The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-10-19
"A NIGHT OF TORTURE
w BROUGHT A FORTUNE TO ITS IN
NoCENT VICTIM.

NoCENT VICTIM.
Twice Strung Up by Lynchers, He
Confessed to Murder and Was Aft
erward Vindicated and Recovered |
"a, 900 From His Assailants,
Late in the fifties George w. King
was the proprietor of hotel in Ok
ford. 26 miles from Lafayette, Ind. In
1859 a stranger arrived at the hotel and !!
gave his name as DR.. Rowe. He told
King that he had 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 favorite with the
people on account of his companion
able disposition and superior intelli-
gence. The doctor, however, fell deep
er and deeper in debt. He had been at
the hotel for nearly year when King
reminded him one morning that he
had not paid anything on his board
bill for three months. The converse
ton. 1t afterward appeared, was over
heard by some one in the hotel, though
nothing was thought Of it at the time.
A week after the conversation Rowe
was called out late at night to see
patient and failed to return. Days
passed without any word from him, and
his disappearance soon was connected
with the conversation that had passed
between him and the landlord about
the unpaid board. One night three
months later party of disguised men
entered the hotel and, overpowering
King, took him to a 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-
manded that he confess. King stoutly
maintained his innocence. and the
panions Ito string him up" A rope
was placed around his neck, dozen
men pulled down stout limb, over
which the other end Of the rope was
thrown, and when the limb was re-
leased 1t 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 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
y and live, SO he consented to confess.
], He purposely heightened the confes-
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 to drink it, and
after his death they had buried him
In q hollow some distance away. II
: was nearly daylight when the confess
n 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 his 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 attemp
to conceal their indemnity. So grea
was the excitement and so intense thu
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 ad
dressed letters to editors Of papers IL
Cincinnati. Chicago, st. Louis, Louis
Vile and other cities. setting out thu
circumstances of his confinement ant
asking them to keep his letter In tn
papers in hopes that 1t might fall un
der Rowe's notice. The appeal was
pathetic one and was copied into man.
papers throughout the northwest
Two weeks after its first appearance
DIR. Rowe rode into Oxford and, at
tended by number of citizens, pro
ceeded to Lafayette, where his appear
ance caused the immediate release o
the accused landlord. In explanation
Of his disappearance Rowe said he ha
left his home in the east on account Q
domestic troubles; that he had learne
that his wife was on her way to o.
ford and he had determined to leav
the place secretly in order to proven
. her from learning where he had gone
He had gone to little town in soutl
ern Illinois, and 1t was there that h
learned that the man who had b.
friended him was suspected of his mu
der and was in Jail in Lafayette.
AS soon as King was released b
brought suit against 80 members of til
Horse Thief Detective company fe
$1,000 each and also against the con
pany as a corporation. Thomas 1
Hendricks, afterward vice presiden
was his counsel, but the case was NJ
allowed to come to trial, the lynchel
compromising by paying King $25,OO
With this money he purchased a far