Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-12-01
Love and Law. Murder and Matrimouy.

CHARLEsTowN, w. Va, November So
Day after day for weeks the Office of Gem
missioner ID. G. Gallaher, one of the shrewd-
est attorneys in this town, has been crowded
with strange faces, some of them rarely ii
ever before seen beyond their native noun
tains. These people, many OF whom are as
uucouth and wild as the bear and deer Of
Putnam and Jackson counties whence they
come, have been brought here as witnesses 10
West Virginia's celebrated case" of Pinker-
ton, the detective, against Bruens million
aire family of New York. The strange
story of litigation, murder, detective life,
love, flight, marriage and litigation again,
has a rom snce about il that one never looks
for in real life.
For many years Mrs A. D. Bruen, of New
York City, has owned large tracts oil land in
Putnam and Jackson counties, w. Va.
Squatters and other claimants had
from time to time settled in numbers upon
this land. Before the war litigation was be-
gun to eject these settlers, many Of whom
had been born aud raised on the land, which
had been handed down from father to son.
The Bruens claimed under an older grant.
and the possessors under q later, coniending
that the older patent had lspsed or been for
feited. The civil war came on, however, and
all legal proceedings were stayed.
| Soon after the close of hostiilies between
| the States hostilities all the more bitter from
political and sectional differences were re-
sumed between the parties 10 this great suit,
| and the animosity felt by the settlers
| throughout wide and thickIy inhabited
neighborhoods was intensely bitter toward
| the wealthy and aristocratic claimants.
Hundreds Of people saw their homes as
sailed which had come down to them from
| their fathers; humble homes they we're, but
| there they had been born and reared, and
there their dead were buried, and oat OF the
rough but generous coil they drew support
for their wives and children, and over the
| wild woods and mountains they had rosmed
and hunted all their lives. This attempt 10
| dispossess them was, in the eyes of these
| simple and unlearned mountaineers nothing
less than premeditat.d robbery on the part
| OF the "grasping, interruptions Workers"
| already rolling in wealth, and they deter
| mined TO resist by any and all means TO the
| bitter end.
| Il became necessary now for the Bruens TO
secure some one 10 that country to hunt up
testimony and aid in locating the corners
and boundaries of their grant. Money will
| accomplish anything, and, in the face Of this
| bitter opposition and personal danger.
Nathan Cunningham, an intelligent and re-
| spectable resident OF the land, undertook the
| perllous work and entered upon il in 1877.
But, notwithstanding his caution and pru-
dence, his part in the controversy was soon
detected and FULLY understood, and the hate
heretofore directed toward the distant land.
lords was concentrated upon Cunningham,
| who Was regarded not only as the representa-
tive OF their prosecutors, but az a traitor to
his own people. Scowling faces, bitter
taunts and threats Of psrsonal violence mel
him at every turn. All his movements were
watched and every step was dogged. Not.
| withdrawing all this Nathan Cuuuipgham
went on brsvely and persistently in the pros.
ecution OF his part of the undertaking
! which soon came to a sudden and trsgIs
termination. The winter of 1873 he Wa
waylaid on a lonely mountain road
and foully murdered. His BODY was
found the next day shot and c1t. and
the marks OF a bloody and Il rec death
struggle were seen on the spot. Great ex
element followed, the whole coumunity
and surrounding counties being divided b..
tween sympathy for the murdered man md
his family aud Tor the people whsm il va.
| thought he was 50 no 1stly persecuting. and
there were some who even pronounced hi,
| fate q just retrlbuiion. The officer. of tbe
| law, however, were thoroughly alive IN thei,
| duty IN the case, ard made every effart II
detect the guilty parties. Suspicion pointed
her uncertain bigger at many; many arrest,
were made, and As many declares had
Inc guilt OF no one seemed evidenced in tn,
! slightest degree. After weeks and mantb,
OF investigation, Il remained an zufathoma
bic secret.
Finally the Bruens, feeling their interest,
and that OF The seciion required il. empIoyed
The celebrated Pinkerion DsieeiiTe Agenc
70 ret out the guilty parties, and their plar,
we're adrOitly laid. Two skiliful Chicago
detectives IN their employ were sent in dis.
gul-e and under assumed nzmez to Jackson
county, 10 3 settlement knoxn az New Ken.
tuek," located in the heart Of the Bruen e..
tate. Here an accident threw in the vay q
shese shreTd officers an opportunity they
were not slow 10 avail Themselves Of. Ths
proprietor OF country store failed in bust.
] ness, and HE creditors being about to sell