W. I. Moore, Jr. Kills his Brother-in-law J. K. McCormack, Lincoln, 1881

[February 18, 1881] -

Murder.

A carnival of murder seems to be in progress in the West end of this county, as reference to our Hustonville letter will show. Three men have been killed in one week within two miles of each other, making six in less than a year in one voting precinct! Such a state of affairs is terrible to contemplate, and a sober thought only is necessary to convince any one that a radical change, both in public sentiment and in the administration of the laws, is absolutely needed and at once.

Let us look at the facts in the murders of one week. J. K. McCormack, a native of the county and a Cincinnati drummer by occupation, visits Hustonville on business. He arrives somewhat under the influence of liquor, and in a short tie has a dispute with one of his brothers-in-law. Later in the evening, W. I. Moore, Jr., arms himself with a pistol as if intent on murder, and passes Mr. McCormack and G. W. Drye, who were talking on the street. McCormack made some remark which Drye did not catch, but which others testify was "I'll cut your heart out;" whereupon Moore, although he could see that McCormack was unarmed, turned and fired at him twice, one ball passing through his heart and killing him instantly. This so far as the examining court could ascertain, was the sole cause that lead one brother-in-law to take the life of another.

The second killing is the cowardly assassination of Cam Rowsie by Bill Gresham and John Read. Rowsie was passing along the road from Moreland Station to his home at Milledgeville, when these two fiends, afraid to give their victim a fighting chance, emerge from a thicket and shoot three loads of buckshot into his body before he is hardly aware of their presence. He dies instantly, and the assassins, confident that they will be acquitted because Rowsie had the reputation of a dangerous man, surrender themselves to an officer.

The third murder is by a negro, who, seeing his white brethren so handy in taking the law into their own hands and receiving no punishment therefor, stabs another negro to death. This is the startling record of one week in one precinct! Can the law-loving man contemplate such carnage without shuddering to see to what we are drifting? True, McCormack had killed two men and was considered desperate when drinking. It is equally true that Rowsie was a desperado and had shot one or more men, but these are no reasons that they should be killed like dogs; and but for the law enforcement, or rather no enforcement of the laws, their murderers would not have dared to spill their blood. The Courts, the juries, and last, but at no means least, the Governor, are to blame. The people too should come in for no small part of the responsibility. A maudlin sentiment in regard to murderers, entertained by a majority of the masses, and the hero worship which some men give to such cattle is primarily the cause that induces many to dabble in gore. The Courts have lost their prestige, and the juries, which are not often made up of the best men, are swayed either by a fellow-feeling or a bribe, and in nine out of ten cases, they turn loose the human hyena without sense or reason to prey again on unsuspecting humanity. And, if in the tenth case, a jury is found that is faithful to their oaths, our dear old Governor stands with pardon in hand, ready to thwart both law and justice. This is a plain and unvarnished statement of our condition, and we grieve to know that it is so fearfully true. A gentleman, who has been keeping the count, says that in the six years and six months that he has lived in this county, there have been fifty-four murders! No one has been hanged, and only one (a poor devil who confessed) sent to the penitentiary for life. We hope that the murders of this week will awake our people to the enormity of the crimes committed right under their noses, and that a revulsion in sentiment will follow. A few legal hangings would put an end to this reign of the assassin and lift the "dark and bloody ground" to the position of a law-abiding State, which her education and advantages entitle her. [1]





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[February 18, 1881] -

Of the six recent murders in the West End [of Lincoln county], three were by brothers-in-law. The first two received no punishment whatever; neither will Mr. Moore, unless he is jailed and fined for carrying concealed weapons. The latter, however, is very likely, as Mr. W. H. Miller, the County Attorney, had him bound to the Circuit Court for that offense. This is what you might call striking directly at the root. [2]



