Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1873-02-05
ARROW ROCK INcENDIARIEs.
Two White Men and q Negro Arrested.
ConfcsSion-~One Hung and Two In
h LGxingtcn Jalt.

tho Ldxingtcn Jalt.
The dinbolioal attempt 10 burn tile town oil
Arrow Rock, the particulars OF which we
published from the Sui,ne DcIz0crat two
weeks ago, aroused the citizens or that town
TO the most iuteus, degree of excitement.
Notwithstanding theit efforts 10 discover
some clue to: thegu ilty parties. 1t seems that
they entirely failed even to fix nny well
grounded suspicious, yet morally Sure that
the guilty parties must be still among them
In this emergency 4 portion OF the citizens
secretly sent for and obtained the services Of
u first rate detective, WIN ca,nr among them
representing himself as an insurance agent.
which In Tact he was. and proceeded to
work up the casu. In n few days, Clark
Coincr, an old hit worthless citizen, was
arrested. and by threats and proniseS to
spare his life from tho excited tow people.
he was Induced to make Il co ufcssion of the
whole III .iness.
Coincr and JOHN Sweeney kept n low
whisky saloon on the outskirts or tho town.
Reuben Elder. y negro barber. came to them
with Il scheme fnr~menopu!!zin'- the business
of the town, each in his own line. by burn
ing out all others, including tho stores
where liquor was sold. II appears that
Sweeney had made the proposition before.
but 1t fell through. In this case, shingles
were'split up AMI we'll saturated with coal
oil In the saloon. aud the parties sailed out
and set Ore first to n rival saloon down town,
where d dry goods box was put over the
blaze ID conceal the light. The fire was
kii,,ilcd by Sweeney while Co;her put the
boS over it. They next proceeded to the
Seminary. aud a fire was kinalcd under the
stairway, where the wood was kept, by
some shavirGs. laths and coal oil. The Arr
can Baptist churcl, was then set on fire by
building, designated as Fort Sumpter. was
broken into and 4 fire kiudle,l In the middle
Of the floor with l.ths pulled from the waits.
The ~incendiarics then ran to their saloon,
waiting for the alarm, which soon came,
when they Sailed cut with their guns along
with other citizens, ani in his way com.
pletcly waraed of suspicion from them
selves.
This is about til" substance OF Golfers
confession, in which he lays the blame
Chiefly on his partner Sweeney. lie is said
to lie Il weak minded man, anil that Sweo-
ncy could likely have moulded him to any
purpose. Sweeney was arrested. but denied
any participation in the affair. but that Col
ner had done tie work with his own hands.
No one believed his statement. yet from his
own confession as well as Coiner's, lie had =
full knowledge of the business. The citizens
in charge took him TO the river. n hole was
cut in the lee, and Sweeney was ducked two
or three times lie still refused 10 tell any
thing further. when it was evident that he
had lied in his disjoIntcd statement. On
wednesday night last. the parties who
were detailed a> n guard took charge OF him.
and the next mornings SIN slone upon all
that was mortal OF John Sweeney swinging
to the limb of a tree near the State road, !;
short distance west of the town limits Of Ar
row Rock.
Naturally a~pprehensions were felt by the
leading ~cstizens that their pledge to Coinar
for his personal safety. if he confessed to all
he knew of the matter. might be violated.
ant he and thc negro Elder were sent to
Marsl. oil in Il hurry. Subsequently it was
ucterm,. 1ed to send them out of the county
for safe keeping until they coalt have fair
and legal trial. They arrived here on Friday
via brownsville. In charge of Col. j. II. Ca
son and Mr.. Sail [. Au!gur, and placed in
the Lexington Jail.
Oar thanks are dIle Col. Cason and Mr..
Aulgur for tire facts above narrated.