The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-02-25

ing the cemetery were shaken out of their
4 cots and shared the general terror at the
unusual occurrence. At first it was
thought that the entire city, with the ex-
, ceptiOn Of the barracks, was in ruins, but
as the cloud of dust
hOated away the true extent
Of the earthquake began to be understood.
/ Universal indignation was expressed
against the perpetrators of the outrage,
and threats of lynching began TO be freely
INDUCED in.
Few people slept in Savannah that
night. The streets remained filed wit h
crowds Of people discussing the event
and specializing as to its cause At tho
1 same time a feellngof insecurity aud dread
! filled all breasts. No one knew at what
! time or place the attack might be re
newed and all waited with impatenne
for the break of day,
The morning paper was filed with
graphic accounts of the strange occur
renee and of the scenes which followed it.
Extras at o'clock announced that
tramp had been arrested at SouthOver
Junction, and that it was believed that he
was implicated. He was hIlariOusly
drunk when captured, and made no bones
81 boasting that he had been giving Sa-
vannah an education in hospitality. His
very candOr generated some doubt in the
minds Of mis- captOrs as 10 the truth Of his
y
to live At the same time the First
Georgia regiment was ordered under arms
to protect him from the excited populace.
Several months elapsed before the pris-
oner was put upon trial. He was indicted
under the name of John Horkan, alias
Reddy Horkan, alias Kalamazoo. His
counsel applied for change of venue on
the ground that fair trial could not be
had in Chatham county, but the applica-
ton was sternly overruled. 1t was then
objected that the court was disqualified
by reason of interest in the glebe lands of
the Colonial parish and in the city
common, out Of which, it was claimed
the old cemetery had been formed,
but this objection did not meet with the
approval of the court.
The defendant was charged with the
ofense of willfully and wantonly injuring
and destroying the enclosure around the
old cemetery, the same being a public
graveyard or burying ground, etc, and
upon being required to plead, admitted
that he had done the act but that it was
"haccidentaL' The court requiring the
case to proceed, the prisoner looked on
the jury and the jury with
great curiosity looked on the prisoner.
The defendants counsel commenced
challenging every juryman for cause, and
upon being questioned every iuryman
swore that his mind was not impartial
between the state and the accused, and
that he really did not think the prisoner
ought to be prosecuted. Whereupon the
states counsel objected that such Jurors
were not fit and proper persons to sit
upon the case and asked that they be dis
charged, This request was promptly
granted by the court.
In this manner six days were consumed
without single juror having been OBJ
tained, Upon the seventh day of the
trial the proceedings were interrupted by
the entrance of joint delegation from
the aldermen of Savannah and the war
dens of the Colonial Parish, who, having
received permission to speak, announced
that they had come in the interest of the
public welfare to request that the pros
ecution be abandoned-that they had
reached solution in the ong-protracted
litigation over the title to the old Gene
tery-that they had agreed upon a com
promise, whereby Abercorn street was to
be widened and the remainder of the
property was TO be divided between them
upon terms mutually satisfactory; that
all remains which could be identified
were to be carefully removed to a
section in the new cemetery, where
the city had undertaken to replace
the mouldering monuments and grave
stones by new ones, executed by
artists in fine Italian marble and every
legible inscription was to be faithfully
copied and reproduced from the originals;
that the city further guaranteed that the
new section should forever hereafter be
kept in style honorable alike to the
pride Of a great city and the sentiments
of a noble people; that nevermore should
II be abandoned as a fighting ground for
cats and a refuge for tramus and
thieves; that though the acts of the
mis- GUIDED Horkan were perfectly indie
fensible and, strictly speaking, should be
severely punished, yet they had awak-
ened public interest in public question,
and had resulted in bringing about what
was destined to be public blessing, and
that they therefore joined in requesting
that his further proseculiontbe abandoned,
etc.
Upon this announcement a tumultuous
cheering broke forth in the court room,
rolled through the corridors and re-
echoed from the crowds assembled in the
streets. With great difficulty order was
at length restored sufficient for the court
to state that owing TO the difficulty in Sc
curing jury, and the fact that he had al
ready refused change of venue, he did
not see what else was to be done but to
let the prisoner 20 free; but he took occa-
sion to add that Horkan must in no
WISE Idke inns extraordinary result
as precedent that by the merest acct
dent his devilish malice against all man
kind had been overrued for good. and
that but for the fact that in the admins
tratiOn of Justice courts were so largely
dependent upon popular sentiment to up
hold the law, he (Horkan) would even
then be suffering the punishment so
justly his due. Thus ended this remark
able case. The prisoner lost no time in
taking his departure, and expressed no
regrets at having to re-commence his
travels.
This disposition of the old cemetery
was what had long been apparent to the
minds of all as The inevitable and only
solution OF . much Nezed question. AS
long as litigants contended in the courts
as to which side had the title and right
to preserve and care for the cemetery,
and each denied the right OF the other to
tear down an ole wall or replace it with a
new one, all improvement became blocked
and ceased. Meanwhile the corroding
tooth OF time paused not an instant to
level and eface. Nature halted not in its
processes OF vegetat lion and decay. One bv
one mounds disappeared, bricks fell
apart, stones relinquished the stories
they were planted to tell; tramps and
sneak thieves settled the question of
property rights by actual pos, ession and
occupa ton, while pass irsby peered over
broken walls to moraliLe ut this spectacle
of oblivion in the midst of the city of the