The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-05-24
KILLING OF PRICKETT
THE STORY OF A INDUSTRIOUS CRIME
COMMITTED IN An OHIO CITY.
An Innocent Mra Was Hanged for the
Career Was Affected By the Act.

The story OF how TIE late Col John A.
cockerfIl left a country editorship for =
reportership on big city newspaper -
one OF the most interesting Of any relatlng
to later day Journalism.
In 1867 John Cockerill was the editor o.
the Butler County Democrat. published IN
Hamilton, o. A year or so before ne had
been, with Hon Clement l. Vallandighams
one Of the proprietors OF the Dayton En-
pire. vaslandigham was the idol Of the
Democratic party Of the State at the time
He had been expelled from Congress be-
cause of his anti-war sentiments and "sene
through the lines to the Southern Confed-
eracy. He ran the blockade to Nassau
made the best OF his way to Canada. ana
eventually returned TO his Ohio home In
Dayton. He had. during the war. ran for
Governor of Ohio. and was beaten By Hon
John Brough.
Mr. Cockerill did not find his position On
the Empire a bed Of roses. Telling me Of 70
once he said: IF there was q bright para
graph or editorial In the paper everybody
ascrfbed IT to VAL No one thought that
1 was able to write anything but q po;ice
court item or the description Of a fire. The
| fact of the matter was that Val left nearly
all the work Of the paper to me. contentfng
himself with coming into the once irons
| time to time and skinning the till OF all Its
cash, leaving me not only TO do the work
OF editing the paper, but of skirmishing
around for funds to pay the printers and
| other employees. as WELL"
| He was glad TO get away from vallandig~
hams baieful influence when he was offered
| the place of editor OF the Butler County
| Democrat, though he knew that Hamilton
was at the time about as tough q town e.
there was In the civilized portions OF the
| United States. 1t was one or the strong
holds Of the whisky ring" then in the
zenith Of its power and wealth, and II ha0
within its confines about as many bad
men as were to be found In any town IN
| the country. Cockerill had. I believe, -
| proprietary interest in the paper. and he
soon made It very popular.
TOUGH TOM MCCLELLAN.
| Among the toughest Of the tough men -
| Hamilton was one Tom Mcclellan In nd
| dition to being tough man ne was b.: 81
a sport. and he and some congenial splfit1
| conceived a plan to skin some other spor10
who lived in and about Princeton. . oowU
on the c., H. & d. railway. between Ham
| ilton and Dayton. Among the Princct0ns
ians was a young man named Warner. who
was tho best amateur wrestler In either
Montgomery Butler counties His parti~
sans. who were mostly well-to-do tobacco
growers. thought him invincibles and stood
ready to back him with almost their last
| dollar.
Mcclellan and his chums got hold Of .
man named j. p. Prickett who was pro-
fessional wrestler. They got Prickett 20 50
to Hamilton. and after awhile they made q
IT.
means before the match came on the
Princetonians discovered that Prickett was
| a professional. and that he was not adverse
to Throwing" his hackers. provided the
Princetonians paid him better Tor doing %
than the Hamitonians had agreed. They ar
ranged TO do so. The Hamilton toughs. be-
heving that they had "a sure thing" backed
| Prickett heavily. The Princetonfans knew
that they "double-crossed" their opponents.
| and they covered every dollar they would
| wager. The match came on. Prickett laid
down." or. in other words. permitted War
ner to throw him Princeton was richer
| that night than 1T had ever been before BY
several thousand dollars. while there Wa
| weeping and wai,ing and gnashing OF teeth
| in Hamilton. There more-there was q
thirst for Prickett's blood--for they knew
that he had thrown them down."
Had Prickett been a wise man he would
have left Hamilton Immediately. He was
not wise. however. but was, after the man>
ner Of many OF his kind. reckless and def
ant. He knew that those who had pitfed
him against Warner intended robbing War
ner's friends. and ne thought IL perfectly
fair to give them dose OF their own medic
cine He drank and caroused around
Hamilton without fear OF danger while
those he had helped TO skin were mediate
ing revenge.
WRESTLER PRICKETr MURDERED.
One night Prickett was sitting asleep IN
chair in a basement doggery In Hamilton
Right back and above his chair was win
dow, for the basement ceiling was about
three feet above the level of the street
Prickett had been drinking freely. and he
was i'm a drunken stupor. Several men. all
more or less under the influence OF lioucrs
entered the doggery and went up to It's barr
Among them was a sturdy young black
smith named John Griffen. This Griffeu
was tough man when In drink. but when
sober he was quiet and inoffensiyc. Some
time before ne had killed a man. but had
escaped with light punishment on the
ground tat the killing was In seif-defense-
Griffen had been told that Prickett had
been talking about HIM and he had been
brought TO the doggery TO give him =
punching" as he thought Those who
brought him there we're schemers Of the
deepest dye
AS the party entered they saw Prickett
seated in a chair. with his slouch hat wei
pulled down over his eyes. One of the con-
spirators said to Griffen, There he Is now.
Ask him up to take drink, and while he 10
taking Il give II 10 him" Griffen obeyed,
bat received no response. He thinks him
self too good TO talk 10 YOU" urged the
conspsrator. Go over and smash him
where he sits" Griffen did he was tod.
Drawing back his powerful right arm. he
struck the sitting figure fun on the head
Prickett was knocked back out OF his chair
on the floor. He lay there motionless.
Griffen became alarmed MY God" he
exclaimed: IT have killed him. I did not
intend 20 do that" Then the police came,
and they found a pistol. with one load fired.
In Griffen's pocket They also found .
bu.Iet-hole I'm P-ickett's head Griffen was
charged with murder.
AN INNOCENT Man HANGED.
Though Hamilton was tough town. all
its citizens were not tough. On the con-
trary, the great bulk OF them were as re-
spectacle and as law-abiding any In the
land. The better element was shocked at