The age-herald., 1900-01-26
LEGO MAY NEVER
 REACH JAIL ALIVE The Beddingiield Murder Mora FiendiSh
 Than First Reported. DEAD MEN WERE UNARMED Murderer Had Trouble With Younger
 Brother. THE CITIZENS SWEAR VENGEANCE Jerome Beddingfeld Gives Out State- ment on His Death Bed. Saying
 He Was Shot Down in
 Cold Blood
)EAD MEN WERE UNARMED
iE CITIZENS SWEAR VENGEANCE

Florence, January 25.-(Special. )-Addi- tional details of the horrible double mur- der at Rogersville made the crime more fiendish than was at first reported
 It seems that both old man Beddingfeld and his son were shot down in cold blood neither being armed or expecting an att tack
 The shooting resulted from a quarrel be- tween Legg, the murderer, and John Bed- dingfield, a younger brother of Jerome Beddingfeld who was shot in the road. Neither Jerome nor his father had heard of the quarrel and were not anticipating any trouble.
 Citizens are securing the woods in search of Legg, and if caught it is feared he will never reach the county jail
 On his death bed Jerome Beddingfeld made the following statement:
 "Buck Beddingfield, my younger brother, who is 2 years old, was at the saw mill ] lOdulUS iuIHDtF tO Hdul lO tHe llhti, Wh0ii John Legg, our cousin. drove up and called to him to get out of the way so he could load first Buck replied he could not move. and Legg said he would die and go to hell before he should load first. He then snatched the team away and went home- A little while afterward met him in the ha anythinp against him. I said no, and he replied, well have nothing against you, but l am going to kill you any way With that he fired, missing me the first time: he then fired second shot, striking me with eigh- teen buckshot in the hip. He asked if I had enough and I replied, You have killed me- He then said, Yes, have killed you and I am going to kill your damned old daddy and all the balance of you, and started down the road toward the river.'
 Young Beddingfield was torn all to pieces, the shot going through his body and com ing out at the lower part of the abdomen.
 Half mile further up the road Legg overlook the elder Beddingfield and opened fire, shooting him three times, twice after he was down on the ground Leaving him for dead Legg walked. back to the home of his brother between the place where the two dying men lay and secured horse and rode away.
 Several women whose names cannot be learned witnessed the cold-blooded murder of old man Beddingfield.
 The deed is the most heinous ever con- mitte in this county. The people of the community are terribly incensed and swear to avenge the horrible crime.
 A late telephone message from Center Star says nothing has been seen of Legg since he rode away, but he will very likely Joe caught before tomorrow night
 Old man Bedingfeld and son were both. we'll thought of and Legg bore good repu- settqng fire to the Rogersville district school house ten years ago. This has caused bad feeling between the two families. $ The murder has shocked the entire counr ty Both Beddingfelds were unarmed when shot down by Legg and neither suspected a quarrel had taken place Between the murderer and the younger brother. z
 Legg did not go back to the sawmill to settle with Buck BeddingfeId, but went after the two men with whom he had had no words. 7-ysss