The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1893-05-18
THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE WASHINGTON D. c. THURSDAY MAY 49, 1893
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out to the wives and mothers of these poor men
and boys remains to be related. They had fol-
| lowed on after the rebsi murderers to learn the
fate of their sons and husbands. and after the
massacre was accomplished they were then
caught by the rehels Some of these defenseless
women were theh stripped of their clothing,
were tied up, and thefr naked backs thrashed
until the blood frickied down to their feet
while the balance Of them were
HUNG UP BY THE NECK
until they were nearly dead. They were then
taken down, and their tormentors left them
tied until their feet aud hands were frozen to
such an extent thattheir nails came off.
When the wives and mothers of these MUIR
dered men and boys approached the demon
Keith to request that they might be permi tied
to remove the dead bodies so that they might
bestow upon them the last sad rites of burial,
he spoke to them in very angry manner, say
ing: You may go and remove the bodies, but
you shall not put them in coffins nor in boxes" "
They asked him if they might wrap them in
blankets before they committed them to the
grave. He answered: No. you shall not
take single blanket to wrap one of them III,
for l want all the blankets l can get for my
soldiers"
The following are the names Of the men and
boys who were murdered on this occasion by
Keith and his reckless outlaws: James Shell
ton, David Shelton, Azariah Shelton, William
Chandler, Wade H. Moore, 81 years of age
Roderick Shelton, David Shelton, jr., James
Shelton, jr. William Shelton, Joseph Woods,
Allison King, Halen Moore and James Met
calfe.
The following are the names of the women
who were hung up by their necks until they
were nearly dead by these merciless scoundrels:
Mrs Riddle, who was 20 years of age; Mrs.
Moore, who was 81 years of age; Nancy Hall,
and Nancy Shelton.
After Keith and his band of murderers had
almost entirely ruined the people of Shelton
Laurel he left the country, and have been in
formed by a number of the citizens who reside
in that neigh borhood that the next rebel de-
stroyer who visited that doomed section of
country was the redoubtable Gen. Alfred e.
Jackson, or Gen. "Mndwall" Jackson, which
is the title under which he was generally
known during his military career in the re-
bellion. In his expedition to this section of
country he WAS accompanied by his son, who
passed under the appelation of Capt Jackson.
When Jackson arrived he ordered s or 10 fami-
lies to be moved into one house, and in this
way he had nearly all the houses vacated. with
the exception of few which contained the
women and children, and these he had closely
guarded. He ordered all the vacant houses
burned to ashes, and he also gave orders for all
adopted this method, he said, in order to starve
the Union men out of the mountains, so that
they would be compelled to come in and join
the Confederate army. This was ia February,
the snow was Deep and the weather extremely
cold.
The women and children suffered greatly for
something to eat for the rebels devoured all
their provisions. At times, while the rebel
soldiers would be cooking and eating, the fam
ished children would softly approach them, and
beg for piece of bread, but they would receive
an abrupt denial, and the rebel seoundrels
would say to them: You must do without
bread, or else you must go to Old Abe for it;
we want all that we have for ourselves"
Very frequently it occurred that for a whole
day together these poor women and children
ceuld not obtain anything at all to eat.
This gang of rebel soldiers remained in this
for Is or 20 days, and then re-
turned to Greeneville. After all their active
operations they only succeeded in numbering
one man. But before leaving they went to the
house of a poor widow by the name OF Lucinda
Carter, and killed IA hogs, and laid them in
pile on the floor of her dwelling house. They
then Killed her house dog and laid it on top of
the pile of hogs They arrested several women,
and took them on to Greeneville with them,
where they were detained for several days,
subject to gross abuse and indignity, while
their little children remained at their desolate
homes. suffering all the terrible Affections which
cold and hunger could produce. After Jackson
left this section Of country in the Winter of
1863 the notorious Col. James Keith, Capt
William Keith, and Riley Keith were detailed
in the Fall of the same year to hunt for con-
scripts in the mountains of North Carolina
and also in the adjoining counties in Ten
nessee. These scoundrels visited Shelton |
Laurel again in the month of September, !
and burned number of houses belonging to
nI0u They m riarad Iahu Mafcalf hv |
shooting him in the head and running their bay |
)nets through him six times. They also mur- |
Tered Robert Hare by shooting him three times. |
Their next victim was Marion Frankland. He |
vas plowing in the field, perfectly unconscious
If his dreadful doom, when one of the rebel |
outlaws walked up to the fence and shot him |
n the hip. When the bali struck him he ran |
o large stump, which was surrounded with |
pushes and laid down there he remained for |
hort time, writhing and groaning with pain, |
Until his murderers came up and relieved him |
rom misery by shooting him in the breast.
These mu-derers went coolly and calmly along |
n their horrible work of destruction and death. |
The next victims who had the misfortune of |
allng into their hands were Tillman Landers, |
bsalom Brucks. and little boy. all of whom |
hey caught at Mrs. Ruth Sheton's stable and |
we're unceremoniously murdered on the spot. |
They caught David Shelton at his house |
md hung him until he was dead, and then |
ragged him to laurel thcket where they |
covered him over with leaves. few women |
tterward removed his body and gave it more
humane burial.
In the month of July, 1864 these rebel de-
mons caught five more men in Shelton Laurel,
nd murdered all of them in a most shocking
manner. The five men whom they murdered
N this occasion were Isaac Shelton, Hampton
5urgett old David Shelton, VIM. Shelton, jr.,
nd VIM. Fillmore. making in all AZ men and
'oys who were brutally murdered by Keith
nd his vile assassus at different times during
he progress of the iniquitous rebellion.
The reader will doubtless think that this |
eprayed scoundrel ran the conscript law with
vengeance What terrible record this will |
o for him to meet in eternity
ITO be cortinued)