The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1899-09-28
AN ALAMANCE HERO.
LUClAN r1URRAY, THE BRAVE AND
FEARLESS.
A rlan of Honor Who Preferred Death
to Violation of hts Oath and the Be-
trayat of his Friends-rlade of the
rlaterial of Which Martyrs are nade.
tPittsboro Record.)

Under the above headin & Miss al
lie w. Stockard writes in last Sum
days Post most interesting account
of an incident in the Holden-Kirk
war of 1870, that should ever be
remembered. From it we copy the
following extracts:
Lucian Murray was young man
at the outbreak of the cival war. In
1862 he enlisted in the first North
Carolina troops, Company II, Capt.
Miller, in Ripley's old brigade.
During the war no man was in more
battles or did better, braver service
than Mr.. Murray. No man in the
South has had more thrilling exper-
fences He is made Of the material
martyrs are made OF.
He was wounded at charlottesville
once, at Spotsylvania Court House
twice, at Mine Run once, at Sharps-
burg once, at Frederick sburg twice.
Once in Richmond a pickpocket stole
his purse. In their fight for ii the
villain ripped open from hip to hip
the abdomen of his antagonist. Hold
ing his vitals in his left arm, with
his right hand he shot him dead,
But his greatest troubles were yet
to come. His hardest time was in
Kinks war. Il was arrested the
fourth man in the company. James
Boyd first, then Lug and Sid Scott,
then myself. belonged to the White
Brotherhood. never had disguise
and died not raid" When arrested he
was carried to Company Shops Dur
lington) with the rest and imprisoned
under a strong guard-in tent with
four others, John q. Albright, jim
Foust, George Rogers, William Pat
ton. James Boyd was paroled at
| Graham. The Scots were in other
| tents.
That night the game began OF
| forcing Lucian Murray to confess
| About II O'Clock Col. Burgen took
/ out William Patton first; in about an
| hour George Rogers; at one they
called for Murray, demanding con.
session in regard to Ku KluN, and
asking him to break his oath and his
most sacred honor.
| "LeavingJ j. &. Albright and James
Foust in the tent, not taking them al
| all, six or seven men took me to Col
Burgen's tent, where he demanded ;
confession. refused. They salt
they had hung two-rascals for MOI
/ making a confession and if | didn't
they'd hang me. l refused again.
They put rope around my neck
took me to the woods east of the
railroad-J. X. Ireland's place now
saying: we have just hung Pattoi
and Rogers and we intend to hang
you if you don't confess
They tied my hands behind me
threw the rope over limb an'
stretched me up. letting me down il
a minute, after choking me well.
They again demanded confession.
refused again. The third time | wa
hung till unconscious. When cam
to, / was lying on the ground, m
clothes torn off and my enemie
robbing me. When l came to s.
that could stand, they put the rop
around my neck the fourth time
demanding a confession. Said Col
Burgen: ''If you don't confess II
hang you till 9 o'clock tomorrow
then bury You under the tree upo
which you hung. Have you an
word to leave your friends?" Sal
Mr.. Murray: IL have no confessio
to make, no word to leave my friend
but if you hang me you will pay tn
same penalty before twenty-fou
hours yourself" Col. Burgen studio
little while, then said: well, yo
are young man, and ] don't wan
! to hang you. | want to give yo
another chance-till o'clock tomol
| row night l was carried to the ten
where Albright and Foust were. The
were not taken out. Rogers and Pa
ton we thought were killed, but the
were only tied out. At sun up the
were brought in.'
At9 O'Clock the next night Co
Burgen and his men tried again
make Mr.. Murray confess, with pi:
tolls drawn in his face. II would ne
yield. l never once thought OF doin
it. l did not care to confess. The
never asked me again.
Il was kept (at Buriington) s.
DAYS, then carried to Raleigh and pl
under Col. Clark's guard nobo dy WI
taken from Alamance but little ID
Wilson, William Patton and /.
II stayed at Raleigh several day
Col. Clark demanded confession.
> said no. Then I was carried to v
w. Holden's private office. He d.
manded a confession. / refused.
| offered me a thousand dollars for a
| knew about the Ku Klux. | to-
! Holden / was not for sale.
"Governor Holden told Col. Clal
to send me home till further order
| There | remained until United State
Judge Brooks issued writ OF habes
| | corpus ordering us-75 or 10O-R
| Klux before him for trial. We we
tried in Salisbury and released
Mr.. Murray has never been given
public office-except road overseer
: August sunshine-at a paltry pi
tance But he is a kindly, hapE
man. courageous still and true
! steel.
Last winter he went North to ha
an operation performed. A gre;
lump as large as quart measure hi
grown on his neck-the result of b
hanging at the hands Of Kinks me
At the hospital he was told that
2 had one chance to live and nine
r die. He had suffered intens sely, cou
D not eat or sleep. He chose to risk
& ". -. A..