San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-07-20
The Case of Geo. w. Petty.

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The Case of Geo. w. Petty.
Our readers will recollect that We
not long since noticed that the jury in
the case of Geo. W. Petty, formerly ol
this vicinity, on trial in Kansas, found
him guilty of murder in the first de-
gree, but the Governor commuted his
sentence into Imprisonment for life
We copy the following interesting ac-
count of the case from the correspond.
enceIof the St. Louis Globe Democrat
Aside from its local interest. it is
really quite an interesting and roman.
tic story, serving further to show that
truth is sometimes not less strange
than fiction ED. FREE PRESS.
1.-THE case Of the State of Kansas vs.,
Geo. W. Petty, for the shooting Of
Robert Clark. on the Verdigris River,
near Greenwood City, in Pleasant
Grove township, on the 9th day of
May, 1866, presents some of the most
interesting features from legal and
moral standpoint, probably, Of any.
thing on record, showing, as it does,
the remarkable tenacity Of boy in
his search for the murderer Of his fa-
ther-for when the deed was commit.
ted he was barely twelve years Of age.
Commendable as it may seem with the
evidence elected. all the circumstances
bearing upon the case Of such Pc
culiar nature, involving the life of q
fellow. creature, it all seeming to be
the outgrowth OF the prevailing sen'i-
ment in times like those days which
tried mems souls" Geo. w. Petty
came to this State from Missouri about
the year 1857, young man Of good
habits, bearing the reputation of an
honest, fair minded man, as one Of its
pioneers, bringing with him his little
family, to brave the wilds and make
for them a home where they should
spend the useful years of their life.
Surrounded as he was by the strolling
bands of Indians, hostile as they were,
such hardship can not easily be i'm
agined by one who has not felt the ne
cesslty of spending more time with
his rife than at devotion, and retiring
to bed with only such consolation as a
perfect trust in Providence and a we'll
primed six shooter would give. Petty
had lived quietly with his neighbors,
until the breaking out of the war,
when he went into the army of the
Confederacy, serving as an officer on
Gen. Prices staff, burying his wife
here just before leaving, and erecting
to her memory modest slab to mark
her last resting place. He had had
some differences with Clark concern
ing politics, and while living in Texas
on his farm, at the close Of the war,
Petty was informed by one of his for
mer neighbors that the stone at his
wife's grave had been broken, and
Clark, who was a stone mason, was
8 cen coming from that direction with
a stencil ammer, and that the neigh |
bors, suspecting the object of Clark's
visit to that vicinity, had offered to
raise the funds for a new gravestone il
be Clark would replace it, to which |
he replied that be would not please |
Mr.. Petty to that extent, thereby sig
nifying his disregard of the pleasure Of
the neighborhOod in the matter. This
was not admitted as competent evi
dence at the trial. however. but was
certainly enough to quicken the blood
IF any man. and was generally under
stood to be the circumstance which
would naturally lead to the presence
If Petty in the State at this tine.
Mrs. Clark testified that on Sunday
Ifternoon, as she was nursing one Of
Ter twins and her husband was sitting
q the door rocking the cradle which
,ontained the other. three men. strang
r.. evidently "bashuhaekers." cane =