davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30

ing, and considering the size of the
crowd it is a wonder that a thread
of clothing was left on the dead
body. The rope was cut up into
pieces and distributed as far as it
went. Then articles of his cloth
ing went. Even his suspenders
and socks were pillaged and cut up
as mementos. 1t is said that while
the corpse yet dangled in the air a
curiosity hunter was trying to steal
one of his socks, but was driven
away by the Kisses of the crowd.
Mussel told the town marshal
that he expected to be hanged by
the mob, and asked to be buried in
the cemetery by the grave of his
little child.
One incident is significant un-
der his pillowin the cell was found
a copy of the Life and Daring
Deeds of Jesse James,"
There was no drunkenness on
the streets until after the hanging,
then considerable intoxication be-
gan to show itself.
Hundreds of ladies and children
witnessed the horrible deed, and
not a man was masked.
By eleven o'clock all of the sa-
looms were closed and the streets
were as quiet as usual.
1t is claimed that every city and
town within twenty miles had rep
resentatives in the throng that wit.
messed the hanging of Mussel. No
body expressed any anxiety about
possible legal investigation hereaf
ter. 1t would be hard to find 8
grand jury who would bring an in
dictment in such a case.
It would seem that the authori
ties almost courted a lynching bee
or they never would have taker
him to Eaton.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30
Not always Equal TO The Occa-
sion.
lGreenville Courier.l

A report of the mobbing of Mus
sci, at Eaton says "Everything was
conducted in an orderly manner"
Yes, We suppose. Lots of "order"
about a lawless mob. He was
charged with a monstrous and hor-
rible deed, but the laws OF his coun-
try were certainly equal to the oc-
casion, and should have been re-
sorted to-. No community is to be
cherished which is infested with a
class of people who will band to-
gether and go out at night and do
such deeds. They violate all di-
vine and human laws, and estab-
fish a precedent and a name for a
community most damaging.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30
Boauets.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer of the
22d of December says that Police
Judge Hutchins in sentencing to
the workhouse a brute who had
committed a murderous assault on
a fellow workman, remarked that
if the murderous intent had been
fully carried out, the slayer would
have gone to jail and "got a lot of
boquets."
1t was a grim sarcasm, but I'M
fortunately contained far more
truth than jest. If the man had
actually committed murder he
would, soon after his lodgment in
Jail, have been the object of atten-
ton on the part of the morbidly
curious, and of those philanthro-
pists who not unfrequently have
more benevolent impulses than
sound judgment. After his convic-
ton and sentence to death the MUIR
derer would, judging from the ex-
perience of preceding murderers,
become an "object of interest" to
be gushed over and made a hero of.
He would literally, as Judge Hutch
ms remarked, "get a lot of boquets"
from silly women who would con-
slider him $50 interestingly But he
failed to complete the crime and so
went to the workhouse as a COM
mon assault and battery prisoner
instead of TO the Jail as an interest
ing murderer.
The boquet business for brutal
murderers has been overdone, and
it is no wonder that it provokes the
disgust of men like Police Judge
Hutchins. The Jail authorities
would do well to put a stop to it by
taking possession of all such vo-
tive offerings at the Jail door and
carefully depositing them in a slop
bucketin the presence of the givers.
In the light of the lynching of
the brute Mussel, here in Eaton
last week, there is some food for
reflection in the above.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30

cipal taxes are collected, there
would be such an uprising as would
drive the monopoly-encouraging
protectionists from the country.
People will learn this in due time
and then there will be a demand
for reduction that congressman will
heed. Reduce the taxes.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30
Congratulated
Washington &C. H.) Register.l

Washington &C. H.) Register.l
Thus have the people avenged
one of the most terrible and cold
blooded murders on record in the
history of Ohio. The papers have
been too full of the murder to ne
cessitate going into particulars.
Every one is familiar with them.
We congratulate the people of Ea-
ton on the successful manner in
which they have avenged the MUIR
der of poor unoffensive old man
Christman.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30
All Deserved.
Miami Helmet

Read the account of the terrible
retribution visited upon the muir
dercro If Daniel Christman at Eaton.
1t was all, and more than all, de-
served. and yet it was a terrible
thing to do. None but a highly ex-
cited and incensed people would
thus take the law into their own
hands. vengeance is mine and 1
will repay, saith the Lord.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30

