St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-28

loss of blood. He recovered, however,
and is alive today"
THE NOTORIOUS REDMOND.
''Who is the most notorious moon
sinner you have on the records of the
treasury department, Col. Colquitt?'
asked.
II don't know" replied the chief of
the revenue agents. Zone man who
has had great deal of newspaper
notoriety was a fellow named Red
mond, who operated in the South
Carolina mountains. He had been
making moonshine whisky and had
had quite a career when a newspaper
reporter spent week with him at one
of his stills in the mountains. Red
mond had killed two men, and he
claimed to have done a great deal
more. He gave this man the story of
his adventures, and this was published
IN the Charleston newspapers This
seemed to set Redmond crazy. He
committed the most daring acts after
that to get his name in the news
papers. He was finally caught and
sent to prison. 1 do not know whether
he is alive today or not.
The average moonshiner" continued
Col. Colquitt, docs not think his BUSH
ness is wrong. He argues that every
man has the right to sell what he
makes as long as he does not steal or
trample upon the rights of others. He
has the sympathy of the mountaineers
ana today our greatest trouble is to
get the courts of the South to deal out
justice to this class of criminals"
THE GREAT SIMMS TRAGEDY.
who was the most curious moon
SINNER you ever had to deal with, Col.
Colquitt?" said I.
one OF the queerest," replied the
chle1, was old Bob Simms, who lived
near bladon Springs, not far from Mo-
piie. oif1lnS was religious fanatic.
ana ne mad large number of follow
ers. HIS people looked upon him as a,
hiilu OF savior and prophet They
hao gathered about him, and he had
estapllshed a colony of his believers.
ne had a peculiar religion, one of the
tehets OF Which was that all men had
equal rights, and that no one could
equitaply prevent another from doing
"nat ne Pleased. He said that the law
OF the land was the devils law and
.iidt no respect ought to be paid to
1t. II was this devils law that taxed
WHISKY. The law of God, which he
'Slmms) laid down, provided that a
man could make and sell what he
pleased, and Simms said he had a per-
Iect 1sht to make whisky out of his
corn, ana that God would protect him.
lie dened the government; he built his
sui out IN plain sight in front of his
capln, and had a wide road running
up 10 II. When we sent a warrant for
MS arrest ne took it from the hands of
the deputy who served it, tore it up and
spat In the deputy's face. There were
number OF men with Simms at this
Tune, and the deputy did not dare to
arrest MN. We then sent a. posse after
MIN. SlmmS saw that our force was
greater than his, and he was taken.
lie refused to walk to Jail, however
lie SAID we might carry him, but he
would not go of his own accord. Upon
thls ne was picked up, put into q cart,
ana taken to Bladon Springs. This Is
sort OF summer resort, much fire.
quented by the citizens Of Alabama.
IL mas no good Jail facilities. and
Slmms was put into an clubhouse and
guarded during the day, preparatory
TO carrying him elsewhere He was
handcuffed. He showed no disposition
TO be ugly, however, and when dinner
time came our revenue agents went
into the dining room of the hotel. Ieay-
ing S1mmS in the charge of only one
ofilcer. 1t was dark, the people were
eating, when three men rushed to the
cottage, shot the officer in charge.
killed doctor who had called in at
the time to see Simms, and allowed
Simms to escape. The men who did
the shooting were Simms' two brothers
and his son, Bailly Simms One of the
brothers was shot as he ran away.
and the son of the old man was also
killed.
FROM PROPHET TO DEMON.
"Bob Simms, however, got away"
Col. Colquitt continued. HE took to
the woods and lived there for some
time. But he soon began to commit
such outrages that the people rose up
against him, and he was lynched. Be-
fore his arrest by the government he
had modelled his life on the Bible, and
he tried to follow out some of its
teachings, especially so in one place.
where 1t says! If a man strike you
on the right cheek you must turn the
other 20 him and let him smite you on
that His arrest, and the death of
his son changed his nature He went
in for revenge and vengeance against
all who were against him. Every
thing that was angelic in his nature
turned to gall. He became a very
demon, and there was nothing too
mean and cruel for him to do The act
which capped the climax was the kill
| ing of a merchant who in times past
had been a friend of his. After his
| escape Simms' house, with his goods
| in it, was comparatively unprotected
| This merchant had bill against him,
and, without process of law, he went
to Simms' house and took a wagon
load of his furniture and carried it off
| to satisfy this bill. He was told at the
time that he was doing a, dangerous
| thing, but he laughed and suggested
Simms' religious nature would not per-
nit him to retaliate. He was much
mistaken. AS soon as the matter was
reported to Simms he became enraged.
He took a band of his followers, and
| one dark night surrounded the mer-
| chants house. He then set fire to it,
| and as the merchants wife and child
rem ran out to escape the flames he
| fired upon them and killed them. This
| created great sensation.
ga lynching party was organized.
They surrounded Simms and his fol-
was bound to be oYerpoWered, told