The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1880-12-23
a Monster Han ed.
Daniel Keith, white. was hanged

was convicted al the last term OF Ruth
crfold court. The Vi tim Of the dou
BILE crime Wa little Colored cir
twelve wears old and 50 bru'ai was IN
nature IT tn. outrage and murder iha
grave a2prehenso ns or lyuching werr
entertained ~ the time lui during iii.
imprisonment. II : appearance i .aid
- be characteristic with hi> life. Ca
corrcsp udent at Rutherforlton who
visited HIM - the daS before he va,
TO be- taken 10 the scaffpld. w.ites:
About ; o'clock this afternoon Wis
tied tue Jail on purpose to see aniel
Keith, VINO ! to be hanged in this
pace. | found the prisoner chained
10 the bottom Of the cage in which ne
i confined. He was very calm, an
swercd my questions freely and seemed
tanXjous to talk. His coffin was, at his
own request. placed near the cage ana
near the place where he sat; only sep
arated from him by the iron bars of the
cage. Or beng asked if he did not
dread his eXecu. ion, he replied
No, | have not taken it To heart IL
al. believe a man can stand any
thing. The dread NAV come on me
tomorrow all at once, when the time
comes. If | feel a / DO now | Will not
mind it at all. | think it is best that
such men asI am should die. saa
two men hanged once, and their death
seemed To oe very easy. If the rope to
one Of them had not broken there
would have been no trouble.
How do you rest al night
II sleep very well. but have troubled
dreams. Last night | dreamed of be-
my high up above the world-could
look down and see the roads. fields and
houses, and then was upon the earth,
near a deep place curbed with large,
black rocks, al the bottom OF which
flowed a beautiful stream of clear va
ter. | dreaded this place and tried 10
keep away fromit. | believe the devil
controls my thoughts at night, Ial
WAYS take dreams to the contrary"
He asked me to wri.e IA card to hi.
mother, and he dedicated the follow
ing:
DEAR MOTHER: I am not sure nv
sin. nave been forgiven. sometimes
think they nave and sometimes think
they have not. | am going 20 try on
10 the last minute. think there are
ten chances of my being saved to one
Of being lost. | sent YOU IA couple Of
my pictures. | hope you will get them"
He then remarked, "All my business
In this world IS settled, and all | now
have to do i to pray. By this time to
morrow | will be in my grave"
He told Sheriff Walker to day that he
wanted him to be cool, and not to be-
Gnma .Nrlfpl Whup lao want to I.,,r H.,
+.
\ ARK AND EVIL LIFE.
"My HE, he says, has been a dark
and evil one, and | have committed
nearly the whole Catalogue OF crimes.
My oo,hood was notorious for its vices:
my manhood has been spent in di.sipa-
ton and crime, and alas my end will
be the scadold."
He was born in Pulaski county. XIV.
Ills father, Clayborn Keith, died when
ne was thirteen years ola, and he left
home at fourteen and joined the Yankee
army. This was the beginnin. OIL ms Ca
reer, and Of ii he says: 1t vas one of
those critical points In mems lives at
which there Is but an inch bet the
path to Heaven and 1.-THE road to hell. >
L bCSCIiSi, Dt0dI 10 SlGDl on a
small scale, secured employment in In
diana, robbed his employer, returned
to Kentucky, stole a fine horse and
fed into Tennessee and again entered
III the army. deserted and was captured
cut succeed in getting of by shrewd
lying. These adventures we've diversi-
fed ny cunning swindiings anG two
marriages and dcsertions, one in Adair
and a1other in Owens counay, Ky. His
dhtuS during this period was George
Durham.
He then set his face toward North
Carolina, living 10y the way ON his wits
and vlllainy. he came to a stand in
Haywood county in 1871, where he en-
tced into marriage Nancy Anderson,
whom he describes as "a nice and hon
orable, true and noble woman"
Throughout the confession he speaks OF
her with the greatest affection, ascrib-
ing 10 her every womanly virtue and
grace.
From Hay wood he made excursions
to the adjoining counties of North Car .
DINA and Tennessee, swindling, some
times most ingcniously, everybody h,
could fool. His favorite trick was to
practice on the cupidlty and ignorance
Of men by exhibiting pretended speci
mems Of ore which he had found. salt
ing mines, etc. The success which he
claims 10 have had in these operations
is remarkable. In 1879 in Buncombe
aounty he turned his neighbors' heads
and obtained money on several occa-
sions With a Is pound rockIubbed With
brass. Here is an extract from what
he says of his adventures in Buncombe
and Burke.
Il borrowed a fiddle from Tom Long,
sold it for cash, and never paid him for
the loan. | also swindled a young gent
named ChaS. Malone out OF about S22.~
90. | also fooled Mrs. Snipe, in Nc
DOwell county, out of her money. At
Morganton | stole some fine window
curtains from a shrewd and darb-eyed
old gentleman, named Bill McKesson.
\ long list Of robberies, thefts and per
juries in Kentucky, Tennessee and
North Carolina is given with the names
of associates and particulars, and the
fact that he has three wives living, by
one of whom he had four children.
While in Haywood be was accused by
two women of attempts at rape, but
these accusations he ~pronounceS false.
HE DOL A LAWYER
One of the most striking of this mans
shrewd receptions vas a ludicrous one
practiced on his attorney to whom he
represented that he had hidden in Nc
Dowell county a large sum of money,
which was the result of a bank robbery
committed by him 10 Columbia. Ky,