An exchange enters the opposi-
ton to the ~abolishing of spring
elections on the grounds that it
would introduce politics into mu-
nicipal and school elections. 1t
would need no introduction in Ea-
ton. 1t has been introduced al
ready.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30

A case that very materially af-
fects the State has just been decid-
ed by the Circuit Court at Cadiz.
A man named S. B. Shotwell, an
attorney and a wealthy gentleman
of that place usually keeps from
$4,000 to $25, 900 in the bank. He
for years has been in the habit of
checking out all this money a few
days before assessment time, and
converting the entire sum into
greenbacks, which are non-taxable.
But the County Auditor brought
suit against him. The Common
Pleas Court decided in favor of
Shotwell. The case was carried to
the Circuit Court, where a verdict
for the Auditor has just been rem
dered. This sticks Shotwell for
$4,000 back taxes.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30

This years cotton crop will be a
great one, if we can judge by the
yield in Arkansas, where nearly
100000 bales r already picked,
and the total product will reach
10000 bales. /.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30


General McClellan's Gown Sto-
ry" of the momentous days be-
tween his assumption of the com
mand at Washington and his SUI
p%ercession by Burnsides after the
victory at Antietam is just pub
lished, a year after his death. He
makes very serious charges, in
deed, against Edwin M. Stanton
alleging that the War Secretary
deliberately crippled him in the
Peninsular campaign in order that
the war might be prolonged for
partisan purposes,
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30

A city or town where low taxes
is the rule, with an economical and
prudent municipal government, is
the place that men of business
hunt out to locate in.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30
Some Facss-COnsiderablc that
is Cranky.
cincinnati Penny Post.


Tuesday noon there was in Jail
in Eaton, g., probably one murder
er. His name was VIM. Mussel.
He s~teadfastly declared his inno-
cence, and in the eye of the law he
was Innocent. Circumstances very
strongly pointed to his guilt, and
there was IN addition very positive
testimony of an eyewitness that he
was guilty. Probably a clearer
ease of murder is seldom made out
against any man.. Still, because
of his own proclamation of inno-
cence, the law was bound to consid-
er him innocent till in open and
fair trial, before twelve men, face to
face with his accusers, and with
opportunity to bring testimony on
his own behalf, he should be prov
en- guilty.
He was safely lodged in Jail.
There was no danger of his escape.
He had not been tried. There had
been no failure or cheating of JUS
t1ce In his case.
To-day he is dead. Murdered by
the citizens of Eaton and Preble
county in the presence of an ap-
proving multitude, and the MUIR
derers and burglars who did the
deed walk at large. For he who
forcibly breaks into an inhabited
house or dwelling place at night is
a burglar; and he, who without
warrant of law, takes the life of an
unresisting fellow-man on the pub
lie street is a murderer.
A BLIND IMPULSE.
1t is true that there was in the
murder a blind impulse of doing
speedy justice and of making hu-
man life safer throughout the coun-
try. That murderous and seditious
mob would not have hanged VIM.
Mussel had there been a moral GER
tainty of his guilt. Had his guilt
been problematical that mob would
have defended him if necessary.
These, to be sure, are palliating
circumstances connected with the
murder but while they lessen the
guilt of the murderers, they make
the deed none the less a murder,
and they diminish not in the least
the recreancy of the officers of the
law in not defending the prisoner,
and the recreancy of the law-abid-
ing people of Eaton in not giving
their assistance to the Sheriff, and
in not endeavoring by voice and in
fuence to dissuade the mob from
its proposed crime.
The tendencies of the age are ON.
inously anarchistic, but the dan
gers to orderly and safe government
are not so much from the ranters
of the Anarchist clubs as from the
otherwise good citizens who parti
cipate in and even lead such sedi.
tious, law-defying, anarchistic and
murderous deeds as that at Eaton
Tuesday night.
ANARCHY LAUGHS.
| The bloody archfend Anarchy i.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30

Who first discovered the $4,000
'serror" in the Washington Town
ship contingent school fund, and
attempted to fasten it upon a Dem
ocratic official? Has he lost his
voice? If not, let lis hear from him.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30

Representative George D. Wise
says that two of the Virginia MEM
bers elected to the Fiftieth Con-
gress, and claimed by the Republi-
cans, Will vote with the Democrats.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30
Sure-t Way to Justice.

