Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-09-04
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MORMONISM IN GEORGIA.
THE KILLING OF sTANDING-THE OTHER SIDE
.. OF THE STORY.

OF THE STORY.
DALTON, Ga, August 22.-Since so much
has been said about the Mormon murder in
north Georgia, by the press throug hout the
whole country, perhaps it might be we'll
enough to give to the readers of the Constitu.
tion little sketch or history of Joseph Stand
ing, that they may know something about his
character and the circumstances leading to
his murder on the 21st day Of July, 1879.
1t appears that Joseph Standing first made
his appearance in Walker county, and sue
ceeded in making arrangements to make his
headquarters at a widows house, the widow
having two grown daughters. After remain
ing there for while he succeeded in accom-.
plishing the ruin Of both of the young ladies.
After this he then removed to Catoosa county,
three miles from Varnell Station, and put up
with man by the name of Elledge, who re-
sided near the line of Whitfield county. El-
ledge's family was composed Of himself, wife,
two daughters and son-in-law. Pretty soon
after these arrangements were made Elledge
and his son.n. law obtained employment on
the Cincinnati railroad, near Chattanooga,
which caused them to be absent most Of the
time from their families. Joseph Standing
and companion, Clauslen, continued to remain
and make their headquarters at Elledges resi-.
dence, and very soon succeeded in converting
Mrs. Elledge and her daughters to the Nor
mon faith. Jane Elledge, the single daughter,
had child by Joseph Standing, which mys'
teriously disappeared Immediately after its
birth, which, Mt the time, caused considerable
excitement in the neighborhood. After the
excitement subsidized, in the course of time, it
was discovered that Jane Elledge had again
become enciente by Joseph Standing, and was
in that condition when the Elledge family
emigrated to the Mormon country, few
weeks before Standings death. And we are
panied to say that his intimacy with women
was not, by any means, confined to this one
family. Some three or four, if not more,
young ladies living in the vicinity Of Varnell
Station, whose names we prefer not now to
mention, met with their ruin by this man ;
one of the young ladies is the daughter of one
of the murderers. Nor does this tale stop
here, as he has caused trouble in several fam.
lilies by being too intimate with their wives,
and trying to get them to adhere to the Nor
mon faith, and persuading them to emigrate
to the Mormon country.
So great were the troubles in one family,
on account of Standings intimacy, that it
caused the husband and wife to separate.
Now, as the good citizens Of the country be-
gan to find out what kind of man Standing
was, and seeing that he was becoming bolder
and more daring in his undertakings, every
day, they became tired of it, and thought it
should bestopped, and they approached Stand
ing on several different occasions, and endeav-
ored to persuade him to leave their families
alone and also to leave the country; but he
could not be prevailed on to do so, and finally
some of the citizens in the neighborhood con-
cluded that they might be able to frighten him
of, and to do this they threatened to give
him trouble, by whipping, etc., but as Stand
ing continued to remain in their neighborhood
and did not seem to be at all frightened, these
parties decided to put their threats into exc
cution.
On the morning of the 21st of July last,
the following men, David D. Nations, Jasper
N. Nations, A. S. Smith, David Smith, Ben
jamin Clark, William Nations, Andrew Brad.
ley, James Fausett, Hugh Blair, Joseph Ma
tions, Jefferson Hunter and Mack Mcclure
met Joseph Standing and Clauslen in the road
and informed them that they intended whip
ping them, and carried them near by to a
spring. AS seven of these men were opposed
to whipping Standing and Clauslen, while at
the spring they succeeded in persuading the
other FIVE of their comrades to abandon the
idea of whipping them, and it was then agreed
upon by all the mob that they would escort
Standing and Clauslen to Varnell Station and
board them on the train and have them leave
this country. Now, as this was the arrange
ment determined upon, and that no violence
should be done the parties, one of the men,
Mr.. Clark, perhaps, laid his pistol on the
ground and was in the act of getting drink
Of water from the spring, when Joseph Stand
ing suddenly snatched the pistol from the
ground, and, cooking it, demanded the whole
twelve men to surrender. One of the men,
realizing their situation, attempted to raise his
gun, which caused Joseph Standing to fire the
pistol, wounding one man by the name of Ma:
tions, in the cheek, and before Standing could
fire again, he was shot down by one of the
twelve men above mentioned. None regretted
this sad affair more than these men, as they
had no intention of doing anything of the
kind, but necessity compelled them, and they
regard their action in the whole matter as
being entirely justi6able.