The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1878-04-12
A LAWYERS vILLAINy.
Hiring Kentucky Outlaw for Diaboii-
cal Purpose e-Jilted BY Fascinating
widow-The Ineendiary's Doom
Two Hapless Tramps limo
Gently Hung.

e the paltry sum of two hundred an
f twenty-five dOllars?"
f "But, Ralph, it is only arsOn?"
? eyes, you want me to set fire
r a building occupied by four people
Under the laws of Kentucky this is
capital offence, Mr.. WOolman; and &
| do not yet wish to shuttle off tn
mortal coil, beg to he excused"
"But, Ralph, they will never cate
you. Let me look out for that"
II don't want even to go to tn
Penitentiary at Frank fort, Mr.. Wool
man. | was there for two years, ant
got nearly starved to death, not t
count the number of flOggings whicl
| received for the most trifiing infrac
tiOus of the terrible prison regula
tons"
'I4et us come to an understanding
Ralph. How much do you want fO
the iob?"
"Two thousand dollars: Mr.. Wool
| man,
care you crazy, Ralph?"
81 am as sane as any bOdy..I won
take a cent less. If you won't give
ME the two thousand in advance"
''In advanced"
"Ies, in advance, Mr.. WOolman.
Don't take me for fool. Two thous
and dollars is a small sum for yOu.i
This deIectable conversation took
| place i'll the office of Jared WOolman;
a wealthy lawyer, of Bowling Green,
kentucky, between 9 and 10 \. NJ, on
| the 18th day of May, 1889, between
WOoIman and BENJAMIN Ralph, 4
seedy and decidedly desperate looking
man of thirty.
This man Ralph was one of the
worst young outlaws in Kentucky.
He had committed at least three
murders, but had always escaped con-
viction owing to the insuf1iciency OF
! the evidence against him.
For rhorse-stealing he had served Il
| term of two years in the PenitentiaIy,
| where he had behaved very badly,
| and, in consequence, had been treated
| by the prison authorities with mark
| ell severity.
On the present occasion he Offered
| WOolman, who was Il very mean,
| cOwardly villain, to set fire to the
| house of the widow Smalls, a very
| handsome woman, for two thousand
| dollars.
Why did Woolman want this most
infamous incendiury acttO be commit
ted? simply because the widow
Snalls had rejected his proposals OF
| marriage. He was a VOluptuaTy OF
the worst kind, and the buNom
charms of Mrs. Smalls had in1lamed
his unbridled passions.
When Mrs. Smalls had tcld him
that she would not marry him, be-
cause she WAS engaged To Valentine
DonOhue, an Irish merchant, the law
yer had sworn to himself that he
would ruin her i'll order to prevent
her from becoming another mans
wife.
With fiendish ingenuity he had con-
ceived the following plan: y distant
cousin of his had, an insurance agent,
prevailed, at his solicitation, upon
Mrs. Smalls to insure her house for u
very large sum. Careless about bust
ness matters, the widow had filled out
the papers without reading them.
Woolmau- had also managed to get in
to the widows cellar a quantity of
rags saturated with oil, &c, without
her knowledge. Ralph was to enter
the house at night and set fire 10 the
cOmbIistibleG,
In Mrs. Smalls' house lived beside
herself her aged mOther-ln-law, Mrs.
BocOck, and the latter's two spinster
daughters, Betsey and Jane. Wool
man thought if they all of them per-
ish in the conflagratiOn, well and
good. If they are saved Mrs. Smalls
will he prQseGuted for arson with e.
cry chance of her speedy conviction.
fRalph's demand seemed eXorbi-
tant to the lawyer. After higgling
about the price for a long time the
outlaw agreed to take fifteen hun
dred dollars for the diabolical deed,
and Woodman paid him the sum in
Observation-Disclosures notes.
RIph promised to do the 'job" at11
o'clock that night.
At that late hour the villain ap-
preached furtively Mrs, Smalls'
house, very fine frame building ly-
ing in splendid garden. The night
was very dark and the inmates of Mrs.
Smalls' house had all gone to their
beds.
Only the two slaves, married cOu-
pie, who were living in a big log cab
in, situated in one corner of the gar
den, at a distance of one hundred
yards Gf theiF mistress' house, were
still awake.
But they were singing some old
plantation ditties, and had no idea
that a villain bent upon a diabolical
deed was stealing up to the house.
Ralph cautiously CROPPED his way to
the cellar door, which, by the light of
a dark lantern, he broke open with a
jimmy, with the celebrity of
An EXPERIENCED CRAFTSMAN.
He easily found the combustibles,
and lighting match, flung it among
them.
But now something decidedly uneX-
pected took place. The combustibles
were Immediately in a blaze, and soon
the flames surrounded the inccndiary
on all sides.
He Mas umbfqunded with terror,
and i'll his inteiise agitation he edrOpned
the dark lantern. \ few seconds la
ter he tried to make his escape, but
the wall of fire around him rendered
this impossible.
Then he began shouting at the top
of his lungs;
"Help! heln!1
But snOn the dense smoke choEed
his yoine, his clothes caught fire, and,
soon aftcFward all that remained of
him was disgusting, shapeless black
mas.
His cries, however, had been heard
by Mrs. Smalls' two slaves. They
hurried to the house, and soon dis
covered that there was fire i'll the eel
lat
They woke up their mistress, and
she, with Mrs. Rocock and her daugh
tcFs, escaped from the house just as
the flames reached IL.
\ few minutes sufficed to convert
the elegant frame building into
\ MASS OF sMoLDERING RUINS.
All Wing Green speedily gathered
round the scene Of cohflagration, and
Mrs. Smalls' grief over the destruction
qf her property excited general COM
ptiseratipIi.
AT day break the reputation of the
town became still more excited, the
chaFred remains of Ralph having
been found in the cellar.
Then a search was made for suspi
cious characters, and two traIips who
were found in the neighboring wood,
were arrested.
Their hands were blackened from
sonic cause or olheE, Aqq al 4AuS4al-
" large SnIhnber Of matches We're
! found upon their persons.
They gave their names as Nathan
Drain end Calvin Bennett, but their
| ANSWERS WeIc generally 50 vague AID
evasive that every body believed that
| they bad set fire TO the house of Mrs,
| Smads,
4