The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1890-07-25
AFTER EIGHTEEN YEARS.
A Convict ut Chester Confesses to an OF,
Murder.

A Convict ut Chester Contesses to an Old
Murder.
P%enitentinry COMMISSIONS ]. j. Brown,
of Vandalia, ILL.,, while on a recent visit to
the southern Illinois pei itentiary, at Ches-
ter, came in possession of the following
interesting facts: There IS a convict in the
Chester renltentiary BY the name Of Davis,
sentenced for ten years, from White
equity. Davis was the cell mate
Of one Charles Henderson, a former
resident Of this (Fayette) county,
and we'll remem cred by tbs people of
Nandalia. Henderson ID now serving q
ten years sent,nce from Christian county
for au inhuman crime. Some time ago he
was taken sick in prison, and thinking he
was going to die sought to release his con-
science by relating TO his cell mates the
shocking details of a murder, most foul,
committed in this county eighteen years
AGO., and confe ssing that he and his
brothers were the murderers. The crime is
we'll remembered, the victim being Frank
Little, a young farmer residing In the
northern part of this county.
Little and his two sisters lived together,
and were known to be among the very best
people Of the neighborhood. The night of
the murder Little was seat.d ut an organ
playing and singing, accompanied by his
sisters, who stood by his side. A shot was
fred through a window, aud Little fell to
the floor dead. Immediate steps we're taken
by the people Of the neighb orhood and off,
cars TO hun down the murderer, but little
or no clue could be obtained. Years
passed, and still nothing developed which
could possibly letd to the identification OF
the assassin, and as time fed the horrible
event Almost faded from the memories Of
our people.
Now, the circumstances of the occur
renee ara suddenly and unexpectedly re-
vived under peculiar and surprising condi,
tons, and there is yet o probability thai
the perpetrators may, after all, be brought
TO punishment for the crime of eightee oil
years ago. A barn of Campbell Nave, al
uncle Of the murdered man, living in the
same neighborhood, was burned a shori
time after the murder, and Henderson also
admits that he and his brother were guilt,
of this crime. His brother, he says, il
now in Maine.
Charles Henderson has a uniformly bat
record and is perfectly capable of such
crime MS he confesses TO. lie is now serv.
ing his second term in the penitentiary
The first was for implication IN the thief
of a carload Of cattle from J. NJ. Parke, O.
Vera, this county, which was brought t.
Vandalia and shipped to Chicago. Hi
present sentence for ten years is for
crimo committed at Taylorville during tn
campaign of 1883. A big political tigh
was in progress at that place, when Hen
d rsop, Was located there as a veterinary
surgeon, sneaked around after dark ant
poisoned thirty or forty horses, from thu
effects of which several valuable ANIMAL
died. He was arrested for the deed, ant
in q few days confessed to it.
The convict, Davis, to whom the con,
%fession was made, and who impaired tn
sam: to Warden Dowell, is a Kentuckian
an intelligent man, and bears the reputa
ton among prison officials of being truth