Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-11-26
Review of the Principle Poists in the
Most DiabolicaI
Crime on Record, and the Pretended Chm
fessiOn Of Harms.

Crime on Record, and the Pretended Chm
fession of Harns.
Joe Harris, the murderer of Charlie
Brown and Andy Heck, at Marble Hall,
November %, 1880, oxpiated his crime on
the galows at Rogersville yesterday, in the
presence of about $4,000 people. The
prisoner left the jail at 1915 p. N. sitting
on his coffin, with the moose on his neck
in wagon filled with men and boys, and
was conveyed to the gallows, Of very rude
construction, which were erected in a hol-
low, one mile from Rogersville, near the
r. & J. Railroad.
Harris was almost staggering drunk,
having been stealthily furnished with
whisky by some one. When
he arrived under the gallows his first re-
mark was that he had killed those boys, but
didn't aim to, and did it in self-defense
He talked at some length in an ineoherent
and indistinguishable manner, claiming that
he had made peace with his Maker and was
prepared to die.
The wagon was driven out and the pris.
oner was pushed off by Sheriff Blevins, at
1.3O o'clock. He swang for % minutes be-
fore life was extinct, and in 35 minutes more
was cutdown. The crowd was very boisterous
and unruly several fights occurred. Harris
feared lynching, but no attempt was made.
We are unable to give further details in
this issue, but will in our next.
Tho following concise and comprehensi-
BILE statement of the principal facts and cir
cumstances connected with the crime and
its perpetrator, are taken from supplement
to the Rogersville Press and Times, pub
lished Friday, November 25, the day of the
execution:
Joe Harris, the doomed murderer, who yes
terday payed tho penalty of one of the most
atrocious crimes which ever darkened the
annals of this or any other country, furnish
es in his life, what has heretofore been
considered an example of human depravity
which can scarcely be equalled in the histo-
ry of the civilized world With what cor
rectness this opinion has been entertained,
may be judged from the following brief
sketch of his life and confession:
HIS LIFE.
He was born in Hancock County, Ten
nessee, February 26th, 1856. Poor and
without friends to alleviate her wants, his
mother drifted about from house to house,
over the section of country where she had
given birth to Joe, and other illegitimate
| children, carrying him and the rest of them
with her wherever she went. This course,
on the part of the mother, and the natural
many bad habits and gave him notoriety as
a vagrant and petty thief. Some time after
the war, his mother was united in marriage
to one Jacob Rimer, who, it is said, made
efforts to cause Joe to desist his
lswlessnsss and disgracefnl conduct, but
as the sequel shows without effect.
He continued to grow worse and to become
more and more of . pest and dread to sll
the neghborhoods which he frequented. His
conduct was SO bad that it was impossible
for him to stay in one neighborhood long at
a time, and in this floating, drifting life
which he led, he was made acquainted with
many neighborhoods.
THE CRIME
In the fall of $780, he went to the vicinity
of Marble Hall, where he became acquaint-
| ed with Charles Brown, one of the victims
of the dastardly deed for which he, yesterday,
rendered up his life. He hired to Mr. Brown
as Tood-chopper, and worked for him
about one month in that capacity. He also
worked in the marble quarry of John Has
son, about one mile from Marble Hall, dur
ing the same season, Sut being lazy and dis
posed to shirk labor, he was dismissed and
returned to his usual course Of wandering
about the neighborhood.
About this time, Mr. John Brown, the
father Of Charles, sold his Marble Hall
property, and was preparing to move to
Bristol, Tenn. Charles lived with his father,
and was to 60 with him to Bristol, to
engage in the manufacture of carriages, &c
The two families took their leave for
their new home, and left Charles and
his father behind to dispose Of some
hogs and other stock which they had. About
the 18th or 18th of November, 1880, they
employed Harris to assist in driving their
hogs to Whitesburg, Tenn, where they
put them on the market Charles Brown,
receiving about $3.50 in cash, returned to
Marble Hall, and his father went to Bristol.
1t has been thought that Harris, seeing what
he thought to be such q vast treasure, was
seized with the fendish, hellish spirit of
avarice SO that he became lost to all fear of
punishment, or regard for human life, set
about, with a desperate determination to
secure the prize.
Proof was adduced in court that Harris
went to Rogersville and bought some anu
milton and then went to the neighborhood
of Hasson's Quarry and there tried to bor-
row gun, it has been supposed, with a
view of killing Brown ON his way from
Marble Hall to Bristol, to which place
Brown was to start, on the morning of the
18th of the above mentioned month.
On the evening before Brown was to take
his final leave for his future home, he sent
by Mr.. Price to neighboring grocery for
three quarts of whisky, and after supper,
Price and his son, Heck and Charles Brown
all went to the room where Brown and
Heck were to sleep, and they set and talked
until late bed time, taking few drinks to-
gether, then Price loft for home, which was
only forty or Fifty yards distant, leaving bis