Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1886-07-28
a STRANGE STORY.

Growing on O Grave.
Strolling about town to-day I found
myself at the gate of the Gallatin
Cemetery. At the suggestion of a
friend who was with me we entered.
In meandering around my friend
pointed out the grave of Charles
Lewis, better known as pete"
Lewis. Said he: EAT the head Of
this grave comes up every year large
poke stalk" Thinking there was
nothing strange that such a thing
should happen, remarked "Well,
what of itP" "Now," said he, 81 am
not superstitious, but this is rather a
remarkable coincidence, as you will
learn when l tell you that Mr.. Lewis
once killed man about a poke stalk"
Continuing his story, he said:
I'm 1914, now forty-two years ago,
during the great political canvass be-
tween the Wing and Democratic
parties, Isaac GoodaH, of Smith
County, came to Gallatin and was the
guest and intimate friend of Mr.
Lewis. During the day Lewis and
Goodall were playing the violin to-
gether (both were good performers)
and indulging freely in drinks. In the
evening they were down town, and were
returning arm in arm singing one of
their favorite songs. Coming up the
street to the hotel kept by Lewis they
found on the street an OK wagon loaded
with crockery ware, with large poke
stalk standing in the wagon. Lewis
was Democrat, and the poke stalk
being emblematic of his faith in the
| Democratic party. championed then by
James K. Polk. Mr.. Lewis invited
the owner of the wagon to take
drink to the success of the
Democratic party. Goodall was a
strong Wing, and remarked that if the
driver left his wagon he would drive
the oxen away, at the same time pick
ing up stone. Mr.. Lewis was in
censed at the conduct of his friend,
and said: 'Goodall, if you do I will
| shoot you, at the same moment draw
ing a pistol. Goodall Immediately
dropped the stone and asked Lewis
what he had in his hand, and before
replying Lewis fired the shot, killing
Goodall almost instantly. Goodall, as
he fell, said: oh! Pete, what made
you do that?'
Lewis, without losing a moment,
ran into the house and up to the garnet.
| Great excitement followed, the news
| spread rapidly and the street was
| thronged with friends of both parties.
| The sheriff summoned twenty men to
assist in arresting Lewis. Mrs. Lewis
| came to the sheriff and told him that
Lewis was in the garnet intoxicated and
| heavily armed, and that it would be
| death to any man to mount the ladder
leading to the hiding place of her hus-
| band, but if he (the sheriff) would
wait till he Oewis) sobered she would
| bring him down. After dark, the time
| appointed for her to carry out the pur-
pose of the sheriff, she piloted the sher-
| if and his deputies up the staircase
| where the ladder was standing. Here
| she requested the gentlemen to step
| into room while she assembled the
| ladder Once in the room she made
| them prisoners by locking them in, and
| fastening Mr.. Lewis down the ladder,
| down the stairway and out through the
| backway and into the garden, he was
| free. Every light in the house was put
| out. according to the plans of Mrs.
| Lewis. Just rs the alarm was given
that Lewis was out, negro named
Bob, belonging to Mrs. Lewis, fired
pistol, and, calling out, Here he goes"
ran in an opposite direction to that
taken by Mr.. Lewis, thus throwing the
guards off his track. Escaping that
night on magnificent horse, procured
from Esquire Thomas G.. Moss, which
was hitched in the back garden for that
hn 70 | i,1n
from there to Cuba.
detectives were employed to work
up the case, and two were employed to
shadow Mrs. Lewis, who it was thought
would join her husband, but the
woman ingenuity was too much for
them. She would leave for visit to
Louisville, Nashville or Cincinnati, and
detective would follow. She thus
threw them off their guard, visited her
husband in Louisiana, and from there
went to Cuba. Tired of exile, after
ten years wandering, Lewis returned
and gave himself up to the sheriff He
was arraigned, tried and acquitted by
the courts.
''Mr. Lewis lived here until after the
war, making good and useful citizen.
He died and was buried in his own gar
den where, am told, poke-stalk
came up every year at the head of his
grave. A few years ago his remains
were transferred to their present loca-
ton, and, as was told, the poke-stalk
still comes up annually. His wife,
Mrs. Mary Lewis (Aunt Polly, lies by
his side, a heroic, true, devoted
woman. During her life she never
faltered in her love and devotion to her
husband in his troubles. 1t would be
waste of words to offer tribute to the
constancy and devotion of Mrs Lewis,
not only to her husband. but to any one
who could claim her a friend She
died about two years ago at the resi-
dence of her nephew, DR.. w. R.
Tomkins, at the age of seventy-eight
years. - 0ll0t6aa Cor. Nashville Ban