Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-05-19
A CRUEL CRIME
Perpetrated Wednesday Night on p
Dark and Lonely Road in the
Suburbs.
Two Men Arrested On Suspicion, but
No Eye-Witnesses to the Foul
Deed.

Another assassination in the county, and
no witness to the deed. Such was the report
| on the streets yesterday concerning a terri
BILE crime committed near Oakville, in Nom
connah bottom, about eight miles from the
| city. The victim of the assassin's hate was
| Levi Preston, farmer and stock-owner liv-
ing near Odkville. About o'clock Preston
| left the grocery of w. c. Norman and set
out for home. Norman had closed the place
and retired. He had hardly got in bed be-
fore he heard a gunshot. Hurriedly pulling
on his clothes he, together with several
neighbors, who also
HEARD THE SHOT,
fastened away in its direction. About 300
| or 400 yards from the grocery they discov-
| cred the body of Preston, and on examina
ton they found that he was dead. The
horse upon which he rode away was gone,
| and no one was to be seen. Preston had
| been thrown from his horse upon his face in
the road, and lay there in position that in
| dictated he had in short time gone through
great physical agony. His legs and one
| arm were drawn up under him, and his body
was covered with dust and blood. Evil
| IDENTIFY he had been shot with a shotgun.
| Eight or ten slugs were buried ia his breast
and few STRAY ones entered of his
hands, He must have been ehot near at
elapsed between the firing of the shot and
the arrival of the neighbors, Preston
WAS ENTIRELY DEAD
and so could give no clue to the assassin.
An inquest was held the body by
Esquire Tom Holman. Several witnesses
were examined, but no verdict was brought
in because there is other testimony which is
expected. Sheriff Athy, hearing of the
crime, went out to Oakville, arriving about
IL bod v1fA fhn md tod
two men on suspicion-John Clarke and Jim
Cathran.
Naturally, in the absence of any direct
evidence, the inquiry is made as to who
might have object for killing Preston
The general sentiment saddles the crime on
John Clarke. Wednesday afternoon Clarke
and Preston were talking in Norman's grog-
gerry about getting up horse race.
PRESTON HAD BEEN DRINKING
pretty heavily, and as he was man who was
usually spelling for a fight, he was ready for
fight then. Exactly what the hitch was
about the race it is impossible as yet TO tell,
but it is said Preston became suddenly angry
and hit Clarke over the head with the butt
of his heavy whip. Seeing that he would
get whipped if he Joined battle then, Clarke
beat retreat. Later on in the afternoon the
two men met at Arnold's grocery and the
quarrel was renewed. Clarke had an ak
ton over the head. The latter ripped out
knife and stabbed Preston once in the left
chest, between the third and fourth ribs.
THE BLADE PENETRATED
CIarke's thick coat and vest, and, but for
these garments, woul Id have killed him. 1t
was then near shutdown and Clarke left, as
he said for home. 1t is said that he threat
ened to get even with Preston. The latter
went to Norman's and remained there until
about 9 o'clock, when he departed to his
death. When the sheriff arrested Clarke
the latter was in bed apparently very sick.
He let him lie in bed until a vehicle should
arrive. Clarke said he had heard of the
murder in the morning and he
SUPPOSED HE WAS SUSPECTED
of the murder. The sheriff told him he had
guessed correctly. Clarke had nothing more
to say about the crime; but he offered his
buggy to the sheriff TO take them to town.
The sheriff accepted the offer and took his
man into town and registered him at the
the Jail. There his wound was dressed by
DIR. ,Wiliiford. A reporter of the APPEAL
cslledeat the Jail about 6 O'Clock yesterday
afternoon to interview the accused man.
INTERVIEW WITH THE ACCUSED.
DIR. Williford had just finished dressing
Clarke's wounds when the scribe arrived.
"I4 it serious wound, DoctorT asked the
at is pretty bad wound, but not fatal.n
as il sufficiently bad for man to go TO
bed aboul?"
ayes, it is; though it probably pains him
more now than it did when he first received
it. A man could move around considerably
with such a wound before he found out how
much he could suffer from it. 1t is certainly
bad wound now"
Clarke was found sitting up in Jailer
Mason's Office. He seemed to be suffering |
greatly. He has regular rustic appearance
and talks fair enough. He has a restless, |
rowing eye, but that might have been caused |
by the intense pain he was undergoing. He |
was perfectly willing to tell what he knew |
about the case.
"How did the first quarrel between you |
and Preston originator" asked the reporter. |
CLARKE's STATEMENT.
"Well, you see Preston and I agreed to run |
a horse-race and each was to put up a forfeit. |
1 had never had any trouble with him before |
L met him yesterday afternoon at Norman's |
and he asked me to take drink. / declined. |
We began talking about the race, and said |
1 guess we had better put up the forfeit He |
wanted 10 run the race then, but l told him |
didn't want to do it then. For some reason |
he up with his whip and hit me a |
hard lick over the head, as you can
see (taking off his hiatt, and, not wishing
TO get into any trouble, / left. We met,
later on, at Arnold's, where he was about to
hit me again. / happened to have an ak
handle, and we both struck each other about
the same time. He then drew his knife and |
gave me this cut. We were separated, and 1 |
went straight home with Jim Cathran, get
ting there about dark. My wife helped me
to change my clothes, and washed off the
blood, while Cathran went for DR.. Watkins,
saying that he could not stay with me, but
would send Billy Tate, young farm hand,
over to sit up with me. He could not find
the doctor, who had to stay all night with
old man Wallace. Tate came over in very
short time, and remained with me all night"
HIS DEFENSE
"Can you prove by Tate that you were
in bed at the time the murder was commit
ted, O'Clock p.m.P
"Yes, sir; he will testify to that. suf-
fered great deal during the night and
couldn't eleep hardly bit"
''You deny, then, all knowledge OF the
81 do, most certainly. / never heard of it
until this morning about o'clock. thought
at once that would be suspected because of |
the quarrel the day before"
What sort of a man was Preston~
"a regular desperate. He killed negro
in cold blood about a year ago."
Being very weak by this time the pris-
oner was asked no more question by the re-
porter, and he walked off to lie down. AS
he was going into his cell he inquired if the
scribe had got the other side. Cathran is
TO have been an accomplice OF
Clarke 1t is said that to-day witnesses will
be introduced before Esquire Holman to
prove that Clarke and Cathran were seen to-
gether at dusk, and that one of them had
shotgun. Preston leaves a wife and four