Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 July 1885 — SOUTHERN. [ARTICLE]

SOUTHERN.

At Greenville, Tenn., the jury in the case of Captain Johnson, on trial for the murder of Major Henry, returned a verdict of not guilty. The cheering of persons present in the Court House continued for several minutes. John McKeever, colored was hanged at Memphis, Tenn., in the presence of the widow of his victim. He made an unsuccessful attempt at suicide in his cell the night preceding his execution. Six thousand people witnessed the exection of Jordan Taylor, colored, at Hopkinsville, Ky., for the murder of his mistress. Bufus Dortich, colored, suffered the death penalty at Marianna, Ark., and Kobert McCoy, also colored, was legally strangled at Sylvania, Ga. At Fort Smith, Ark., two Cherokee Indians died together on the scaffold, meeting their fate with the stolidity characteristic of their race.

The North, Central, and South American Exposition, the World’s Fair successor, has been permanently organized at New Orleans.

The Arkansas Supreme Court has granted new trials in the famous Howard County cases, in which Henry and Sylvester Polk, brothers, were convicted of murder, the former being condemned to death.

Baltimore was visited by a rain-storm which caused $200,000 worth of damage. In one section of the city the water flooded tho basements and stood five or six reet deep on the first floor. The storm extended to the surrounding country, causing a great loss of property. A number of buildings were also struck by lightning. John Martin, one of the two escaped negroes implicated in the outrage and murder of Mrs. Hazell, at Elkhart, Texas, was taken out of the Grayson County Jail and lynched. This makes six victims of Judge Lynch for the murder of Mrs. Hazell.