The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-03-13
4 FREAK OF THE FLAMES"
Weird Stoy Following Suicide of
Banker Near Roanoke
Distinct Outlines OF a Human Body
Left Untouched by Flames That
Swept the Woods-"The Efficacy Of
Prayer Following a Tragedy En-
acted i'm Rockingham County a Third
of a Century Ago


might well be used as the titles for
two ~stories-both out of the ordinary
one dealing with a tragedy enact
ed in Rockingham county, this state,
a third of a century ago; the Other
as a sort Of postscript to a book filed
with CHASTITY chapters telling of an ia
amy suicide which occurred here re-
ceatly.
Thirty q years ago the people Of
Rockingham county opened wide their
Ieyes in wondermeR at what transpir-
ed following the brutal murder OF a
well known citizen. Today Roanokers
are muen puzzled to account for what
has happened following the self-de-
struction of a demented banker who
shuffied off the mortal coil by sending
a pistol ball crashing through his dis
eased brain.
The story of the answered supplica-
ton which comes from sources tha.
def challenge as to veracity, and
whi;h is confirmed as to dates and
in an age stained paper found
the other day in the effects of the late
Lewis Lamb, now in possession Of The
writer. is a follows:
On March Is, 1875, David Lawson, a
highly respected farmer possessed of
considerable wealth, and the head of a
well-to-do family that resided in The
eastern corner of Rockingham county,
was assasslnated on the public high
way while returning home from a grlst
mill. He was shot in the back and
his slug-riddled body "a found on
the frozen ground by his relatives.
There was positively no clue TO the
perpetGator of the black crime and it
seemed for some time that the red
handed assassin of the peaceable man
who was not known to having a living
enemy would escape and the bloody
deed remain wrapped in DEEPEST mystic
ry bat not so.
When Lawson's funeral was preach
ed two weeks after his death by Rev.
Lafayette Fox the minister prayed
that the path of the murderer might
be'marked out. On Bonded knee this
man of God lifted his earnest voice tt
heaven and asked that the trees and
pushes might be blighted where Law
sons slayer had walked. Within the
next few days the mountain ivy, which
isaan evergreen growing in abundance
On the Blue Ridge chain, withered and
died in a straight line four miles long
that led from the spot where Lawson
was shot down to the very gate Of one
of n Anderson Shif1ett, and the oak
trees along this brown path also fail
ed to put their foliage later in the
season.
Shlff1ett was arrested as a suspect
and charged with the murder of his
1leighbor. Evidence was adduced to
that Shif1ett was in the neigh
hood OF the scene Of the crime on the
day it was committed and that he
carried a double-barreled shotgun. The
proof was not sufficient to convict.
however, and Shiff1ett was discharged
from custody by the justice of the
peace before whom the hearing was
held.
Two years later Shif1ett was rear
rested on the same charge, new evil
denee having been discovered by the
friends of the dead man who had dill
gently worked to fasten the crime on
its author. After a sensational trial
in which Charles T. O'Ferrall, after
wards governor of Virginia, was the
presiding judge, and Hon. John Pau,
afterwards United States judge for the
eastern district of Virginia, was the
attorney and prosecu-
tor of the case ShifHett was found
guilty of murder and given the death
sentence by Judge OFarrell. He paid
the penalty of his crime when his huge
frame shot through a gallows trap.
Following the execution Of Shifnett
The mountain peaks and hillsides were
again covered with green ivy; the
giant oaks that had remained bare
took on new life, their leafy boughs
nodding mute approval of the aveager
Justice, and the breezes, laden with the
perfume of wild flowers, chanted
Amen
And now when Roanokers hear the
story Of the Efficacy of Prayer" they
can follow it with one called "a FreaK |
of the Flames" having as excuse for
its feheasaI the following facts:
On January 4. last, Sturley Cuthbert
Armstrong, cashier of the Washington |
National Bank of P%ittsburg, Pa, and
man OF large affairs, mysteriously dis |
appeared from the Smoky City. A
bank examiner Was called in to 60 |
over the institutions books and found |
Armstrong; accounts correct to the |
A general search was made for |
the missing banker. The police in |
every city in the country were notified |
look for Armstrong and his wife and |
children anxiously awaited tidings but |
nothing was heard from the cashier |
his dead and horribly mutila. ed |
body was found a month later on the |
mountain side half a mile south of
The head had been eaten rom /
the body by c~arnivorous animals and
dragged a distance of so yards where |
skull was picked clean by vultures.
The body, which was frozen. had been
dead several weeks when discovered
Relatives claimed the remains after
identification and they were shipped to
10 days ago.
Yesterday fire svnuf the mounfain /