Franklin-Patrick County Virginia USGenWeb Archives News.....Is He A Murderer August 13, 1896 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ron Martin cindyandron@bellsouth.net December 25, 2021, 9:47 pm The Roanoke Times And The Floyd Press August 13, 1896 George McAlexander Arrested Yesterday by Deputy and Marshals. Yesterday morning Deputy Marshal Wilson of Christiansburg, assisted by Deputy J.R. Greene, of this city, and T.A. Bingham of Christiansburg, arrested George McAlexander, a white man from Frankly County, on the charge of murder. He was found in a very drunken condition in the saloon of R.M. Mason, on lower Salem Avenue. He is charged with having killed Charles DeHart in Patrick County on the 28th of July. The officers who made the arrest say that the prisoner is a notorious moonshiner and they have a strong case against him. The United States authorities have taken the matter in charge from the fact that DeHart was connected with the revenue business. Immediately after the murder of DeHart, it is said that McAlexander went to the residence of Rufus DeHart and threatened to kill him on sight but as he was not at home, killed all the hogs and dogs on the place and left swearing vengeance. The prisoner was seen in the jail yesterday by a Times reporter and he claims that he may have made some threats against the murdered man but that on the 28th of July, when the murder was committed, he was in Roanoke. The story of the murder as published in the Floyd Press is as follows: DeHart lived with his widowed mother and went to the field to cut oats. As he did not come home at dinner time a little girl was sent to the field and found him lying dead by his cradle with a bullet hole through his head, the shot being fired, it is supposed, from ambush, the assassin being concealed in the bushes at the edge of the field. Some hands who were working in an adjoining field heard the shot and saw the smoke from the gun but did not see anyone and paid no attention to the shooting. When the mail carrier passed the body was still lying in the field, awaiting the arrival of the coroner. DeHart has long been suspected of reporting illicit distillers to the revenue officers and it is supposed that the ball came from a gun in the hands of a moonshiner whom DeHart had reported. The informer gets $10 from the Government for each still located and destroyed by the officers. A great many stills have been destroyed within the past few months and the feelings against these informers is very bitter. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/franklin/newspapers/isheamur12nnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/vafiles/ File size: 2.9 Kb