River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1880-11-04
A HIGHWI.YMAN'S FATE.
= Eentucky Cave and the skeleton
Found Therein.
CINCINNATI Ennnirer

Cincinnati Enquirer
Our Newcastle, KY, correspondent
says: The citizens of this quiet, quaint
and eminently respectable town are at
present greatly excited over a remark
able discovery recently made by two
residents of the eastern part of the
county, and your correspondent asks
permission of the Enquirer to explain
| through its columns the occasion of
this unwonted- excitement. In order
| to make this explanation it is necessary
to carry the readers attention back
to few events that happened in this
section of Kentucky in the year 1877,
accounts of which were published in
the Enquirer at the time.
The reading public will doubtless re-
member the hanging of Richard Shuck
in that year in Owen county for the
murder of one Parrish, his-father-in-
law. This hanging was witnessed by
seven thousand people and was attend
ed by many dramatic and unusual cir
:umstances. All the leading daily
papers of Louisville and Cincinnati
published graphic and extended ac
counts Oft, and the northern press con
graduated Kentucky on having within
her borders twelve fearless jurymen
who We're not ashamed to do their duty.
Shucll protested his innocence of the
crime on the scatfold, but left written
confession partially eXculpating HIM
selfand duplicating five other men in Il
series of rObberies and murders with
out parallel i'll the annals of crime.
Three of these five men were brothers,
nd lan nth fnf
Their names We're Goodrich and Sim
mons, Old Jim Simmons. the patri-
arch and chief of this tribe of cut
Threats, was very remarkable, al
though IN illiterate man, and possesses
unbounded influence over the minds of
his associates. Jack his son, was, if the
statements of Shuck are true, the most
inhuman wretch who ever escaped the
gallows. lie was the principal or ac-
complete III seven murders, and was
concerned in numerous robberies and
moonshine whisky affairs He lived
several years in western Missouri, and
while there was accused of being a
member of Jesse James gang of assas-
sins and bank-robbers The three
Goodrich brothers were farmers living
near the Kentucky river, and were
considered hard characters by their
neighbors and acquaintance.
-Four of these individuals were arrest
ed and lodged in the Newcastle jail,
but Jack Simmons, the worst one of
the lot, escaped, and, Notwithstanding
large rewards were offered for his ap-
prehension, dead or alive, managed to
elude the vigilance of his pursuers.
Seventy-tive men surrounded the woods
in which he was believed to be conceal
ed. He was seen once, and six shots
were fired ut him. One of the shots
appeared to take effect, but he con-
trived to escape. Nothing more was
ever heard about him, and he was sup
posed to have fled to Texas or the Black
Hills. King Jim" as the papers dub
bed him, and his pals were tried by
Judge Smith, of Henry county, and
held over without bail to await the ac-
ton Of the criminal court. A short
time after the trial a mob of masked
men, forty or fifty III number, rode
into Newcastle at midnight, surround
ed the Jail, compelled the jailor to give
up the keys, unlocked the door, took
the prisoners from the building, march
ed them to a stone bridge near town.
and hung them from the parapets-an
awful but doubtless fitting end to such
wretches Many belated traveller,
wandering ~ night through the dark
and gloomy ravines that border on the
Kentucky river, had met a more horri-
bic death at their haSds. No mans
life was safe if he ventured in King
Jim's" dominions with a roll of money
in his pocket, or a gold watch on his
person. This account of Shuck and his
associates Is essential as an introduce
ton to the remainder of this narrative.
On the 18th of this month John Bar
nett and Andrew Hawkins, two reliable
gentlemen, living near Lockport, in
this county, had occasion to look for
some missing cattle that had wandered
from their pastures. After a search of
several hours the cattle were found
browsing or the rich bluegrass that
grows luxuriantly at the foot of the
"Crows Nest, the fanciful name given
bv the natives to high and rocky hill
in the neighborhood Of Lockport. After
resting for some time Mr. Bar
nett's attention was called to an
opening in the side of the hill that re-
sembled the mouth of a cave. Sur
prised that he had failed to notice this
on other occasions, he saw at the foot
of the elevation thick cedar Tree. or
rather brush. that for many years had
grown on a projecting ledge Of rock inn
mediately IN front If this hole, thereby
effeetuGlly concealiBg it from the view
Of the passers-by. In the storm of tine
preceding night this bush had been up
rooted by the wind and had rolled 10
the bottom, thus revealing the existence
Of the opening.
After a brief consultation the two