's, when he lived at
Fairfield, they kept me out in the
woods to keep
HANNAH
rom seeing me; be told me to keep
way from Hannah, that he (Hannah) {
would kill me; Moore and Davidson !
,ut white paint on my hair to make me
OOk old. Last September i and Green
Davidson came down to Oregon City to
ZEE johnson and Pease, and the man in
he land office, and to have them pay
ne the five thousand dollars, for the
'eason that Hannah had given them
Touble, and finally we compromised by
heir agreeing to give me three thousand
ioLars, as follows: Pease's note, due
he fourteenth of September, 1873, for
me thousand and fifty-seven dollars
md thirty-three cents, and Johnson I.
md the man in the land Office to pay
he balance equally between them; the
mount due from the man in
THE LAND OFFICE.
md johnson was paid to me, and
'ease's note delivered TO me somewhere
bout the fifteenth Of September, 1872,
u Mitchell & DOlph's Office, at Port
and, by young man whom they sent
o pay me; 7 do not know who the
-oung man was. In March or April
asst / got Mr.. John Phillips, of Salem,
o come down to Oregon City with me
o see Moore, to have him pay me two
housand dollars that they failed to pay
ne in the settlement. asked Moore to
,ay me the two thousand dollars. LThey
lad agreed to pay me eight thousand
InIlarS and hid Maid me hnf sig fhnu-