Newspaper Page Text
THE HERALD AND ADVERTISER.
VOL. XXXIV.
NEWNAN, GA„ FRIDAY. APRIL 28, 1899.
NO. 29
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ON’T FEEL RIGHT.
Do you v/akc up in the morning tired
and unrefreshed? Do you perform your
dally duties languidly ? Do you miss the
snap, vim and energy that was once
yours? if this describes your condition
pnu are in urgent need of
PRICKLY
ASH
BITTERS
THE SYSTEM CLEANSER AND REGULATOR.
Your trouble arises iti a clogged and torpid condition of tho liver
and bowels which, if ullowed to coutinuo will develop mala
rial lovers, kidney disorders or some oilier triiuble*oino
disease. Pnicfu.Y Ash Bittkhs drives out all
poisonous impurities, strengthens the vital
organs, promotes functional uotivity,
good digestion, and vigor und
energy of body and br»lu.
SOLD AT ALL DRUG STORES.
PRICE Si.oo PER BOTTLE.
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THE LOST CHORD.
G. R. BRADLEY, Special Agent, Newnan, Ga.
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- STORE - J
.\Mii..\inn a. 1‘nocroB.
Seated one day at tIre organ,
I was weary and ill at ease.
And my lingers wandered idly
Over the noisy keys;
I know not what 1 was playing,
Or what I was dreaming then,
But I struck one chord of music
hike the sound of a great Amen.
It flooded the crimson twilight
hike the close of an angel’s psalm,
And it lay on my fevered spirit
With a touch of infinite calm;
It iptieted pain and sorrow.
hike love overcoming strife;
It seemed (hr harmonious echo
From our discordfUit life.
It linked nil perplexed meanings
Into one of perfect peace.
And trembled away into silence
As if it were loth to cease.
1 have sought, hut I seek it vainly
That one lostehrfrd divine.
Which came from the soul of the org
And entered into mine.
+ * * * * * *
It may he that Death's bright angel
Will speak in that chord again;
It may be that only in heaven
1 shall hear that grand Amen.
MURDER MOST FOUL.
We have now the largest stock of Groceries and
Provisions, Dry Goods, Shoes, Hats, etc., that we
have ever carried.
Special inducements on Flour and Tobacco.
Genuine Cuban Molasses.
Everything needed in the home and on the farm.
We make special efforts to supply the needs of the
farmers.
We Want Your Cash Trade!
We Want Your Time Trade!
Buy “International” Stock and Chicken Powders
—best in the world. Prevents cholera in hogs and
chickens. Price 25c., 50c., and $1.00.
Give us your trade and we pledge our best en
deavors to please you.
Arnall & Farmer Mdse Co.,
Greenville St., Newnan, Ga.
8aw=Mills=*
With “never-slip” Friction Feed;
“Bull Dogs” for last plank; Gauge
Roller; new Head-Blocks; guar
anteed to saw accurate lumber.
Write for prices on Saw-Mills,
Corn Mills, Engines and Boilers.
R. D. Cole Mfg. Co.,
NEWNAN, GEORGIA.
Fayette County the Scene of a Dark
Crime-Young Woman Murdered.
Special to Atlanta Constitution.
Woolsey, G.v., April 22.—The body
of pretty Pearl Knott, the young girl
in whose death a crime of startling
and revolting horror liaH suddenly
been revealed, was taken from its
rude resting-place on the bank of
Flint river this afternoon and tenderly
interred in the graveyard of old
Antioch church.
The man to whom the burden of
evidence points as the perpetrator of
the inhuman deed is a churchman,
deacon and Sunday-school teacher in
the Baptist church of Fayetteville,
respected formerly for the even tenor
of his life; despised now by his fel
low-citizens witli an abhorrence be
yond expression.
The whole county of Fayette waits
in suspense for ‘ further revelations
bearing on the murder of Pearl Knott,
for though George Kerlin stands
charged by the verdict of the coro
ner’s jury with the part of principal,
a profound mystery surrounds the oc
currence.
That others, and men of prominence
in the community, are implicated, is
not doubted by those who have visit
ed the scene of the crime.
No further arrests have been made
so far, but a chain of irresistible evi
dence is welding itself around certain
men in the county.
The feeling against Kprlin, the ac
cused murderer, is strong in Fayette
ville, but in Woolsey and throughout
the southern part of the county, the
desire for sudden vengeance has
literally taken bold of the people.
The county authorities, seeing this
afternoon that Kerlin would certainly
be lynched in Fayetteville, decided to
send him to Atlanta for safekeeping,
and at 2 o’clock he Was hurried to the
depot and placed on a freight train.
