The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1878-09-05

into his heart. The blood spurted upol
the walls and dabbled the aoor. ''Die,
was all Beauehamp said And he died
The assassin was followed by an cage
crowd of pursuer5. Captured, arrested
I he was brought back and tried. HI
was sentenced to be executed. His wifi,
remained with him to the last. She
made no attempt at concealins
! the fact that she instigated anC
urged on the assassination. She
/ gloried in it, and secuted at the threats
of indicting her as accessory before the
/ fact. The night before the execution
she procured an ounce vial of laudanum
and persuaded her husband to cheat the
gallows if he could. The laudanum
was divided. She swallowed one-half.
Then they knelt and prayed. They
sang for Joy; they shouted that their
sins had been forgiven and in a delirium
of ecstasy reused the other inmates of
the prison. The poison did not work.
She swore that she would starve herself
to death, die with her husband, and be
buried in the same coffin.
June 5, 1926, was a great day in
Frankfort. The city was thronged to
see the last of j. o. Beauchamp. The
black and ominous gibbet was erected
on a hilltop near by. The drums beat
mournful dirges from an early hour.
At IL o'clock Mrs Beauchamp told the
taller to leave her for q few moments
with her husband. The iailer left, but
was soon recalled by deep groans from
their cell. He returned and found them
both welteringin blood. They had stab
bed themselves with q knife the wife
had concealed. His wound was not
fatal. His wife soon expired. Beau
champ was carried to her bedside as
her life's blood was ebbing fast. He
felt her pulse. Farewell, child of sor-
row; farewell, victim Of persecution and
misfortune! You are now safe from the
tongue of SANDER. For you I've lived,
for YOU I'll de-" He kissed her lips;
he was ready.
The blood was trickling from his
wounds. He was too weak to sit up, so
they laid him in o covered wagon and
hauled him to the gallows. = -
lie waved his hands to the ladies,
whose weeping eyes cheered him with
sympathy and consolation. They were
compelled to help him get on his coffin.
He was too weak to sit upon it unsup-
ported.
''Give me some water. Let the
drums play 'Bonapart's Retreat from
Moscow were his last words.
They buried the self-murdered wife
and the executed husband IN the same
coffin, folded in each others arms.
Even in death they are not divided.
Their grave is at Bloomfield, Ky,
marked by modest shaft. Before her
death Mrs Beanchamp wrote the follow
ing epitaph, which was engraved on the
tombstone of the misguided pair:
Entombed below in each others arms
The husband and the wife repose;
Safe from hfe's never ending storms,
Secure from all their cruel foes.
A child of evil fate she lived
4 villains wiles her peace had crossed
The husband of her heart revived
The happiness she long had lost.
He heard her tale of matchless woe,
And burning for revenge arose;
He laid her base betrayer low,
And struck diSnay to virtue foes.
Reader, if honOrs generous blood
Fer warmed thy heart, here drop tear,
And let the sympathetic Hood
Deep in thy mind its traces wear.
\ brother or a sister thou
DiShonOrcd see thy sister dear;
Then turn and see the villain low,
And let fall Il grateful tear.
Daughters of virtue grant the tear,
That love and hOnur's tomb may claim.
In your defense the husband here
Laid down III youth his life and fame.
His wife diSdained life fOTlorn,
Reft from her heart beloved lord;
Then, reader, here their fortunes mourn,
VINO for their love their Likelihood poured.
The excitement over the fate OF
Beauchamp and the tragic ending Of
his wife has lent to the tragedy a roman
tic halo, and some years since, John
Savage, a New York journalist and play
writer, worked the leading incidents of
the affair into n drama entitled "The
Sybil," which however, was performed
only twice, Sharpe's son got out an
injunction at Louisville against the per-
formance of the piece, and succeeded in
suppressidg it entirely.
Were the tragedy to occur in these
days, it is very doubtful if Beauchamp
would have ever felt the halter draw.