The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-03-25
DLIGIITED BY JUDGE
FREES THAT DIED iF1ER MEN HAH
BEEN HdNGED FPON THEN.
Tn. Executed smurg'cr's Snnken Island In
Boston Iiarbor A Murderer Denounced
by n Lin. OF Blasted Tre's-How III" Re-
pr,.y. Of smithers Game over tn. Wires.

OF course Iynching will hill a tree" repeated
ths Dnnyllle tobacco buyer with some nsperty
u, had made the remark In purely Incidental
fashion I'm connection with sor1e other curious
natural phenonens and seemed rather ~surprsci
when the statement was questioned
"Oi course" he went on, I'm not discussing
lynchlng from an ethical standpoint while | am
this far north. but As far as that particular feature
Of IL is concerned no ono would question Il IN MY
rart Of the country. Ask any ono through VIZ
rIn!n, especially the southwestern pat, and
he viii tell you the same thing. A tree Away,
dies After a man has been hanged on IL You
can call II a bArbaric superstition II you choose
and q fitting corollary of lynch law, but the fact
remain that II Is tus so far as my observation
roes, and tina, includes several cases.
The frs, function Of that sort | ever attended
VAS down In Roanoke. There were three men
lvnchcd thcro In pretty rapid sequence about
seven years ago An Incident y tho business
WAS that the militia lost thoir hna'' one highland
fired or q mob nrolndthn iail killing and wuuudlrg
eleven very highly respected Cih2 rs Tho hr'e
men wnrN all hanged, however. 10 a largo tree
IN the court house square. In the course Of Alt.
tie vhiln the tree died and fira,lv had 10 10 cut
down. Now, | will say this Tor that particular
case, the iroe was badly hacked By relic hunters
and that may have had e 20 With 'ts dying.
But there was another case In which ! had a
hand, | will say with regret Nneing this far north,
whore the tree was nUtiriured and died all the same
This was also near Roanoke. The man In cues
ton. having confessed whom b, vascaught as
duly hanged 10 n small but promising hickory tree
on the bank Of a creek Just outside Of town The
tree was apparently healthy AID was not uiolesied
in any way. butt died have Frequently seen 1t
since when | WAS fishing along the creek
There was another ca . over in 'hs tllnch Val
ley that simply bears ont the Theory, tinch Val
ley is lust about tho 'Nlgh'st spotln the whole sid
real universe and | may say, merely as a PERSONAL
view. Of course, that iynching about % per cent
Of It's population would impro va It Immensely
This trip they got hvH nAgro'a, thr'e men
and two women II, five were Hanged on two
trees and both tn" tees died.
don't sna why any ore h1uld strHia al swallow
Ing a theory u. tiNt sort" h. continued for
hal a con .dcrahly tougher story than that told
me last summer while | was in Boston. now.
ldol tLHoN anything about the facts 4 the ca
but s.vrlt to vou rs II was told mo by the o3rloin
Of a steam launch that took a party IT rs across
the bay was stopping with some friends down
~ NantaShet and We made the run down from
the city one afternoon in the launch. You know,
Boston Bay Is all full Of ISLANDS, but they losJy
stay wh,rH they ars put Their. was one point
On the trlp, rather nearer 10 Nant8SAet than 10
Boston, where a small stone monument sticks
up out OF ths waur. 1t was pointed out TO me
as marking the spot whore an island had been.
but where there was now a good fifteen te,t o.. water.
The story was this:
some time, perhaps as far back as the Colonial
days, there was q certain dealer In contratanl
who did business with the honest merchants
Of New England. The pirates were 1ouIisAing
In the Spanish Main at that time, Black Beard.
Sharky, I'm Thurlow and that lot, and h. y
drifted up the coas, close enough TO worry Boston
considerably. Their, was one In particular
that had made way with a good deal Of Boston
shipping, but was never caught nor fully iienti.
fed. Finally, in desperation. they cast about
for some to even up on and gathered In thiI
Skinner q the seas and dealer In contraband
of whom they had al mode a great maLy mora
or less honest dollars. Their logic was beautiful
in its simplicity. There was q monS'rous eX-
penive pirate loose on the high seas. This dealer
in contrabsnd was loose In the same latitude.
