Blount County TN Archives News.....News Articles April 12, 1882 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/tn/tnfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Glenn Teffeteller glennt@icx.net August 20, 2005, 3:06 am THE WATCHMAN April 12, 1882 Wednesday, April 12, 1882 Died---Near Gamble’s Store, in this county, on the 3rd inst., Harry McNabb, the deceased was a brother to Mr. Charles McNabb, a worthy young doctor of this county. Jackson Stinnett, an old resident of this county. He lived with Mr. W.W. Lawrence for several years, and is said to have been an honest, clever man. On the 6th inst., about six miles south of this place, at the residence of her father, Miss. Lillie Hill, aged about 17 years. The deceased was a daughter of Mr. Pleasant Hill, well known to many of our citizens. We learn that on last Friday night W.W. Freshour and J.C. McKenzie, two vigilant Revenue Officers of this place, had the pleasure of forming the acquaintance of one Andrew Wallace, an escaped prisoner from the jail at Loudon. His abode when found was in Tuckaleechee, but he was persuaded to register at the “Rule House,” where he remains until other lodging can be procured. John A. Murrell’s Cell---While inspecting the records of the penitentiary yesterday, records grown musty and yellow with age, an American reporter came across an entry concerning a noted individual, whose name, fifty years ago, was a terror, not only to Middle Tennessee, but to the entire State. The individual referred to was John A. Murrell, and the entry that startled the reporter, as he nervously clutched the page, was the notation made on the records when Murrell was received at the penitentiary in 1834 for stealing a negro in Madison County. The entry, as it appears on the penitentiary records, is as follows: “John A. Murrell was received in the penitentiary August 17, 1834. He is five feet ten inches and a half in height, and weight from 158 to 170 pounds, dark hair, blue eyes, long nose and much pitted with the small- pox, tolerably fair complexion, twenty-eight years of age. Born in Lunenburg County, Virginia, and brought up in Williamson County, Tennessee. His mother, wife and two children reside in the neighborhood of Denmark, about nine miles from Jackson, Madison County, Tennessee. His wife’s maiden name was Manghan. Her connections reside on the waters of South Harpeth, Williamson County, Tennessee. His brother, William S. Murrell, a druggist, resides in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has another brother living in Sumsterville, S.C. He has a scar on the middle joint of the finger next the little finger of the right hand. Has generally followed farming. Was found guilty of Negro stealing at the Circuit Court of Madison County and sentenced to ten years confinement in the jail and penitentiary house of the State of Tennessee.” On the margin of the record is indorsed: “John A. Murrell was delivered to J.S. Lyon, Sheriff of Madison County, 9th April 1837. See order of Court of Errors and Appeals, at Jackson, filed with convict record, 1834.” And below this appears the entry: “Returned April 26, 1837, by order of Court of Appeals.” Murrell was discharged at the expiration of his time, but no entry appears on the penitentiary books showing the date of his discharge. While an inmate at the penitentiary, Murrell learned the blacksmith trade and followed it during the time of his imprisonment. He occupied the second cell from the entrance in wing No. 2. The cell was inspected by the reporter, but any marks of Murrell’s occupancy that may have existed have disappeared beneath the white-wash that has been applied scores of times since Tennessee’s noted highwayman called the cell his own nearly fifty years ago. ---Nashville American. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/tn/blount/newspapers/newsarti92gnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/tnfiles/ File size: 4.1 Kb