Jones County NcArchives Photo Document.....Sheriff O. R. Colgrove Murder Account 1869
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Cathy Blow rblow55@gmail.com February 2, 2023, 4:23 pm

Source:             Newbern, North Carolina, Journal
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Newbern, North Carolina, Journal
Appeared in Rome Weekly Courier, Rome, Georgia
June 11, 1869

A tyrannical and Unscrupulous Sheriff "Perishes by the Wayside."

The city was thrown into a state of excitement yesterday afternoon, by the 
arrival of a messenger from Jones county, with the intelligence that Sheriff 
Colgrove had been killed, and a negro man severely wounded, by a party, or 
parties unknown. The particulars, as far as they have transpired, are as 
follows:

Yesterday morning about 7 o'clock, Colgrove, accompanied by a negro man, left 
his residence for Trenton, three miles distant. When about half way to the 
village a volley is supposed to have been fired into the wagon in which the two 
were riding, killing the Sheriff instantly, and dangerously wounding the negro. 
Shortly after the tragic occurrence Colgrove was found in the middle of the 
road, with a bullet through his breast. The negro had his arm broken by a ball 
and a gunshot wound in his breast. He is in a precarious condition.

We were afterwards shown a dispatch from Deputy Sheriff Ship, announcing the 
death of Sheriff Colgrove without giving any particulars, and stating that the 
truly loil (sic) militia had been turned out, and were in full pursuit of his 
slayers. Who they were was not stated.

Many conjectures were afloat in this city yesterday regarding the persons who 
committed the deed, but there was only one opinion regarding the person killed, 
and that was that a bad man had gone to render his account to his Maker. Sheriff 
Colgrove has committed many high handed acts and outrages since he began the 
administration of his office, grinding the people of Jones in the dust by the 
aid of his base minions. Time and again he has been warned that such a course, 
long persisted in, would lead to his destruction; but, unheeding the 
remonstrances of even his political friends, he pressed onward in the obnoxious 
course he had marked out, and we now behold the result.

That the deed was a dastardly one, we are frank to admit; but that it was 
unprovoked, we emphatically deny. Even his political friends - his personal ones 
are hard to find - admit this, and speak of him as a tyrannical and unscrupulous 
officer.


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