Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1873-07-15
THE CLARKE COUNTY TRAGEDY.

regard to terrible dy:whic was enacted
in our neishboring county If Clafse, on
Saturday. the 9Th instant. From the VIM
chester Times we copy the following, which
We suppose is about az correct an account of
this terrible affair as will be obtained before
the case is brought trial ina court of Justice:
Mr. 'Frankiin Little is, arprosrerous farmer.
residing in Clarke county, about six and a
half miles from Winchester, on the Wildwood
pike, adjoining the farms Of Mr. James Bit.
ger and Col. W..Dearmont. His family in
Guided his wife, daughter, and five or six
sons, all of whom, We believe, were grown. or
nearly SO, and were very large and powerful
men, They were well educated and refined
people, occupying an excellent social position.
Blu. itfseem that ill feelings aud jealousy of
long standing existed among the sons, arising
out of business and money matters. Two Of
them-Columbus and I.ycurgus, are said to
have received their patrimony and resided for
while in the West, whence they returned
some months ago. Clinton, the eldest, had
always remained at home, and was the mana.
ger of the estate. which't is said he ~conduet.
ed very successfully. The returning brothers
who had expended their means, :claimed their
share of the proceeds Of the business, which
=.
ct least, is one of the causes assigned 'by ru-
NOR for the enmity which led to the ter.
rible tragedy. Ofthese matters, howe yer, we
have no definite information bat whatever
the cause, it is certain that for long time a
most unhappy state of affairs existed, each
openly charging the others with various acts
of injustice, and retaliating whenever the CD.
portunity occurred. Thus matters stood. until
on Saturday it eliminated in an ARRAY. in
which Clinton lost his life, and Oscar; 'Colun.
bus, Gilbert, and their mother, were seriously
wounded.
So many rumors are afioat that it is hard to
arrive at the truth, Or to make up connected
account of the affair." But the following is
said to be substantially the statement of Gil
bert before the coroner's jury, which met at
the house on Sunday afternoon.
Mrs. Little, and Gilbert, Clinton, Columbus
and his wife, were at breakfast on Saturday
morning, when Lycurgus Cknown as s'Kirk'')
and Oscar (the Doctos) entered the room with
revolvers in their hands, and locked the door,
1t is net known whether any preliminary
words were spoken, but Kirk commenced
firing at Clinton, who fell. MORALLY wounded,
in his mothers arms and in this position
Mrs. Little received ashotthrough the thigh.
Gilbert sprang from his seat, seized Kirk, and
threw him over to Columbus, who was the
ssoutest man of them all; the latter received
some severe blows on the head from the club.
bed pistol in the hands of Kirk, but SUCCEEDED
in disarming him !; and Gilbert also clisarined
Oscar, who finding his pistol would not ex.
plodc, was beating Clinton with it, who al,
ready lay on the floor in the agonies of death.
In the struggle with Oscar, Gilbert also re-
ccived severe njuries about the head. After
being dsarmed, Kirk and Oscar fled through
the door, which had been opened from the
outside by a younger brother. Gilbert then
attempted to fire at the fugi,ives with Oscars
pistol, but finding it still useless, threw it
down and seized rifle, with which he shot
Oscar, as he ran, through the calf of the leg
Lycurgus and Oscar were arrested and
lodged in the Jail at Berryville, Saturday
afternoon.
A postmortcm examination Of the body Of
Clinton was made on Sunday by DR.. Godfrey
Miller, of Winchester, and Drs. SummcrviHe
and Lewis, of Clarke county, who decided
that internal hemorrhage was the cause of
death. THE ball entered above the right hip
bone, passed entirely through the body, and
lodged in the left leg, four inches above the
knee.
The verdict of the Coroner's jury was that
Clinton Little came to his death from pistol
shot fired with premedi,ation\by his brother,
Lycurgus Little.
1t is said that Oscar Little borrowed pis-
tol from his neighbor COL Dearmont. on Sat-
urday morning, remarking that they were
going to have "a shooting ma Itch" at his house.
Col. ID. suspected nothing, as Some of Che
brothers were known to be experts with the
pistol, and he supposed they meant to prac-
tice at target.
Clinton Little was buried on Sunday after
noon Rev. Mr.. Carson. of Winchester, Off
ciatin, Mt the funeral, which was largely at
tended by citizens of Winchester and the ad.
joining country.
The wounded are recovering as rapidly as
could be expected. Mrs. Little's wound is
the most serious, the injuries of the others,
with the exception of Oscar, being chiefly
bruises about the head, received from the
dubbed pistols in the hands of the comba tants
1t was reported on Monday that Lycurgus
had committed suicide in the Jail at Berry
vile. The statement was incorrect, however,
and probably arose from the fact that he had
made such an attempt on Saturday. He had
obtained a bottle of morphine by soue means,
and DIR. Love, who was one of the first phy-
sicians called in, had severe struggle with
him for its possession.
correspondent of the Baltimore Gazette,
writing from Winchester, says:
The father of this family, Franklin Little,
is extensively engaged in business in Wash>
ington city, and is known as an industrious
and honest man. The home of his family has
always been one of comfort and plenty his
farm large and productive, having on it large
and handsoms stone house, which has lately
been reftted aud ,nodcrnizcd. In the place
of the old roof there is now handsome Man-
sard, and the old staircase has been replaced
by spiral one. In its whole arrangement,
internal and external, the premises present an
air of comfort and thrift, much of which is
due to the energy and exertions of Clinton
Little, who was SO cruelty murdered.
This property, we learn, came to the family
through Mrs. Little, and had been owned by
her people for upwards of seventy years.