Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-04-12
A BRUTAL CRIME.

| Ellis Craft has been sentenced 10 Qeatn al
Grayson, KY, for participation in the mur
der of the Gibbons family. Before sentence
was passed upon him, the prisoner made
for which Craft was convicted was the muir
der at Ashland, on the morning of Decem
ber "A, 1881, of Robert Gibbons, aged seven.
teen Fanny Gibbons, aged fourteen, and
Emma Thomas aged fourteen. On the
night previous Craft and William Neal went
to the house of George Ellis, awakened him
and prevailed upon him to accompany them
| to the Gibbons house. They entered the
house by window and Neal and Craft as,
saulted the two girls. Emma Thomas re-
cognized Neal, and said she would tell her
mother. AS Robert was about to give the
alarm Craft struck him on the head with an
AK killing him instantly. He then turned
to Fannie and killed her also with the AK.
Neal then killed Emma Thomas in the same
manner. They then saturated the. girls
clothing with oil and set fire to the house,
burning it to the ground. At first there
was no clew to the murderers, anda reward
of 81 900 was offered for their capture. The
father of the victims, j. w. Gibbons, was
suspected, he being charged with the crime
by his wife. He, however, proved an alibi.
On January g. 1882, George Ellis confess
ed, and implicated Craft and Neal, who
were arrested. Neal made full confession
of his guilt. January 5 the prisoners were
taken to Cutlettsburg, the county seat OF
Boyd county. Early in the morning people
began to arrive, and before noon nearly 1000
had assembled, including all the male popu-
lation of Ashland. Judge Strong, fearing
violence from the crowd, engaged a steam
boat, and with thirty deputies and the sher-
iff the prisoners were started down the Ohio
toward Ashland. The mob, under threats
of death, compelled the captain of another
steamer to get up steam and start in pursuit:
After an exciting chase as far as Ashland
the crowd gave up the pursuit, having heard
that the sheriff7s steamer had taken aboard
seventy soldiers at Riverton, below Catletts-
burg.
On. January 9, by special act of the legisla-
ture, grand jury was impaneled, and re-
turned true bills against the three prisoners.
Craft and Neal had separate trials, which
resulted in their conviction, and they were
sentenced to be hanged on April IA, 1882.
Ellis, VINO turned States evidence, was SEN
fenced to the penitentiary for life. But the
dreadful crime had stirred up the people to
such pitch that life sentence seemed to
them too mild a punishment for either OF
the wretches who took part in the tragedy.
Accordingly, on the morning OF June 3,
1882, the day after Ellis was sentenced, a
crowd of several hundred men arrived at
Catlettsburg on a special train from Ash
land, took Ellis from the Jail and thence to
Ashland by train, and hanged him to tree
near the scene of the murders. Neal and
Craft obtained stay proceedings pending
an appeal, and on September 13 the court OF
appeals reversed the Judgment of the lower
court and renlanded the cases for new trials.
They were granted change OF venue to
Carter county. On October 80 they were
taken to Catlettsburg, guarded by 22O State
troops. Thence they embarked on steam
er for Maysville, Ky. A mob, five miles
below Catlettsburg, were out in ferryboats
to intercept them. AS the Granite State, on
which the prisoners and their guard were,
steamed by, the crowd opened fire, which
was returned by the troops with fatal effect,
one of the crowd being killed and several
wounded. Five spectators on the river bank
were also killed and tWenty-one wounded.
After lying in jail in Lexington till Febru-
ary 5, where they had been taken after the
encounter of October so, tho prisoners were
taken to Greyson, Carter county, where they
were lodged in Jail. Four hundred troops
accompanied them and guarded the jail dur
ing the trial, both infantry and artillery
being called into service. There were no
attempts at disturbance by the populace.
Craft, when called upon to plead, said :
spm not guilty; it's all a lie" Substan-
TALLY the same testimony was presented by
the prosecution as formerly. The teStimo-
nv for the defence was very weak, and there
was no doubt from the beginning OF the trl-
al that the verdict would be for murder in
the first degree. The Judge sentenced him
to be hanged May 25, 1888.