Miami Leader.l
The Eatonians made very short
work of their murderer. 1t seems
to have been one of the few ex-
ceptional cases in which mob law
was the shortest, surest and cheap
est way to justice.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30
Notice OF Appointment,

Estate of Leri Wyatt, Deceased.
NOTICE is hereby given that the under
~ signed have been duly appointed and
qualified as Administrators of the estate of
Levi Wyatt, late of Preble county, Ohio, de-
ceased. MARTHA d. WYATT,
: EDWIN L.. WYATT.
d,,2n- ~
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30
Very Little that is True.
tButler County Herald!

The mans nerve did not forsake
him for an instant. His GOODNESS
was the most remarkable thing ev-
er witnessed.
There was a great demand for
relics and mementos of the lynch
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30

The Butler county Democrat is
now issuing adaily. We hope it
may be q success and make lots of
money.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30
An Editor that sllould Look at
Home.
Richmond Palladium


The murder of Mussel last even
ing at Eaton, by a mob of law-de-
flying citizens, is not only a dis
grace to that community, but to
the State of Ohio, whose laws were
trampled in the dirt. Mussel had
himself no doubt committed a helm
Gus crime, for which he should have
been held strictly responsible to
the offended laws of the State, and
every good citizen should have lent
his aid in securing the fullest pun
ishment the lawprovides. But Mus
sells crime is no justification of the
crime committed by the mob. 1t
has not only committed murder as
defined by the law, but it has open
ly derided and defed the laws and
the authorities of the State of Ohio
and declared them entitled to no
respect. 1t has gone as far as any
anarchist has ever gone in oppos-
ing a government of law and order.
1t has exhibited a spirit the most
dangerous to the rights and liber-
ties of the people. If the State of
Ohio does not vindicate its insult
ed honor, and secure respect and
obedience to the laws, by a thor
ough investigation of this outrage
and the punishment of the offend
ers, it will have failed in it's high
est duty to the. law-abiding portion
of its people, and prove it's inefi-
cheney as a government of law and
order. We do not believe the gov
eminent officials of the State will
be SO direlict in duty, OF SO unwor-
thy of the trust confided to them as
to refuse to enforce the laws against
all law-breakers alike, whether in.
dividual assassins or murder-lov-
ing mobs.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30
Under Republican rule the State
of Ohio is practically bankrupt.

The Dayton Journal says 'the
Dabney case appears to be a miss
cue.p Andsthe ball pocketed.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30

In London it cost $4,000 not
to get a Divorce. In Eaton you can
get one for $40.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30
PRESS OPINIONS,
On the Lynching of Will
liam Mussel.
and Perhaps Justice.
[Greenville Advocated

Preble county has a way of saw
ing Court expenses in murder cas-
es that, while unlawful, is plainly
on the side of economy and per-
haps justice.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30
RuckIen's Arnioa saIve.

BuckIen's Arnica SaIve.
THE BEST SALvE in the world for Cuts,
Bruises. Sores, Ulcers, Salt Rheum, Fee
yer Sores, letter, Chapped Hands, Chill
blains, Corns, and all Skin Eruptions,
and positively cures Piles, or no pay re-
quired. 1t is guaranteed to give perfect
satisfaction, or money refunded. Price
25 cents per box.
For sale by G. E. FULLERTON.
[sept30'S6-lyl
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30
FOR SALE

THE PROPERTY on south Barron street,
Il known as the DR.. Scott property, and
consisting of a Two-story Frame Dwelling,
Stable, Carriage House and Out-buildings, is
being offered at a bargain on account of the
present owner having permanently located in
Kansas. For particulars apply to
JAS. SAYLER 4 SON.
Eaton, Nov. 4, Soft
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30
Money to Loan.

