Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1889-08-01
1T STUNG HIM TO DEATH.
One Of Kentucky's NOblest Sons Who
Died Under the Lash.


from the county Jail at Mount Stcr-
ling, Kentucky, last week recalls the
story of one of the most touching
and dramatic tragedies chat ever oc-
CURED in Kentucky. 1T is the story
of good mans tempt ton and fall,
and it gives glimpse oi ui,iiiza-
ton unique and terrible, civiliza-
ton which touches the two extremes
and produces the hero and the ruff
fan.
Five years ago Richard Reid was
universally regarded as one OF the
foremost men in Kentucky. lie had
been elected to a number of political
Offices, and had achieved the crown
ing ambition of his life, seat on
the bench OF the Superior Court Of
the State. lie had raised himself
up by his own efforts, as he began
life as a fricndlcss lad. Almost any
Office in the State was ut his disposal,
for he was not only popular with all
classes, but was respected rs well.
y more charming character than
Judge Rcid's cannot we'll be mag
med. All that the wife Of Col. Hutch
inson pictured that gentle Puritan
who has come down to us the most
delightful individuality of his cen
tnry, could have been truly written
of Richard Reid. lie was hand
some, courteous, refined. lie was Il
true Christian, and never by look or
word forced his religion upon any
man. A teacher of his village Sun
day School in Mount Sterling, a de-
vout member of his church, he could
yet keep a crowd of the toughest
mountainccrs roaring at his quiet
jokes; and every child in the little
town knew the good Judge for his
friend. His political opponents had
given up trying to beat a man who
could win the admiring love of the
best people of the bluegrass and the
ticrccSt mOuntainccrS in blood
drcnchcd Rowan and Brcathitt coun-
ties.
There was one man in Mount Stcr-
ling who hated the good Judge with
the vcnomous hatred of Jealous
and revcngcful nature; a hurley, sui.
len, coarse fellow, with the frame of
a Hercules and the head and face of
Il bulldog; the kind of man to
stamp on the face of fallen enemy
and glory in his brutality. That
man was John j. Corncilison. lie
waited patiently for the proper time
to strike down his enemy and at last
it came. a decision was rendered
by the Superior Court in case in
which CornelisOn was involved, and
in the decision Corncilison's charac-
ter was severely criticised. This de-
cision Corncilison, for his own pur-
pose, attributed to Judge Reid, al
though, rs it afterwards appeared, it
was written by another Judge. Cor
ncilison determined upon revenge
more terrible in that community than
burning at the stake, revenge com
pared with which death would have
been Il mercy. The cowlidc in Ken
tucky is the emblem of slavery. No
free man can suffer the dcgredations
OF cowhiding any more than he
can allow his forehead to be branded.
If he should, by any misfortune,
have such m indignity put upon
him there is one recourse, and only
o. ;; he must kill the man who did
it. No one knew all this better than
CnrnciIsom, and with an ingenuity
of cruelty almost devilish he deter
mined to avail himself of his know
ledge of this and also of his know
ledge Of the character Of the Judge.
lie knew that to Rcid's intensely rc-
ligious nature the killing OF fellow
man was too revolving to be thought
OF for a moment. He knew that the
Judge was not physically his equal,
and he knew that he never went
armed; in fact, it was Judge Rcid's
boast that he never carried deadly
weapon in his life.
And so when Corncilison one bril-
liant spring morning walked into the
little back Office where the gentle
Judge sat reading his iavoritc IIo-
race, and closed the door behind him,
he knew as thoroughly as a man ever
knows anything That he would meet
with It'll" opposition in his terrible
task. With his usual courtesy Judge
Reid arose from his chair and kindly
invited Corncilison to be seated.
For momcnt the bully regarded
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