Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-02-12

Governor Knott said once, in an adj
dress in Kentucky to the graduates of
the State Agricultural and Mechanical
college, at Lexington: "When consider
the superior intelligence and refinement
of the presence in which l have the
honor to appear, / very seriously mis-
trust my ability either to contribute to
your entertainment or to add to your
present stock of information by dis
cussion of any subject whatever. De-
scended, however, from an ancestry who
made their homes on the Dark and
Bloody Ground when it was a savage
wilderness with danger and death Turk
ing on every hand; born upon the bosom
of the commonwealth which they in
their humble sphere assisted to create
while the tomahawk and the scalping
knife were cleaning around them; in
spired with a passionate pride in her
prosperity and her prestige from my
earliest youth; the recipient of the most
distinguished honor within the gift of
her generous people, and standing be-
meath the shadow of this splendid insti-
tuition of learning-the offspring of her
enlightened bounty and the object of her
fostering care-I feel that NAV at least
speak to you of Kentucky, of her re-
sources, Of her progress and her posi-
bilities."
And he did SO. He started out from
that and made good speech with
thoughts in it. He spoke of the fixed
carbon and volatile combustible matter
In the coal, and said the from ore OF Ken
lucky had iron peroxide in it in large
quantities.
In the interior of Kentucky one still
finds some odd characters, and the plain,
transformations manner of administering
justice attracts some attention whenever
1t is brought to public attention. A
friend OF mine went into that country
once to report the preliminary examina-
ton of man who had killed his wife by
means Of broadax. The reporter had
an all night drive, and when he got to
the school house where the trial was to
take place he found no one inside but
the headless woman lying on q door.
After while he went back of the school
house and found the sons pitching horse
shoes with the justice of the peace, while
the unruffled and self made widower
was calmly keeping tally of the game by
cutting notches In a shingle.
Not long ago a colored man named
Monroe Wilkinson killed a man at a pic
mic In order TO give variety to an other
wise monotonous programme. He was
found guilty and sentenced to be hanged.
The execution was to take place within
an inclosure, but the obliging sheriff had
1t in q valley, so that whole county
could sit on the hillside and see it. 1t is
hardly necessary to say that he was re-
elected.
Nearly 10000 people came to witness
the great show. They came on foot and
on horseback, from everywhere, till
they covered the hillside and were like
the sands of the sea for multitude. Lem
onade stands sprang up as if by magic,
and merry-go-rounds got there from the
four corners Of the earth. Popcorn, eat
ing apples and wax for chewing purposes
were for sale everywhere. The balloon
man was there, likewise the man with
the machine for showing how much one
can lift without injuring himself. Every
where poor, tired farm hands who need
ed rest were testing their strength till
their eyes looked like soiled door knobs
or poached eggs in saucer of stewed
tomatoes.
Photographs of the murderer were also
for sale with his autograph. His brother
had walked fifty miles to plead with the
governor for a pardon, but it did not
avail.
Euclid c. Cooksey, bright young re-
porter, was sent to do the execution for
his paper. He and Mr.. Norningstar,
another reporter, sat up with the con-
demned man. Friends decided that re-
igious services should be held over the
murderer. Mr.. Morningstar was selected
to lead i'll prayer. He had never done so
before, but he was good eporter, and
when he was assigned for anything al
WAYS covered the field. He still says
that, considering his lack of preparation,
he thinks he did pretty well.
fresh reporter tried to interview the
prisoner while the service was going on,
but MIR. Cooksey, who was reading a
chapter from Genesis at the time. paused
and told the young man that he was not
in it.
The sheriff then came in to say few
words to the prisoner. He said: Mon
roe, you know that | would never hang
you in the world at the figures 1 get
from the county If / didn't have to do it.
I've got to do it or lose the nomination
next year. Pm friend To you, Monroe,
and i reckon I've always treated you
right"
Yes, sab, that's what you has" AS
the morning sun lighted up the beautiful
hillside and scattered a shower of glory
through the trees upon the blue grass
turf beneath, 1t showed a busy scene on
the grassy slopes of the natural amphi-
theatre. Tall young men with amber
spattered chins and budding whiskers
were pitching rings for cane or having
tintypes of themselves and their .dnan-
cieTs taken with the gallows in the back
ground. Mothers brought with them
little sunburnt offspring that had only
arrived in Kentucky the pfssicus day
Dark red cookies sold for a cent apiece,
A tall tree giving view upon the whole
jail yard brought two dollars.
All was life and animation. The sheriff
had acquired u comfortable jag, but it
had not succeeded In stealing away his
brain. In fact he was quietly chuckling
to himself as he imagined the jag CROP
ing in the attic of his massive skull,
knocking the skin off its knuckles and
cussing as it vainly sought for the sheriff's
brains.
Finally the hour arrived. The prisoner
was brought on the scaffold. He pressed
the hand Of the reporter and, bursting
into tears, presented him with an election
cigar. The newspaper men then united
in ainrrin0 a LITTLE fl,r,ioaI or