The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-07-30

here as elsewhere Let her rest where
the story of her shame and misdeeds is
unknown.
Hangman's Grove seems to have been
an mlucky place. even for those who had
not incurred the dlspleasure of the vigi-
lance committees of the period The fate
OF the two Missouriaus is an illustration
of this fact They are supposed to have
been MissOurians because after the TRACE
dy II was found that the canvass on their
covered wagon bore the stamp of a St.
Louis manufacturer. Late one afternoon
in 80 or 20, two men drove into Valley
View and stopped at store long enough
to buy some coffee and a few other things
of use in camp life. They made the re-
mark that they were prospecting on their
way to the Panhandle and inquired as to
suitable camping place for the night.
One of them addressed the other as
Kirk, " though whether as his first name
or surname is not known. After a short
stop they drove on and it seems
that they must have con
GUIDED to camp for the night in
Hangman's Grove. They of course had
no idea as to the character of the place
and were probably attracted by the shade
and the water supply. After they had
made their camp fire, and Just as they
were cooling their supper, a quarrel of
some very bitter nature seems to have
arisen. They fought hand to hand with
the axes they had probably been using in
cutting their firewoOd. Next day when
they were found their horses were still
tethered and their coffeepot was still sit
ting on the dead, cold embers of their fire.
From the number of footprints found
around the fallen bodies the battle
must have been most desperate one,
and the awful manner in which the
bodies were bruised and hacked and
gashed would lead to the same
conclusion. Two faithful dogs
were standing guard over the
dead bodies of their masters, and showed
fight when the crowd began to gather
Investigation showed that the men were
well-to-do, as their camp outfit of wagon
team, guns and cooking outfit were all Of
the best, One man had a roll of over 1900
in bills In an inner pocket, and the other
had almost as much, 1t is reported that
an old gentleman still living in Valley
View took care of the money and still
holds il in readiness to pay it out to any
person who may establish his right TO it,
though / suspect he would be very partic-
ular as to the character of the evidence
on which he would be asked to pay It out
again, Anyone who feels an interest in
the matter might do well to drop line to
the sheriff of Cooke county at Gainesville
1t would be interesting If we could
know the cause of the quarrel about
which these men fought 80 desperately in
the gathering gloom that night Was it
some business trouble, or was it some do
nestle unhappiness or love AFFAIR." AS
their strength began to ebb out at their
many gashes, did their thoughts turn
back to some quiet home in old Missouri
And their wives or sweethearts, If they
had any, are they still waiting for them
to write or come home againl Or do
they believe these dead men to have
basely deserted them in far western
country2
The motto of the vigilance committee
in the early days seems to have been, st
is better for one innocent man to hang
than for 90 guilty men to escape "
Hangmen's grove has seen almost the full
80 guilty men punished. 1t is only natur-
al then that it should have seen its one
innocent man with them. This was prob
ably poor Rufus Johnson, boy not out of
his teens, who was hanged in ~ for sup
posed completely in horse stealing
scrape. He was hung Of course on cir
cumstantial evidence and it has since
been pretty well proven that he had
nothing to do with the crime. The hang
ing of this poor boy was great mistake
and one much to be regretted, but then of
course every one makes mistakes, for
that matter.