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bably still living at an advanced age in Wayne County:
He is the father in law of the Honble Alvan
Cullom.
In the summer of 1801, an old man of the name
of Dodson, murdered his son in law, Wamsley
in Wayne County, & threw his body into the Cumber-
land River, or rather attempted to fasten it, in the
bed of the river, by means of rocks put into the
bosom of his shirt, & confining the body to a pole
which he drove into the mud at the bottom of
the River. Wamsley's neighbors missed him from
home for several days & his wife could give no
account of him. It was generally believed that
he was murdered by Dodson, & on the seventh
day after he was probably murdered, his body
was found in the River. The news spread over
of the county with great rapidity - the people
were all up in arms & in less that 24 hours,
hundreds of men, women & children were ass-
embled at the place where the body was found.
Dodson was known to be skulking about in the
neighborhood. A guard was placed in & around
his house, & all his family was strictly guarded.
His residence was near the River, & altho' he was
occasionally seen & fired at by patroling parties
he escaped by the fleetness of his horse. The
guard was continued at his house under the
expectation that he would attempt to have some
communication with his family before leaving
the county. In this they were not disappointed.
He came one night to the door of the house
& pulled away a blanket, which had been hung
up, in place of a shutter - they rushed out upon him
with loaded guns, calling upon him to
surrender, which he would not do. Several guns
were discharged at him without effect. He ran
& plunged into the river & was drowned. He
probably attempted to swim across - but failed.
When he was taken out of the water,
some day afterwards, he had one of his shoes