The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1883-11-14

O u ne lHsl issue Vi
Statesville Landmark has two columns
of descriptions of murders III the noun
tain region. In Iredell. Deputy Sheriff
Sam L. Wilson went to collect so cents
tax from VIM Pope, who was blowing
in a field. Pope declined to pay and
Wilson said he would take tho mnlp.
Pope resisted with a rail. But no rail
was found, aid a little daughter of the
slain MAJ swore that no rail was used.
Possibly Pope thr, atcncd to use a rail.
AT any rate, Wilson fired and tie
c%oroner's jury pronounced it-.'mali-
cious %murderp Wilson surrendered,
and manifested great rerrorse. This
made the third death by violence in Ire
dell within a month, and the fourth was
about to occur.
Stephen and Mary Minish. aged &c
and %. with one child, lived 6 miles
from town. About 5 o'clock Saturday.
Minish got up and made Il fire. He
then sat down on a low chair and began
putting on his shoes His wife. taking
advantage of his bending attitude. dealt
him a blow in the back OF the head with
the sharp edge of a new axe. He fell
forward with n hand in the fire. She
drove the axe again iuto his brain
again and again. until she had dealt him
at least four blows, This is substan-
TALLY her W story and collateral evil
dence sustains it. Her deadly work ac-
compllshed, she sat up Il shout which all
the neighbors heard, and these came
focking in. The CHASTITY object lay
upon the floor. the Woman having drag
ged the body out of the fire.
First upon the scene was the dead
man 5 father. j. {. Minish. Mary told
him OF what she had done. He went
back home. Il quarter of a mile, got his
wife and returned. Meanwhile came
Joshua Dowell. another neighbor who
had heard the wOnnn's cries. and him.
too, she told of her crime, adding that
Jesus Christ had told her to do it,
The Indignation in the community was
very great. Propositions 10 lynch the
woman we're onenly made and the off
GERS OF the law toun it advisable to hur-
~ her ON to prison.
OplulOu dc W ilcT Htcutdl SII(US varies
in the neighborhood. Joshua Dowell
before the coroner that he did not
think she had been right" for three
years. James Privett had heard her
talk with good sense" But whatever
difference there NAV be touched her SAN
ity, all are agreed that she is a bad. des.
perate NJ She has frequently been
heard to threaten her husbands life,
They have been married ten years and
have one child. She is a daughter of
Daniel Ball, a respectable man, a one
armed ex Confederate soldier, who moved
from this county to Buncombe seyeral
years ago. Mary Minish is a cookbook.
ing brunette, with regular features and
tranquil expression of c~ountenance.
Coroner Anderson talked with her in
Jail, Monday. He told her that he had
seen her husbands body the day before
She inquired when they would bury him
and what sort of a suit they would bury
him in. She pressed the question as to
whether or not the suit vas a nice one
and expressed herself as hoping that i
was She said she ha left SIS at home
which she had waited used in the bur
chase OF his burial outfit. but had left so
suddenly that she had forgotten to tell
about it. While she talked she
lemmed upon a dirty piece of cloth
which she said she was making into a
as long as she had nothing
Use to do. She said she had to- kill
Ter husband, gave the particulars of the
occurrence, talked the matter over with
he utmost composure and expressed no
ontritlOn for her act. Tuesday Justice
Iemp.eton, of Uuion Grove. talked with
Ter in her cell. On this occasion she
maintained that her husband had threat
ned TO kill Ter; that he hal said, Will
on his shoes that as soon as h,
'ot them On he intended to kill both her
nd the child that she had the axe in
Ier hands, starting out to cut some wood.
nd that as oon as she heard these last
lords of Minish she fell to hacking him.
asked IT she regretted having killed him, 1
he said she was sorry she had to "
his is her refrain-''I had to- Mr.. I
B. Joyner. the j~ailor, is perfectly sure :
be creature is insane. :,