The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1886-03-19

John -. Lynch In the Indiana
State Prison For Safety.
An Interesting Interview.
FORCED 70 sHooT or DIE.

FORCED TO SHOOT OR DIE. l.
Louisville cosrisr Journal.
Yesterday morning, John ID. Lynch. ll
whose confession caused the lynching Of
the Archers at Shoals, was received at
the Southern Indiana prison at Jefier-
sonville. where be had been sent fromli
naviess county by order of Judge Heh.
ron. Ii was feared that he also would
be Iynched, 40 the excitement 10 still
high in Martin and Daviess counties.
A Courier-JournaI reporter called atl
the prison Yesterday afternoon to inter-
view him in regard to the crime, which
he confessed he was implicated in com
hitting. Lynch is smooth faced young
man, twenty eight years old, weighs
about 76 pounds and has strong COM
pact frame. The nervous glitter in his II
ewes shows that he would be q danger
Gus man TO trife with. At first bel
was averse to being interviewed. but at
the solicitation OF Warden Howard he
finally agreed 10 give a statement Of thel
crime.
.Well.' said he, 'the origin Of the
trouble occurred in July. 1882. Samuel
Marley, aged % years. Anderson Bunch.
aged As, and Martin Archer, agei l6.
formed partnership and stole lot Of
timber. This they hoated down the
B White river into Illinois aud left. They
then returned 10 avert suspicion from
themselves. Young Archer was taken
sick and the other two sold the timber
and Kept the money. When Archer re-
covered he told them that II they did
not give hin. his share he would give
the whole thing away and have them ar
rested. They denied having made the
), sale. and en;iced Archer away TO lone
~ spot. and Marley kiled<him. A few
days after the body was found By the
Archers. They knew 0ftbe transactions
OF Marley. Bunch aud the murdered
youth. and at once set out on the hunt
for Marley. who, Bunch said, had COM
} mitted the deed. went with them to
assist in the search. We watched
Bunch's house for three nights, and one
/. time saw him hoist red lantern on q
: pole. which must have been a signal "a
: Marley. We then found letter from
: the letter saying that Bunch had threat
1 ened 10 kill him il he did not kill young
e Archer We were all sure by this tims
r that Bunch knew the whereabouts Of tn,
}, murderer. SO We took Bunch 70 salt
4 petre cave just on the edge Of Orang'
= county. about II miles west Of Shoals
Q and about one and one-half miles from
4 French Lick Springs. His hands wcr'
! tied aud he was seated upon rock
Martin Archer. who was the leader o
:, the party and the worst Of the lot. pulled
|. his watch from his pocket aud said:
: ..Dunch. we'lI jpst give you five min
: utcs 10 tell us the whereabouts Of Mar
y lev lie then commanded the others
N the two Archcrs aud myself, to draw
/ orr tevolvers and prepare 10 shoot
; told him there was no need Of killing
! Bunch. but he insisted and said: If an,
9 Of YOU fellows fail 10 shoot when rive
The word I'll shoot YOU The five min
e utes expired, and Mart Archer CAV,
:: the word to fire We all did so. III
then went around to see III each wcapor
= lad been discharged. We fred sixleel
shots into the body. Then all Of n
went home.
.Ahont two weeks later Martin Arch
or came "a me and said something woul,
have 10 be done with the body, and sait
n must come out 10 the cave and hell
dispose Of ii. went with them. Th'
}, body was placed in wooden box. into
y WHICH WI< DNutt0 WV kAttVHc VI 40
b oil. We then carried the box TO elf
about 200 yards from the cave. where th'
y Archcrs had heaped together pile Q
4 wood. The box was placed on the pill
Sand set fire 10. The locality Is isolated
9 ethcre being no dwelling house for sew
ycral miles around. and consequently w
y had no fears Of interruption. The bod,
q was finally reduced 10 ashes, with III
:. exception Of several large bones, whicl
y the A ..chers buried under q log w
o were suspicioned right away, and wer
: arrested, brought before q magistrate
2 and acquitted, there being no evidcnc
y 'flaeainst us.
!. "What finally caused your arrest ?
asked the reporter.
"John Archer was the cause Of all Of \
He left his wiic aud ran off with anothe
woman. He had told his wife somcthin
about the murder, and she gave il ava,
9, She knew nothing only that we he
Killed Burch, that's all. The horribl
n stories she aud others have sworn TO az
A. AL false. IL happened just as told yo'
a Yes. the Archers were tough set, an
they have been engaged In many mea
" transactions. Let me tell you a mea
81 thing Martin Archer did once. In III
Or prison now are four boys who were ser
crnp from our county, Nathan Holt, Graz
x-lvlle Lynch, John johnson and M
re Holt. They robbed blacksmith shol
r. Mart Archer advised them 20 do Il al
re told them how 10 70 about Il. lie WI
~ 70 get share Of the booty for doing q
~ A reward of 800 was offered for u
" apprehension OF the thieves. Arch'
sc gave them away and got the rewar
Nv The country where tho killing occurrs
rs pretty Wild, and there are a great mar
thieves and criminals there. No, ! new
IN was In jail before, and am not . this
iyThese Archcrs forced me 70 assist
Id killing Bunch, and did Il 70 save N
life. / am farmer. and own thirsy-tv
lat acres Of land near French Lick Spring
emil am moi afraid or being lynched, for
have done nothing 10 deserve such
death. III had remained IN the II