Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-08-27
THE MOUNTAIN TRAGEDY.
Further Details Of the Thrilling Homi.
eide In Frederick County.

Further Details Of the Thrilling Homi-
eide In Frederick County.
Correspondence Of TIE EVENING stan.
FRkDKRIcK. Nd, August Is.
Coroner Frederick Biser Of Myersville, this
county, and the jury Of inquest summoned by
him to investigate the killing at Highland on
Saturday evening last Of John VIM. Hooper
by his near neighbor, Thomas F. Show,
reached the conclusion and 30 rendered their
verdict that Hooper came to his death from .
gun shot wound in the neck, inflicted by . load
of shot from gun in the hands Of and fred BY
Thomas r. Show. The latter, when called
upon at the Jail, said he was sorry the affair
had occurred, but that he would not have shot
Hooper If he had not thought that the life of
his wife was in danger from the dead man. He
thought Hooper was aiming his pistol at his
wife and fired his gun in consequence. SHOW
is thirty-seven years old and has q wife and
five children. They live on the proceeds of
whatever work they can get to do and from the
profits OF their garden patch. They are typi-
cal mountaineers. Now that Show is in fail
his wife and five helpless children are left to
shift for themselves in their mountain home
and they have no friends. Mrs. show tells
with tears in her eyes, how her husband was
fore the shooting and now every one is down on
him.
THE VICTIM.
John William Hooper, the victim Of the fatal
quarrel, was twenty-six years old. His wife
and three children survive him. He was a son
of Charles w. Hooper, a well-known Republican
politician, who lives near his sous late home.
The father served a term as a member of the
board OF county commissioners in lSI0-72 aud
owns great deal of land at Highland He and
his wife are old people, and the death of their
Frustrated HQOnnr'g uas
buried today in a neighboring cemetery He
is said to have been wild young fellow, and
the people feared him. He was fond of drink
aud had been in Frederick drunk the day of
the shooting. He was on his way home from
here, when he stopped at the Show place and
started the quarrel that ended in his death. 1t
was thrilling murder.
THE ONLY WITNESSES
were the wife of Show, the mother and sister, q
man by the name of John Nichols, who had
been working at the Show place, and Charles
Hooper, the nine-y ear-oid nephew of the muir
dered man. The case Will be brought before
the grand jury at its session next month and if
Show is indicted the case will be tried at the
September term OF court. There are two i'm
portant points upon which the evidence will
hlnge-whether or not Hooper aimed his pistol
az SHOWS wife or had pistol in his hand when
Show fired, and the matter of the quarrel be-
tween the two men over the possession of bee
CO oh VIC iauu near ny, owned DIV MIS-. Betsy
Graves. The testimony on Hooper's side of
the case is that he merely held his pistol in his
hand by his side and did not raise il at all
The Shows allege that Hooper snapped the
pistol three times at the murderer and once at
Mr.. SHOW, and that it was while in the latter
act that he was killed by Show. The fuss over
the bee tree involved nothing but a small
quantity OF money, but it cost human life and
broke up two homes. The region where the
killing was done is wild and mountainous, and
the men who live in the hills when in liquor are
lawless and quarrelsome.
THE UNwRITTEN BEE LAW.
There is a common law among them, or there
used to be among the bee hunters of the north
and west, that the man who first finds bee tree
is entitled to the honey. The owner of the land
where the tree grows is not brought into the
question. The first duty of a man who finds
such tree is to put his mark upon it. After
this II any one else cuts the tree down and takes
the honey the offense, in the estimation of the
mountalneers, Is mortal 1t was a question of
this kind that led to the tragedy Of Saturday
evening. Hooper claims to have found the
tree on Wednesday last and marked it with an
~" On Thursday Show came across the
same tree, and getting the consent of the
owner OF the land, cut it down and carried away
the honey. The sequel has already been told
Notwithstanding the fact that the region of the
murder is distant only ten or twelve miles from
Frederick, the spot Is the home of much law
lessness, resulting mainly from drunkenness,
and travellers over the mountain, especially at
night, are fearful OF being attacked. Parties
who visit the famous White Rock, which is lust
on the summit of the mountain, are frequently
disturhedby gangs ofmountaineers who demand
food and threaten to kill. The region was ia
nous before the as the rendezvous of q
gang OF slave drivers. FIN.
EARLY AUTUMN IN THE ALLEGHENIEs.-The
beauty of the Allegheny mountains in early
autumn Is delightful and all who can should
avail themselves of the opportunity offered by
the Pennsylvania railroad company on Thurs
day next to visit this char ming resort Johns
town and the flooded section of the Conemaugh
valley can be visited. The tickets, valid for
ten days and including days board at the cele-
DRAFTED Mountain house, will be sold at SO for
the round trip. Special train of parlor cars
and day coaches will leave Washington $40 a. M
Thursday next, the 29th instant.-Adut
The canning factory of Bassett Bros, about
miles from Salem, n. j., was burned Sunday,
together with all their cans, labels and material
for the seasons work. Loss, 5000; partly in
sured
large factory for the manufacture Of seam
less hosiery has been opened at Rosaryville,
Prince George county, Md. H.W. Clagett, the
owner, will give employment to fifty hands
and already orders Tor samples have been sent
from houses in Philadelphia.