Money to loan in sums to suit, at lowest
current rates of interest, on one to five
years time. A number of valuable farms
for sale. Also town property in Eaton.
Office in Schlenker's building.
aug26-tf] M. L. HOLT.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30

Senator JOHN A. LOGAN, late
candidate for Vice President on the
Blaine ticket, died in Washington
city on Sunday afternoon last at g
o'clock, of infammatory rheuma-
tism, in the 61st year ofhis age. He
was born in Jackson county, Hi
nois, where he received a common
school education, and subsequent
ly graduated at the Louisville Uni
versity; enlisted as a private in
the Illinois volunteers and became
Quartermaster in the war with
Mexico; was elected Clerk of the
Jackson county Court in 1S49:
studied and practiced law was
elected to the Legislature of Hi
nois in 1852, '53, '56, '57; was Pros
scouting Attorney from 1853 to
1857; was a Presidential Elector
IN 1856; vas elected to the Thirty
sixth and Thirty-seventh Congress
es; resigned and entered the I'm
ion Army as Colonel, and reached
the rank of Major General in the
war for the suppression of the re-
bellion; was appointed Minister
to Mexico in 1865, but declined /;
was elected to the Fortieth and For
ty-first Congresses; was elected to
the United States Senate as a Re-
publican, to succeed Richard Yates.
Republican, serving from March 4,
1871, to March 3, 1877; resumed
the practice of law at Chicago /:
was again electek to the United
States Senate as a Republican, to
succeed r. j. Oglesby, Republican,
and was reelected in 1885. His
term of service would have expired
March 3, 1891.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30
G. o. SCHURTZ..

Physician and Surgeon.
nFFICE-0ne door south Of Church,
OHIs Furniture Store. Night calls an
swered from office. [~ian2IlGm..
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30
BENZ. HUBBARD.

A TTORNEY AT LAW AND Nos
"A rARY PUBLIC.-Prompt attea-
tion given to business intrusted to
him. Ofice-Harbaugh's Ccrner, north
Barron street, opposite the Post Office
Eaton, Ohio.
tuly IS. 1878.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30
We clip from our exchanges and

We clip from our exchanges and
give to the readers of the DEMO
Graf the opinions of several editors
on the Mussel lynching in Eaton,
that they can know what outsiders
think of the affair. 1t seems to be
generally condemned, and we be-
lieye public sentiment here has I'M
dergone a change, and that to-day
the brutal human butcher Mussel,
might remain in our jail unmo-
Tested. Not that he did not richly
deserve hanging, seven times over,
but because the "sober second
thought" has brought our citizens
to reflect over the dangers of mob
law.
We are opposed to mobs-have
always opposed them, but what
amuses us is to notice that some
newspapers and good people cry
out in holy horror over the hang
ing of the brutal wretch Mussel,
who but few years ago would
have danced with delight around
the lamp post that was decorated
with the bodies of good and peace
able citizens, hung there only be-
cause they had exercised the right
of a free ballot! Reader, draw your
own conclusions from the extracts
we give. Mussel has met his Just
reward, and it is. too late to agitate
or discuss the propriety of whether
it was right or wrong. Give us more
confidence in the certainty and
speediness of the legal punishment
of crime," and lynchings will not
occur in communities like Eaton.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30
WHERE, OH! WHERE?

Where were the Judges of the
Courts of Preble county? Why
were they not ranged beside the
Sheriff and using their official pow
er and authority to help maintain
the law? Where were the minis
tiers and church officers Of Eaton?
What is the meaning of their di-
vine commission as officers of the
church militant? What were they
doing all day Tuesday while the
mob was openly organizinga gaf !.
Where were the church members
all that day and night? .8Where
were the friends of law andcivic
order? Where were the leading
men of Eaton, those who are fore
most in organizing social and bus
mess undertakings? Why were
they not organizing the friends of
order for the suppression of the
mob and the defense of the jail?
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30
REPENT AND ORGANIZE.

The ord~er-loving citizens of Ea-
ton must confess their direliction
from duty, and they can bring
forth no better fruits of repentance
than to organize now, on the very
spot where VIM. Mussel was pub
licly and lawlessly murdered in the
public street of Eaton, a Law and
Order League which shall enroll
every decent citizen and which
shall make mob violence in Eaton
fogever hereafter an impossibility.
Of curse the next Grand Jury
of Preble county will have a great
and grave duty to do.
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30

In ready-made we defy anybody to show
a more complete stock, from the cheap
'asf 70 tho vary haof
The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-30

The bloody archfend Anarchy is
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1886-02-20
A CULPRIT.

