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.