Newspaper Page Text
ciume^
The FulTT ** i «hir Mkw-
WETHER ARSON.
INTERVIEWS WEJUl TU£ PRINCIPALS IN
THE DIFfoULTY—HOW THE PLOT
WA8 FORMED AND CARRIED OUT—
THE ItfPLfCA'ftrm OF THE tWClHAM
imoTHERS—A CLEAR CASE AGAINST
4.. ‘
i ’
FERGUSES*
Special to the Constitution.
Greenville, Ga», November 29.—
The readers of the Constitution have
been made acquainted with the recent
robbery of Alexander Blandenburg,
an old citizen living in the northern
part of Meriwether county, The
following arc the facts in the case, as
gathered from the Ups of the perpe¬
trators of the crime. Never has
anything created such an intense
sensation in Meriwether, and the
cauldron of public opinion boiled
furiously, when it was known that
Messrs. John and James Ingram, two
of the most prosperous and intelli¬
gent young men in the county, had
been arrested as accessories to the
crime. These two young men, now
under a bond of $750 for their appear¬
ance at the next term of court, Taave
lived in Meriwether county for a
number of years and have always
borne the unquestionable reputation
of being quiet, law-abiding citizens.
Being the possessors of a large plan¬
tation, together with valuable real
estate in the city of Griffin, they have
always had the control of plenty of
money. For this reason, together
with their hitherto ‘good character/
the people are loath to believe that
they are connected with the affair in
any way.
Last Thursday evening, accompan¬
ied by Sheriff Moffet, your corres¬
pondent took up a line of inarch for
county jail where John 7\ Furgeson
and Henry Ingram, colored, better
known as ‘Cub,’ are confined. As
seen through the bars, John T,
Furgcson, tiie alleged robber, is a man
of pleasant face and fine proportions^
of a dark complexion, with slight
mustache, keen devilish black eyes
and eas}' manner. On asking him
to tell about the Dlandonbnrg rob¬
bery, be replied, ‘I have told ajj 1
know/ ‘But we would like to have
it again/ ‘Wai, I haye.no objections
if y ou will put down exactly what 1
say and nothing else.’ After assuring
him, he propped himself against the
wall, took a chew of tobacco and
began c ‘I am twenty three years
old, have lived in Meriwether county
three or four years, living with John
Ingram two years. I also lived with
old Blandenburg six months. I got
along peaceably with John Ing!am
and always thought a heap of him. I
didn’t like old Blandenburg much,
but he had a heap of confidence in
urn. He went off to Alabama once
and left the keys and everything iu
piy hands/
‘Were you living with Mr. Blanden¬
burg at the lime of the robbery?’
‘NojI was living with John Ingram/
‘What first induced you to rob Mr.
Blandenburg’s house?'
.‘Wal, I knew the old cod had a
heap of gold laid away and I thought
I might as well have some of it as
anybody else/
‘Did you know where he kept his
gold?’
‘Not exactly. But he had an old
trunk in the house and I thought lie
bad it in that. I had seen him get
money out of it a good many times/
‘You had been thinking of this
thing for some time, had you?’
‘Yes, I and John and Jim and Cub
Ingram had beeu laughing and talking
about it all the time. But we uever
arranged things till about two weeks
before we robbed him/
‘What was your object in burning
the out house? Why didn't you burn
the dwelling?’
‘Well, you see, all we wanted to do
was to scare the old folks and make
them run out of the house so we could
go in and get the money without being
bothered. A11 we wanted was money.’
HOW IT WAS ARRANGED.
.‘How did you arrange the robbery?
Fou say you had it all fixed up two
wecjks before hand?’
i B'ell, I vas to leave the neighbor-
hood like 7 was going to Chattanooga,
Tennessee, to live. You see, this was
to make them think that I was not in
the neighborhood, but. was in Tenues-
see. 1 told Cub (Henry Ingram) to
liave all ready when I come
TOCCOA NEWS
Bj Edw SCHAEFER- I-
VOL. X.
which would be soon. John Ingram
carried me to the railroad, and I told
him, going along, that I was going,
down to West Point and stay a uay
or so and then come back and rob old
man Blandenburg. John told me all
right, 7 then got on the train and went
down to West Point. I stayed there
three or four days frolicking around
and then took the train for Hogans-
villc and got there in the evening-
That was Thursday. I left Hogans-
ville walking towards Rocky Mount.
