Alas, poor Benjamin
Abstracted Newspapers of Elmore County, AL 1870 - 1885 SLC FHC 976.152B38b
Vol #2
The Wetumpka Times, Thur., June 21, 1883
757. Horrible Murder in Coosa -
Late in the afternoon of the eleventh inst., a negro boy by the name of
Jordan CORBAN went into the field where Mr. Benjamin CARDIN, wife, grown
daughter and two little sons were at work. The negro had with him a single
barrel shot-gun and a little clock. He asked Mr. CARDIN if he did not want
to hire him to do farm work. Upon being answered in the negative, the negro
left the field. Mr. CARDEN and family returned home about dark, ate their
supper and retired to bed as usual, all in the same room. The head of Mr.
and Mrs. CARDEN's bed was about three feet from a small window which was
left open. About ten o'clock, Mrs. CARDEN was awakened by the report of a
gun, the daughter being already awake. Immediately, someone began cursing
and demanding that the daughter come out where he was. The negro then shot
and the load of the gun took effect in Mr. CARDEN's head, rendering him at
once insensible, although he survived 36 hours, but never spoke nor
recognized any one. The negro became more boisterous in his demands,
swearing he would kill the whole family and burn the house down, unless the
daughter was sent out to him; The two smaller boys were sent to the kitchen
to get a horn to summon the neighbors. Upon their return, the negro shot
the smaller one, filling his back and arm with number two squirrel shot.
The negro then went on the piazza and tried to push the door open. In the
meantime, the daughter escaped from the house and started to the residence
of a neighbor, getting lost in the woods, where she remained all right. In
the meantime, Mrs. C. thought of their gun, which she got and snapped at the
negro. He then ran his gun through the window and fired in the direction of
the noise she made, inflicting severe wounds upon her limbs. He, during the
night, hid his gun and made off. A posse started soon afterward in search
of him, and, after a long chase, he was finally captured at the house of a
relative, where he was asleep. He was brought to Rockford and lodged in
jail, although it was no easy matter to restrain the maddened crowd from
taking summary vengeance. The negro was, however, lodged in jail to await
trial. About twelve o'clock Thursday night, a mob of over 300 men entered
the jail, took him out and hanged him to a tree, having first overpowered
the guards and having locked them in a dungeon, beside blindfolding the
jailer and marching him off out of reach. The remainder of the family so
grossly outraged are said to be doing well.
-----Original Message-----
From: Beth MacDonald [mailto:bmacd@dmci.net]
Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 1999 6:35 PM
To: CARDEN-L(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: [CARDEN-L] ah ha!
Now, Benjamin from Coosa Co rang a bell. Dug back and found that there
was discussion about this guy in June of 98. He is the ancestor of Alan
Carden...Alan, where are you? We (Lisa, actually) put together a tree
at the time that goes as follows:
Benjamin H. Carden born c. 1833/36 in GA, died aft 1880 in Coosa Co.,
AL. married Columbia Unknown
Ben was present in the 1860, 70 & 80 Cuncuses in Coosa Co
Their children:
Albert Lee b. 1872 Coosa Co., AL
Isam/Isum b. 1861
Francis b. 1862
Tobitha b. 1864
Lewis H. b 1868
Elmira b. 1864
Genieve Catherine b. 1866
Jane b. 1879
Mary L. b. 1876
I don't know if Alan is still on the list, but his email was
achap(a)m8.sprynet.com
==== CARDEN Mailing List ====
This list is for the discussion of Carden Genealogy only. Any violations
(ie. spam) will result in immediate removal from the listserver. To contact
the list owner email listowner jimd(a)wings-n-things.com