Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-08-19
THE ROASTING OF HANK COON.
His Pun suers Set the Forest Afire
and the GalIoNs Lost a Subject.
From, ne Nelo York Sun.


is heavy with smoke, and at night the
sky is lurid with the glare OF llames' some
of which are near at hand. While every
body is alert on the subject, ana wnen
sudden shift OF the wind name an them
tire destruction of the town, the old set
tiers settlers funds Of anecdote have been
drawn on very freely.
"The best JOB ] ever knew a woods tire
to do" said old Jerry Bassett last nlRht,
twas IN the fall of 80 when one of them
licked UP Hank Coon, the murderer. Lots
OF you fellows wasn't here then, and the
saw mill hadn't eaten into things the way
it has since. A man hunt i'll those days
was a terror. Hank was crook, and had
been around this section some time.
Everybody suspected HIM. Finally, one
day old man Hardness Of Michigan turn
ed up murdered. He had pine lands up
here, and had been on the spot seeing
about the putting up OF sawmlll. NO
man was likely to have much money mere,
but Hardness had fine watch and chain,
and OF course some cash, and when mis-
body was found these were gone. A.
Hank was missing nobody thought twice
about who had been dong that killing,
and we set out with the idea of catching
him before he could get out OF the woods.
'There was about dozen of us. and we
lost no time in getting on the tran. ABOUT
a month before the murder OF darkness
one of the men VINO was working for Lam
der, Swede, who had not been here long,
was lost in the woods, and we had just
given upsour search for him when we
heard of the crime and changed off onto
Coon. There had been some fires that lall,
but they had not scared Us much. After
we had been on the track OF Coon about
week we came one morning onto what
every body said was his body. The remains
were hardly recognizable, but the clothes
were his, the boots and hat were his, and
a big horn ring on one of the fingers was
one which we had all seen him wear
Thinking he had starved to death, we re-
solved to search the clothiug for Hardness
money and Jewels, but as they were not to
be found we came 10 the conclusion that
he had buried them. with the expectation
ofreturning as soon as he thought he could
do 50 with safely. Thea We lett MN mere
he was, and returning to camp told our
story.
"a month after that one of our men
came running in with a story about see
ing Hank Coon in the woods. Nobody
believed him at first, but he was so Ger
tain about it that we concluded to so out
with him. After long and careful
search we came upon him sure enough.
the same man exactly as he was when
we saw MIN last, except that his clothing
was changed. We had him covered, ana
he had to surrender, after which, in eX-
PLANTATION OF his strange appearance, he
said that he had come upon the body OF
the missing Swede, and that as the latter
clothes were better than bis own he mad
chang ed with him for the fun OF the thing.
He denied most positively that he had had
anything to do with the murder, and eX-
pressed the greatest Willingness to ac-
n
he was talking so glibly that most OF us
forgot that he was our prisoner, and,
watching his chance, be made dive for
the Jungle. and was out of sight befors We
could realize what he was up to.
"'Burn him outp somebody cried, ard
then quicker than / can tell 1T we agreed
to spread out so as to surround the place,
for we knew he would hide after a little.
and then set fire to the woods. We
figured that il he did hide that would be
isure way OF getting him whether we
L Guild stay there or not, and as for our
selves we were to be the judges when it
was time for us to skip. An hour after
that the smoke was rising from half a
dozen quarters. The woods were dry and
by little careful watching we kept the
blaZes under some sort OF control. To-
ward dark brisk wind sprang up, and
before l0o'clock the old forest was going
Il
the lee side, and as there were no back
fires burning Ihad the prettiest view OF
the blaze that a man ever had. IL was
terrific, and l began to fear that the boys
on the other side might not get
away, but as there was nothing for
me TO do but keep out of danger
myself, | just stood as far back
as it was necessary to do, and saw the
flames spread. 1t was worse than a
powder mill. The heat, even where was
standing, was almost insufferable, and
every few minutes had to turn my back
on the blaze ahead of me, which seemed
at times to be wall of fire reaching
from earth to sky. The reflection thar a
sudden change in the wind might place
me in the same perilOus predicament that
we had sought to put Coon in made me
shake Tor minute, but / cTept along over
the hot track Of the fire a few rods ami
looked about me for the purpose of taking
my bearings. On all sides the black and
spjndling trunks OF trees stood out bare
and ghostly, and as / looked aloit few
drops of rain splashed in my face. Later
the Gownpour increased, and. in ten
minutes the rain was coming down in
torrents. / fed from the blackened
track of the fire TO the cover of the
woods AT one side, and from thicket
saw, half with pleasure and half with
regret. the nreS burning uImmor and
at last sinking into suilen glare, which
promised soon to disappear altogether II
the deluge continued. While thus strain
ing my eyes TO observe if possible il there
were any Of my companions in sight,
saw an object drop from one OF the charred
trees at some distance to my left, and
heard it strike the ground with heavy
tbump. The wind had risen fresh and
strong from the southeast, and l made up
my mind that some of the burned limbs
were being shaken down. Afterward.
however, got TO thinking of Coon, and
couldn't get it out of my head that he
might have been the thing that bad
dropped. The rain continued all night,
and by daylight there were no free In that
vicinity worth mentioning AT the earli-
est opportunity l stole across the
burnt stretch to the tree that !
had been watching, and there at its base,
burned out OF all semblance to a human
being almost, was Hank Coon.
knew who il was, for right by his side
was gold watch and chain, half buried
in the ashes. He had climb d that tree
when overtaken suddenly by thehre in
the hope OF sticking it out up there, and
from all appearances he had roasted as
he sat in n crotch OF the limbs. He must
have been dead long before he fell, and
presume bad walked around there with
tho dead man right over my head. As
the track Of the fire was not over 100 feet
wide at that point, we made mp our minds
that hp had either been asleep when nc