Unknown County GaArchives News.....Going Home To Die. February 21, 1888
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Linda Blum-Barton http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00003.html#0000645 March 25, 2006, 11:20 pm

The Weekly Constitution, Atlanta, Ga. February 21, 1888
The Strange Story of George Alrow's Life as a Moonshiner.
A Father's Summary Vengeance.
Indianapolis, February 13. -- Among the passengers who arrived at the union 
depot on the early train from St. Louis Friday afternoon was a party consisting 
of two gentlemen and a lady.  One of the former appeared to be in the last 
stages of consumption, and the lady's countenance and languid movements gave 
evidence of long vigils and pungent sorrow.  As they left the train the invalid 
was assisted into the waiting room by his companions, and was made as 
comfortable as possible on one of the benches in the ladies' waiting room.

The invalid's robust companion proved to be Colonel Sam Johnson, a deputy 
United States marshall of Georgia, and he gave the names of his companions as 
George Alrow and wife.  When asked if his relations to the other two were 
official, he replied that he could not be said to have Alrow under arrest, but 
he felt it his duty to keep him under surveillance, though he had no fears that 
an escape could be accomplished, even if it were meditated, owing to the 
weakened condition of the invalid.

Colonel Johnson's story of Alrow's life was to the effect that he is about 
twenty-five years of age and lives on a farm on the Georgia side and near the 
base of the mountain range which divides that state from Tennessee.  While very 
young, Alrow married Mary Rouen, a neighbor's daughter and the belle of the 
rural district, and went to housekeeping in the old homestead.  This was some 
eight miles from the nearest village, and Alrow erected a small storeroom and 
invested his suprlus money in a stock of goods suited to the wild section in 
which he lived.

The roughter characters of the mountainous section soon began to loaf around , 
and the young wife ceased to visit the store with her infant offspring,and 
remained in the house a vicitm of constant forebodings.  As the store was 
situated near the dwelling, every loud word was plainly heard by the wife, and 
she noticed that the crowd which frequented her hsuband's store was daily 
becoming more and more disorderly.

Less than a year had thus passed when late one evening Mrs. Alrow heard an 
altercation in the store, and, taking her sleeping infant from its cradle, she 
hastened to the store and entered by the rear door.  She saw that her husband 
was quarreling with some one who was standing in front of the building, and she 
advanced excitedly to the middle of the long narrow room.  Suddenly there was a 
bright flash, followed by a sharp report, the infant form in her arms quivered 
a moment, a deathlike pallor spread over its face and a low moan escaped its 
lips.  The desperado's bullet, aimed at her husband, had missed its mark and 
had buried itself in the tender form which lay in the sleep of innocence in her 
arms.

On the Murderer's Track.
When the neighbors arrived they found Alrow in a state of mental anguish which 
bid fair to dethrone his reason.  For three hours he wandered mechanically form 
room to room without appearing to understand the cause of the solemnity which 
pervaded the house.  Suddenly he seemed to be struggling with himself to recall 
the events, then there was a look of intelligent remembrance in his eyes, and 
he bent over the form of his still unconscious wife and burst into tears.  
Recovering himself a moment later, he arose, took down his rifle from the peg 
over the door and quickly left the house, going in the direction taken by the 
desperado after firing the fatal shot.

The next two days passed without any word from the absent husband.  The infant 
remains were laid to rest in the country churchyard and the childless wife 
returned in sorrow to her home.  As she was lifted from the heavy road wagon in 
which the remains of the infant were borne to the grave, her husband appeared 
at the door.  Addressing her calmly and without visible emotion, Alrow 
said: "Mary, the vengeance of God has overtaken, the murderer of our babe.  Let 
this be enough to explain my absence and let this be forever a secret between 
us." 

When three days later, the assasin was found on the mountain side dead with a 
bullet in his brain, the people knew that the infant's death was indeed 
avenged.  A formal inquiry only was made into the death of the desperado, and 
while every one supposed that he had fallen by the hand of the man whose home 
he had deprived of its brightest jewel, no effort was made to hold him 
responsible for the deed before the law.

Alrow As A Moonshiner.
Instead of acting as a curb upon Alrow the terrible ordeal through which he had 
passed seemed to drive him to desperation, and an entire change came over him, 
his associations becoming of the most desperate character.  In less than a year 
after the murder of his child he fell under the suspicions of the government 
officers and a watch was set upon him. One night last summer a large box, which 
left his store and was supposed to contain fresh eggs, was intercepted by the 
government officials and the guilt of Alrow was proven, as the box was found to 
contain several jugs of illicit whisky.  Early in December a descent was made 
on the still where the liquor was made, and in the fight that ensued Alrow was 
dangerously wounded in the side and slightly wounded in the leg.  He was left 
at home for treatment that night and two officers were left to guard him, while 
the other prisoners were taken at once to Atlanta.  The wounded man tossed 
about on his bed with a burning fever, and his wife made a number of trips to 
the large spring in the rear of the house to get him cooling draughts of 
water.  What happened during the night is not known, but the probabilities are 
that the guards fell asleep, for when they thought that Mrs. Alrow remained 
longer at the spring than usual, they went to the bed and found that she had 
taken her husband's place in it and that he had passed out.  It was useless to 
seek him in that wild section, and the officers contented themselves with 
keeping a close watch upon the movements of his wife, rightly judging that she 
would be the first to get in communication with him.  Whether she heard from 
him or not in the meantime the officer did not know, but in January he received 
word that Mrs. Alrow would leave for the west immediately, and he was ordered 
to follow her.  He started at once, and, upon reaching Cincinnati, found that 
he was upon the same train with her.  Learning from the conductor that Mrs. 
Alrow had a ticket to Santa Fe, N. M., the officer, without making his own 
identity known, fell into conversation with her, and was frankly told the 
object of her western trip.  When they reached their destination Col. Johnson 
as frankly revealed the object of his visit, but informed her that, if her 
husband's condition was as bad as she had reprsented it, he would not put him 
under arrest, but would furnish what assitance he could in returning home.  It 
seems that Alrow's wounds received no attention until he reached the west, 
several weeks after his escape from the officers, and, having contracted a 
severe cold, it settled on his lungs, nad he went rapidly into consumption.  
His first wish expressed to his wife was to be taken home that he might die 
surrounded by his friends, and after a stay of but two days in Santa Fe, the 
party started to return, and had reached this city when seen by the Press 
correspondent.  

"I don't think," said Colonel Johnson, in conclusion, "that Georgia can 
possibly live more than a few weeks, and I have telegraphed for permission to 
let him go direct to his home."

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