Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1911-09-29
WHY ben HUBBARD
KILLED DR.. PETIT
Lovingston Murderer Seems
to Have Been Actuated Only
by a Fancled drudge
TO LYNCHBURC FOR SAFETY
Indignant Nelson County Resi-
dents Would Have Lyn ched Man
Had He Been Kept There

Lovingston, Va, Sept. 26.-Full
realization of the hideousness of the
Staying at this place yesterday after
noon of DR.. James A. Petit, 40 years
old, bore in on residents of Nelson
county today, but when they cried
aloud for vengeance on Benjamin
Hubbard, the alleged british perpe-
traitor of the deed, they found him
gone beyond their wrathful reach.
While excitement was at fever heat
the authorities last night executed a
clever ruse and spirited Hubbard
away to the jail in Lynchburg.
By the narrowest margin imagin-
able he escaped falling into the
hands of a determined, outraged set
of men, bent on stringing him to the
nearest tree.
One thing-the motive for this
atrocity-became clear today. DR..
Petit, the peaceable, respected coun-
ply anu q 1AOLAUC4 VI tuC
governors staff, was shot down in
cold blood, as the result of nine
years. grudge, nursed in the breast
Of Hubbard, "Crazy Ben Hubbard"
they call him in these parts, a farm
er SO years old, who constantly con-
veyed the impression that the world
was not dealing him out his fair
measure of happiness and prosperity.
Sixteen years ago his father, Col
onel James L. Hubbard, who owns
large plantation about eight miles
from here, sent him away. His de-
parture followed his attentions to a
young woman whom he was anxious
to marry, but Hubbard senior had
objection to the match, and the son
was prevailed to give up his suit.
Nelson county did not see Ben
jamin Hubbard for six years. He
suddenly returned, bringing with him
wife. He did not discuss his at
fairs, and the most the people learn
ed was that he had been married in
Tennessee.
Colonel Hubbard frowned on the |
union, it is said, and relegated his |
son and the latter's wife to a small |
building on his estate.
DIR. Petit Called
Then came the need for physi- |
clan, and DIR. Petit was called. Ben |
jamin Hubbard peculiarly enoung |
conceived a distrust of the doctor, |
and violently protested against his |
attendance on his wife. But DR.. |
Petit saw only the call of duty and |
went ahead. Hubbard, according to |
the story, entering the house, found |
the physician at his wife's bedside. |
There was violent scene, and reach |
ing over the doorway for shotgun
poured forth a stream of abuse and |
threats, it is declared.
Colonel Hubbard ran in and dis
armed his son. Young Benjamin, |
with final burst of invectives, with |
drew, vowing that his day would |
come. That, then, was the inception |
of Hubbard's hatred for the jovial, |
even-tempered physician who has |
been going the rounds of Nelson |
county for years.
Hubbard made no attempt to harm |
DR.. Petit when opportunity offered |
itself in the days that followed that |
stormy scene, nine years ago. He |
even came to nod pleasantly to the |
physician when the two met in the |
roadway or on court days at Low
ingston, but in the light of Mondays |
tragic denouement of this grotesque-
ly one-sided feud, there remained in |
Hubbard's bosom an unavoidable |
spark of hatred, and the insistent
urge for retaliation for what appears
to have been a wholly fanciful griev-
ance.
So he came to the courthouse here
yesterday and wildly abandoning
himself to the promptings of a MUIR
derous rage, shot down his ancient
enemy"
Hubbard found his victim setting
on the steps of the hotel his thoughts
innocently centered for the moment
on some transaction with a colored
man.
Crept Upon Victim
Softly, so as not to warn his prey, the
murderer crept up behind DR.. Petit.
There was flash, and loud report,
DR.. Pettit's head fell with a jerky
movement on his breast. The first
bullet had pierced his brain.
Following that came five more
shots. Hubbard stood over the help
less man, his features distorted with
rage, and kept up the fusilade until
all the chambers in his pistol were
emptied.