The South western news., 1888-02-15
HURRAHED FOR DAVIS.
Then Was q Boy Shot Dead BY a
Union Sol lier.
THIS OCCURRED OVER 2e
YEARS AGO.
and the Man Who Did the Shooting to Be
Irfsdin March. A Remarkable Case.
Atlanta Constitution.

hovrsvrbnE, KY, FEBRUARY s.
The mills Of justice are grinding
exceedingly slow in. the case of J.
Logan sigman. He Is yet,tp. be
tried for the murder of William
Higginbotham, a sixteen-year.old
boy, in September, 1861.
The case is a remarkable one in
many respects, and more 80 be-
cause of the interest which the
Grand Army of the republic has
taken in Sigman, who belongs to
that organization. The boy whom
ne killed was a southern sympathy
ser, and the sole motive for the
deed, as it is charged, was fact
that at the moment of the killing he
was hurrahing for jeff. Davis. At
that time, however; sigman was
not in the federal army, but be-
longed to a body of home guards.
The guards were loyal organiza.
ton, but it has always been charg-
ed that the particular body to
which Sigman belonged used It's
semi.militafy character as. cloak
for indiscriminate marauding. Aft
ter the mSrder, he joined detach~
ment Of the regular army.
To answer for the murder of .
quarter of a century's standing,
slgman was brought back from
Missouri in February, 1886, He
had resided there for many years,
having wandered thither from Indi.
ana and Illinois. In each of the
latter states he had resided for a
time for the purpose, the prosecu-
ton claims, of avoiding trial He
had been arrested Immediately afs
ter the killing, and, upon an exam
lining trial before Judge B. K. Be-
thuram, was committed to1ail with
out bail. Those were the troubled
times of the war, however, and
upon one pretext and another. the
final trial was postponed. In 1852
General Kirby Smith and his con-
federate raiders were passing
through the state a conquering
host, and to keep the prisoners out
OF his hands, all we're liberated by
Judge Granville Pearl, who sue
ceeded Judge Bethuram.
Sigman had then become a pri,
vate in the Fourteenth Kentucky
cavalry, and in some way the case
was finally stricken off the docket,
He was discharged from the army
in 1866, but he did not
RISK HIS SAFETY
by a return to his old residence. In
the meantime, however, the Hig-
ginbothams had likewise removed
from the state. It was not until
1879 that at the instance Of SM.
Higginbotham, a brother of the de.
ceased. the case was taken up
again. The RockcastIe grand jury
found On indictment against Sig
man in October of that year. and
this was fled away with leave to
reinstate. 1t was restored to the
circuit court docket in January.
1885, and in the following month
the slayer of young Higgiubothanr
was brought back to answer for his
early crime. The case was contin-
ed, however, from time to time.
and finally resulted in a hung Jury.
The prisoner was released on bail.
and now resides in Kansas. His
case was again set for trial on Jan,
uary 10th last, but was once more
continued until the March term.
The killing was witnessed by sew,
eral persons, but OF these only
Godfrey Isaacs is now living. He
is an ex union soldier and a nan.
per, and is the defehse's main VIZ
ness. He is a tall, gaunt noun,
taineer, six feet fptr inches IN
height, and has long clsimed. to b.
an invalid. though he SAYS hi,
memory of the occurrence is not in
the slightest impaired. Naturally
his sympathies are with the prison,
er, as they were neighbors before
the war, and afterward served in
the ranks together.
The circumstances of the kiIl;no
as shown by the court record,
make out very unusual case, tn.