The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-07-17
BETRAYED BY A HORSESHOE
THE OLD eARRIeR's STRANGE STORY.
How a Murderer Was Brought to the
Stake, Because Two Men Shoe
Horse Exactly AIike-A Pio-
neer Lynching.
THE FARRIFR's STORY.

OF work for the past month or two. There
is quite a craze for the lighter kind of
horses in indianapolis lately"
do you think these Mexican or Texas
horses will fill the requirements expected
from Them"
"No, hardly think they will. In the
first place they are not built right. Then
they show the results OF centuries of i'll
usage, bad management and want OF nour-
ishment, besides being deficient in intelli-
gence, although l admit that they improve
under the care they receive in the North
But, after all, it hardly pays to purchase
an inferior animal, even if it is young
Then, again, the careless branding destroys
the appearance of most of them"
They will be very well shod at any
rate. You seem to be quite 'au fait' at the
business"
"Quite off hay? 1 don't deal in hay"
mo, no; mean that you are good at
horse-shoeing."
81 ought to be. Ny father was a farrier
before me, and so are both his sons-Sam
and 1"
Il suppose, for all the similarity in the
pedal appointments OF horse, no two
men in the trade shoe exactly alike ?"
Right you are. Do you know that
found out where my brother lived in Kan
sas by horses shoe-a brother | had not
heard from for fifteen years? 1 knew that
either himself, or some one he had taught
the business to, had shod the animal in
question. l proceeded at once to make
inquiries OF the owner, and, sure enough,
it was my dear brother Sam"
That was quite singular"
"Wa'al, | guess it was; but, after all,
there amt nothing so extraordinary in it.
l often heerd my father speak of circum-
stance that happened long before l was
born land that's over forty years ago.,
how the perpetratOr of a most horrid out
rage and murder was discovered by the
make OF the horseshoe that seems peculiar
to the blacksmithing of our family"
Il should like to hear about that.
"Well, hold on minute till finish this
shoe and I'll tel you all about it, as far as
/ know.
Zone night, years ago, terrible crime
was committed in this section OF the coun-
try, which was then but thinly settled.
"a prosperous and well-to-do farmer
was murdered, together with his wife and
daughter, the fiend adding abomination to
horror by the outrage of the girl, who was
regarded as the beauty of the neighbor-
hood. The crime was supposed to have
been committed by Indians, who were by
no means scarce in this locality at the time
/ speak of, but the awful crime proved
afterward to have been perpetrated by a
double-dyed villain named Dominick Lof-
tus, or as be was called for short, DOM
This Dom was general favorite amongst
the settlers. No one in the world would
have suspected him of the crime; he was
a good-looking sort OF a fellow, but had
the heart OF demon. Yet he was well
liked. He never was particularly fond of
work, and no one ever saw LOTUS do any
blowing.
''The farmers used TO lose a great many
horses; still no one ever suspected Dom.
Yet the fellow was gambler, horse thief
and desperate of the worst description,
as afterward, when too late, came to light.
HE always rode a beautiful sorrel
chestnut, with a skin like silk, which
shone bright as bronzed gold. Now, after
committing the fearful deed (which must
have been done late in the evening", and
after the savage and insensate wretch had
partaken of the hospitality of the kind
farmer and his family, and after the muir
derer, in his haste TO escape from the
scene, had mistaken the road, in trying to
make a short cut he forced his horse to
take a desperate leap, in doing which it
lost a shoe upon the bank of a rocky
ledge.
Now, sir, my father had shod that
horse, and one day, not long after land
before the excitement of the event had
died out, while stopping to have chat
with a neighbor in the village, he saw
nailed to the tavern door a horseshoe. OF
course there was nothing out of the way
in seeing a shoe nailed to the door of a
tavern, especially in those days, but this
shoe was a little out of the common, and
was made to help slight crack in the an
imal's fore foot.
"'Halloo, said father, where did Dom's
horse lose his shoe?'
Every one present stood in amazement,
and it was some time before an answer
was given. The points of the hoof had
been tracked with care and they felt as
sured that the horseshoe had been worn
by the animal the murderer rode.
"'Why, what is the matter with We all !?
said father; are We struck dumb?
"'Wa'al, said the keeper of the tavern,
that shoe must have belonged to the
horse the murderer rode. for it was found
three days alter the killing of old Mercer
and his family not more than fifty rods
from the house.
a
neighborhood was astir with the widest
excitement. Money was subscribed, and
the best and bravest officer in the county
selected to track the murderer.
after some trouble and difficulty this
was accomplished. A watch, money and
some valuables, belonging to his victims,
were found in his possession. His horse,
too, had been differently shod, new shoe
having been substituted for the one lost.
Dom was brought back. and more abb
ject, miserable, ccwardly-looking wretch,
have heard my father say, he never saw.
"In those days Judge Lynch was in the
ascendant. He was all powerful then as
he is now, and L doubt not always will be,
whenever Justice is inclined to be tardy,
and while men hate to see the likeness of
themselves degraded by some inhuman
beast.
"The wretch az Messed his guilt and
asked for respite, cut it was denied him,
for often on a winters night, when seated
round the old log fires Of those days, I've
heard the old gray boards tell how the
and ravisher of the Mercer fam
lily was burned at the stake"
Horrible, most horrible, but just"
"Ya'as, that's what | say. But | tell
YOU, l might never have found my
brother Sam, and that crime might never
have been avenged, if all blscksmiths
made horseshoes exactly alike" P. G.
Anxious to See Him Hung.
MEMPHIS, Tenn, July 13.-Charles Writ,