Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1884-01-11
Lynch Law in Highland County.
A NOTED BAD CHARACTER TAKEN FROM
JAIL, SHOT AND HUNG.

JAIL, SHOT. AND HUNG.
| Highland county IN this State borders
| on the West Virginia line, and is about
forty miles northwest from Staunton. It
has been one of the most quiet and orderly
| of Virginia counties. Its county seat is
Monterey, pleasant little village of three
| hundred Inhabitants. in which many of
| the county's prominent maa live, includ-
| ing G. T. Jones, the member of the legis-
lature, and L. II. Stephenson, the Com
monwealth's Attorney Of :as county. The
| houses are nice looking, but scattered at
+! irregular distances. Tnu courthouse is a
substantial brick building ,and IN the rear
of it is the Jail stout little structure
containing four or FIVE cells.
| Sidney Ruckman is the County Snperin-
tendent of Schools, appointed by the
| State Board of Education. He was reject
ed when up for confirmation by the Sen
| ate last week.
f. d. Atcaison was man of bad char
acter. claiming originally to be from Mas
sachusetts He had lived in Highland
county two or three ysars and married
Miss Houdasheil there, two years ago.
| He desc ted her shortly after. He
was suspected OF many crimes By the peo-
| pie Of the county, though none bad been
| fixed on him. He waS what IS called
| desperate character and it was matter OF
some danger TO brig Il complaint against
him. L,tterly he had been for many
g ~
| Va, the adjoining county to Highland,
charged with horse stealing. Upon being
| liberated he came back to Highland, and
| stayed there until Friday night when mob
took him from Jail ard put him to death.
| The following report of the event is gath
e'ed from the statements of persons who
have arrived in Staunton from Highland
since the lyEchiDg:
| On nistmas eve. Ruckman, who had
| been drinking. en red a store at the vii
lage of Green Hill, ii Highland. Atchison
was there and a dispute arising, Ruckman
| said something offensive TO Atchison. The
iDsulted man turned eff as If going to the
| door, when he wheeled suddenly and with
a pocket-knife sta bbed Ruckman severely
| In the breast He was at once arrested,
carried to Monterey and put in jail.
While going to Jail and after getting
sober there he made bloody threats against
| those who had put him there, 70 be execut ted
when he got out. GA Friday night last
about midnight party Of some ten men
rode up to the Jail ana demanded OF the
jailer, James Hiner. .the keys of Atchi-
sons ceil Some Of these men were dis
guised and some not; all seemed more or
| less under the influence of drink. One
! threatened to shoot the jailor and raised
| his gun and discharged it, the load enter
| ing the brick wall. The jailor said he
would go to Sheriff Arbogast and get the
| keys, and went on the errand. While he
was gone, the party of men commenced at
| Atchisun seized stove leg and make a
| desperate resistance. The lynchers COM
menced firing through the bars and shot
| Atchison in the leg, back and side. The
doomed man was still cursing them, and
| striking at them when he got the chance.
Another prisoner in the same cell laid fat
on the floor to escape the bullets. The
lower part of the door was broken through
and one Of the men put his pistol through
to shoot the desperate man, but it was
struck from his hand by blow of Atch-
| ison. 1t was dark however and Atchi-
son did not know that the pistol had fallen
inside his cell.
The party outside fearing that Atchi-
son had gotten the pistol, then went to the
! Jail kitchen to warm and consult about
what they should do. While in therethey
are said to have preserved little disguise,
several taking off their masks and being
recognized. One said they had come to
"kill Atchison and they must do it. y
They went back to the cell and called out
to the prisoner who was with Atchison,
that If he would find the pistol that had
| fallen inside the cell and hand it out they
would not trouble him. The prisoner
found the pistol en- the BED and handed it
| out. By this time Atchison was weak
from loss Of blood and could make but
little resistance. The party then broke
open the door seized him, Eonnd him with
a rope and dragged him from the cell. The
snow outside showed where he had been
ble's Hill, quarter of a mile below town.
There he was hung up and many shots
| fired into him. This was about o'clock
in the morning. The moon was shining
brightly. When the sun rose the man
was hanging there bloody and frozen
corpse.
| On Saturday morning Justice Osburne
Wilson summoned jury of inquest which
late that night returned the following YER
dict, which we fnd in the Highland 'sRe-
corder -
| We, the jury of inquest, find that the
deceased, e. d. Atchison. was taken from
| the Jail of Highland county, Virginia. on
I the morning of the 9Th of January, 1884,
between the hours of - A. M. and 4 A.
NJ, by mob. and that he came to his
death either from pistol shot or gun shot
or from being hanged by the neck, or
from the effects Of both. Signed,
| A. 81. CAMPBELL, Foreman.
Commonwealth IS Attorney Stephen son,
who was in Richmond at the time of the
occurrence, passed through here yesterday
on his way back to Monterey, having seen
the account of the lynching, telegraphed
| to the papers of that city.
CHANGE IN POSTAL RATEs.-The
Postmaster has issued an order
changing the rate of postage on number
of articles that have heretofore been rated
as third-ciass or printed matter. paying
postage at the rate of one cent for every
two ounces. Under this order these arti-
| cleS will hereafter be classified So merchant