The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1876-06-21

Lafayette Ray, Of Hancock county,
| who is confined in Jail at Rogersvile,
charged with the murder of George Nc
| Neill at Sneedville, about the first of
June, was brought before Judge McKin-
| ney on Saturday on a writ of habeas cor
pus, and an application made for bail
for the prisoner. Several witnesses were
| examined in the interest of Ray. The
| State had no witnesses present. 1t so
happened that the Judge was present at
the COroner's inquest over the dead body
of young Mcneil, and heard the testi-
mony in favor of the prosecution. He
took judicial cogniZance of what he
heard on that occasion, and hence, al
though all the testimony adduced on
Saturday went to exculpate Ray, the
Judge remanded him to Jail under the
charge of murder in the first degree. He
stated, however, that he would hold the
case open for further proof, and the
prisoner should have the benefit of any
testimony or any circumstances that
could be brought forward in his favor.
There seems to be mystery about the
murder of Mcneil, If he was murdered
at all, which will probably never be
cleared up. Some young men about
Sneedville were on spree. They were
in the habit of getting on wild sprees.
On the night of killing three or four of
them went into Brooks grocery with
three abandoned women. They called
for whisky and drank it. They en-
yloyed negro fiddler, and had music
and dancing. They ate oysters, drank
more whisky, and had q rOusing, drunk
en- frolic. George Mcneil came in while
the mad orgies were at their highest.
He took a drink, bought pint of whis- |
ky, which he put in his pocket, and |
talked in friendly way with the boys; |
and then he left the grocery. The wild |
jewellers then retired to vacant lot in |
rear Of Brooks stable. Some town boys |
yelled at them and they fired at the boys. |
The shots were answered by other shots /
from the streets, and it seems that live
ly skirmish was kept up by the two par
ties fer some time, but no one was hurt.
About midnight the village became
quiet; the firing had ceased and the
streets were deserted. The bar-keeper
had closed his doors; the negro fiddler
had crept into a stable loft TO sleep. Mr..
Brooks, in passing from the grocery to
his house, saw some one walking slowly
along on the opposite side of the street.
He thought it was Mcneil and spoke,
g George, is that yOu?" Yes, it is !"
and he passed on toward his fathers |
store. In few minutes Ray and the
young men who were with him ordered
their horses from the stable and left the
town, taking the wretched women with
them. The negro fiddler in the stBble
loft heard a pistol shot; heard the
screams of a wounded man, and then all
was still again. The next morning at
daylight George MCNEIL was found in
The counting-rOo of his fathers store,
lying. A pistol ball had passed entire
" through his body, entering on the
eft side it had come out through his
/ Il, - h swn,k IL fa1 1
short time after being discovered, and
aid that LAFAYETTE Ray, or another man,
whose name he mentioned, had shot him.
The theory of the prosecution seems
% be about this: George Mcneil was
standing on the side of the street, near
he store alone, when Ray and his COM
,anions rode by, and as they passed the &
atal shot was fired. After being wound
d he crept into the room and into his
,ed where he spent the remainder of ]
he night, slowly bleeding to death. The
lefence say he shot himself, and that
Ray is innocent. In support
# this theory they say McNeill's pistol
vas found in the closet of the counting
Dom, one chamber empty, and showing
signs of having been re- {
emily fired, while the bail which was :
Ound in his bed correspondent exactly i
nth the remaining loads in the pistol. {
,esides this he was intoxicated, and was, 8
therefore,, likely to be careless and awk- e
yard in handling the weapon.
The real, whole truth of the sad affair
I'LL perhaps never be known. George
dead and cannot tell. But one thing C
re do know, whisky was the cause of it r
II. Had those young men been sober +
hey would not have been in such bad @
Ompany. They would not have been P
, reckless IN the use of pistols. They a
rOuld have been at their fathers houses a
sleep in their beds, and all would have
cen well with them.
The miserable women who had been G
ngaged in the shameless dance of the
light, in company with the boys, were
AIKEN next morning, dashed to trees on
he Square and publicly whipped with a
Perhaps no good reason
ould be given why this should not have
cen done. Perhaps no good reason =
ould be given why they should not have =
cen taken to the river and pitched head =
0ng into the deep water with a heavy
tone about their necks. They, and all v
Ike them, are only foul and disgusting
ores on the body of society. The world
TouId be better off without them, or
heir kind. But who made them so?
Who is responsible for their fall, their
isgrace and their utter ruin for time
nd eternity? Those who led the poor Z
7retches to moral death and eternal
are, before God, equally Z
utility. Society may smile and say the G
utility men are only sowing 50 wild oats;' L
hey will come of these wild pranks af- T
er while, settle down, marry and make
God citizens and honorable men. But,
n the eyes of God, they are guilty, too; r
nd when the miserable, ruined woman I
oes to hell, as she WILL and perhaps
ught, her partner in the foul sin will be 4
lose behind, and the devil will take as 4
much fiendish delight in picking him up
nth his red-hot tOngs and sOuzing him
nto blazing, boiling cauldron of melt
d birthstone, as he will in pitching the
1uirming woman into the same place.