As the man went through the main
street of the town under a heavy
guard the people of the place stood
by to see him pass.
His shoulders seemed stooped by a
heavy burdeD, and in his quick glances
at the crowd there was a hunted look.
There he was, the churchman and
accused murderer; the deacon and
accused foeticide; hut the crowd in
the street looked as though they
would not touch him for very loath
ing.
The partially decomposed body of
Pearl Knott, discovered in the river
yesterday afternoon by K. M. Moore
and J. R. Rivers, was allowed to lie
on the bank to which it had been
hauled during the night and until
noon to-day, when the coroner’s in
quest was finished. When pulled to
the surface by the Btrong hands of a
dozen men, it was found that a trace
chain had been fastened around her
waist, from which were suspended
thirty-five plow-boes and three axes.
Around the head of the dead woman
was tied a thick guano sack, with a
piece of string that had sunk in the
flesh of the neck. At sight of such
horror a number of the party let go
their grappling-hooks and gave up the
work of removal with a faint heart.
Carrying the remains to the bank,
the sack was removed from the head
and a ghastly wound in the right
temple was disclosed. Death evident
ly came from a gunshot wound, be-
lieve$ to have been inflicted with a
44-caliber revolver.
Remaining in the water since the
evening of April 13th, the body was
terribly swollen, and it was with dif
ficulty that any recognition of the
once pretty girl could be established.
Pearl Knott lived with her parents,
J. D. Bridge, editor and proprietor
of the Democrat, Lancaster, N. H.,
says: “I would not be without One
Minute Cough Cure for my boy, when
troubled with a cough or cold. It is
the best remedy for croup I ever
used.” G. R. Bradley.
Mr. and Mrs. William Knott, five
miles from Woolsey, in a house be
longing to George Kerlin. Three
years ago last fall, while the girl was
under seventeen years of age, she was
betrayed by Dr. J. E. Ware, a former
member of the State Legislature and
a practicing physician of the county.
Her condition became delicate and a
child was born, which died in the
course of a few weeks. Criminal
proceedings were begun by the father
of tlie girl, but, for lack of evidence,
the suit came to nothing.
There is at present pending in tlie
Superior Court of the county a suit
for damages agninst Dr. Ware.
The young girl quickly outlived tlie
j misfortune which attended her ear-
I Her years, and recently took part in
such church entertainments in the
I county as brought her in contact with
the best people of tho community.
It was in this way that she came to
know George W. Kerlin, who was the
recognized lender in all affairs that
had to do with tlie upbuilding of tlie
church. He became fascinated with
the young girl, and soon tlie relations
between tho two became familiar and
intimate.
No one knew of tho exact relations
between them until the Hiulden dis
appearance of Pearl Knott on tlie
evening of last Thursday two weeks
ago, when Kerlin called nt tlie home
of the girl’s sister, Mrs. Joseph Wil
son, with the avowed purpose of tak
ing her off to marry his son.
For some reason Pearl Knott had
left the home of her father tlie day
before, and many nre of the opin
ion that it was at the suggestion of
Kerlin that she took up her abode
with her sister, Mrs. Wilson.
At 8 o’clock Thursday evening,
April 13th, Kerlin drove up to the
home of the Wilsons, near Woolsey,
in a top buggy. At the back of the
buggy was a large box, tied on with
ropes. The man called for Pearl
Knott, and the young woman came
out to the front gate to talk with him.
She returned to the house and an
nounced to her sister that she must
get ready, as Kerlin was there to take
her off to be married to his son, Lew
is. However villainous the proposi
tion might have been, it served to
accomplish his first purpose, that of
abducting thb woman.
The young sister of Pearl Knott
was anxious that nothing should hap
pen to her, and she herself went out
to inquire of Kerlin the object of liis
unexpected visit. He reiterated Ilia
purpose to marry Pearl Knott to
Lewis Kerlin, and, as Mrs. Wilson
stated on the witness stand this morn
ing, she was standing within three
feet of Kerlin’when he made the
proposition.
The unsuspecting girl went into the
room of her sister and was persuaded
by her to put on a new dress. Pearl
Knott returned to the buggy, and
taking her seat by the side of Korlin,
they started off in a southerly direc
tion. It was this evidence, showing
that she was last seen in company
with Kerlin, that caused a verdict
of murder against the man to be re
turned by the coroner’s jury.
The mystery surrounding the death
of the girl is deepened when an at
tempt is made to say where she was
shot. It is practically certain that
the deed was not committed on the
bank of Flint river, where her lifeless
body, weighted down with plow-hoes,
was slung into the stream to secure
the perpetrators of the deed from de
tection. After leaving the Wilson
home, going toward the south, the
tracks of the buggy were suddenly
found running in the opposite direc
tion. Shortly after the turn was
made in the course of the vehicle the
tracks of a second buggy were found,
evidently accompanying that con
taining Kerlin and his victim, and for
some mysterious reason the tracks
continued over the greater part of
the county, finally turning into the
road leading to the river.