The maiden aunt, in her STRAIGHTFORWARD
With flush on her pale and wrinkled
cheek,
Was just about to speak.
And the maiden Mecca nice little maid
Stood meekly twirling her thumbs about,
With half-triumphant, half afraid
And wholly bewitching pout.
Said the maiden aunt: "will you please ex-
What your heads were doing SO close to-
gether?
You could easily. assure you, Jane,
Have knocked me down with q featherl
"wheu 1 think OF your bringing-up-my
care,
My scrupulous care-and it's come to this
Appeared to be sitting calmly there,
And letting YOUNG MAN KISS you'll
snow tell me at once just what he said,
And what you replied. This is quite .
30 do not stand there and hang your head,
Or attempt the least deniali
eff catch you once more in such a--f,x.
Though you are eighteen. can tell you,
shall treat you just as il you were six.
And send You TO school againI
"Are you going to tell me what he said,
: And what you said? III not stand this
So look at me, janet Lift up your headl
Don't go as If you were stiflingr'
Her voice was shaken-of course, with fear:
HE said-he said: will you have me,
And | said would But indeed, aunt, dear,
Wen never do so again.
-Mdrgdrct Vandegrfft, In Century.
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1886-02-20
CATTLE KINGS.
How Foreign Mobiles Acquire Fortunes ON
the Plains of Texas.

How Foreign Mobiles Acquire Fortunes ON
the Plains of Texas.
The public does not realize the enor-
nous extent of the vast profits of the
western cattle-raising business, as it is
now conducted in Texas, New Mexico
and the plains, as far north even as
Wyoming and Montana. The little
book, ''Cattle-Raising on the Plains,
by Walter, Baron Won Richthofen, gives
much valuable information on 6his sub
ject. The author has been in the bust
ness and lived among the stockmen of
Colorado and other quarters. The quick
and large profits of the business, as it
can be conducted by great syndicates
of companies more especially, are
tempting great numbers of foreigners,
titled and otherwise, to embark in it
and to keep extending not only their
herds but their landed acquisitions, by
purchase or, apparently, by any other
practicable means. The Prairie Cattle
Company controls domain considera-
bly, larger than the State of Connecti-
cut. 1t is partitioned off into three
divisions each having its system of gov
eminent. Its herd of 5000 or 10000
cattle, its army of rancheros or cow
boys and its hundreds of horses, all
busy, and all especially in use in the
annual round-ups. or gathering of the
cattle for counting and for branding
the calves. This New Mexico and
Texas company alone have 10000
head OF cattle and property, all told,
that is rated at between $4,000, 900 and
$4,000 900. Individual cattle kings are
mentioned who own 40, 900 head of cat
tie and 700, 900 acres or more each, re-
quiring 250 miles of fencing. Scotch
companies, English companies, French
companies, titled foreigners and I'M
titled, as well as great numbers of
Americans, are engaged in this profita-
BILE business.
The Prairie Cattle Company began
only three years ago, yet they now
have 140, 900 head of cattle, after hav-
ing sold enough to pay all expenses to
date and leave clean profit of about
$500, 200. Other syndicates are doing
similar large and profitable business.
They find it profitable to grade up their
stock. The improvement of the old
Spanish-Texan stock by crossing it
with strain of Hereford or Shorthorn
or other blooded stock pays very well
in the larger animal and in the in
creased market price of the beef. Many
of these great seattle kings" have al
ready become millionaires and many
more are fast becoming such.-Hart-
ford Post.
The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1886-02-20

an immense amount of bad silver afloat,
and when l was at the exchange desk
three years ago, I used to find IS to $40
in counterfeits every day. / have been
the receiving teller for two years now.
and have taken in an average of
100000 per day in checks, coin and
bills, and in that time / have never
stumbled across but six counterfeits, two
in gold coins and four bills, and I
was lucky enough to catch them al"
The hands of the clock pointed to
three O'Clock at this juncture, and as
the bank door closed the reporter took
his departure, leaving the teller en-
gagged in still-hunt for the missing
dollar that refused to permit his sheet
to balance with his cash.-San Fran
cisco Alta,