I got there about half hour by sun,
and walked on slowly as I had plenty
time to get to Ingrams, for it twant
more than twel ve miles. I walked
on slowly and finally got in the
neighborhood about night. I met
Cub in the road and asked him how
things were, He said, ‘All was
ready.’
•What night did you say that was?’
‘Thursday night, November 9th.’
‘How did you enter the house, and
what happened that night?’
•About eight or nine o’clock me
and Cub went over to old man
Blandenburg’s house, both of us was
good clrunk/ The first thing we done
was to try to set the gin house on
fire. I struck the match and Cub
poured the whisky on to make it
burn but it went out and didn’t catch.
We then went to an old fodder house
and I struck a match and put
under it and Cub he piled fqiltjer
around it. When it got to b#fijing
good old man Blandenburg and bis
wife ran out to see what was the
matter. As soon as they come out
we ran round the other side of the
house and went in the door. When
we ran in to get the trunk we met
Miss King, old Blandenburg’s niece
Cub told me to shoot her, d - m her.
I told him I had no pistol. Theu CuJ?
said I’ll fix her and shot. Miss
King ran out too, ithl®*: he shot
just to run her out of the house/ and
not to hit her. After that Cub ran in
the room and got the trunk and come
out with it. We ran on out of the
boiue to an old field about two miles
off where we stopped and opened it
with a piece of wire I had in my
pocket. We got all the mouey in it
and left it. We went on a little
farther and stopped to divide the
money. 1 don’t know how much wag
in the trunk exactly. I got about
$350. Don’t know bow much Cub
got, but I think he got about four or
five hundred dollars.
THE DIVVY.
‘What did you do, then?’
We separated. I laid in the woods
all night, and till next evening about
an hour by sun I got in the big road
and went to Haralson to get me some
tobacco. Then I came on back to
John Ingram’s place, I met John
and talked to him about it, and asked
him what was the best to do—stay
there, or‘skip/ First he asked me if
we got much money. 7 told him yes.
He then asked me how much. I told
him about a thousand dollars, jj e
said, look here! you promised to give
uie part of it. I told him I would, but
it was buried down in the woods, but
would go and get it and leave his part
under the ‘gate post/ I west to look
for it that night, but forgot exactly
where I buried it. I went back next
morning and Jim Ingram went with
me and found the money. J give Jim
fifty dollars of it and told him lo give
it to John. The next time I saw
John, he told me things were getting
‘too hot,’ and that I had better skip off
about one hundred miles and write to
him under a fictitious name, and he
would send me all the dots/
‘How were you disguised that
uight?’
‘I tied a handkerchief over my face
aud put on a dress. Cub done the
same thing.’
‘Where did you go when you left
the community?’
.‘I went to Gwinnett count* and
there is where 7 was arrested by
Sheriff Patterson/
•What about that letter you wrote
Devoted to New*> Politics. Agriculture and General progress-
TOCCOA, GA. r ;iI)ECEMBKR 1882.
from Lawrenceville to Mr. Ingrad)?
‘ That’s the d—n thing that betrayed
me. 7 was to write to John Ingram
over the name of Gardener and see
things were moving on around
home. Well, I wrote ithe letter and
gave it to a man and tusked him to
please mail it. He said he would.
But when he got eUt out of my sight be
broke it open and read it. Then he
carried it to the eberiff and next
morning they came back and arrested
me, brought me back to Meriwether,
tried me, and sentenced me to jail
where you now see me.’
ABOUT FERGUSON’S PEOPLE.
‘Are your parents living?’ **
‘Yes, sir; my father is a Baptist
preacher, living near the Rock id
Upson county.’
‘Are you a man of family?*
‘I am not?’
‘Were you ever arrested before?*
‘I don’t know as that’s got anything
to with this case—or any of j,our
business either. Yes, thank you/
•Will you plead guiity?’
‘I will. I want to go to work as
soon as possible.’
‘Then you don’t thjpk thore is any
hope for you in the law?’
‘None whatever.’ .*** •
Passing on to the cell where Tfenry
Ingram is confined he was found
looking wistfully out betweea the
gratings of his cell at the passers b^.
