The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1882-08-08
A Celebrated Crime.


talk among our fathers and grand
fathers, and | often get letter ask
ing TO be informed about this or that
matter. One of these inquiries re-
ferred to the murder of Col. Sharp, at
Frankfort, Ky, in November, 1925.
Solomon P. Sharp, the son of a revo-
lutionary soldier. was a lawyer and
politician who had been sent to con-
gress and had slept in the same room
with John G. Calhoun, and he mar
ried the daughter of Col. John NJ.
Scntt. of Frankfort, and removed tn
that place, where he rose to the head
vf the profession and was made at
torney-general by Gov. Adair. 1t
was supposed he would he Judge,
when suddenly, at the age of So. be
was assassinated while the legislature
was i'm session, and that body. regard
inc him as one of It's members, offer
ell So 900 reward for the murderer
1t was at 2 o'c,ock ON Sunday night
wher knocking at Col. Sharp's door
awakened him, and he asked who was
there? A voice replied "Covingtou.'
Mrs. Sharp said, That is not Cow
ington's voice; don't get up" He
went down 10 the door, however, and
talked there with the man outside,
who said he was stranger, had come
i'm town late. and could not get a bed
at any of the taverns and wished not
to be left out i'm the cold weather.
Every WELL" said Sharp, "you shall
have bed and opened the door. As
they went by the door of Mrs. Sharp's
room, and while still in the hall, the
stranger asked, sharply:
"Are you Col. Sharp
"That is my name" said the colo
mel.
"My name, sir, is John A. Coving-
ton. replied the man.
81 don't know you"
Odd you. you shall soon know
me-" and he plunged knife into
Sharp's body. The wife heard the
sound of his falling and sprang from
her bed, and there Law the distinguish
ed citizen on his face, drawing his last
breath. He never spoke and only
lived ten minutes. The dirk entered
the body only a few inches above the
navel. The murderer ran out the
same door he had entered by, leaving
a bloody Northumberland near the
portal, with one corner cut off and two
holes in it. 1t was supposed that he
had wrapped the handkerchief around
his hand and arm and stabbed through
it, to avoid being stained by the vic
TINS blood. The assassin did not en-
ter at the public door, but at a pri-
vate door. 1t was not supposed that
Sharp had a personal enemy. The
municipality and private individuals
raised the amount to $1,000. 1t was
soon found that Mr.. Beauchamp, of
Simpson county, was the murderer.
Notwithstanding the insinuation in
one of the Frankfort papers that it
was only the political course of Sharp
which lost him his life. it soon be-
came evident that there was private
reason. and the murderer maintained
a bold and open front, even after he
had been recognized by Mrs. Sharp
as possessing the voice of her hus-
bands murderer. 1t was soon found
out that however popular Sharp was
in his public example. he was fallen
man secretly, and had seduced a beau
tiful woman of that state, who, operat-
ing on the mind of an impossible
young man who had fallen in love
with her, caused him to revenge her
wrongs with the dagger. About SIX
months after the murder Beauchamp
was sentenced to be hanged on the
9TH of July, and no case that ever
happened in Kentucky attracted more
than this. He was executed
at the fork Of the Lexington and
Woodford roads, in the edge of Frank
fort, at $50 o'clock on the date men,
toned. He made no attempt to ad-
dress the people, was very feeble, as
he had made several attempts to COM
nit suicide. had stabbed himself and
was full of laudanum. 1t seems that
there was music at the execution, be-
longing to Two independent companies
which had been called out to preserve
order, and the murderer called out
from the scaffold that he would like
them to play Bonaparte's retreat,
which they obligingly did, and then he
told the officers to 60 on and hang him.
BeaRchamp had in the meantime, mar
ried the instigator of his crime, and
she had been arrested and condemned
to Jail with him. and was acquitted
after being examined; but public
sympathy being much with her, she
was permitted to return to her prison