Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 October 1887 — THE SOUTHERN STATES. [ARTICLE]

THE SOUTHERN STATES.

Peter McComb, a young quadrc>on, who has been a deaf mute from his birth, was acquitted on a charge of murder in the Hopkinsville (Ky.) Circuit Court this week. McComb became offended because John Cary, also colored, offered to treat his mistresa That night he went to the room where Cary and others were sleeping and hunted the latter out by the light of a match. He drew a revolver, but for some reason did not use it then. He was followed out of the room by Cary, who a few minutes later was heard crying for help while five pistol shots wore being fired. Cary was shot in the back and was found in a dying condition. On account of McComb’s infirmity four lawyers undertook his defense, and the scenes in the court-room were painful in the extreme. The accused had never learned any sign-language and could neither comprehend a word nor communicate an idea to court or counsel A blackboard diagram of the scene did not help matters, but he finally showed some scars on his person, and from this his lawyers set up the plea of self-defense. The steamer T. B. Sims, with a cargo of cotton, flour, and meal, burned Thursday night on the Mississippi, sixteen miles above Memphis. A young white man and a negro roustabout perished in the flames.

The latest victims of misplaced confidence are two “honest farmers” from Kentucky. The unsophisticated grangers were offered $lO,000 worth of works of art resembling genuine money of the United States so closely that other grangers might be confidently expected to take it as currency. The price of the ornamental paper was S7OO, and the honest farmers paid S3OO down and deposited S4OO in the express office. When the box supposed to contain the art treasures arrived, only a common brick was found in it. The disappointed agriculturists &re suing the express company for the S4OO.