Going Home to Die No More: A True Kentucky Story about a Train Robbery and a Hanging after the Civil War
By Russ Witcher
()
About this ebook
It all began in November 1866, when Captain William P. King, a Union army veteran, along with 12 accomplices, derailed a Louisville & Nashville Railroad train, sending the iron steam engine plummeting down a 40-foot embankment just north of their homes in Franklin, Kentucky. No one was killed, but much was lost in the resulting fire, some $25,000 in cash, part of a considerable booty which included a carpetbag containing ten thousand dollars worth of vouchers and other valuable papers.
When the L&N Railroad offered a $10,000 reward for the capture of the guilty parties, one of the robbers, Captain King’s brother, Harvey—perhaps interested in keeping the reward for himself—ratted out the others. That weekend, Harvey King would turn up dead.
The remaining 12 men were apprehended, arrested, and charged with murder, armed robbery, and derailment of a train. The murder trial was held first. King and another of the robbers, Abraham Owens, were convicted of the murder of Harvey King. After two unsuccessful attempts to escape prison, the pair was hanged in June 1867.
Until the end, the two doomed men maintained their innocence. A transcript of the trial reveals questions about the timeline of the shooting of Harvey King. Some evidence suggests Captain King and Abraham Owens were nowhere near the scene of the murder. History asks the question: did the wrong two men hang?
Russ Witcher
Russ Witcher is a full professor of communication at Tennessee Tech. He lives in with his wife, Tera, and his teenaged son, Jackson. This is his fifth book.
Related to Going Home to Die No More
Related ebooks
Lost Ghost Stories of Cleveland Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSouth Carolina in 1865 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder & Mayhem in Rockford, Illinois Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Justice and Vengeance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen Owing a Shilling Costs a Dollar: The Saga of Lewis G. Clarke, Born a “White” Slave Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMurder & Mayhem in Grand Rapids Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Search for the Underground Railroad in Upstate New York Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Kentucky Tragedy and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Last Wagon Train West Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThree Years with Quantrill: A True Story Told By His Scout Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWith God in Russia Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Charles W. Quantrell: A True Report of His Guerrilla Warfare on the Missouri and Kansas Border During the Civil War of 1861 to 1865 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAcross America and Back: Retracing My Great-Grandparents' Remarkable Journey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStealing Lincoln’s Body Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Revolt Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDuels, Gunfights and Shoot-Outs: Wild Tales from the Land of Enchantment Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Quantrill and the Border Wars Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Burning of Columbia, S.C.: A Review of Northern Assertions and Southern Facts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsQuiver of Spies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWicked Women of Ohio Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Story of Cole Younger, by Himself Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I Rode with Stonewall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bloody Crimes: The Chase For Jefferson Davis and the Death Pageant for Lincon's Corpse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArizona Outlaws and Lawmen: Gunslingers, Bandits, Heroes and Peacekeepers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The First Celebrity Serial Killer in Southwest Ohio: Confessions of the Strangler Alfred Knapp Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Story of Cole Younger (Civil War Memoir): Autobiography of the Missouri Guerrilla Captain and Outlaw Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll in a Lifetime: The Story of Anya, Wilhelm and an Icon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Modern History For You
The God Delusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Mother, a Serial Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Story of the Trapp Family Singers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A History of the American People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Plot to Kill King: The Truth Behind the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Story of Christianity: Volume 2: The Reformation to the Present Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Notebook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Little Red Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Every Person Should Know About War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Night to Remember: The Sinking of the Titanic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/518 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Titanic Chronicles: A Night to Remember and The Night Lives On Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Voices from Chernobyl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Going Home to Die No More
0 ratings0 reviews