He came at the request of the sheriff
to the door and was asked :
‘Cub, (I beliave that is one of your
names) can you tell us something
abont that little robbery and burning
affair that occurred not long ago?’
‘No, sir, / can’t tell you much for I
was too drunk to remember hardly
anything about it/
‘It seems right strange Henry, that
you should have gotten drunk to do
such a piece of work as that?*
‘Yes, sir, it does, but Mr. Ferguson
got me drunk and then made me go
with him.’
•Had Mr. Ferguson said anything
to you about robbing Mr. Blandenburg
any time during the year?’
‘Yes, sir. He had been talking
about it off and on all the year. He
told me that Mr. Blandenburg had a
plenty of money, for he (Ferguson)
had been stealing it all the year—a
little at a time/
‘Did you tell Ferguson you would
go and help him rob Mr. Blanden¬
burg?’
‘No; I told him I couldn't. But
he kept on after me, telling how much
gold old Mr. Blandenburg had, until
1 told him 1 would go.’
‘Did Mr. Furguson ever talk to you
in the presence of John and Jim
Ingram about it?*
‘No, sir, he -never did/
‘Did I understand you to say that
John and Jim Ingram knew all about
the robbery?’
‘No, sir, 1 never said that, Fpr I
don’t believe Mr, Ingram knows
an} r thing about it, Mr. Ferguson
told me if he was caught he was going
to bring the Ingram boys into it, too.’
‘Can you tell anything about the
night of robbery, Henry?’
‘We just went over to old Mr.
Blandenburg’s, and set his fodder
house a fire to run them out of the
house, so we could go in and get the
money. Mr. Furguson struck all the
matches, and I got the trqqk qqt anc
toted it off.’
‘JFasthere a n y pistol-shots firec
when you and Mr- F u Fgh s 9U were in
the house?'
‘Yes; we shot to scare $Iiss King
out.’
‘Yes. Well, Cub, how much cash
was in the trunk?’
‘About a thousand dollars in mon-
c y’ and some bonds,
' Wh y did,,,t vou take thc bo » ds
- -
?Mr Furguson said we had better
let them alone, they w M bad things
to fool with.
‘How much djd }-ou get for your
share?’
f I reckon I got about four or five
hundred dollars.’
‘W4iat did you do with the money?'
‘I kept it till Mr. Ingram come to
me and told me that Mr. Furguson
had been arrested, and had told all
about the whole thing. Mr. ingrain
told me that burguson had told them
I had some of the money. Mr. Ingram
then asked me how much money I had.
I said l bad $465. Mr. Ingram told
me if I would turn the money over to
him and acknowledge the whole thing,
he would try and get m .* out of it. i
then gave him the money, and ac¬
knowledged the dee,!. Then Mr.
Bussy come and arrested me ’
‘Is this all yom know, or all you
care to tell about the robbery?’
‘If* all I know.’
‘How old diet you say you were?'
‘I am about twenty three.’
•Upon the whole, you are a little
sorry you went into that night’s
work?’
‘Fes, sir; and if I hadn’t been drunk
I wouldn’t be in this cold place now.’
‘Will you plead guilty,Cub?'
‘I don’t know sir, yet.’
WIIAT MR. INGRAM SAYS.
Your correspondent then left the
jail to seek new fields for informa¬
tion. Going into the office of the
'Winslow house* he found Mr. John
Ingram in consultutiou with Ins at¬
torneys, and the following talk took
place :
‘Mr Ingram, what is the straight
story ot the recent Blandenburg
robbery. Can you throw any light
on the subject?
‘I know very little about it, but
you are welcome to hear that.’
‘You and your brother have been
arrested and are now under bond, ar©
you not?’
‘ We are, but we can prove that it
was n trick fixed up by Furguson to
get us into it/
‘Had you ever heard any iutima-
tion of the robbery before it was com-
united?
Mr.
Furguson to the railroad
‘1 did, but had no idea of what his
intentions were He told me fie was
g«ing to Chattanooga,
that^ide that he coming bach
and rob old man Blandenburg?’
‘He never said one word about it.’
‘It is circulated around that four
hundred and sixty-five dollars of Mr.
Blandenburg’8 money was found in
your possession?'
