The Forrest City times., 1904-08-26
OR. R. c. lIGHTIE IS ALIVE.
Missing Physician. Returned to Home
 at Searcy on August 20.

Missing Physician. Returned to Home
 at Searcy on August 20.
 i pr. Richard G. Lightle. the Searcy physician who is alleged to be wanted for conspiracy to defraud several in. surance companies. and whose sup. posed death May 22 and the develop ments of the past two weeks that he was alive. created one of the greatest sensations in the state. has returned 10 his former home at Searcy He ar rived there alone. from Memphis early on the morning of August 20 and go ing to the home of his mother, who was away from home. Crawled through the window. There he was seen few moments later by cores pendent who telephoned his paper at Little Rock. That paper called up the Lightle residence in Searcy on the long distance telephone and Dr. Lightle, himself answered the phone and submitted to an interview When asked why he left he said that he was working in his barn disecting corpse when the lamp was overturned and the place caught fire Realizing the serious penalty for robbing grave, he made his way quietly out of the town and went to South Crolina and from there to Georgia. He did not communicate with his wife until recently. He says he did rot know that he was supposed to be dead but was afraid to return for fear that he would be arrested for grave robbery. He recently returned to Memphis and was there when the sensation was ] sprung that he was still alive. He i says that he then learned for the firN l time what mess be was in and de 1 cided to return to Searcy and face the music. He says he did not know until then that the insurance money Lad been paid his wife He stated that he returned home voluntarily and alone and that he had seen no Ar kansas officers since he left the state He said that he would surrender him. self at once to the officers He in- sisted that there was no attempt at fraud, and that he had simply left after the barn caught fire for fear that he would get into trouble for robbing grave. He would not stste whose body he was working on but i intimated that it was that of Pitts The first thing Dr. Lightle did when i he returned home was to call mp his wife at Little Rock on the long dis. tance telephone and tell her that he was again at home.
 The Lightle case forms an intense ly dramatic story. On May 2s the 1 Lightle barn at Sarcy was burned and the charred body Of man was found. Beside it was a watch identified as l that of Dr. Lightle At the coroner's inquest the body was identified as that of the doctor. who had not been seen since the previous night The body was inferred in the Lightle lot
 Later it developed that Dr Lightle carried $21 900 life insurance Sev- 1 eral circumstances were recalled l which gave rise to the belief that Dr. i Lightle was not dead, and that the body was that of another person
 l Detectives were put to work and l became convinced that the rumor was correct. They had the grave of Ed 1 Pitts at Searcy, who had been buried about the time of the fire, opened and i 1t was found to be empty. This and l other evidence caused suits to be i brought at Little Rock attaching the ! life insurance money in a Little Rock l bank to the credit of the supposed i widow. Later she paid it all over to 1 the companies. On August 16, a re- l quisition on the governor of Georgia l was secured for Lightle and officers ] left at once to arrest him. While they were away he returned home.
 Sheriff ]. P Wood of White county and Deputy Sheriff Chichester of Lit l tie Rock, the latter representing the l insurance companies. returned on Aug i ust g from Georgia, where they went l a week previous with acquisition for the arrest of Dr R c. Lightle of Scar 1 cy. They had to ride l40 miles over land in buggies while gone Sheriff 1 Wood gave out the following inter view
 Deputy Sheriff Al Chichester and i reached Clayton, Ga, which is in the northeast corner of the state. just ] a day after Dr Lightle left We knew where he was. but 1 cannot state how 1 it was We found out Dr Lightle had 1 been going under the assumed name of R. B. Graham, and was working as carpenter People in the neighbor- 1 hood say he was a pretty good carpen- ter. too. I have in my possession an affidavit signed by woman in Geor- gia which will have an important bear
 ing on the case should the insurance companies press the charges against Dr. Lightle"
 Old Cotton Stock Moving.
 The stock of old cotton which has