Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-06-08

| OF the murderer, and found him back In the
| engine-room seated on a box, quietly smoking
cigarette. | asked him why he had killed
| Bachman, TO which he replied;
''HE TOLD ME HE WAS GOING TO FIN Me
| when he was coming down, and thought
| would get ahead OF him" told MIN he had
committed most brutal and cowardly act,
| and If 1t became known among the passen-
gers the prospects were good for his being
mobbed. This seemed to alarm Dixon, and
ne lost his cop'pcsGre, and began supplicat-
ing nc NOT to allow him to be mobbed, beg
glng me to protect him. ARREST me, he
said, land carry me back to NIcksburg, and
put me In Jail; | want to have far trial;
don't let me be mobbed." | marched him up
the aft gangway into the cabin, aud locked
hIm up securely in one of the state rooms.
He manifested great
AtPhEHESsfoNs or BEING MOBBED,
but the passengers; though terribly shocked
at the brutal manner of the murder, re-
strained their feelings within the bounds of
moderation, being assured by me that had
turned back toward Vicksburg In order to
turn the murderer over to the officers of the
law. On arrival at Vicksburg Dixon was ar
raigned before the mayor on the charge of
murder, but preliminary examination was
waived, and he was committed to jail with
out bail. A coroner inquest was held on the
remains of the dead man, at which the par
ticulars above related were detailed by the
various witnesses examined, and verdict
rendered
CHARGING DIXON WITH THE MURDER.
Dixon remained in prison until the meeting
of the crImincl court, which occurred about
a week or ten days after the murder, before
which he was indicted and tried for murder
in the first degree. He had the advantage
of the ablest counsel In the State OF Missis
sippi, but the evidence was so positive as to
the brutal nature of his crime that it availed
him nothing. Even the plea of insanity,
which his counsel urged with zeal and abil
ity worthy Of better cause, could not be
sustained, and on the second day of February
the Jury returned verdict of guilty of muir
der in the first degree. A motion for a new
trial was overruled, and Judge Young pro-
nounced the sentence of death upon him, set
ting the day of execution the twenty-seventh
of March, 1878. An appeal was entered to
the supreme court when writ of superse-
IDEAS was issued postponing the execution I'M
til such time as the supreme court may set,
or otherwise rule in the case.
THE PRISONER.
Your correspondent yesterday visited the
prisoner at the Jail, and through the courtesy
of the jailer, Dixon was permitted to come
out of his cell into the Enclosure, where he
took a seat beside us on the pile of lumber of
which his scaffold is to be constructed. Dixon
is a small, compactly built man, rather below
the medium hight; his hands and feet are
small and well shaped; little black, piercing
eyes with bullying lids, with a countenance
wearing the expression of cunning and brutal
courage. His face is large, features coarse
and repulsive.
BRIEF SKETCH OF HIS LIFE.
After formal introduction we made our
business known, at which Dixon seemed to
be pleased for having been allowed the OPP
portunity to talk about himself. To our in
terrogations he gave quick, frank responses.
He gave the following brief sketch of his life:
my name is William NOLAN, Dixon being
an assumed name. | was born in the city Of
New Orleans, and l was twenty-five years old
on Wednesday, Apri! 18th, 1878. My father
died when | was seven years old. | have
mother who keeps grocery on the corner of
Gravier and Bertrand streets In New Orleans
My two sisters, both younger than myself,
live with my mother. | have brother who
is respectable shoemaker at Biloxi, Missis-
sippi. He has visited me once since my i'm
prisonment, but he is too poor to give me any
money or assist me In any way. | have led
very wild aud wicked life. At the age of
eight years | was placed in the house of
refuge at New Orleans, because mother was
unable to keep me at home or make me go to
school. |
ESCAPED FROM THE HOUSE OF REFUGE
about six monthssafter my confinement, and
hired myself to the cook of a steamboat. |
have always been addicted to strong drink,
to which | attribute my worst misfortunes.
Since | arrived at the age of thirteen years
year has not passed over my head without
my having been IN prison once, twice. or
three times, generally for fighting, but some
times for assault with intent to Kill; once or
twice on charges of larceny. had just served
out eleven months of a term of two years in
no fOr
captain, when | came to Vicksburg, the gov
ernor of that State having pardoned me out.
had not been here three hours before [ got
berth as deck sweep on the steamer Fair
Play" Dixon then, recounted the particulars
of the murder of Bachnlan, and the causes
which led to it, relating the incidents with a
careless air, as If he was pleased with the
manner in which he had served his victim.
Said he: The peddler told me he was 60
ing to fix me, and
THOUGHT 1 D FIX HIM FIRST"
asked him if he did not regret the killing of
Bachnan. He said he was sorry now; that
the Sisters of Mercy and some of the Catholic
priests of Vicksburg had been to see him fire.
quently; that he had gone to confession, and
received the sacrament In anticipation of
death. He confessed his guilt, and thought
that his crime merited the extrame penalty of
the law, but he would like to have his SEN
tence committed to Imprisonment for life on
account of his mother. He stated that he
has been terribly prosecuted by phantoms of
the murdered man, which often appeared to
him IN his cell all bloody and battered, as did
the remains of
POOR BACHMAN
on the night of the eighth of last December,
when he murdered him. He also related a
dream he had a short time after his incarcera-
ton in the Vicksburg jail. He SAID that he
saw himself and three of his early compan
ions in crime taken out of Jail with halters
around their necks; they were made to sit
down on their respective cotfins while the
workmen hammered away in the erection of
the scaffold on which they were to be hanged
He SAID that the agony he experienced under
the influence of this dream was unspeakably
intense. Since that dream, however, he
stated, he has received the consultations of
religion, and now ne has no care or concern
about his condition or the fate that awaits
him; he eats heartily, sleeps well, and tries
to be as little trouble to his friends as possi-
bic He made some complaint of
THE HARD PRISON FARE,
remarking pleasantly that he thought it was
customary to treat and feed man well just
few days before he got his neck broke. A
remarkable circumstance attending Dxon's
incarceration, is the fact that two abandoned
women had been constant visitors to his cell,
coming every day, always bringing some del
icacy to eat or drink. Dixon talked freely
and carelessly of his approaching doom, and
was anxious that good report of his con-
duct On the last moment would be made.
He remarked that it was a great relief to be
allowed ID sit in the open air: that the close
cell he occupied was suffocatlng We babe
him good bye, promising to see him on the
day of his execution, when, if he had any,
thing additional to say, we would make re-
port of it for him.
Assaulted by Strikers.
QUEBEC, June THE striking laborers,
II N, Lumbar of Et,n hnndroh fnrnnl H.