The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-03-21
A cool MURDERER.
TINE MURDEKER Or SEVENTEEN MEN
HUNG AT ROME, GEOMGIA.


HUNG AT ROME, GEO MGIA.
How me rsed to find Bait when ne
went Fishing I'm tho Ears Of
Horse Thief.
Gus johnson, of Georgia, white, hung al
Rome, Georgia, last Friday for the murder Of
an old colored man, seems to have been as
choice a specimen OF o SCOundrel as ever
known. Johnson boosted Of having killed
seventeen men,. Some of his murders were
quite worthy 81 place In the Newgate calen-
dar. The following La description Of some
of bis exploits as furnished by himself
At q camp meeting some OF the. boys
persuadssd, little negro babX Just learning to
told him to stop once or twice, but Without
effect, then to stop him picked him up by
Thu. heels and dashed his brains out against a
rock | then turned to the boys and told them
IL tytls all their fault, and that they had better
pick out some other man to play their jokes
oh the next time Finding the. dead body at
tho old camp meeting ground the next morn
ing cut it and baited my trout line with 1t.
It made damned good bait. too
His next crime was committing Q rape In
Barlow county. On this trial he pleaded in
sanity and proved that it was hereditary In
the family, an own aunt OF his having been
declared unsound in mind. They further
one from q ginshot and one from o Lick on the
head with d rock, which were liable to cause
Insanity After going 10 the asylum be was
made a trtlsty and soon effected his escape.
AZ A.ftsrward he was heard to say repeatedly
found no difficulty In making. his escape, that
1T was d damned good way" to get out of
trouble and II he was eyer arrested again he
could use II on the people In court, SO that he
would be- sent to the asylum again. His next
murder was one Of Che most unhumar, and
nnfeeling ones ON record. Mr.. Wheeler. In
n DhattoOga county bud o horse stolen and Of
y feTed $2b reward for the horse and $26 for the
thief; few days after the reward was Of
tIe horse and claimed the reward. After set
tllnR about the reward for the horse, johnson
demanded the reward for tho thief, showing
hat with two bullet holes through 1t, and pull
nE human ear from IN s s vest p. pocket he
you that ! have killed him. here Is his ear and
his hat" A day or two afterward dead
body was found in O small creek In Chat
tooga county, near tho Alabama line, with a
cut open and the ear cut off. Mr.. Wheeler be-
ing called on produced the ear that johnson
had given him. and Ii Was found to fib the
head Of the dead body exactly. Ills last muir
! dgl, end the one that he was tried for, was for
in Floyd county. The circumstances were
Hs follows: He came TO the ferry drunk
sarld called to the negro TO bring over the
ferry. The negro replied that he would as
Ii the habit 81 taking sass from negro o.
and rnised double-barrelled shotgun and
shot the negro across the river, 100 feet wide,
Killing him almost instantly. Gus walked to
his brother i, n1-laws, and told him and several
no precaution to avoid arrest, except to go
heavily armed, he was not arrested for sew
aral weeks. At last he ventured to a log-roll-
Ing, where 200 or 800 men had gathered, he
ssays for the purpose Of seeing some friends of
AZ III Valley pay train off the track and rob 1t,
then go to Texas. When he came up his
friends advised him 70 leave telling him II he
sdid not AZ was certain to be arrested. He re-
4 section who arc anxious to commit suicide
nv attempting to arrest me-" They never
Ybheless arrested him, and he was tried and
Honnd guilty for this offense.
The murderer preserved his GOODNESS to
fsbe last. He entertained bis friends Thursday
evening BY mimicking the Atlanta sheriff,
sand telling racy jokes. He slept quietly,
having drank good deal. The priest spent
the morning with him. When ordered to go
unless they gave him morphine. Being fooled led
with quinine, he went out smoking cigar.
He joked Oil the way. with the sheriff and
smiled and nodded ut the bystanders. Reach
Ing I the scaffold he refused to 30 up till he
~ street evangelist approached him and |
asked him about his soul. The priest ordered |
the evangelist of. saying Johnson had
chosen him as his advisor. The evangelist
ctd so oen to big card on which was
sins, /, and said. aMr. Johnson this Is the i
line, and Withdrew. The cuprt went up
Che scaffold with O druken swagger, smoking
y cigar. After looking at the crowd he asked
snat the box BE- lifted from rom the coffin so he
good He then asked for the Judge that
him and told him his last request
vas for one more drink. The judge consented.
Enc priest handed him holy water. He tasted
,caffold. He said he. thought II was gin. he
hen made q speech In defiant way, con-
essed TO killing four men, and closed by say
llgs @Ihis crowd looks like straws In hay
tack tss. I wish somebody would count them If
adjustment Of the moose, but finally consented
q, they would lot him tic 1t himself He
le made confession. When he was
ti .st he again asked for it, and died
ession Of religion. He requested that the
lack cap be dispensed with When he saw
hat the drop was only FIVE feet he insisted
hat the rope should be heightened. 1t was
made seven feet. He then asked the doctor
that would break tho neck. He was very
much afraid OF strangulation.
II The drop fell at AS. He died In seventeen
minutes, by strangulation. In the confess
lon johnson said he knew he had friends in
he crowd prepared to rescue him. He said
here was no use In trying it. Several alleged
oIfessions were peddled about the grounds
fter the hanging. The crowd was estimated
T l5, 600 people Excursion trains ran from
ID quarters, There were few disturbances.
Crimson asked to be hung at II 80. He wanted
3 get to the next world by dinner time. He
nd q light breakfast.
LOUISIANA,
Lake Charles has new fire company.
We are sorry to learn that the cars may be