The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1898-12-17
LIGHTNING AND LYNCH LAW.
How the First Wiped Out the Witness
of the Other.

of the Other.
Gazing ~norihward from any train
On the Big Four road as it runs across
the fertile plains Of Benton county,
near Templeton Junction, Ind, 100
miles out from Chicago, nc observant
passenger will fail to see, perhaps
half a mile distant from the tracks,
the charred and shattered, sharp
pointed stump OF what was once a
great tree. Around it for a radius of
twenty feet are piled old rails and
pieces of timber. Well cared for and
generally rich with heavy crops is the
field in which the tree, enc of the few
in Benton, which is I%ndiana's greatest
prairie county, fiourished. But not sc
around the blackened trunk. The
plowman and all who till the lana
seem to avoid any familiar proximity
to it, and the rude barrier which sur
rounds it seems to tell THAT the spot
vas the scene of some uncanny doing.
And so ii was-the scene of the ven
geance melted out to the perpetrator
of one of the most terrible crimes in
%Indiana's annals. Sixteen years ago
Benton county was not the well-popu-
lated and prosperous one 1t is today.
1t was a favorite place for Illinois and
Indiana hunters to seek when the
prairie chicken was plentiful. The
wolves Of Benton county, and even
lions and other ferocious beasts sup
posed to have lairs there, were used
to terrify children. ard evcn some
older people. A few years before onl;
had railroads opened up the country.
In 1882 a Mr.. Atkinson wac n OF
the most prosperous farmers in Ben
ton. With his wife he went to the
nearest town one day late in the fall
of that year. They returned home TO
find their beautiful daughter Ada. ~
years old, dead-murdered and man
gled horribly. No clew was left by the
murderer, but suspicion fell on Jacob
Melting, a farm hand employed on the
Atkinson place. He was arrested, aud,
despite the fact that no actual evidence
could be adduced. so great was the in
dignation aroused against him ,hat he
10 hulIICu ONGIldlu W L<dIug OhtNi
Ind, and lodged IL the Tippecanoe
county jail, which wa2 guarded by
troops, ordered out by the governor.
While confined there a NOV who
now occupies a responsible posl''Hn
with a leading Chicago hotel was in
troduced into the Jail as a prisoner.
He was really an employe OF a chi
cago detective agency. He gained
Nelling's confidence, and to him the
latter related his guilt of the murder
of Ada Atkinson. Melting was ad-
vised by the lawyer he engaged 10 &c
to Benton county and plead guilty, the
lawyer promising to follow and make
a plea for mercy. Melting was taker
to Fowler, Benton county, on the day
before the one set for his trial. Early
the next morning his lawyer was wait
ing in Lafayette to take the train fol
Fowler, when he received a Telegram
telling him not to come. your ellen
don't need YOU" it said. Melting!
body was dangling from a limb of thu
tree not far from the scene Of hi
crime. A mob had broken into the jail
a few hours after his arrival there an,
taken him to the place of vengeance
The tree never flourished after bearing
such CHASTITY fruit. It was dying whel
a blast Of lightning from the heaven
struck and shattered it. And the bar
rier was placed around 1t. and Their
the stump remains, an object lesson o
warning or whatever it may be.