The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-02-11
THE YraL.Nrrs.
-tteinpted Lynching OF Elijah Gibbs
His Statement OF the Affasr.
TFrom the Denver Tribune, January 80. y

TIE attack on the house. oil klllan GiDDs
tried and acquitted Of the murder of Geo.
Harrington. iaJane last. by vigtlantes,
and rumor had it, that after desperate
struggle, iHwhieh two men were killed
and others wounded, Gibbs was hnaIiy
secured and hung.
Contrary to this rumor, however, EllJah
Gibbs, accompanied by Lewis Sllhlaila,
and Justice A. Il. Cowafl. arrived IN THIS
city Thursday evening last. and at once
proceeded 20 the house of w. Il. Lambert,
a friend of Gibbs. a brother, William
Gibbs, came as far as Plum Station. and
there stopped TO visit some friends. Later
in The evening, Elijah Gibbs, fearing that
some of the pursuing vigilantes might be
In Denver and attempt his life, he applied
for and received lodging at the county jail.
Tod v be has been about the streets with
his fir ends, and need fear no harm here.
Our reporter obtained the following
history Of the midnight attack. trial and
journey TO this city, which is full of inter-
est and excitement.
Last Friday night | went to bed about
9o'clock, and by The advice of my physi-
chm took a sweat. for severe cold which
had settled upon my lungs. About IL
O'Clock, when the sweat was pouring off
from me like rain. he-rd the footsteps of
men approaching tire house. They did
not knock or kick at the door, but made
cons derable noise outside, and finally one,
whose voice | instantly recognized as
being that of Berry, an enemy of mine,
cried out, : Is Gibbs at home? replied
that was, whe.i Berry said, Come out, |
want to see YOU wont it do just as
well in the morning.? Come over then
and will talk with yon.' At once the
reply came, No, we want you, and will
have you; we'll give you ten minutes TO
come out To this | made no reply, and
in a few seconds, again the same man
spoke and said, SWe'H give You fifteen
minutes to come out with your family. Ii
you don't come we will burn you and your
family up with the house TO this L
made no reply, and in less than three min
utes, they commenced to pile up stall
against the north side of the house.
al Immediately stepped back, and with
water put out the fire in the open CHM
nev, so that the inside of the house should
be perfectly dark. | then endeavored, as
best could, 60 prevent the women from
CRYING and screaming. Going 10 the bed,
| took my rifle and two pistols, and pre-
pared to give battle. The rifle was one OF
Gove's Improved Remington's, the pistols
were dragons. While they were attempt
ing to fire the house, | tried to pick out
some chinking, so that could get shot,
but the logs had probably settled, and
held the climbing too firmly. Failing Il
this, by turns watched at the windows on
the west and south side of the house, in
the meantime endeavoring TO ascertain by
the light outside and by the voices, who
were the party, and especially who were
the leaders. If | had TO die, intended to
have parting shot at one of the last
When the fire-wood, which was piled up
against the north side OF the house, wa;
burning brightly, it lit up the place out
side, and showed TO me perfectly and plain
ly the face and person of John ID. Coon
who was directing the movements Of 9th
ers. The men were standing close TO the
west window, out of which [ was peering
and waited for them to step little to one
side, that might have a clear range.
brought my rifle to nv shoulder. with the
muzLle close TO the window. Coon, be-
ing an old mountaineer, must have seen
the flash of the light on the barrel. for he
instantly dropped out ofsight, and the two
men. directly before me, in such posi-.
ton that could have killed both at one
shot Will the Remington, stepped to one
side so that could not shoot them.
Owing to the logs of the house being
old and rotten, every effort of the devils TO
fire them proved fruitless. They also at
tempted to fire the house in several places,
but did not succeed.
"Exasperated by their failure, they moved
around to the south side, where were the
only door and a window-bOarded mp.
but with wide chinks between the
boards. At this window | stood, and
through it could see them piling up straw
and wood against the old way of exit from
the house.
LAS protection to their bodies while de-
ing this fiendish work, they had taken my
stallion from the stable and placed him
close to the door, and between the window
aud themselves. When they had gathered
a pile about six feet high, one OF them,
whom have since been informed was
Sam Boone, stopped, struck match, and
was about to light the straw, when | put
nv pistol up to one of the cracks and fired.
He dropped upon the ground, and cried
out, &Oys, he's got me- At the shot,
the horse sprung to one side and there
stood number of men with their guns to
their shoulders ready to fire. | instantly
fired again. and struck two men in the
legs. Both slipped and fell upon the ice,
which surrounded the house (the ditch had
broken and flooded the yard previously,
and as one went down his gun went Off,
and another man dropped. | understood
this man was Dave Boone, and that did
not shoot him is patent in the fact that
had no shotgun, and it is said tifty-fOur
buck shot were taken out of his body.
= Scared probably by The rapidity of the
shots, thinking there might be more Than
one man in the house, and by the terrible
execution in the dropping of four COM
rades. the remainder of the men .rOke and
ran off in a nOrtherly direction from the
house AS they skedaddled. | caught
sight of Coon. and as he was jumping the
fence drew bead on him with the Rem
ington and fired. think the ball struck
his pistol. for heard il strike something
metallic, AMI Coon Jumped into the air
about two feet, bur ran off, evidently not
injured. | counted eleven thus relreating.
A portion had gone about fifty yards,
when they stopped and cried out to their
companions in advance: Hold up! We
must take him now, having gone so far
They stood celebrating, when told the
folks There were then in the house nv
wife. enceinte. and about to be delivered,
my three children, Mrs. Hutchinson and
her child, | could save their lives by at
tempting TO reach fathers, about half a
mile away, and possibly my own.
Ptering out once more saw
the head of man, who
WAS lying in a wagon-bed about forty
yards from the house. Turning | bid
them all good by, opened the door, when
the straw and wood came tumbling into
the house. Jumped the pile and started
on a keen run for the wagon, feeling that
| had TO kill the m n there concealed or be
killed by him, as must pass by the place.
Imagine my surprise and CONSERVATION TO
find him gone. Instantly my dangerous
condition flashed across me, for | knew
then that he, while was bidding my folks
good by had jumped from the wagon
behind the hay-slack close by. backed
away from the wagon, keeping my eyes
fixed upon that stack. knowing that was
between him and the fire, which was burn
ing on the north side of the house. | sue
cegdcd in getting out of close range. and
then ran around and in the direction of nv
fathers house, which | reached. having
nothing upon me but my shirt and my
! .l,se =, 4 l.