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Show BRIDGE OFTRAGEDIes j TO LOSE IDTNTITY AT HANDS of nnnuiLoErt3. standi of Uititina romhl Tl'' ti.r. Ao. Anil llorr.it. IU "'" ton-llaa ton-llaa Thrn l'.r MnM nil.i,0, t IlnkUra. ProlMbly no place In the Utlted States has been th'e teene of tyro crlmo than the Morris creek ralhoad bridge, near Montgomery. W Vn , which It soon to lose Its Identity ut tho hinds of bridge bulldors enttnd to remoJel It, and the crcok wbltk it spans Tho original owners were tut Morris brothers, who held the pstent from the auto of Virginia, and from those brothers tho creek bears Its name How many tragedies occurred here before the white man came it not known, but tradition says tho creek wat tho scene of a numbtr of conulett between the Mlngoes nnd the Shtw-nees, Shtw-nees, and tho quantities of arrows snd stono hatchet which oan bo foind thero bear out tho correctness ot fill statement. At one time this creek was one of the prettiest bits of seen-cry seen-cry In tho Kanawha valley, but tho railroads and coal mines have taken away much of the beauty which It once puiiesied, and tho beautiful stream of water Is now but n discolored discol-ored drain for all the Impurities ot the different mines along Us course In August, 1SSI, Dr J. W Davie, a prominent prom-inent physician of Montgomery, was returning from a professional visit up thlt creek, when he wat fired upon nnd received wounds from which he died In a few hours. This assassination was carefully planned, and flro was opened upon the doctor by his Invisible assailant as-sailant before) he had got Into danger-oils danger-oils rango Tho doctor whipped up his horse and tried to escape, and In so doing was compelled to drive nearer to tho ambush of his too. He drove was uzs KgfH1Tjr-r--f (jPrgn "vX? j I Monms check diudqu. through a hall of bullets, three of which took effect, wounding him rsor-tally. rsor-tally. Illoodhounds wero placed on the trail of tho assassin, and In a day or so Hud Clendennln, a man who but a short time beforo bad recovered from an Illness through which the kind-hearted kind-hearted doctor had treated him free of chargo, wa capturod Ho wat trie J. convicted at Charleston and given a life cntence In tho penltentlary.whtra bo subsequently died, protesting hi Innocence to the last. The fact that It was on the eve of an election, and that for aome of the Jurymen to voto It would be necessary for thorn to dls-poso dls-poso of tho case that night, saved Clendennln from tho gallows, as 11 of the Jury wero for hanging, tho other was not, and, dec'arlng his Intention In-tention of holding tho fort, the rest gave In. so that they might vote. In the aame year, and but u fow months later, tho body ot Dr. J. C. Aultx, a well-known surgeon, was found a lifeless life-less mass under tho fatal bridge. Unknown Un-known turtles attempted to blow up the bridge with dynamlto during a strike in 1801. but owing to tho fact that they wero uot familiar with the exploslvo tho forco of tho explosion was unconllncd, and though the brldgo was somewhat weakened, comparatively comparative-ly Ilttlo damage was dona During all the tlmo thnt tho I,ewls ntng of robber rob-ber and murderers oxlsl- this we their rtndexvous, and every mava which they mado no planned undisr tbo shadow of the old bridge Hire It wat that John Cochran, miner, was coaxed one night In March and murdered, mur-dered, robbed and then lilt lifeless body cast Into the Inky water ot the creek, and washed out Into the bosom of the Kanawha rlvur. VIers, who led the white element of this gang, made on effort to throw the responsibility for this murder upon an Innocent man named Lewi , who was an enemy, but on the scaffold his nerve failed him, and he confessed that hi former tUU-menu tUU-menu wero false, and that Lewis, had nothing to no with the murder Hack In IBM the first lynching that over took place in that section occurred occur-red within a few hundred ysrds or this bridge Mart Ieo, who had assaulted a white lady, wat turned otor to the Sheriff of Fayette county by the sheriff ct Kanawha on this bridge, which was then the dividing lino betwoen two pountlc. In aihort time n mob overpowered over-powered the sheriff, and, taking le, swung htm over the river from the first available tree. Many people have fallen between the tracks ot this bridge, and sustained ttrloni Injuries. The Itat of these vra r.:1 1 only a few months ago. when tn In sane soldier from the Phlllplnet, In ! charge of two guards en route to one of tho eastern army Infirmaries at night, and while the train waa patting over tho bridge leaped out, and wat lmrdltely followed by one of the guards, who was permanently Injured The Insane man wat never found. |