"TRAGEDY RECALLED BY DEATH MRS. McCLELLAN
Lived Christian Life Despite Many Troubles During Her Devoted Life.
Mrs. Sarah Comer McClellan died at her home near New Salem, Monday, at the age of 81 years. She was the widow of the late Mr. Alonzo McClellan, and is survived by three sons and four daughters, Messrs. Lewis, Thomas and Pherman McClellan and Mrs. Pet Wilson, all of Scottsburg, Ind., Mrs. Jim Slayton and Mrs. Will Thomas of Lecta and Mrs. Bob Wilson of French Lick, Ind. Mrs. McClellan was a devout Baptist and had an unbleminshed character. The burial was in the cemetery at New Salem, after funeral services by Rev. J. L. Piercy, pastor of the Methodist Church at this place. All the children attended the funeral except Mr. Pherman McClellan who was not able to come.
The death of this excellent lady calls to mind the fact that 27 years ago, this month, her son-in-law, Bob Brown, got on a rampage and shot Alonzo McClellan, his father-in-law, to death, wounded Mrs. McClellan and her son, Lewis, with gun shots and beat a niece of his wife over the head with a pistol. He then barricaded himself in a barn and defied officers who surrounded the place. Many shots were exchanged between the officers and the outlaw, but finally one of the officers outwitted him and slipped up the barn on the back side. He had already struck a match to burn the barn down, when Brown obeyed the order to surrender, and was brought to Glasgow. His trial resulted in a verdict of death. It so happened that about the same time John Franklin killed his mother-in-law, Mrs. Bowles, and was given the death penalty at the same court. The two, Brown and Franklin, were hanged on the same gallows, within a few days of each other."
Unknown Glasgow (KY) newspaper, from the files of the late Birdie Lutzow.
New Salem Cemetery
Sarah E. McClellan
1844 - 1924 |
