Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1897-10-22
LAWYER KNIGHT ARRESTED.
A Charge of Arson Against Him
i'm Oklahoma.

belief That lie IL the victim OF PoIit-
teal COnspIracy---HIs Statement About
a Court House which Was Burned In
Arspahoe.
Henry X. knight, the young lawyer, was |
arrested Monday on charge Of arson. The |
news came as a surprise and a shock to |
practically tue whole community, as he has |
always been known as a young man of |
good charat ter and habits. Mr.. knight |
says the arrest is the outcome of political !
chicaneTy, and that in due time he will be
able TO clear himself, although at present
he does not understand the nature of the
charge against him. The following tele-
gram was received Monday by Sheriff
Gordon:
GUTHRIE, OKLAHOMA oct. 10,
Sheriff BrdtfiebOro, u
want man Heury X Knight 2s years, lawyer
late OF Okla oma. His parents live there.
hold requisition papers from government for
arson Arrest and hid Wire me at once.
}. B. NICHOLAS, sheriff
Mr.. Gordon met knight near the Peo-
ples National bank between and 10
o'clock Monday morning and executed his
| order Knight appeared greatly astonshed
and stoutly asserted his innocence but
there was nothing to do but to place him,
for safe keeping, in the lookup, where he
was seen by Phoenix representative. He
could think of no tre for which he could
be wanted except that which destroyed the
| court house at Arapahoe, and concerning
this he made the following statement:
The court house at Arapahoe, Okla
homa, which was a one story frame build
| ing erected at an expense II about 1920
| by a man named Brown, and rented by the
county, was burned In the night soon after
the election last November. In the build
ing were the offices of a man named
! Hadlock, who was the county treasurer,
! Hughes, the county clerk, aud those OF the
county superintendent, county attorney
and probate judge | was accustomed to
assist Hughes on his books and was often
left alone in the office. During the day
before the court house was burned Had
lock went TO King Fisher and left DR..
Mccullough in his office. | assisted
Hughes in balancing the new tax rolls that
day, and during the afternoon Mccullough,
| Hughes and myself ere alone in that part
, of the building where the fire originated.
| As the day was cool we had a small fire in
the stove. We left about o clock and
lid not go near the building again.
| Whether Hughes or Mccullough went there
again do not know.
After supper | went up town and spent
the evening there, but the nearest | went to
the court house was to a saloon which was
two doors from it with barbershop be-
tween. l boarded at the house of a woman
named Brown, where there also boarded
Mrs. Browns son-in-law, Charles Vaughan,
who kept general store nearly opposite
the court house. Between $50 and 10
o'clock | went home and went to bed and
10 sleep. The first knew Of the fire was
when | was awakened by Mrs. Browns
| uhp raliat H. I
O'Clock, and got up and went to the fire
with the others. The keeper of the saloon
before mentioned saw the fife lust as he
was about TO retire, and he says il appeared
as though oil had been thrown upon the
building and the roof on the corner nearest
him. All the records of the town clerk
and town treasurer were destroyed except
the new tax rolls aud the assessors returns.
which were lying upon the table, as there
was not room for them in the book case.
| went to Fl Reno, Oklahoma, from
North Dakota, in the spring OF 1894, ri the
solicitation of the sheriff OF Oklahoma. J.
b. Nicholas. The next year | went to
Arapahoe at the solicitation of Sheriff
Nicholas, who said the,place was in need Of
young Republican lawyer. The next
summer a man named Shive and myself
were candidates for the nomination for
| NpAhhl akNplhNl Ou tue IfpuVllCAn
and there was more or less unpleasantness
between us during the canvass Shve
secured the nomination aud Immediately
appointed me his deputy, not through any
trendliness toward me, but through fear
that | would bolt the ticket and would
work against him. | was deputy county
attorney when the court house was burned
Nicholas. Hadlock, Hughes, and a man
named hwtOn, editor of a Republican
paper, were known as Republican ''ring,"
ant the three former were reelected 10
Office.
After the FIRE it was limited by a Demo
cratic newspaper that Hughes and Had
: lock were connected with the fire, their
object in burning the building being to
destroy their record books. No investiga-
ton was made, however, at least while |
was there. l could not earn a decent lv.
ing in Arapahoe, and last spring | said
vas going to Vermont. | left Arapahoe
soon after July !, and went to FL Reno,
where worked with threshing machine
until month ago, when | started east.
In the meantime Nicholas and Hadlock
had had a "fallng out" Sith Shve, who
was not in the ring" and Nicholas pre-
ferred charges against Shive and circulated
petition for his removal from office
the court house fire and evidently he has
made one, but do not know how he con-
meets me with it. Perhaps he argues that
|, being friendly with Hadlock and Hughes.
and not with him, know whether they are
guilty. For myself l could have gained
nothing by setting the fire, while in fact l
lost all my valuable papers.
Mr.. Knight is a son of Thomas j.
knight, a well known resident of Western
avenue. The family is one of the oldest
in town, and one of young Knights ances-
tors was Samuel knight, chief justice of
the Vermont supreme court more than 100
years ago. Mr.. knight graduated from
GlenwoOd seminary at West Brattleboro,
studied Law in the Office Of Waterman,
Martin & Hit, and after his admission to
the bar had an Office in Crosby block for a
short time. He went to North Dakota
about six years ago, remaining there until
he went TO Oklahoma. His friends believe
he is the victim of some conspiracy on the
part of those whom he has offended in a
political way.