Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 April 1893 — HE STRUCK BILLY PATTERSON. [ARTICLE]

HE STRUCK BILLY PATTERSON.

And, Owing to Billy’s Size, He Did Not Say Anything About His Deed. Who struck Billy Patterson? About fifty years ago this was a question asked very frequently to illustrate the unexpected defeat of a candidate or a doubtful or unknown matter. But who struck the blow was never found out. An exchange professes to have found out, and says it was George W. Tillerton of Georgia. This is the story: Last evening we published an exhaustive review of a famous case—that of William Patterson of Georgia, the same Billy that was “struck.” This week we publish what is believed to be an authentic answer to the well-known conundrum. Mrs. Jennie G. Conely of Athol, N. Y., says that her father, George W. Tillerton, who lived at Franklin, Ga., at that time, and who has long since died, struck that historic blow. As related in “Notes for the Curious,” last week, Patterson was a Baltimore merchant, who had retired to his estate near Carnsville, Ga., where he became entangled In the famous broil and received the blow which caused him to repeat the question, “Who struck Billy Patterson?” Being a powerful man, with a fist like a sledge-hammer, Patterson searched long and patiently for the man with audacity enough to strike him, but his search availed notuiDg. Tillerton kept the secret from his own family until the old man became so persistent in his efforts to discover the perpetrator of the deed, even going so far as to leave the country when he feared the SI,OOO reward would cause some one to reVeal his identity to the enraged Billy. After the death of Patterson, Tillerton refused to mention the affair, which was the best course to pursue, as his friends would doubtless have twitted him with playing the “11 vd sheep racket over the dead lion.” It is only recently that Mrs. Conely has heard of the reward waiting a claimant in the Franklin County (Georgia) Court of Record. The writer has not been informed whether or not she will make an effort to secure the SI,OOO offered as a reward for her father’s rashness. Future developments will add a third and last chapter to this interesting bit of history.