SC1896_FF1_073

71
The excitement against the prisoners was very
great; the trial lasted 10 days & resulted in an
acquittal. The principal evidence against them
was the dying declarations of the deceased which
were contradictory; & on that account unworthy
of credit. I am sure it was not Mr. Rowan's
skill or eloquence that procured the acquittal.
He spoke last - what was very remarkable he
was not even in the court house, when either of
the other counsel addressed the jury, and did
not in his speech notice the discrepancies
in the dying declaration of the deceased
on which alone they were acquitted, as
the most intelligent man on the jury af-
terwards [afterwards] informed me. The public was
much dissatisfied with the verdict. Mr.
Rowan and myself left the next day for
Frankfort, the Court of Appeals being in
session. The next night, the judge, jurors
& lawyers were all hung in effigy in the
public square. Genl. Easten, a popular
and influential man residing in the
county, being in town the next day & being
disgusted at the spectacle, ventured to cut
them down, but the excitement was so great
that he had to leave town privately to escape
being mobbed. David Shields was married
& shortly afterwards removed to Indiana or
Illinois. Robert was a single man & continu-
ed [continued] to reside with his father, near the place
where the murder was committed: He was
shot dead in his father's saw mill, a few weeks
afterwards, in the night, by as it was supposed