As Paul Harvey always has said this is the "rest of the story". Or is it? We now know (and did from the start) that John Hamilton did not murder his friend Dr. Sanderson. We know that a convicted murderer in MS confessed to the crime some 50 years later. Has the story been laid to rest? Well, maybe yes, maybe no. I will be quoting here from C Clayton Simmons in his book "Historical Trip Through Barren County), pp.76-77. He had given a brief write-up about the murder and included the confession of the murderer in Mississippi. But he added something that brought something to mind to me which I'll discuss shortly. Let's see what Simmons said: "Mr. Eugene Newman (Savoyard), read the articles as they appeared in The [Glasgow] Times of 1898 and made the following comment relative to the character of PASCAL D CRADDOCK, the sheriff who executed John C Hamilton: (Note: Newman wrote for the Times during this time frame and went by the alias of Savoyard). "I see that PASCAL D CRADDOCK was a witness in the case. He was the Sheriff who executed Hamilton. As he lives in tradition, he was, probably, the most pernicicious scroundral Kentucky ever produced. He was a kinsman of Mr. Charlie Yates, and Yates could entertain you for hours telling stories of Craddock's rascality. He was mobbed by a band of vigilantes near Louisville, Kentucky in 1858. The Louisville newspapers were full of it for weeks. A "Life of Pascal D Craddock" true to his life, would be one of the most thrilling and absorbing books ever written." Simmons continues: "Further evidence of the rascality of Pasal D. Craddock is taken from the Magazine Section of the Louisville Courier-Journal under date of June 8th, 1941, by Howard Hardaway, captioned, 'Out of the Wet Woods Come Towering Stories" which relates to the swamp that once half-circled the southeastern boundaries of Louisville in which Craddock was mobbed. We shall only give excerpts from the article; it would be too lengthy to include in its entirity." "The ghost of Pascal Craddock still wanders of nights along the scraggly hedgerows that yet mark the otherwise forgotten meanderings of ancient lanes. Children and grandchildren of the freed slaves who settled the Petersburg section along Newburg road will tell to this day of having personally met the ghost of rascally old Pascal Craddock. In the 1820's Bashford Manor, then the Hunley farm, extended from Bardstown Road southward and eastward well into the tangles of Wet Woods. The Hunley who then owned the estate, a bachelor with no known relatives, began in his old age to distribute his means. To his old slave and personal servant, Aunt Eliza Tevis, he gave $2,000.00 in cash and a piece of town property on the corner of Preston and Green streets, also devising to her at his death the costly mahogany and cherry furniture of his bedrooms. He joined a church for the first time in his life and gave enough money for a new building. But bachelor Hunley died before disposing of the central portion of the estate and the Bashford Manor residence ... and it remained untenated for eight years after his death. There is where the story of Pascal Craddock comes in, as it will a little later. Then Mr. Hardaway goes on to relate: "Eight years after the death of Hunley, the stranger, Pascal Craddock, appeared on the scene claiming to be the son of Hunley's half-sister. A skilled lawyer and the reputed possessor of unlimited gall, Craddock moved in and established undisputed possession of the estate. During the long years from 1828 to 1861 farmers of the neighborhood suffered heavily from the disappearance of horses, cattle, and now then a valued slave. The stealing was blamed on a supposed gang of cut-throats with hideouts deep in the Wet Woods. After twenty-three years of such thievery (with Craddock alone strangely free from such losses) the suffering farmers began to smell a rat. As suspicion became certain, thirty of Craddock's neighbors sent him a signed notice to clear out of the country within a month. But Craddock ignored the warning - - and the month passed. The following night after the month was up, Craddock received a message that a crony living several miles away wanted to talk with him on urgent matters. He mounted his black stallion and rode off. Hours later the horse came trotting back to the stable alone. Next morning the body of Craddock, filled with a dozen lead slugs, was found lying in a hedge-bordered lane. Residents of the community searched the manion that Craddock had occupied and found another reason for his prosperity - - printing machinery and a quantity of counterfeit notes." And thus the dastardly and unscrupulous life of one of Barren County's early sheriff ended. Well, you may ask, is this tied in with the murder of Dr Sanderson? Was it just happen-chance that Craddock was a witness against Hamilton? That he was the Sheriff who hung Hamilton? Stay tuned for the next post ... Sandi