Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1882-10-06
Local
LYNCHING OF THE ALBEMARLE
MURDERER.

MURDERER.
HISTORY OF THE MCRDER-THE WEB TIKI
MURDERER wOvE FOR HIS OWN CAP.
TI1RE-HIs IDENTIFICATION--SC ENEe
AT THE LYNCHING.
&C., &C., &c.
Reported for the SrAUNToN vINDIcAToH.]
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va, !
Monday, Oct. End, 1882. !
Standing ia the stone corridor of the
Charlottesville Jail this morning and look
inc down at white pine coffin, at the
head of which little stream of blood is
sued. making pool on the stone floor. l
saw what is probably the last scene in one
OF the most thoroughly brutal tragedies
that have marked the history of Virginia.
LII the piEe box lay Jim Rhodes the
murderer, his neck SCARED by the rope,
and his wrists bruised by the tightness
with which they had been bound eight
hours before. In coll above me sat
his brother. Leroy Rhodes, deathly
white and in an agony of terror; for
but for the ntercessiOn of the kind-heart-
ed jailor the night before, he too would
have been corpse.
THE MURDER OF MR.. AND MRS. MASSEY.
There is section of Albemarle county
called the "tlat Woods" You strike II
just after crossing Monticello mountain.
It is for the most part inhabited by a class
Of whites who combine every bad quality,
ignorance, vice and violence-s district
which the better class of the county have
mentally marked as Dangerous Near
the edge of this deser: lived John o. Mas
sey and his wife. both nearly seventy years
of age. He was thrifty. industrious
farmer, who in long and excellent life,
was supposed to have saved up considers.
BILE money. His face was familiar at the
county town but not ut the county bank,
and he was believed to keep his savings at
hcme. 1t was this that cost the old eou-
pie their lives. No one lived i'll the house.
with them but 4 little five year old cOlur-
ed girl. Mrs. Massey was his second wife
to whom he had been married about three
years.
In the month of March, last, James
Clarke Rhodes, who had been absent from
his home some four years-serving ter N
in the Tennessee penitentiary, ESCAPED
from that prison and returned to his home
in the Flat Woods" On the night OF
Wednesday, the 7th of that mouth, he
murdered the Masseys. The door Of the
chamber Of the old people opened into the
passage, and the door of flight Of stairs
leading down into the cellar nf the house,
also opened into the same passage. Rhodes
went to the house soon after dark, and bs.
fore the old people had retired, and enter
ing the kitchen where the little girl slept,
through a window, went down into the
cellar and came up the steps which OPEN
ed into the passage. The old people came
out from their chamber to see what Was
the matter, the old man carrying an old
time. disused gun, aud the aged wife fol.
lowing with lamp, when Rhodes murder
ed Mr.. Massey FIRST with the axe, and then
the wife. When found next morning Mr..
Massey was lying on his back, feet to the
back door; head to the front; no shoes ON;
left hand clinched, small abrasion on the
little finger, received KS though warding
off blow; cash one and One-balf inches
on left cheek, in line of the mouth hole
in left temple; deep cash from line of the
eyebrow Extending down the nose, crush
ing in the frontal bnne to the brain, sever
ang all cnui,ec ION with brow and face. the
halter blow suppose to have been deliber-
ately struck when MIR. Massey vas down
and almost dead, and which of itself would
have caused immediate death. There were
five blows from the axe on his head; the face
swollen and unacceptable. Mrs. Masse Y
was found three feet from her husband,
her limbs drawn up and her tongue he
tween her teeth. as though she died in
great agony. She WAS as thoroughly sxtu-
rated wi b blood as though she bad been
dipped in tank of 1t. Her right temple
was mashed into the brain another blow
of the same character ON the back of the
head, and large bruise on the spinal
column.
The discovery OF Une AWFUL murder was
made the next morning BY the colOred
man. whose habit it was to come at day
break and make the fires for the old poo
pie. The little colored girl was too young
to tell anything, except that she hid be-
hind the door during what she thought
was fight. The axe with the gray hairs
of the old people clotted IN blood was found
in the passage.
FIXING ON THE MURDERER.
The morning after the murder, Lerov
Rhodes, the brother Of James, was IN
Charlottesville spending money lavishly.
but neryously. He spent all but $40 out
of s54. The following morning he was
arrested at home. his mother protesting
that the money was part of ffty dollars
sent her from Tennessee by her son James
whom she had not seen for four or five
years. She and her daughter, Fanny, at
tended the funeral Of the Masseys. and
there made such contradictory statements,
that lr was certain to the Questioners that
James was at home. The people of the
s'Flat Woods" also said he was there -
The officers visited the house, but only to
see Jim Rhodes flee through the back door
In the house were James Rhodes pantl
and shoes, both of which were deeply
stained with blood. Charlie Rhodes, {
younger brother, confessed that on tn.
night of the murder, he had seen Jim anl
1iuido -
pocket book, which answered to the de-
scription of Mr.. Massey's. The 10y had
begged for the pocket book but the brot h
ers had refused, and burned it.. Search.
ing parties were sent out through Able
smarle county. and to the neighborhoodl
of Greenville and Buffalo Forge. in An
gusta county, in both of which Rhodes