Thursday, May 9, 1901
A gentleman who has traveled extensively remarked that he believed Marlinton to be the prettiest place in summer he has ever seen, unless it be some places in Japan, and on the other hand, Marlinton is one of the ugliest places in winter. With the coming of spring, the debris left from the floods should be gathered up and the rubbish around our business houses should be stacked neatly or burned. It is in the power of the citizens to make this one of the loveliest villages in the county.
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Mrs. Sheldon Hanna and son from lower Elk with a team were in Marlinton Thursday looking for a feed store. The team was stalled and the writer, with a number of others, had the pleasure of helping this good woman out of her embarrassing trouble in the most public part of Main Street. The people have too much to haul from Elk. Load lighter and come more often while the Marlinton mud is on tap.
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We believe that there has been no moonshining in Pocahontas County for years. We can truthfully say that in that time we have taken none in on subscription and we generally get all the products of the county in that way.
About 14 years ago was the last moonshining we knew of being done here. Quince Harris was one of the most noted moonshiners of the state. He refused continually to be taken by the deputy marshals so often and so emphatically that the deputies respected his prejudices and hunted for him over the left. He came here about 1887 and made some white whiskey strong enough to float a brick and was taken down that winter and died a horrible death.
UNEXPECTED SCENE AT EXECUTION
Clayton, N. M. – Thomas E. Ketchum, alias “Black Jack,” the outlaw who had terrorized people of the Southwest for 15 years, was hanged here for train robbery.
His head was severed from the body by the rope, as if by a guillotine. The headless trunk pitched toward the spectators.
There were 150 witnesses. When Ketchum mounted the scaffold, a priest stood at his side, for he had consented to spiritual attendance at the last moment. He declined to make a speech, muttered “Good bye,” then said, “please dig my grave very deep,” and as the cap was drawn over his face, shouted, “Let her go!” …
Life was pronounced extinct in five minutes from the time the body dropped through the trap. It was decided that the drop of seven feet with the running noose was too great for so heavy a man as Ketchum, who weighed about 170 pounds. Sheriff Salome Garcia superintended the execution and himself sprung the trap.
LOVE’S TRIBUTE
Harry Bradford Ryder, son of C. W. Ryder, died at his home near Frost April 12, 1901, aged about 19 years, of Bright’s disease.
The subject of this sketch was a pure-hearted young man, a member of the Methodist church, south, having joined some years before his death…
He was a fond and loving brother, good citizen, honest young man and last and best, at the end of life’s pilgrimage, a child of the kingdom…
His remains were laid to rest in the Washington Moore burying ground in the presence of a large congregation and at a point beautifully overlooking the peaks of the Knapps Creek valley.
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Rev. Joshua Buckley
Tuesday, this venerable and widely known citizen of our county died at the home of his son, John, near Buckeye, in the 92nd year of his age. The infirmities of age so advanced, aggravated by influenza are the apparent reasons for his decease.
Mr. Buckley is a lineal descendant of Joshua Buckley, the pioneer of Buckeye, coming there from the lower valley previously to the Revolution between 1770-75. For more than 50 years, Rev. Joshua Buckley was a preacher in the pale of the M. P. church and a staunch promoter of the same…
He has probably officiated at as many if not more marriages than any minister that ever lived in our county. The sincerity of his piety was never questioned, his honesty above suspicion, and his sense of honor very elevated, for he would do what he deemed right at the peril of his life…
“Mark the perfect man and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.”
The writer honors his memory as an esteemed personal acquaintance and Christian brother for more than 50 years.