‘It was ; but that is easily explained.
You see when Furguson was arrested
in Lawrenceville a dispatch was sent
to Senoia to Mr. Couch stating that
Furguson had been arrested and told
the whole thing, and also with in¬
structions to arrest Henry Ingram
or yather Cub. When 7 heard that
Furgqson had been arrested, and had
implicated Cub I, in company with
told my brother Jim, hunted Cub up and
him Furguson was arrested and
had implicated him. At first, the boy
denied having anything to do with it.
But we told him if he was gudty he
had better acknowledge it and we
the^sal^lmdhT know ^all^about U,
and had some of the money, which he
went off and got and turned it over to
me. The amount was $465 We then
held the boy until we could see an
Bussey and Tom Banks came to my
house and hunting Cub. I invited them
in asked if they were hunting the
boy Henry. They' said tl^ey were.
Thjn I told them to take breakfast
0 d otu"fryand U turned‘'“him
wcDt»n dg
over to officers together with the
money he had given me.’
*^ r - lugram, was burguson umd
with you at the time he left
P *He was. He got very about
some cotton.’
‘Have you ever seen that letter
written by Furguson to your&eif,
from Lawrenceville?’
‘Have you any fears about the
termination of the case?*
'^<>ne whnteyer.’
“
‘With this the interview closed,
I and Mr. Ingram was left with a smile
of assurance on his face.
■{ TERMS—$1 50 A YEAR,
]\ T Q 9
THE STATE HOUSE HILL
a synopsis of the principal ffa-
Turks of tiik new capitol bill.
Post Appeal.
The bill introduced by Mr. Rice,
Fulton, providing for the erection
() f a new capitol, is already attracting
considerable attention. A brief sy-
nopsis of the bill shows that the
building is to be erected under the
charge and supervision of eight
commissioners, to-wit: The gov¬
ernor of the state, the president of
the senate and the speaker of the
house, who shall serve without com-
pensation, and of five additional
members, to be elected by the general
assembly. Ihe governor, president
and speaker are ex-ofllcio members,
and the oilier five will be -the execu-
tive officers of the commission,’ and
will give their personal attention to
the details of the work, and will be
paid one thousand dollars each per
annum for their services, The com -
missioners are required to take an
oath for the faithful performance of
their duties, and no commissioner
shall have any interest whatever in
the contract for the erection of the
building, or for tue furnishing mate¬
rials, supplies, etc. Any violation of
this sectiou of the act is made a mis-
demeanor in office, and will be
punished as such. Nor will any
person employed bv the commission
be allowed under suitable penalties,
to have any interest in the contract
j
The commissioners are required, as
soon as practicable to select a plan
for a suitable building, pot to cost
exceeding $1,000,(100, and to be com¬
pleted- -Ly Uu; first day of January,
1888. The sum of $200,000 is annu¬
ally appropriated out of ppy money
in the treasury not otherwise appro
priated, and should therp not be this
amount in the treasury available for
this purpose frppa year to year, then
a tax sufficient to make up the re-
<**«*■»»<
*>y the comptroller^ nera|,
The seventh section qt the hilt
prouides that said capitol building
shall be built of granite, rogk and
83 far “ Pf»ctio*bln, and that
all materials used in the construction
ot said bgilding shall be tliqse lound
an d procured within the state pf
Georgia, wherever thp same can be
procured as cheaply as other material
of like quality of other localities, It
provides further that the capitol shall
be erected on what is known as the
City 7/all lot, which has been dona¬
ted by Atlanta for that purpose, and
that it shall contain suitable rooms
for the senate and house of represen.
tafives, for the governor and chief
executive officers, for the supreme
court, the agricultural and school
commissioners, the principal keeper
of the penitentiary and the state
librarian, with suitable vaults and
placcs j- Q r tlle sa f e keeping and
.preservation of public records, papers,
etc.
The commissioners are required to
advertise for bids to erect the build,
an d f G r supplies and material
ft*»d tp t^ke %.satisfactory bond
the successful bidder, who must be
‘the lowest responsible bidder.’ It is
ma de the duty of the commissioners
^ ^ 6ubmit a foil and
report to said general asserobly at its
regular session, of their actings and
doings, including a statement pt all
expenditures.
