Miller, Hopkinsville Kentuckian, August 12, 1909.
Negro Lynched In Trigg Co.
Insulted a Little White Girl Near Caledonia, Monday. PENALTY WAS SWIFT. Before The Day Was Over He Was Hanged By a Mob.
A negro named Wallce Miller was hanged by a mob near Mt. Tabor church, on teh road from Cadiz to Caledonia, Monday evening about nightfall. An indecent proposal made to the little nine-year-old daughter of Thomas Wadlington, near Caledonia, was the crime that brought speedy death to him. Miller was a mulatto about 20 years of age and lived near Cadiz. About 11:30 A.M. Monday the little girl was sent to the mail box at the road, 400 yards from the house, to get the mail. Miller was at the gate and accosted her and asked her if her father was at home. The little girl told him he was not. Then he asked if her brothers were and she told him they were in the field at work. Then came the proposition that terrified the little girl and as she started away in fear the brute called to her that he would give her some money if she would say nothing about what he had said. She continued to move away and replied that she would tell it when she got to the house. At this point Miller started toward her and she ran inside the gate, slammed it shut and ran as fast as she could to the house, where she told what had happened. Wayne and Monte Wadlington the child’s brothers, were soon on the trail and came up with Miller a mile and a half down the road. He denied his identity, but from the description they knew they had the right man and he was taken back to the Wadlington house where the little girl identified him and he finally confessed, saying he didn’t know why he did, that is was just “the negro in him.” About 4 o’clock the Wadlington boys and Milton Barber started to Cadiz with Miller. They returned after night and reported that they were met by a mob of 50 men at the church half way to Cadiz and Miller was taken from them and hanged to a tree. The body was left hanging by the roadside until Tuesday evening and the authorities were notified where it could be found. This is the fourth occurrence of this kind within a radius of ten miles within the last eight or nine months. Last winter a white woman was assaulted by a negro named Arthurt Wilson, near Pee Dee, who is now under a sentence of death. Last Spring, a young girl was insulted by a negro named Ben Brame in Trigg county who was brought across the county line and hanged by a mob in this county. About two weeks ago a negro man named McReynolds outraged a negro child 7 years old near Gracey, the victim dying a few days later. McReynolds is now in jail here. This case comes as the fourth crime against women and children and the promptness with which Miller was put to death shows that there is to be trifling with rapists in that section.
Weaver, Hopkinsville Kentuckian, March 26, 1908
NEGRO TAKEN OUT AND MURDERED BY NIGHT RIDERS AT GOLDEN POND. Second Killing That Has Occurred by Night Riders Within a Week. REIGN OF CRIME STILL UNTOUCHED Following close upon the murder of Hiram Hedge in Nicholas county, comes the news of another murder by night riders, this time in Trigg county. A band of twenty five night riders, masked and armed, rode Monday night into Golden Pond, a village between the rivers, and after firing off guns went to the hotel and from the servants’ quarters forced Tom Weaver, aged 40, a negro tobacco packer, to accompany them. The band took Weaver a little distance from the village, and after whipping him withdrew a short distance from him and told him to run. The negro failed to obey promptly and the riders began shooting at him. One bullet entered his shoulder and another his hip. He fell in the road, where neighbors found him next morning in a dying condition, and he died Tuesday. No cause for the outrage is known. Weaver worked for an association prizing house.
Newspapers.com
Weaver, The Bourbon News, March 27, 1908
Shot Down Inoffensive Negro. A band of twenty-five night riders, masked and armed, rode Tuesday night into Golden Pond, a village in Trigg county, and after firing off guns went to the hotel and from the servants’ quarters forced Tom Weaver, aged forty, a negro tobacco packer, to accompany them. The band took Weaver a little distance from the village, with drew a short distance from him and told him to run. The negro failed to obey promptly, and the night riders began shooting at him. One bullet entered his shoulder and another his hip. He fell in the road, where neighbors found him the next morning in a dying condition. No cause for the outrage is known. Weaver worked for an association prizing house.
Weaver, Louisville Courier Journal, April 10, 1908
ANOTHER VICTIM DEAD. Injuries Inflicted By Night Riders Fatal. Hopkinsville, Ky., April 9. – [Special.] – Another murder is laid at the door of the night riders by the death of Tom Weaver at Canton, in Trigg county. About three weeks ago Weaver, who was a colored packer in the employ of an association tobacco house at Golden Pond, in Trigg county, was taken from his bed at midnight by a band of between thirty and forty masked and armed night riders. He was carried a short distance from the village and subjected to a whipping. The riders then withdrew a short distance from him and commanded him to run. When he failed to obey the order promptly the outlaws fired on him, one bullet striking him in the shoulder, randing downward, and he fell. The night riders galloped away, leaving Weaver writhing in agony in the road, where he was found the next morning. He was taken to the home of his father in Canton. Where he lingered until relieved from his suffering by death. Weaver was 30 years old. No reason for his treatment by the night riders has been given except that he was impudent. The night riders have visited Golden Pond three times. Once they burned an independent tobacco barn, and on another raid destroyed a blind tiger.
