The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1891-05-23
YOUNG'S LAST HOPE GONE.
The Slayer of Stephen Ferguson to be
Hanged in July.

The Slayer OF Stephen Ferguson to be
Hanged in July.
John s.. Blackwell, attorney for Chris
tian Young, received n telegram Monday,
Jefferson City, informing him that
No. 2 of the state supreme court
had affirmed the verdict OF murder in the
first degree against Young, and Thursday,
July 2, fixed as the day of execution.
Young is charged with having killed
Stephen Ferguson.
Ste OF THE crime.
On the night OF Saturday, December 10,
1859, Christian Young, who lived with his
wife and one child at Corder, Lafayette
county, gave n dance, and invited in the
Along about 10 O'Clock the
supply OF beer gave out and Young and
two companions, Henry Hoppe and Peter
Fuchs, started to Burns's saloon, q few
hundred yards away, across the tracks of
the Chicago and Alton railroad, to replen-
ish their stock. Burns had no beer in
kegs, so Young bought a case OF bottled
beer, and he and his companions started
home with it, Young leading the way,
Hoppe and Fuchs following with the pack
age. At the door they met Ferguson, who
the trio in to hav n drink. Two
of them took soda water, the other two
taking cigars. Ferguson and Young part
ed at the saloon door apparently the best
of friends. At the railroad tracks YOung's
party met George Hare with n lantern.
Young asked him to help them across the
track with his light, and Hare told him to
go to hell. The mcn separated then, Hare
going toward the saloon and Young to-
ward home. Presently the man with the
lantern returned, when Chris again asked
him for the use of the lantern, as the
night was inky dark and they were max
ing poor Roadway.
FIGHT IN THE DARK.
Hare made some such reply as he had
before, and Young started toward him. A
fight followed the meeting, Hare striking
Young with the lantern, putting out the
light and breaking the globe. At this
point Ferguson came up and took a hand,
and in a moment Young struck him with
his pocket knife, severing his jugular
vein and almost beheading him. Fergu-
son fell bach dead and Young was taken
home by his friends and put to bed. He
had two or three wounds oil his face,
which bled freely and which left scars.
Young was arrested Sunday morning,
and while confined in the calaboOse at
Corder is said to have signed a confession
in the presence of a deputy sheriff named
Jackson and other parties, in which he
stated that he had killed Ferguson.
At the March term, 1889, OF the Lafay-
EFT county criminal court Young was
tried and convicted of murder in the first
degree, and sentenced to be hanged May
9th. An appeal was taken to the supreme
court, Mr.. Blackwell issuing an abstract
and brief Of IA printed pages. The supreme
court, when the case was taken up, re-
versed the verdict and remanded the case
below.
AGAIN CONVICTED.
At an adjourned session of the March
term of the criminal court, held during the
first week in July, 1890, Young was again
found guilty of murder in the first degree
and sentenced to hang September 9th OF
last year. The case being again appealed
to the supreme court, division No. oil
that tribunal took the matter up at Its
April sitting, and, after hearing argument
in the case, adjourned until Tuesday, the
18th of May, when the opinion affirming
Tho x,ardict uaa han1al down.
There now remains but little for Young's
faithful attorney TO do. He will file u mo-
ton for a new hearing before the supreme
court, and failing in this, will petition the
governor for a Communication OF his sen
tence to Imprisonment for life.
YoUNa's FAMILY.
1.-THE time of the homicide Young had
but one child, but one has been born to
his wife since. He is a Swede, was EN-
ployed at the coal mines at Corder, and
beyond the habit Of drink, was not con-
sidered u bad or dangerous man. He has
an erascible temper and has given Jailol
Wade some trouble. The'other day when
the unsuccessful attempt at Jail delivery
was made, the Tailor told the prisoners ht
would give them neither food nor drink
until they had produced the tools with
which they had tried to work their way
put. Young was very mad, and rushed al
Wade with clenched. fists n cleaning
eyes when the latter presented himself al
the grated door of the cell.
Ferguson came from q very respectable
and aristocratic family In Randolph
county, and he and Young were looked
upon as bosom friends. When they parted
company sat Burns's saloon Ferguson
slapped him on the back and spoke OF hin
as his friend.
PHASES OF HI TRIAL.
At the first trial of the lease Attorney
Blackwell sought to show that Ferguson
had first assaulted Young, infiicting thu
wounds whose scars were visible fourteen
months after the homicide. In this h
was baked by the alleged confession o
Young. The witnesses for the defense
could not be led to talk Of the case, mere
ly answering the attorneys questions II
monosyllables. The information tina
should have come from them in stream
was gained by the most assiduous ques
tioning.