The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1883-05-31
MURDERED OR LOST
A Crazy WOman's Mystic
riOus Disappearance.
The Suspected Crime of a Hsartless
Husband, Mother and Sister.
CITIZEN Correspondent.

I w G Will endeaVOr to give the dc
tails Of one among the most damna
bic deeds ever perpetTated, who tn
' accused are and what could b
] gathered in relation thereto. Som
time last fall Mrs. Mary Jan
Rackley, wife Of j. Mat Rackley
went crazy under Affections which
were preying on her general health
Nat made application to get hi
2 wife into the ASYLUM and failed
She was a heavy tax on his hands
and it appears that they had always
got along badly, so Mat had he
= moved to his mothers, a noto rioU.
character known by nearly every
body in the southern end of Giles
county as desperate case who goes
by the name of Sooky and who sep
arated from her husband a few
years back and lived with her chill
dren near Shores mill in the 18th
district. This insane woman was
so badly afflicted as to render her
unable to be up for some two
months. Friday, May 18th, old
Sooky and grown daughter car
ried this lunatic to a neighbor's
house, and about o'clock started
back toward home. The neighbour
daughter, Miss Eliza Morris, ac-
companied them part of the way
back home, and since then the
insane woman has not been seen.
The old woman and daughter
claim that they took her home.
Mat was out in Lawrence at work
at the time and a while after night
came home and next morning he
went to Pulaski and the old lady
went sang hunting. There are con-
ficting statements as to the time
they started; the first statement
was they started at day break; the
young Miss Rackley was left at
home and states that after her
mother and Mat left she helped
Jane (the crazy Woman) up, gave
her breakfast and set her out by the
side of the house bare-footed, bare
headed and thinly clad, and went
about her house work, and in five
minutes looked to see what Jane
was doing and she was gone. To
make her. escape she would have had
to run some two or three hundred
yards and it was proven that on
the evening before she could not
walk scarcely at all without the as
sistance of a woman on each side
Of her to support her. 1t was fur
Their proven that the woman and
Mat had both threatened TO put
out of their way. It was claimed
she left about o'clock. The
young woman quietly waited, in
contentment, she says, for her sis
term law to come in instead of no.
tifying all her neighbors. The old
woman claims she returned about
2 o'clock, went to a neighbours and
told that Jane was gone, but she
also thought she would, come in af-
ter a while and thought it unnec-
essary to look after her. Mat, the
husband, came in from town at
p. m, and he likewise thought it
needless to raise any Ealarm and
quietly folded his arms and trusted
to providence to look after his dis
tracted wife. On Sunday morning
a neighbOr living nearly in sight
and a visitor he had with him went
to this old lady's house about 8 or
8 o'clock and this affectionate hus-
band was condoling his bereaved
spirit under the sweet notes of his
catgut and bow. All the family
were taking it coolly, although the
wife and daughter-in law was in the
dark, dark wood and the angry
raging storm was rising, and if this
man has ever shed a tear or heaved
sigh on account of his missing
wife, no one knows it. On Sunday
the neighbors begin to find it out
and the news flew from one to an
other rapidly. Although it was
wet and stormy day search was
made to some extent on Monday
and each succeeding day increased
the crowd. From the start it was
thought there had been violent
means used in her disappearing, and
as the fruitless search continued,
together with the increasing num-
bers, the rage grew stronger against
the.accused. On Wednesday a good
old citizen applied to L. Thompson,
esq'r, of the 4th district stating
there were strong threats of confer
ring the hempen degree on the &C
cused in a short time. A brother
of the missing woman applied to
the same j. p. for warrant for the
crowd. Thompson issued a process
and summoned S. NJ. White, our
efficient constable of the 4th, to has
ten to the scenes of confusion, take
the accused into custody, summon
posse sufficient to protect the
prisoners and maintain law and or
der at all hazard, which he did to
the letter. On Thursday they were
arragned for,preliminary examina-
ton at Shores mill. 1t was long
and tedious examination, ending
about O'Clock, and White and
guards conveyed the prisoners to
Pulaski to Jail. We have heard
since if the Rackley set had not
trotted through that night the for
ests of the 18th would have borne a
crop of loathsome fruit, but we can
give the maddened populace credit
for genteel behavior during the trial.
We never saw people (and there
was a goodly number present) be-
have better, but still it is feared it
favorable revelations are not made
pretty soon, our worthy sheriff, j.
d. Butler, will have a squad of I'M
welcome midnight visitors pretty
soon, for these people are mad.
AN OBSERVER.
P. S.-While our people were in
censed over the mysterious disap-
pearance of Mrs. NJ. j. Rackley and
it appeared that the Almighty was
frowning on us by dark and dismal
storms, "a new bereavement was
waited to our ears in the death of
Mrs. Mary, wife of Jake Hopkins
| and dauohter of Esq = N Todd on