It is the opinion of the people here
that Pearl Knott was killed some
where in the northern part of Fayette
county, possibly five miles from the
place where her body was deposited
in the river. There are to be found
no signs of blood or violence on the
river bank. The guano sack surround
ing her head was not penetrated by a
bullet, but was undoubtedly tied
tightly around to prevent the tell-tale
blood from oozing out while the trip
to the river was being made. The
man in the buggy rode with a corpse
possibly for several miles.
At the place by the river where the
decomposed body was found an up-
Do not sneeze and cough your head
off when A few doses of Dr. Sawyer’s
Wild Cherry and Tar will cure your
cold auu cough and prevent any fur
thering or bronchial complications.
>y Holt’s Drug Store.
rooted tree protrudes into the water,
and on this passage-way Kerlin and
those accompanying him carried the
corpse with the chain around the
waist p ith its leaden weight, and sunk
it from view, they thought, forever.
It, is estimated that the weight at
tached to the body of tlie dead wo
man was fully 150 pounds, and this,
with the weight of Pearl Knott’s
body, no one nor yet two men could
have carried over the difficult pas
sage offered* by tlie rounded tree.
There wub help at hand, and this dis
covery is the principal evidence to
that conclusion. Two buggies have
been traced in the sandy road, nu
merous footprints were seen by the
two fishermen who made the discovery
of tlie body on the bank, and added
to this tlie fnct that no one man could
have deposited the corpse in its
watery grave, is conclusive proof to
tho people of Fnyette county that
George Kerlin is not the only man
who should stand charged with the
crime of murder.
Kerlin was seen by witnesses, who
testified to-day, on tlie bank of the
river near the place described, both
on tlie day preceding tlie disappear
ance of Pearl Knott, and also on the
day following. He come in a cold
blooded fashion Friday morning a
week ago to see that no evidence of
the deed had been overlooked, and
waH seen returning from the swamp
in his buggy by a dozen men in Wool
sey.
Last Monday looming the father of
Pearl Knott cnlled on Ills attorney in
Fayetteviilo with the requost that an
indictment for murder be sworn out
against George Kerlin. The proposi
tion was received with surprise, for
no one could then believe Kerlin
guilty or in any way connected with
such a crime. It was finally agreed
to swear out a writ of habeas corpus,
with the hope that this means would
be sufficient to cause the return of
the missing girl. The fact that Ker-
lin was last seen in her company was
testified to by Mrs. WilBon, but it was
taken for granted that if Kerlin had
taken tlie girl off, he had done so out
of the charity of his heart, and with
the purpose of obtaining a home for
her. The trial came to nothing, and
Pearl Knott’s disappearance waB as
great a mystery as formerly.
Wi^h the evidence in hand, possibly
nothing further would have been done
by the community to Rolve the mys
tery had not the terrible discovery
been made in the swampB of the Flint
river yesterday afternoon. The horror
of the unearthly sight unnerved, per
haps for the time being, the men who
were called to the scene, but it served
to steel their hearts against the man
or men who could be low enough in
the human scale to perpetrate such a
deed. Whether he be rich or poor,
esteemed or despised, each man there
determined in his heart that the
guilty should suffer. The evidence of
Pearl Knott’s sister was recalled by
the people of the place, and gradually
it began to dawn upon them that af
ter all George Kerlin might have had
something to do with the terrible
crime.
Going to the home of George Ker
lin at midnight last night, W. E.
Sams, who was especially deputized
to make the arrest, and who had
succeed by his efforts in collecting
other evidence ogaiust Kerlin, called
the man out of his house and told
him he would have to go to jail for
complicity In the death of the girl.
Kerlin asked but one question,
“Where did you find the body?” and
consented eagerly to accompany
Sams to the county jail at Fayette
ville.
By the bank of the river where the
body of Pearl Knott still lay, Coro
ner J. C. Davenport assembled his
jury shortly before noon to-day to
examine into the cause of the de
ceased’s death. The jury was made
up of the following prominent citi
zens of Woolsey and Fayetteville;
James Sams, E. G. Luncford, G. M.
Quillian, John It. Roberts and J. It.
Davenport.
Kerlin was not brought before the
jury, as it was ieared to take him
from the jail, even under a strong
guard. Mrs. Wilson, Pearl Knott’s
sister, testified as in the former trial,
to her conversation with Kerlin on
the night of the disappearance, tell
ing of the peculiar box attached to the
rear end of the buggy, and to the fact
that she had never seen her sister af
ter her departure with Kerlin.