There was no one else whom they could convict OF
piracy ergo, the pirate must be the doalar In contra
band. And, on the strength Of this reasoning,
they hanged him out on this island In the bay.
The gent'emanly advocate OF free trade WI,
was tha victim Of this logic did not fall In with their
reasoning a little BIT. lie protested his innocence.
and on the scahold he made an impressive ad-
dress. He declared that In token Of his innocence
Of the particular crime charged against him,
God would speedily destroy the island whprcon
he was hanged No particular attention was
paid 10 it at the dmN, but sure enough. before the
snugglers prophecy had time 10 be forgotten,
this island began TO disappear. Itslnk gradn-
ally into the water dl /, was almost awash, and
by that time public attention was 50 turned to it
that a monument was erected on tho site Of he
gaIloWS. That did not stop II. however, and tn
island lrt'tIv disappeared under The water I'LL
now a fair sized ship can sal over II, and only
the top Of the monument isVilGle sthiyh water J"
Nov, when you get a story Of that sort from
cold end calculating New England, p'rhaps YOU
may b., wiling TO listen TO another Incident. some
hing In the snme line, but II anything STRANGER,
that happened down IN the Shenandoah VALLEY
considerably after the war. The story was told
to me by IaCharish Flick, who at the tine was
on the polio, force IN Roam ne and was enc o..
the Jury In the murder case In question.
There had been q pretty nasty murder COM
nitted between the NavneSDoro end Lurav.
and for some reason suspicion fell on n man named
men 5S5 co a P P,"5p by ,Ss m I9,y Sa mink H@ r va,
served, but the conviction was on purely cireum-
Stantidl evidence. That did not bother tn jury
or the judge, either, AMI h. sentenced Hon.
derSon 10 hang, Henderson protested MS inL1-
ccnca and swOTe he knew absolute nothing
about III" case, hut In his speech o. the t,dnoil
h. ma 10 a queer prediction, Sal De: 'hOt .lgU,
An innocent, and lie know by whom This mur-
der was committed Within three years from
this dag lie will blast q line OF trees from The foot
oftli, SCaifold to Tia" dOuroftnc murderer
We'll, nobody paid much attention 10 this NJ
the time, but N about a year some Of IN" C'dar
trees ClOe' TO the !Ui. brgan to urn brown aud
dia. That was not % queer. either, but III" bli lht
seemed to extend away from the Jail IN q straight
line across country, LIIling tree after II e In slugl'
tl' He a man bla1lHg "A trail through a wood.
That lin" OF dead trees reached 0n' Ike "A finger
for a milo and a half across country and stopped
with a zig cedar rig.IHt the gat. leading 10 tho
nous" Of a man who had meyer been suspected
In any wav in connection with the case. The
thing caused 50 much talk that h" was arrested.
and subsequently confessed Now, u5 far Il, |
An concerned II Srch q thing as hat hHu happened
to M, ! should have confessed wh"th r / wa,
gully or not. Any now, tho dead ,r'.S ara thHr'
now, and are one OF tn sights % thr Shenandoah
Valley"
Those ar, curious stories" remarked q West
rn railroad man VINO hal been listening.
but when you come 10 think Oi IT. they are no
more culuJS than a happening / wa, Uly"J
up IN out IN kansas . good many vrHr+ bHrh
Wa 2 cub telegraph operator a'tn' lime, OSIGg
for the railroad, hal | had tU" Gay iurh at q Int
lie station called kH'lgh about 'litv U.', b.
yOnd Topeka We had q haurig- on IL tho
county lHh, rather . ml\"d-up ease ol a tramp
GhmeI SWlll"r-, VINO Nfp' tuI'O irC, largely uI
clrrums'annIl evidence e. lH'tUG h.Ir. a mDll
Garner uu th" o~u1-e'-. q t.au tie va. cue
10 hang NJ . fulnN auI I r',u.i'' / Wa feeling
pretty out" h-a.s" ] ,uIt'u pet uD o. aua D. r
seei1N. th" 'rIut rs ilv . dJp. ul-. hy tie tuar.
hHcaI,e l,' NH1. "ll apt .ly' Wpr'" enough
interest N IT,, ln.' Hul uD! been. uur.iu.- hard
rut az sheer ttl.l .f.I ..N. .. rpi 4. STA. Of rT4au.