The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-05-12

d
men and children making them run into
their houses and lock the doors.
1t was finally suggested that they go to
the house of Fidil Reed, and get supper,
They reached his humble cabin sometime
after dark and found Fidil at homo read
ing his Bible and preparing to retire for
the night. Lytle ordered the women to
get supper and Fidil to feed his horse
They all instantly obeyed the orders, Fidil
giving him all the meal the family had for
breakfast, for his horse.
After supper Crow and Lyle got into
a difficulty of words and Lytle shot his
pistol almost in the direction of Grow,
but missed him. 1t was not believed he
shot to hit Grow. He behaved in such
, a manner as to run the women off the
place. They went to the house of an In
dian by the name of Josiah Long who
lived about one hundred or two hundred
yards from Fidips. They went in a very
fast walk and ran part Of the time, and
Just as they reached Longs door num-
Der of pistol shots were heard back at
FidiIs house. Long heard these shots
as well as the women and some others.
Fidil and Crow had no firearms except an
old musket in the house which did not
have the appearance of having been shot
in months at the time the body of Lyle
was found.
The women returned early next morning
and found the lone cabin in the mountains
deserted. The door was open Signs of
deadly conflict were discovered about the
house. The leaden messengers of death
had torn holes in the wall, door and floor
of the cabin and the coroner and others
swore these were flying in both directions
from out side the cabin into the house,
and from the inside out. There can be
no mistake on this point. The declara-
tions of Reed and Crow as to the time of
their leaving are about all we have to
go by Crow left just about the time
the women did and went to his mothers.
Fidil left near the same time and went
about two miles and stayed the rest of
the night at the house of his mother,
On Thursday, the day of the killing Bob
Lyle took dinner at the house of an In
| dian by the name of Sneed. Lyle was
then under the influence of liquor He in
a very boasting way exhibited a leather
| bag in which he said he had plenty of
money. Sneed was not at home, but soon
| after dinner arrived and his wife told
! him what Lytle said about his money
that he must have lots of it. Early on
| Friday morning Sneed went through the
| settlement and declared that some
! damned Indian had Killed Bob Lytle the
night before He told Lucinda Blackfox
| and another woman he met early in the
| morning that'lLytle was buried in the
mud and had a bullet hole In the right
| side of his head just behind his ear; said.
! Lytle had been robbed He aroused the
! settlement4and it was not long till a large
no bo of
| poor Fidii Reed who had come home from
| his mother's. Headed by Sneed they be-
| gan search for the dead man. '9i
They found in about 100 yards of Fidil's
| house where some small trees had been
| cut and the brush carefully piled They
| removed this pile of brush and discovered
| the dirt had been recently digged up for
| 3 or feet square. The crowd gathered
/ round the scene Sneed and others began
| to remove the dirt with their hands. About
| Is inches down they came to the arms of
| man carefully, and it seemed tenderly,
| folded across his breast. A little further
| and they came to an old quilt and raising
| it there resposed as in gentle sleep, the
| face of Bob Lyle with a rifle bullet hole
| on the right side of his head just as
| Sneed had said it was six hours before
| the dead man was found
Who killed Bob Lytla? When and where
was he killed and why? A doctor who was
| introduced as an expert swore that Bob
Lytle died while asleep. Swore that rEe
bullet went crashing through his brain
while he was wrapt in the arms of PEACE
| full slumber Lyle was perfectly imp
and timber when taken from this shallow
grave on the hillside. He was not taken
up till Sunday morning. This eminent
physician who had studied Webster's
blue back and Fowler on Midwifery soInRI
could not explain this, but said the man
ought to have been stiff While he was
perfectly certain the message came to the
man while he was wrapped in the arms
of innocent sleep, he could not tell why
| on earth he had not stiffened up little
| from Thursday night till Sunday. On be-
| ing asked if he believed the man had
| ever been afflicted with a disease known
as rigor mortis he stoutly maintained
| that he had not and that all attempt to
| attribute his death to that disease would
prove futile. l want to say that / have
! every reason to believe that if their law
yers had done their duty and objected
! to this evidence in apt time the eminent
| Judge who tried the case would have,
| ruled it out as expert testimony. This
doctor" and some other witnesses also,
! found blood on the puncheon floor of this
cabin. No, he did not analyze it but it
was blood-human blood. This turned out
| to be diamond dye used by the women in
| coloring basket splits. Besides this evil
| dence to show the man came to his death
| while dreaming of his loved ones at home,
! a number SO pistol cartridge was exhibit
| ed on trial which had been taken from the
| fold of the dead mans pants. This car
| fridge had been snapped on several times
| and when his pant leg was rolled down
! out came this little piece of evidence Of
peaceful sleep and rolled on the ground.
Was this any evidence that his spirit
+, winged its flight from scene of con-
fffct at the house of Reed and at his
| hands?
Who committed this deed? Did Fidil and
| Grow? Did John Sneed know anything
| about it? Are these two Indians innocent?
| They protest that they are. Many rea-
1 sons which dropped out in the evidence