The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-22
TOWN OF ATHENS HAS
 ITS HAUNTED LOCALITY
Horrible Murder of Young White Who Was on His Way tt Tennessee to Be Married Is RecalledThornon Brothers
 the Murderers Secured no Money for the Awful Deed

river transportation largely. Old timers
 say they have seen as many as 300O
 hogs ferried across the Tennessee river at Browns Ferry in one day. The ferry was owned a. that time by Barton Cox. father of the late Col. Thomas J. Cox of Athens. The Thorntons saw White show money on the boat They guessed rightly
 that he had d considerable sum. On
 Round Island creek, eight miles from
 Athens four from the ferry, an excel
 lent old-fashioned inn" was kept by
 Joseph Wood, grandfather of MT. Fortu- natus Wood of Att ems. At the inn White took dinner. The Thornton's went ahead
 and lay in wait in the dismal, rough, lonely locality which they made mem orable that day by a foul deed which smells to heaven still. White was shot with q single -barrelled shotgun, and the gun was broken over his person in close quarter encounter which evidently fol- lowed. The murderers hurredly searched their victims pockets but found only | small sum of money They left the body 1 on the side of the road, on the spot mark 1 ed to this day by a wooden stake. Sad | ending of a marriage trip-the wedding | bells never rang but ghouls faintly tolled l q horrid knell through the dark, deep | shadowy dell. The riderless horse told passersby that something was wrong. A
 search revealed the body: and it was
 brought to Athens, and in her preparation
 of the shroud, a useful and honest wom-
 an of the town found $400 sewed in the
 waistband of the dead man.
 ! Those were days of primitive simplicity, | earnestness and vigilance. The commun- | ity was profoundly shocked. A stranger { on his way to his marriage foully mur-
 dered in good Bimestone A posse com
 posed of the county's best citizens, mer- cna 1rx f,1 fore f,a1t rbo
 knew Q good citizens duty, promptly of | fered to go; and quickly under the lead l of the general of the district militia | Col. Hiram Higgins, and the prosecut-
 ing attorney, George s. Houston. later l the grand rescuer of Alabama from the | hands of arpet-bagger robbers, after 1 wards United States senator, the mount
 ed body was in hot pursuit.
 The murderers slxirted Athens on the l south. careless marking their way with l scraps of paper taken from their vic- ! tim'c pockets Following these signs the l posse got the scent and pursued the
 trail far into Kentucky. One of the Thorn
 tons was brought back to Athens for trial; l the other was tried in Kentucky and the
 story, as it has descended from genera l tion after generation, does not fail to glow with a gamor of sentiment fidelity | and brotherly love on the part of the | Thornton brothers which should conse-
 crate holier narrative. Each sought 1 to take the blame upon himself. The one
 hanged in Alabama protested through the | preacher who acted as his spiritual ad-
 wiser assured him he would not receive Gods forgiveness, which he so deeply desired if he falsely so protested, his sole blame and responsibility for the act; while the one who paid the penalty in Kentucky swore solemnly with official formality, that his brother had no part in the crime, that he was the sole of fender.
 Those were days of the Merrill rob-
 berries, and these offenders may have be- longed to that brotherhood. At any rate the romance of self sacrifice on the part
 Of the cold-blooded murderers, for money,
 fraternal affection rarely exhibited. adds | to the horrible fascination mystery and
 interest of the spot, marked by stake and an unnatural, ghost-lil1e tree, where | The Thorntons killed White"