The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1873-06-05

was to be considered capable Of an!
crime, and then this Mormon In ap
pearance was the worst Of his class.
Wallsworth and the Mormon wer,
at once put under arrest, and the new,
Of the murder spread In all directions
creating the most intense feeling
Montrose before night was full Of peo
pie from all parts Of the country
Most OF them were In favor of at ono,
lynching the mDrderers, - ell believed
the prisoners to be. A few citizens
opposed to lynching under any cir
cumstances, went to save the prison.
ere to the action Of the the law. None
however believed them innocent d
the crime charged against them
Conspicuous among their number was
Daniel F. Miller, then Of TT. Madison,
now mayor Of Keokuk, who pleaded
most earnestly with the mob, to let
the law have its course. Owing ia
the high esteem In which Miller was
held BY the people, they listened to
him, but they we're not convinced BY
his earnest eloquence. However, the
time that his speech gave. saved the
lives Of the prisoners. When the mob
would delay their work no longer,
with prepared rope and boat ready,
they were in the act Of starting with
the prisoners to the small island be-
tween Montrose aud Nauvoo to hang
them, when james Msckley. then OF
keokuk, now dead, came dashing up,
his horse ia y foam of sweat, with the
news that knight had been found in
canoe near Quincy, Illinois, terribly
cut about the head but still alive, and
that he ha,i been taken ashore at
Quincy, aud was being properly cared
for. This put sudden stop to the
proceedings Of the mob, aud the pris-
oners were rapidly sent to Ft. Madison
to Jail, where they were safe from mob
violence. -.
At that time there was living at
keokuk family BY the name OF Jor-
don. or the numerous children was q
little fellow about ten or twelve years
of age, whose name was Jim. Jim's
face was the face of saint, IL you
took it on credit, and he was q boy of
activity and enterprise. His main
business being to get into other peo-
Piles skins and canoes and letting
them float down the river to market.
Jim, with partner about his own
age, had been down the river on one
Of these commercial expeditions, and
came up home on the packet the
evening after Knights supposed mur-
der. Among the passengers that
came up on the boat was = man who
had been down to Quincy with load
of corn. Mackley enquired Of this
corn merchant il he had heard Of
knight. The man answered that be
had not, when Jim Jordon stepped up
and said, II saw Knight" "Where?"
"A mile above Quincy; he was float
Ing down In . canoe with his head cut
to pieces, and he had bled nearly to
death. We took him on board the
steamboat, and took him to Quincy,
when | went up beyond the Quincy
House and got surgeon, who came
down to the boat and examined him
and dressed his wound, and took him
on there; but he could not speak, and
the Doctor thought that he would
die" The corn man said he saw
nothing of this, but Jim stood his
ground, aud asserted positively, look
ing the man straight in the face, that
all that he said was true. The man
inquired, ION what part of the fiat
boat was the man put:" Jim said,
I'm the little bunk at the stern, while
you were at the bow aud l went for
the Doctor when you went down to
the distillery." The boy was SO posi-
tive and specific, with such an honest
looking face. that the man said, ut |
may be so, but saw nothing of It,"
believed the story, knowing
that the boy knew Knight perfectly
well and knowing that mob had
gone to, aud was then at, Montrose to
hang the prisoners, he mounted y fast |
horse aud went to Montrose under
whip and spur, and got there just In
lime to save the lives Of the prisoners.
Knights brother went on the packet |
10 Quincy the same night. but when
he got there he found the whole Jor-
don story false-not single |
word Of truth in it. Fortunately the
prisoners were safe in Jail and beyond
the reach Of the mob at that time.
Mackley questioned the Jordon boy,
but he stuck to his original story.
then found the other boy who
had gone down the river with Jim.
and learned from him that the morn.
ing after the supposed murder, while
the boys were getting their breakfast
few miles below Lagrange, in Mis-
souri,, II tall pale man came down the
river in small canoe, and appeared
10 be coming on shore, until he saw
them, when he ut once changed his
course and padded rapidly behind an
island in the rf<er. Mackley then in
company with Knights brother start
ed down the river. to see if they could
lind the canoe. The universal theory
VAS that Knights tody had been
dropped into the canoe, and the canoe
allowed to float off or, that the canoe
had been filled with sacks and sunk,
With the body securely fastened to it.
At Hannibal, Missouri, Mackley and
Knight found the canoe. and learned
hat the man who came down in It
had enlisted, not, however, in the
name Of Knight. in regiment of
United States troops, going to Mexico,
and had gone to Jefferson barracks,
II. Louis. At st. Louis they found
Knight, well and hearty, just in the
act Of embarking for New Orleans.
He admitted that he had planned
The whole thing; that he had written
the letter as ne did, that he had bled
himself to set the blood to sprinkle on
The letter, table, floor, hair, aud hatch.
1t. that he cut the hole in the hat
with the Ratchet, cut lock of his
hair and put blood on it, dragged q
sack OF salt over the floor, got in the