Iredell County, NC - General G.L. Davidson Family, 1822

Raleigh, NC - May 17

Shocking occurrence - Some negroes of the family of Gen. G.L. Davidson
or Iredell County in this state, unwilling to go to Alabama with the
General and his family who were about to remove there, took the
desperate resolution of destroying them by poison, and shocking to
relate, effected their purpose on two of the General's daughters,
Mrs. Simonton and Mrs. Falls, while their husbands were absent looking
for suitable lands for settlement in the new State.

The poison used, it is believed, was Hemlock, which was furnished by
an old negro in the adjoining county of Cabbarus, and had been tried
for some months before the proper dose was given, to effect the horrid
purpose.

This has been since ascertained from the frequesnt sickness of the two
ladies, which could not at the time be accounted for. 

It is said a dose was ready for the General himself, the administering
of which was prevented by the discovery of the horrid plot. Five negroes
concerned in this affair are at present in confinement in Iredell Jail.

Source: Essex Register - May 25, 1822

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