Colson & Smith, Owensboro Twice-A-Week Messenger, July 3, 1895
Charge, murder of two White men, farmers
FOUR OF THEM DEAD. A Bad Man in Trigg County Goes Killing and Then Gets Killed Along with a Notorious Woman Who accompanied Him in His Devilment. A Ghastly Story from Western Kentucky That Reads Somewhat Like a Tale of the Mountains. OTHER STATE NEWS OF INTEREST. Hopkinsville, Ky., July 1.—News has just reached here of a terrible tragedy in Trigg county, late Saturday evening. Frank Colston, a desperado, residing in that county, had a difficulty with and shot and severely wounded John Rhodes a farmer of this neighborhood. Another farmer named Hammond, who was present, and who was a friend of Rhodes, attempted to assist Rhodes. Colston then shot and instantly killed Hammond before he could render any assistance to his wounded friend. For some reason Colston, after wounding Rhodes, did not shoot him again, probably thinking him already dead. Colston did not attempt to escape, nor did any one attempt to arrest him, but he went on where he was going when the difficulty was begun. A few hours later Colston, in company with a prostitute, went to the house of another farmer. The farmer ordered the desperado and the woman to leave his place. They refused to do so and attacked the farmer, who, securing a weapon, succeeded in killing both Colston and the woman. Later information gives the following version of the story: Colston had just been released from the penitentiary for horse stealing and at once went gunning for the witnesses against him. He shot and killed John Rhodes and Chat Hammond. He then went to the house of his mistress, Mollie Smith, and next morning Colston and the Smith woman were found in the road, riddled with bullets, presumably by friends of the dead men. All were tough characters.
The Twice-A-Week Messenger [Owensboro, Ky.]
Colson & Smith, Maysville Public Ledger, July 6, 1895
GAVE THEMSELVES UP. The Slayers of Colston Claim to Have Acted in Self-Defense. Hopkinsville, Ky., July 6.—The latest information received from the scene of the Trigg county tragedy, which resulted in the death of four persons, was to the effect that the persons who killed Beth Colston and Maude Smith had gone into Cadiz, the county seat, Thursday, and had given themselves up to the officers of the law and been taken to jail to await their examining trials, which are set for Monday. Their plea will be that the killings were done in self-defense, as they were trying to arrest Colston for the murder of Hammond and the fatal wounding of John Rhodes. Two of Rhodes’ brothers, whom Colston had threatened to kill, led the party. So intense is the feeling of the public towards the Colston faction that the slayers of their leader and the woman will be acquitted without even the formalities of an examining trial. There are fears of serious troubles when their cases are called.
Colson & Smith, Wilmington Morning News, July 3, 1895
FOUR PEOPLE SLAIN Result of a Row Caused by a Kentucky Desperado. HIMSELF WAS ONE OF THOSE KILLED Abithah Colston Shot Down One Man and Then Another Who Was Bringing the First a Drink of Water—Lynchers Then Killed the Murderer and a Woman. LOUISVILLE, Ky., July 2.—Four lives is what a row cost in Trigg county on last Saturday evening, near a place called Higgins Landing. The fatalities were caused by Abithah Colston, an ex-convict and desperado, who was himself one of the victims. He had recently been released from the penitentiary, where he had served seven years for killing a farmer, John Crump, on the edge of the Tennessee and Kentucky line. Colston was a quarrelsome man, and soon after his return was involved in rows with the neighbors. On Saturday afternoon he appeared at Higgins Landing armed with a double-barrelled shotgun. John Rhodes, who had before incurred the ill will of Colston, came up in time to be used as a mark for the ex-convict’s abuse. They quarrelled [sic] and then began fighting. Rhodes was getting the better of the rough-and-tumble match, and Colston finally broke away, snatched up the gun, and shot his antagonist down. The wound was fatal, and Rhodes fell to the ground. Colston went to a saloon near by, but returned in a few minutes, and was greatly enraged to find Chat Hammond bringing a drink to his victim, who was still alive and begging for water. Hammond was a friend of Rhodes, and angrily threatened the ex-convict with arrest and hanging. Colston did not reply, but finally raised his gun and fired at a short range. Hammond was killed instantly. A dozen men had come up, but had not foreseen the second tragedy. They were unarmed, and Colston threatened to kill the first man who should molest him, and backed off slowly till he got to a safe place, and then broke into a run and escaped. He went only a short distance away to the house of Molly Smith, a woman of ill-repute. She persuaded him to go with her, and the two went to the house of a farmer to ask him to hide the murderer. The farmer refused, and drove them away with his gun. They returned to the woman’s house, a log cabin on the bank of a creek. That night the county was aroused and a lynching party was organized. They demanded Colston’s surrender, but he would not give himself up and opened fire. None of the lynchers were hurt, but both Colston and the woman were shot down and killed. Their bodies were found the next morning. Both had been riddled with buckshot. Rhodes died late that night. News of the tragedy did not reach Hopkinsville, the nearest town, until yesterday.
Colson & Smith, Louisville Courier Journal, July 2, 1895
The Courier-Journal [Louisville, Kentucky]
Colson & Smith, St. Louis Globe Democrat, July 3, 1895
St. Louis Globe-Democrat, [St. Louis, Mo.]