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Singular Murder in Washington/ ** County.On the,26th day of June, last year,! a man named Benjamin Rainey, while peacefully plowing in his field, eightWashlng-\1t3tailed south' of Nashville, inton county, was shot and killed. Aman named Arthur Dempsey, Jr., whohad a grudge against Rainey, was arrested on suspicion of being the murderer ; but it was proved that a young man named Lewis Jackson bad suddenly disappeared about the time ofthe murder, and was not beard from, although strict search was made. A few weeks ago it was reported that Jackson was in Macoupin county, in this State, and a party at once wenjkfor?him, and brought him to Chester, Ran- 1 dolph county, to which court the trial of Dempsey had been taken on change of venue. The trial took place last week. It was the generally receivedtheory that Dempsey bad committedthe murder, and that ho had employed11 the young man Jackson to leave theStats, so as to throw the suspicion of murder upon him (Jackson). But thestrange part of the story is, that whenJackson was placed upon the witness' stand, he testified that he did the killing himself—that he was paid to do it by Dempsey, who loaded the gun and made him tire it off at a tree first, and then loaded it again. Dempsey paid him twenty dollars. He staid all night att■3i)l)r}y i)- ilty3SVDempsey's house, or rather bo sleptunder an apple tree, Dempsey bringinghim some quilts to cover with, and waking him up at daylight told him it was time to bo off. That ho went totho cornfield, and laid down and waitedtill Rainey came out and commenced to plow, and then allowed him to plow five rounds before ho could make up his ! mind to shoot him. After killing himhe left—ran through the county, boughtsome clothes at Georgetown, took a boat at Chester, and went up the river; came back to Dempsey’s house last fall, after more money; Dempsey put him off with 820; Jackson then went to Kentucky—came back to Illinois, and stopped in Macoupin county, where ho was arrested and brought to Belleville, and taken from there to Chester, by Mr. Seff. Bainey, of this citv, and oth-ors. The testimony of Jackson wasdirect, clear and unequivocal, and was corroborated by a mass of evidence. At ita close he said ho threw himself upon the mercy of the Court, Dempsey was found guilty of murder In the first degree, and was sentenced to be hung. Jackson, although the on® who did tho- 1 1 * C9 Kik r M '*--fessed his guilt, thereby escaping a trialby jury. His case will come up at tho next fall term of tho Randolph CircuitCourt.This is certainly one of the most singular murders recorded in the annals ofcrime# Dempsey, too cowardly to killthe object of liis hate, bribes She youngman, Jackson, for a paltry sum, to do the bad work. Jackson testifies that, he had nothing in tho world against Rainey, but deliberately laid in wait forhim, secreted in a corner of the field, and shot him in the back as he turned iri tho furrow. It is to bo regretted that the law in this State is such that both Dempsey and Jackson cannot bo ■ hung together. As it is, Dempsey alonewill suffer the extreme penalty of tholaw,while tho paid murderer will escape with imprisonment.The Chester Valley Clarion, of tho 25th ultr, contains a full report of tho trial, concluding as follows :THE ARGUMENTS.The Court convened after supper to . | hear the argument of J. Perry Johnson for tho prosecution, and Thos. G. Allen for the defence.We have no room even for the briefest f( synopsis- of the speeches. After tieso gentlemen had concluded, the Court adjourned until Friday morning. Arnos Watts addressed the jury in behalf of ^ j the people, and Judge O’Mel/eny for ’! the defence. The jury retired aboutl* i 10 o’clock a. M. to deliberate onTifE VERDICT. They remained out until 4 o’clock A. M.At that hour they entered the courtroom. -A.*tnur iVmpsev was broughtin. Alexander Wilson handed the ver-t,; diet to the- cierk, who read it as follows : n | “We, the Jury, find the defendantis ; guilty of murder in the first degree, andy j assess his punishment at death by hang-’beni-i mg.”i, | The prisoner’s countenance fell a lit-.» tie at first, bu*t he brightened up with a r. [ smile afterwards, when he caught tho eye of a friend across the room.A motion for a new trial was entered y by Judge O’Melveny, and Dompgy was-e-o-taken back to jail.
Newspaper Details
Centralia Democrat
Centralia, Illinois, US
Thu, May 07, 1868
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Kay S.
IL, USA 26 Nov 2019
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