Charleston (SC) Mercury, “Untitled,” October 22, 1858

    Source citation
    “Untitled,” Charleston (SC) Mercury, October 22, 1858, p. 2: 3.
    Original source
    Petersburg Express
    Newspaper: Publication
    Charleston Mercury
    Newspaper: Page(s)
    2
    Newspaper: Column
    3
    Type
    Newspaper
    Date Certainty
    Exact
    Transcriber
    Don Sailer, Dickinson College
    Transcription date
    The following text is presented here in complete form, as it originally appeared in print. Spelling and typographical errors have been preserved as in the original.

    The North Carolina papers announce the acquittal at Raleigh, last week, of MARTHA MORGAN, a handsome young widow, aged about twenty-two years, charged with the murder of ALEXANDER ALLEN, a constable in Johnson County. A writer to the Petersburg Express says:

    “Martha Morgan, the prisoner, was indigent, but proverbially honest. Through her own exertions and the kindness of a few neighbors, she supported her little family. Some months since, Allen, the constable, forcibly entered her abode, and levied on the effects of her scanty household, for the purpose of selling the same. She remonstrated and importuned him to desist. Regardless of her entreaties, he persisted in taking possession of her furniture, and added insult to injury by heaping upon her a volley of abuse. Being without a protector, and feeling deeply aggrieved, in a moment of frenzy she seized a shot gun and shot her persecutor down. The jury having come into court, rendered a verdict of “Not Guilty!” The result was received by an immense concourse of visitors by one universal outburst of applause.”

    How to Cite This Page: "Charleston (SC) Mercury, “Untitled,” October 22, 1858," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/21057.