Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-11-03


Late in the ffties George W. King
was the proprietor of a hotel in Ok
| ford, % miles from Lafayette, Ind. In
| 1853 stranger arrived at the hotel and
| gave his name as DR. Rowe. He told
| King that he haG no money and asked
to be trusted for his board till he could
| get practice in the place. promising to
! pay him as promptly as possible. King
| consented to the arrangement. and
| Rowe soon became Il fayOrite with the
| people on account Of his companion
| able disposition and superior intelli-
! gcnce. The doctor, however, fell deep
or and deeper in debt. He had been at
| the hotel for nearly a year when King
| reminded him one morning that he
| had not paid anything on his board
bill for three months. The converse
ton, it afterward appeared, was over
| heard by some one in the hotel, though
pothing was thought of it at the time.
| \ week after the conversation Rowe
was called out late at night, to see a
patient and failed to return. Days
passed without any word from him, and
| lis disappearance soon was connected
| with the conversation that had passed
4
| the unpaid board. One night three
months later party of disguised men
entered the hotel and, overpowering
| King. took him to n woodland adjoin-
| ing the town.
| He recognized the voices of several
| of his captors and especially of the
leader, who told him that he was sus-
pected of numbering Rowe and de-
| 10
maintained his innocence, and the
| leader of the mob ordered his COM
panions '''to string him up" \ rope
was placed around his neck, a dozen
men pulled down a stout limb, over
which the other end of the rope was
thrown, and when the limb was re-
leased it carried King off his feet and
left him hanging by the neck. He
was nearly unconscious when let down
and again ordered To confess.
After much delay he was restored
sufficiently to understand what was
said to him, and he again refused, de-
claring his innocence and saying he
did not know what had become of
Rowe. A second time he was strung
up and Il second time let down, but
life was nearly extinct, and he was
much longer in being restored than be-
fore.
The luckless landlord knew he could
not pass through another such ordeal
and live, so lie consented to confess.
He purposely heightened the confess
sion in order to gain time. and said
that he and two men, named Rogers
and Haggard, had poisoned some whis-
ky and induced Rowe 10 drink it. and
after his death they had buried him
in n hollow some distance away. 1t
was nearly daylight when the confess
sion was made, and the lynchers de-
termined to take King to Jail in Lafa- /
yette and then arrest Rogers and Hag-
gard.
Before the Jail was reached day had
dawned, and King recognized fds cap
tors as members of the Horse Thief
Detective company Of Benton, Warren
and Tippecanoe counties. nearly all of
whom were known to him. Confident
of his guilt, the men made no attempt
to conceal their indemnity. So great :
was the excitement and so intense the
feeling against King that he waived
examination and went to JAIL hoping
that something would turn up to es-
tabliSh his innocence. /
From the Jail At Lafayette King adj
dressed letters to editors OF papers in
Cincinnati Chicago. st. Louis, Louis
vile and other cities, setting out the
circumstances Of his confinement and
asking them to keep his letter in the
papers in hopes that it might fall I'M
der Rowe's notice. The appeal was a |
pathetic one and was copied into many
papers throughout the northwest.
Two weeks after Its first appearance
Or. Rowe rode into Oxford and. at
tended by n number OF citizens, pro-
ceeded to Lafayette. where his appear
ance caused the Immediate release of
the accused landlord. In explanation
IF his disappearance Rowe said he had
left his home In the east on account of
domestic troubles; that he had learned
that his wife was on her way to Ok
ford and he had determined to leave
the place secretly i'll order TO prevent
her from learning where he had gone.
He had gone TO Il little town in south
ern Illinois, and it was there that he
learned that the man who had be-
friended him was suspected of his MUIR
der and was in Jail in Lafayette.
AS soon rs King was released he
brought suit against 81 members of the
Horse Thief Detective company for
s.. 900 each and also against the COM
pany as corporation. Thomas \.
afterward vice president
was his counsel, but the case was not
allowed TO come to trial. the lynchers
by paying King $4,000
With this money he purchased i farm
and other property near Lafayette,
where lie lived till his death. at the age
Of as years.-Indlanapolis Correspond