A STATUTORY ICONOCLAST.
--
Senator Meldrim, of the
district, is too young to be called a
states „,an, but if his life is spared
i» bound to become one. He is
ous in habit, impartial in judgment,
equable in temper and balances hjs
enthusiasm w : th a very solid chunk
of hard common sense. Why
is called common sense we cannot
explain, for it is thc most uncommon
and the hardest to find. Senator
MeHrim is serving his second term in
the higher house of the General
Assembly. In a moment of weakness
he onee introduced a bill. This was
a sad Wight upon the rosy dawn of &
most propitious career, but he ha9
sinoe made atonement, by making
industrious effort to kill every bill
that comes within the range of his
vote. Ho has learned how to vote in
the negative and if true to himself,
he will yet build a monument to his
sagacity and firmness, in the hearts of
his countrymen, more enduring than
brass—more lasting than the brass of
those Legislators who introduce bills
about guano and fish traps and
peddlers’ licenses and the code.
It is impossible to overestimate the
service that Senator Meldiim will do
for bis constituents, for his State, the
country and the world at large, if he
will persist in the course which ho
seems to have marked out for himself.
But Senator Meldrim may achieve a
success and may confer upon sutfcr|
ing humanity benefits beyond those
which arc to result from his wholesale
slangbter of bills. Wben bills are
once introduced, they have to be read
once, twice and three times upon
separate days. This costs time and
money! both precious things to the
tax paying people, They have to bo
referred to a committee, sometimes to
two committees, and not unfrequcntly
to another committee. All of this
costs more time and mone}'. Then
they have to be discussed and in nine
cases out of ten reconsidered and
recommitted to the last committee
from which they came or referred to
another and a different committee,
Then they at certain stages go upon
the calendar and on the table and in
committee of the whole and have
finally fobe killed or to be engrossed
and enrolled and passed into laws,
which arc promptly repealed at the
first session of the next Legislature,
As we have followed the bills along
from one stage to another it has been
eas}’ for our readers to sec how much
time and money bill# cost, even if
Senator Meldrim succeeds in killing
them upon their final passage. There
should be some way of saving the
expenditure of this fearful amount of
time and money, Under the consti¬
tution and code of parliamentary
rides at present in force, it is
impossible to do these bills like
flerod did the Hebrew babies—kill
them in their infancy.
But no such inhibition stands
against the parents of these bills-
And just here we would drop Senator
Meldrim a hint full of meat. No man
c0( ,| t t invade any well regulated
newspaper office in this country, and
a tteujpt to recite ‘Beautiful Snow’
#ud survi¥e the attempt ten seconds,
j t ^ mo re than probable that the
mangled remains of the next claimant
quiet a j ong the Fotomao
to-night’ may }’et be seen hanging
from asunotum window some fine
frosty morning. Human nature haa
its limit of endurance and it has been
established that the line must be
drawn somewhere. We would not
incite Senator Meldrim to murder.
y^- e mcr plv point him to a new and
enlarged field of usefulness. His
physical stature, in spite of his high
nervous organization, forbids the
^ope that he will be able to knock
every fellow down who attempts to
introduce a bill, and to hold his own
in the subsequent racket. But a
stuffed club will be found a most
convenient companion for this busi-
ness—a bag stuffed with sand. Deftly
bandi^ it is capable cf administering
a 8tunning b ) ow . If Senator Meldrim
wUl drop ona or tvvo Q f h is colleagues
a5thcy rise, bill in b*ml, the balance
wiU take the bint and Georgia may
free and happy yet, and be bo
honored above men. Sometimes these
„ nd blgs deal a deadly blow. If so,
al „, qpon sq examination of the
deceased, a bill to amend the code be
t'ound on his person or near the
corpse, the general provision of the
col r e itseUi n relation to provisions
wtiioli may justify homicide, can
safely be relied upon t° secure ac-
qoittal, even if any foolish relatives
3 bould insist upon judicial iuvestiga.
tion
Senator Meldrim’s device to kill
jj je bill is good so far as it goes, but
ft | s g j ow> cumbersome, expensive and
uncertain. The sand bag is the thing,
contains thc cheapness, celerity
an d certainty of Uur guillotine.-^
Macon Telegraph. / ‘