The Starkville news., 1909-05-28

a. w. mclaughlin, WeIl-knoWn 1arn-
er. was shot and killed by his son, ID. T.
Mclaughlin, near Buckatunna. McLaugh-
lin was an industrial man and u good
citizen, whose one fault was drinking.
For a considerable time he had abstained
from drink, but recently has been on a
spree, and, erazed with liquor, he had ter
rifed his family so that they had to
leave the place. His son was sent for to
try to control the father, but the old
man became incensed at this interfer-
cucc. and attempted to kill his son. who,
to protect his own life, shot his father
Dyke Edwards was convicted at Stark
vile of the murder of DR.. Alvin Rich.
ardson at Sturgis on Christmas Eve last.
The jury was unable to agree upon the
penalty, which means that the sentence
will be life Imprisonment. Edwards re-
ceived the report of the jury with the
same cold Indifference that has marked
his conduct since the trial began. His
brother, Al Edwards, also under indict-
ment for the same murder, broke down
and wept bitterly, his young wife ming
ling her tears and walls of grief with his,
The mystery of twenty-one newly dug
graves, discovered on plot of ground
adjacent to the negro cemetery near
Laurel has been solved by the arrest of
an aged negro, obviously demented. He
declares God ordered him to dig twenty
one graves and to work only at night.
He has been engaged i'll the occupation
every night for a number of weeks.
The discovery of the graves caused in
tense excitement in the community.
People become very much excited when
a carnival comes to town and announces
that it has a wild Man from Borneo"
as one of the features of entertainment,
but how much more exciting does it be-
come when the Sheriff goes out and
brings in man and announces that
wild man has been placed in Jail? This
is just what took place in Prentiss when
Sheriff John Laird brought in a man
that might readily be called a wild
man" His name is Marvin Whitehead,
son of j. NJ. Whitehead, farmer who
lives in the Santee neighborhood, where
the man was captured. For five or six
years this man has lived in the woods
most of the time, only going to his
fathers house occasionally at night. He
has not put on any new clothes III sew
eral years, and when the Sheriff caught
him he had on few rags of clothing
which he had probably worn for several
years. These clothes were almost torn
off of him. He says he is 3 years old,
or rather stated he did not know how
old he was, but he was born in 1878.
''Mr. Sheriff, | want every man who
enters this courtroom during the trial
of this case searched, to see if he is
armed with any deadly weapon" said
Judge Mitchell during court at Stark
Vile, and when the Sheriff, in a loud
voice, said that he would enforce this or
der there were many anxious faces
among the spectators who had gathered
to hear the testimony in the Dyke Ed
wards murder trial. Judge Mitchell eX'
planned that while he felt no uneasiness,
there were other officers and interested
parties who did, and as caution he is'
sued the order. So when court recon
vened after dinner bailiffs were stationed
at every entrance, and as each man came
in his person was carefully searched.
Of course, no guns were found. The
Judges notice had served its purpose,
oh loft of
The Ferguson & Palmer Company, lum-
Der manufacturers of Paducah, Ky,
closed a deal for 5000 acres of timber
land in North Mississippi. The purchase
price is said to have been $11S,000. The
tract contains 100000 feet of oak and
hickory, besides large amount of other
valuable hardwoods.
President G.. r. Hightower and Hon. V.
Otis Robertson, of Jackson, addressed
large and representative meeting of the
Farmers Union at Oxford. Both adj
dresses were listened to with marked at
tention and were along the line of the
warehouse plan being advocated by the
Farmers Union throughout the state.
President Finley, of the Southern
Railway, and f. l.. Russell, of the Mo
bile & Ohio Railroad, addressed the citi-
zens of Uunion county at Tupelo, after
which all attended an old-fashioned bar
becue as the guests of Private John NJ.
Allen.
A huge boulder, to be placed by the
Daughters of the American Revolution
upon the old Natchez trace, the road
leading from Natchez to Nashville, has
been received at Natchez. The stone
bears an inscription that the same was
placed to mark this historic old high
way, which is known to have been used
for traffic between Natchez and Nash
vile as far back as 1896, and further
known to have been an Indian trail for
many years previous to that date.
The contempt proceedings against the
Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City Railroad
for failure to comply with the decree or
dering the construction of the main line
through the town of Pontotec, was heard
by Chancellor Robins. Chancellor Robins
declined to fine the road for contempt,
but ordered it to proceed within thirty
days to obey the decree of the court and
construct its main line through Pontotoc,
e VI ~