The Sun. — 1858-12-02 (London, England)

LYNCHING IN KENTUCKY.  Some 18 months since a wealthy farmer of Kentucky, living near Campbellsville, was murdered and robbed of between 5,000 and 6,000 dols. by persons who entered his house at midnight, and accomplished the double deed while he was soundly sleeping in his bed. Mr. Simpson was wealthy and highly respectable, and, of course, the cowardly murder caused a great excitement in his community. Soon after the guilty culprits were discovered and arrested, and an attempt was made by the populace to hang them, which was frustrated. Afterwards they were taken from the gaol at Russellville to that at Greensburg. Now, the second awful tragedy opens on the 10th (Wednesday last), as reported to the Louisville Journal of the 12th. This morning according to a previous understanding, men from this and the adjoining counties commenced gathering at this place, and at an early hour took up their march to Greensburg, meeting with accessions at different points along the road until the crowd numbered 200 or 300 men, including a considerable number of spectators. The mob proceeded to the gaol, which is built of stone, and very strong, and found the doors locked and the gaolergone. A number of men immediately seized a large piece of timber, and, with several tremendous blows, bursted the door from its hinges. An inner door was speedily broken with crowbars and sledge hammers; a portion of the mob stood in the debtors' room, fronting the cells in which the miserable men were confined. The locks of the cell doors were soon broken and the doors forced open, when a most horrid and sickening and revolting sight met the gaze of those present. One of the men, Elias Scaggs, a man weighing 2001b5., was found weltering in a large pool of blood in the last agonies of death, the blood spirtin gin large jets from a ghastly and self-inflicted wound in the neck, having with a razor cut his throat from earto ear. His body, convulsed in death, was dragged into the debtors' room, and from thence down a flight of steps on to the street paving. The remaining three men,—viz., Bill Saul Thompson, Sloan Despano, and George Hunter, were then brought from the gaol, bound and mounted behind men on horseback, when the crowd, in double file, amid throngs of spectators, took up their return march to this place, a distance of twelve miles, during which two of the miserable men displayed considerable firmness, asserting their innocence in the most positive terms. Thompson wept and prayed audibly a good part of the way, calling on all to witness his innocence. The crowd having arrived at the place, determined to lynch Beko also, a negro, belonging to the murdered man, who had been implicated by Scaggs as the real murderer. At this juncture, amid the yellings and howlings of the crowd, the expostulations of the sheriff and our excellent gaoler, and " amid confusion worse confounded," Mr. Robert Colvin a prominent and influential eitizeri, having sueseededeelie.av watde addressedposition in dina short point, appropriateness, and food ever heard excelled';' and catching sense, speech,nisneth, Ie g ahave earan whichneogf hardly for thean it was as effectual as it was sensible, for after an unsuccessful effort of one or two inexperienced orators, the mob left the negro in gaol and conducted the three men a shortdistance to an elm tree, and began making preparations to hang them. At Thompson's request a prayer was offered in their behalf, a he praying and weeping aloud during the time. He was then mounted on a horse, and after again asserting his innocence for the last time, a rope was put round his neck, the end thrown over a limb, the horse driven from under, and Thompson was launched into eternity. He seemed to die easy— one or two spasmodic jerkings of the limbs, a shudder and all was over. Despano soon''shared a similar fate, dying much harder. At this stage Hunter gave evidence of making a' clean breast, which, after a good deal of delay and reluctance, he did, confessing to the guilt of Scaggs, Thompson, and Hunter, and implicating five others as being concerned in the murder. Their names are as follows :—Henry Scaggs, Jerry Scaggs, Lloyd M'Daniel, John Underwood, and a son-in-law of Simpson. The latter is under arrest, but is, I believe, generally considered innocent. The sheriff, with a posse, is out to-night to arrest the others. Beko was also implicated by Hunter, and brought forth, and the two confronted. Nothing of importance was elicited, and they were both taken to gaol—both of them making a narrow escape.— Yew York Tribune.