The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1883-05-09
MRS. PHI. THOMPSON
RELATES HER SIDE OF THE STORY OF
THE KENTUCKY TRAGEDY.


THE KENTUCKY TRAGEDY.
A special to the Courier Journal
from Harrodsburg April 80, says;
Mrs. Thompson has scarcely slept
or ate since the shooting, but ap-
peared calm to-day and related her
side of the story clearly and deliber-
ately. She said: "This trouble has
all been brought about by Jessie
Buckner to ruin me, and to separate
Walter Davis and his wife. Jessie
Buckner hates Mrs. Davis because
she refused to speak to her after the
Louisville scandal They had been
the most intimate friends before that.
[ will swear that Walter Davis was
an innocent man of the crime charg-
ed against him. / walked with him
in the afternoon, and we did take a
glass of wine and some oysters, butt
| did not return to the hotel intoXl-
Gated, Tor with bottles of cham
payne. We drank some champagne
in Miss Buckner's room before we
started out after supper. went to
the theatcr with Walter as he was
my husbands cousin and had al
ways been our best friend. | asked
Jessie to 90 with us but she declin-
ed. We went to the theater and re-
turned to the hotel when the per-
Torrance was over. [ never went
to his room, but left him in the hall.
| was not drunk, nor was [ mis-
treated in any way by him. 1t he
were alive he would vindicate me,
but the only witness | have lies in
yonder graveyard. AS to my char
acter, go ask any man, woman or
child in this town. / have lived in
the Thompson family for sixteen
years. Ask them if ever before a
breath of suspicion soiled my soul.
AS to my being confirmed drunk
ard, I deny that. l have suffered
intense agony for years from i'll
health, and have taken whisky, and
some time too much of it, to allevi-
ate pain and to give me strength.
Go ask DR.. Price, one of the most
upright and eminent men in this
country, about me and my troubles.
God knows this is hard to bear
doubly so on my ehildren's account.
[ wish Phil had shot me instead OF
Walter Davis, who never did him
harm in his life. | loved my hus-
band. and as soon as | heard of that
awful lie | went Immediately to
Washin gton to see him. he told
me he would never live with me
again when 1 was asserting my in
nocence, and praying for my chill
dren's sake. / wrote him a note
when he reached home last week,
asking him to see me about our
children, but he paid no attention to
it. He is the father of my children
and / would do him no harm, al
though he has wronged me upon
the word of an outcast woman. His
family have been kind to me and
have all visited me since Walter
Davis was killed. Phil's. father was
here Yesterday and spoke Ienderly
to me. They have known me best
for sixteen years, when trusting
girl bride [ went to live beneath
their roof Miss Buckner has not
been near me, and should she come
[ would try to kill her. 1t is true
that it has been ali | could do to
keep my son from Staying her, al
though he is but fifteen years old.
Jessie Buckner has ruined me and
broken the heart of Walter Davis
wife. She threatened this long ago,
and l can prove it. She sent me
word after my return through Gin
cinnati from Washington that l
would suffer for not calling to see
her. She has been turned out OF
four or five hotels in Cincinnati, |
am told. She is q desperate. and
abandoned woman and boasts that
she can ensnare any man. What
she wanted to ruin me for L can not
see, unless it was to come IN between
me and mine.
Mrs. Thompson then broke down
and wept bitter tears. She bears
traces of terrible mental anguish:
Mrs. Thompson and her husband
were raised next-door neighbors and
sweethearts. Only a picket fence
divided the yard where they played
as children.