Show 1 LIGHTNING ING AND LYNCH LAW Row How the Fir First it Wiped Out Ont the the of the Other Gazing northward tr from oIl any ny train ln on the Big Four road as it runs uns across the fertile plains s of at B Benton county near Templeton ton Jun Junction tion Ind Ind miles mUes out from Chicago no n no observant I t passenger will fall fail fall to see perhaps half a mile distant from the tracks cracks racks t the e charred and sh shattered sharp- sharp p pointed stump of what was once a ag g great eat tree Around it for a radius ot of twenty feet are piled old rails and pieces of ot timber Well cared t for r and generally rich with heavy crops crops is la therfield the therfield field in which the ti tree one of the fewin few tew fewin tewIn in Benton which is is' is Indiana's as a's greatest prairie county flourished But not so around the blackened trunk The plowman and all all 1111 who till the land se seem m to avoid avold any familiar proximity to it and the rude barrier which surrounds surrounds surrounds sur sur- rounds it seems to tell that the spot was the scene of ot some uncanny doing And so it was was the the scene of ot the vengeance vengeance vengeance ven ven- meted out to the perpetrator of ot one one of the most moat terrible crimes crimes in Indiana's annals Sixteen en years ears ago Benton county was not the well and prosperous prosperous' on one it is today It was a favorite place for Illinois and Indiana hunters to seek when the prairie chicken was plentiful The wolves wolves' of Benton county and even lions and other ferocious beasts sup sup-p supposed supposed sup sup- posed to have lairs there were used to terrify children and even even some older people A few tew years before only had railroads opened up the country In In 1882 1882 a Mr Mr Atkinson was one of the most prosperous farmers farmers' in Benton Ben- Ben ton With his wife wife he went to the nearest nearest town one day late in the fall taU of that year They returned home to find their beautiful daughter Ada 19 years yeaTs old dead murdered dead murdered and mangled mangled mangled man man- horribly No clew was left by tha the murderer but suspicion fell on Jacob Nelling a farm tarm hand employed on the Atkinson Atkinson place He was arrested and despite the fact tact that no actual evidence could be adduced so great was the indignation indignation indignation in in- aroused against him that he was hurried overland to Lafayette Ind and lodged In the Tippecanoe county Jail jap which was guarded by troops ordered out by the governor While confined there a man whir now occupies a responsible position with a a leading Chicago hotel was Introduce introduced introduced in In- into the jail as a prisoner He was wa really an of ot a Chicago Obi Chi cago detective agency He galled gained ed Nelling's confidence and to him the chit h latter related his guilt of the murder of ot Ada Atkinson Nelling way wall advised advised advised ad ad- by the lawyer he engaged to geto gc go to Benton county and plead guilty th the lawyer tawyer promising to follow tollo an l ma make e ea a plea for mercy Nelling wa taken to Fowler Benton county on the c ae e day before the one set for his trial Early the next morning his lawyer w w vs s waItIng wait wait- waitIng Ing in Lafayette to take take the brain twain for Fo Fowler lere when he e received 3 a ii telegram telling him not to come Your client dont don't need y you u it said Nelling's body was dangling from tram a limb of the tree not far faT from tram the scene of ort his crime A mob had broken into the Jail Jaila a few hours after his arrival there and taken him to the place of veng vengeance vengeance ance The Th tree never flourished after bearing such ghastly fruit It was dying when a blast of at lightning from the heavens struck and shattered it And the barrIer barrier barrier bar bar- rier was placed around it Ite and there the stump remains an object lesson or oi warning or whatever it may be |