The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1882-11-01
q Murderer Escapes.

Much \ cement and some alarm wa'
.aeasioned lat week by the discovery
that Hoke Z. oecrest had escaped ron
tie Insane Asylum. BY converting tht
steel ,hank-st iifening OF lis shoe INTO 2
saw. and cutting the bars. A. soon a.
he wa, missed. kilograms were cent III
ALI directions. and Steward Thompson
FASTENED to Union county, the home o.
Secrest. 10 warn the l~atter's parents tc
he on the lookout. and have hun seized
ifhe auprared. as there could be little
louLt that he j. now a l~unatic, whatever
nav have been hi. condition at the time
aa committed the murder. The family
Promised 10 comply, but at latest ac-
ssIut, ave not been heard from. One
umor says that Secrest showed hliuse'i
n,Ar Cary, in the guise OF a peddler. lie
AL probably follow the railroad as tar a.
>andtord then strike through Moore
i and Montgomery counties to reach some
of his old haunts, before going westward.
The crime for which this man was held
was a singular one (for a country boy,
I yet a not uncommon sequence OF ie"a-
ness. SLcrest comes OF a very ,drge con
nectiJn ia Union county, VI respectable,
farming status. HOke cOurted h widow
IF the neighborhood who had two chi
dren and d snug farm. When their IN
rimacy created some talk he began to plot
to get rid of her, yet hold the property.
He persuaded her 10 take a trip up
west with him, and as an inducement
agreed to marry her in Charlotte. Ar
rived there he refused to comply; but dld'
finally marry her at Hickory. Next day
ne drove on West, and on the second day
thereafter ne turned aside in a wilderness,
near the corner of Burke and Mcdowell
/ counties. and proceeded to Kill his bride,
and her children. lie must have done
II with marvellous GOODNESS for although
i =. family lived only j few hundred yards
/ al tant (of which lie was unaware) no
alarm was heard. nor were the bodies found
for haifa year attcrward.
The assassin carefully cleansed his new
buggy, Icl the horse, and JourDcyed
lcisurely homeward, alleging that he had
quarrelied, aud as she refused TO return
/ and face her old nelghbors he gave her
ali the money, and sent her out west.
The neighbors disbelieved for a time, but
when it was learned that a woman and
child answering her description had been
heard from in several places, and (strange
to say y PROGRESSED to been married III
Charlotte, and separated from her hus
band on the wedding night, people grew
less skeptical, and Hoke entered in pos
| session of the widows estate. Then the
SHOWS of winter fell, and eased the muir
derer's soul by covering, as he sup
posed, all possibility of discovery. But
the crime was to out = Some boys
went rabbit hunting their dogs scratch
ed amid the cleau white snow, and 10 !
the staring eyes of a skull, with long
4 black ha'r, gaily decked with scarlet rib
bons, Aud near by the fragile bones ct
the child or children \ fearful Christ
mas find was this, for the young hun
tiers
Almost instantly the woman was iden
tilted as the bride Of the Hickory wed
ding, who had gone forth mex morning
to her death. Secrest was arrested nd
bailed. He kept a bold front, and his
family put forth great efforts to save him
1t was one Of the most remarkable tllals
in the history of North Carolina jurlspru-
dence. But the evidence when put to
gether piece by piece showed the crime in
ali its bold villainy Then came the ques
ton. could such a villain have been N
mems sanO? For the credit of human
nature, we at the time held to the Mega
tive. And as the weeks went on, the
prisoner clearly betrayed the lunaIic. lie
was shocking to see, to hear, 10 smell
DIR. Grissom, we believe, considered
him Enthusiastically crazy. So he was
consigned to the Asylum for lie. The
death penalty still hangs over his head,
some persons argue though we hold
that if a man has once been adjudged a
lunatic by legal authority, all prcrtous
acts are covered thereby.
Col. Buford who killed Judge Elliott
in Kentucky escaped from the asylum the
other day and is now in Tennessee, safe
from a requlsltion.
From the above running sketch ouI
readers may see the Kind of man Secresl
is and ali good leople should assist IL
securing his re-arrest.