The Jasper news., 1907-09-19

| ia VGopyrl6Ht, W -
~ The country telephone system had
bAen extended IL the widest md moss
| obscure part Of the county. And one
| night. .iust otter suppsf the scentral3
at the county -Seat answered asriss
from that line.
Hello, hello. Yes, this is the county
| seat. Speak up, please. Nov who is
| it you want? The sheriff? All right.
| I'll call you" ~
/ The officer looked up towards his
| shotgun when told that Shumake
| Ridge wanted to talk to him. Il won
der now what on earth they want this
time. Guess some fellow has got
drunk and broke up a dance
1 Soon the high cfficer was In connec.
tion with Shumake Ridge.
well, this u the sheriff What
Is itgD ,sis s..s q
@"Come down here, Mr.. Sherin, q
1 dead mans been found He amt been
dead long. When you git here. come
to my house. This is Pritchard Gull
pepper talking. Say. send the coroner,
/ foo.'n y,
BY ten o'clock that night the sheriff,
one of his deputies and the, coroner
were, on the road to- Shumake Ridge,
/ lying Ii the far solthwest corner of
the county Down there the people
were uneducated.. They lived among
themselves. Their houses we're OF
logs and rough lumber; located on poor
soil. The ground in several places In
that community had been soaked with
human blood.
The sheriff and his party travelled
toward the Ridge at steady trot, and
just as the grayness OF a new day
spread over the Kentucky hills they
approached their destination. The Of
flcers smelled meat frying as they
Ipassed the cabins, and saw the lank
rough-looking men going toward the
horse-)ots to feed.
The cabin home of Pritchard Cul
pepper was found, located ON the side
Of a hill behind large walnut tree
Several men stood in silence In front
of his house, others leaned against the
fence, whiting. The moan Of girl
came from the house.
Who is the. dead man?" the sherif
asked.
4 IVY. hits Onas Gray"
i Where's the body?"
Hits up yonder in the woods
Hain't no one teched It. Ny two boyI
has been gyardin' 1t all night to keel
the hawgs away"
The horses were fed and after ths
officers had swallowed cup Of tht
sloppy coffee In the kitchen, they fol
lowed Culpepper up path through tn,
bushes. A crowd came along behind
Up In the stunted woods on ridg,
they found the body. The two Culpep
per sons sat, one at the head and tn,
other at the feet, each with lantern
Il A girl, whose face showed marks o
weeping, followed the officers. an,
when she halted near the body sh'
threw her arms around small tire,
and cried, and the tenderness of he
weeping told the crowd that thes,
tears were coming straight from he
heart. The coroner examined tn
body. Two pistol shots had gon,
through the breast. There was no evi
dence of suicide. No pistol was found
We'll" spoke the sheriff, "go ahea'
now, Prlchard, and tell me all yol
know of this case"
We'll, sheriff, Onas Gray Is tn
mans name. He has been amongst u
about nine weeks. He came from owe
, on Ash creek to learn the people o
Shumake Ridge to play the fiddle an,
sing. He seemed good feller. an,
was thought right smart OF by ever
body. Befo' he had been here wee
him and the girl there by the tree too
, liking to one 'tother. and have bee
goin' together all the time. She. live
over yonder across the field with he
daddy, and onas went there all tn
time.
s'Onas Gray had some habits tina
sometimes us folks couldn't unde,
stand. but hit was Just because "
hadn't been around his class OF peopl
before. Last night he got up from tn
! supper table, tuck his fiddle an
walked up the path. We didn't kno'
where he was goin', rs It was a dine
ent route from the way to the girl
house. The last we seen OF him b
!, was goin' into these woods.
Ill y.sSometime, after dark heard tu