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[February 18, 1881] -

The examining trial of W. I. Moore, Jr., for the killing of J. K. McCormack, was had on Saturday before 'Squires Peyton and Hughes. W. H. Miller represented the Commonwealth; Welch & Saufley appeared for the defense. The case thus far is wrapped in mystery. No one seems able to account for it. Mrs. McCormack, who, with her daughter Maggie, reached here on Saturday, says she knows of no difficulty between her husband and Mr. Moore -- that Moore visited them in Cincinnati on terms of the most perfect cordiality; that McC[ormack], had recently received a letter from Moore urging him to assist him in getting a situation in the city, and that she knows her husband was actively engaged up to the time of his leaving, in prosecuting a search for such a position. She states that Mr. McC[ormack]. left home entirely without arms; that at the time of Moore's last visit, McC[ormack]. presented him with a very fine knife, alleging that he himself, would never carry it. A search of his body revealed no weapon upon or about him, except an ordinary Barlow knife, which he purchased after reaching this place, and which was found closed and in his pocket. The testimony before the examining court proved little more than the fact of the killing. Mr. Moore was held to bail in $1,000 to answer at the next term of the Circuit Court. [3]



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[March 25, 1881] -

An indictment for murder was found against W. I. Moore for the killing of McCormack, and his trial set for Tuesday, April 5th. The examining court only held Moore for manslaughter. [4]



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[April 8, 1881] -

The trial of Wm. I. Moore, for the murder of J. K. McCormack, commenced Wednesday. Some forty odd men were examined as to their qualifications before a [j]ury was gotten and the evidence proceeded, both sides about concluding in chief by adjournment last evening. The speaking will begin this morning. The impression seems to prevail that Mr. Moore has a worse case on hand than he appears to [t]hink. [5]

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[April 15, 1881] -

DISREGARDING THE LAWS. -- There is a special Act of the Legislature saying that no whisky shall be sold in the town of Hustonville, and yet there is at least one place there which, it is said, is kept constantly open in defiance of all law, and every witness in the Moore McCormack murder trial had something to say about "Clay Powell's bar-room." The good people of that town beg of those in authority to see that the nefarious business is stopped by visiting the severest penalty of the law on dealers in the drug that leads more people to the commission of crime than all other causes combined. It is bad enough to break the laws secretly, but such open defiance as is show[n] in Hustonville is a shame and a reproach that ought not to be tolerated. [6]

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[April 15, 1881] -

Contrary to the expectation of nearly all, except the jury, who heard the evidence, Wm. I. Moore was acquitted of the murder of James K. McCormack, his peers hardly leaving their seats. Several times during the trial Moore was forced to tears, a fact which shows that he is a better man than most of those who take human life in their hands. [7]

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[January 2, 1883] -

Owing to the loss of our notes, we neglected last Friday to announce the death of Mr. Wm. I. Moore, Jr., whose serious illness has been noted several times of late. He was a resident for a long time of Hustonville and was in his 35th year. Consumption was the cause of his death and he had suffered with it for over a year. [8]

-------------SOURCES-------------

[1] "Murder." The Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. February 18, 1881. Page 2. LOC.

[2] Excerpt from Column 2. The Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. February 18, 1881. Page 3. LOC. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84038328/1881-02-18/ed-1/seq-3/

[3] Excerpt from "Lincoln County - Hustonville." The Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. February 18, 1881. Page 3. LOC. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84038328/1881-02-18/ed-1/seq-3/

[4] Excerpt from "Circuit Court." The Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. March 25, 1881. Page 5. LOC. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84038328/1881-03-25/ed-1/seq-5/

[5] Excerpt from "Circuit Court." The Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. April 8, 1881. Page 3. LOC. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84038328/1881-04-08/ed-1/seq-3/

[6] Excerpt from Column 2. The Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. April 15, 1881. Page 3. LOC. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84038328/1881-04-15/ed-1/seq-3/

[7] Excerpt from "Circuit Court." The Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. April 15, 1881. Page 3. LOC. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84038328/1881-04-15/ed-1/seq-3/

[8] Excerpt from "Deaths." The Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. January 2, 1883. Page 3. LOC. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84038328/1883-01-02/ed-1/seq-3/

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