McCook weekly tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 188?-1886, 1884-11-06
MURDER IN CEDAR COUNTY.
Il Deputy Sheriff Killed, His Murderer Be-
ing Hung by q Hob.

A Sioux City dispatch says: Editor
Kroesen, of the Coleridge (Neb.ii Sentinel, was
in town to-day, and gave detailed account of
the murder and lynching near st. Helena,
Neb., Friday night. The man who was
lvnched worked for Sheriff Asbre during the
during the summer and on account OF some
difficulty was discharged. He returned last
week, and set fire to some haystacks on the
sheriff's farm. Deputy Sheriff Phillips got
track of the man Friday evening in the Bow
valley, south of St. Helena. There was rum
ming fight, both the officer and the incendiary
emptying their revolvers. A family came out
from their home beside the road to see the
fight and the incendiary sought refuge IN the
house thus vacated. Phillips followed close
after, knowing that the man had fired six
shots, and naturally supposed that his revol-
yer was empty. But the man had quickly
slipped three cartridges into his pistol and be-
gan shooting as Phillips came III at the door.
Two bullets went over Phillips shoulder: The
third penetrated the lower part OF the side ana
is supposed to have lodged somewhere in the
bowels. The bullet has not yet been
found. Phillips, who was supposed TO
be dying on Saturday, was lightly
better on Sunday, and there was hope Tor re-
covery. The murderous inccndiary,. directly
after he had shot the officer, was knocked
down with shotgun by one of the men who
was with the deputy and dragged out by the
crowd, they beating him while he was down.
He was then taken to the Jail yard at st:
Helena where he was hanged to a post and
left swinging until dead. His name could
not be learned. The only thing known is that
he was a foreigner and pretty tough char
acter.
Phillips was postmaster at Coleridge Iso-
prietor of the COleridge house, and an old set
tier with hosts of friends.
The tragedy will recall to old residents the
lyncbing of Jameson, alias McBeath, on May
il, 1874. On October 10, of the previous year,
Henry Locke a single man, who lived alone ON
his farm north of st. Helens, was found muir
dered. He had evidently been killed with his
own ak. On May s. following, John Melon
aid, then deputy sheriff, arrested man who
was working on a farm near Omaha under the
name of John McBeath. 1t was understood
then that his trial there would be in Judge
Lynch's court On the night he was crossed
from Yankton to Cedar county he took some
poison which he had secreted on his person,
but it was an overdose and only made him
sick. At ST. Helena, on may 18th, the citizens
quietly but decidedly took the prisoner from
the sheriff. He asked that priest be sent for,
and men went several miles to the home OF
priest and brought him. a vote was taken and
every citizen voted for hanging. After recelv-
ing the last services of the reverend clergyman,
McBeath made confession. He had killed a
man in Kentucky, but that was an accident
Enlisting under the name of Jameson he had
killed man at Fort Buford; came down the
river on the steamer Peninah; left the boat a
| little above Yankton, and tramping across the
country had stopped for the night at Locke's
cabin. Locke had entertained him, and the
following morning as the two were walking,
Locke carrying an axe to cut some wood in the
timber, he had taken the axe and killed Locke.
The only plumber he got from his victim was
an old watch and $50 in money. After his
confession McBeath was placed in a wagon,
driven under a tree, the rope adjusted on his
neck, and the wagon driven on. When neces.
sary the st. Helena people are addicted to brief
terms of Judge Lynch's court.