Evidence was presented showing
the visits paid to the swamp by Ker
lin on the day preceding and the one
following the disappearance of the
girl. One witness testified that on
the evening of the disappearance
Kerlin reached his home after mid
night, and that the animal he was
driving was drenched with sweat. A
post mortem examination was con
ducted by Dr. J. O. Stephens, who in
formed the jury that the wound in
tlie right temple penetrated only
about four inches, and that strange
to sny there was not the least sign of
powder burn around the wound,
which would have resulted had the
girl been shot by tlie man sitting at
her side.
The most startling evidence given
wns that of William and Dan Stubbs,
two respected young men of the com
munity, who swore that they were
offered by Kerlin $25 apiece to testify
that on the night of April 13th he was
away on a visit to the Boh Jones Hill,
a place live miles distant from the
swamp of Flint river.
Tlie evidence before the jury was
more than enough, in the opinion of
every man composing it, to charge
tlie crime on George Kerlin, and the
following verdict was reached at
once:
“We, tlie coronor’s jury, empan-
nel«d to examine into the death of
Pearl Knott, heiteby find that tlie de
ceased met her death from a gunshot
wound inflicted by the hand of George
W. Kerliu.”
Kerlin received the announcement
of the verdict with calmness, and no
outward show of excitement. He
seemed interested to a great degree
in the exact point where the body of
Pearl Knott, wns found. He would
say nothing up to the time of his de
parture for Atlanta this afternoon,
neither claiming his innocence nor
admitting his guilt.
Used during Expectancy, Simmons
Squaw Vine Wine or Tablets cheer
and Strengthen the Mother, Shorten
Labor and Rob Confinement of its
Terrors.
* On a Large Scale.
Washington Cor. Chicago Itoooril.
The city of Manchester, England,
which furnishes the most advanced
example of municipal socialism, has
made a new departure by adding
manufactories of soap, tallow, oil,
glue and fertilizer to its garbage and
sewerage department. The city gov
ernment now owns street car lines,
gas, electric light and waterworks,
ice factories, 15 markets, bathB and
public laundries, slaughter houses,
cemeteries, cheap lodging houses K
technical schools, art galleries and’
workshops for the manufacture and
repair of its vehicles, tools and im
plements. It has reclaimed a large
swamp by depositing its street clean
ings and the solid matter found in its
sewage, and is now reclaiming anoth
er, by which it is expected to add
several millions of dollars to the
wealth of the corporation. The most
novel branch of the city government
is a corps of house-cleaners, who can
be employed by the occupants of
stores, flats, ofllce rooms and resi
dences to overhaul and clean their es
tablishments as often as desired. A
Manchester woman who desires her
house cleaned can telephone to police
headquarters, and a gang of scrub
bers, sweepers, window -washers,
etc., will be sent at once to take up
the carpets and relay them and do
her spring house-cleaning in short
order and first-class style while she
goes to London or visits friends ill
the country.
, A Thousand Tongues
Gould not express the rapture of An
nie E. Springer, of 1125 Howard St.,
Philadelphia, Pa., when she found
that Dr. King’s New Discovery tow
Consumption had completely cnrrtl
her of « hacking cough that for many
years had made life a burden. All
other remedies and doctors could give
her no help, but she says of this Roy
al Cure—“it soon removed* the pain
in my chest and 1 can now sleep
soundly, something I can scarcely re
member doing before. I feel like
sounding its praises throughout the
Universe.” So will every one who
tries Dr. King’s New Discovery for
any trouble of the Throat, Chest or
Lungs. Price 50c. and $1. Trial bot
tles free at G. R. Bradley’s and
Reese’s Drug Store. Every bottle
guaranteed.
The number of bills introduced in
the FIfty-fWth Congress was 18,463
—5,855 in the Senate and 12,608 in
the House. Of these 1,467 became
laws.
Robbed the Grave.
A startling incident, of which Mr.
John Oliver of Philadelphia was the
subject, is narrated by him as follows:
“I was in a most dreadful condition.
My skin was almost yellow, eyes
sunken, tongue coated, pain contin
ually in back and sides, no appetite—
gradually growing weaker day by day.
Three physicians had given me up.
Fortunately, a friend advised trying
Electric Bitters, and to my great joy
and surprise the first bottle made a
decided improvement. I continued
their use for three weeks, and am
now a well man. I know they saved
my life, and robbed the grave of an
other victim.” No one should fail to
try them. Only 50 cents. Guaran
teed at G. R. Bradley’s and Reese’s
Drug Store.
