Providence Morning Star

A BLOODY TALE.
Two Prisoners Shot in a Wagon.
A Cruel Proceeding and Wonderful Escape.
ATKINSON, Sept. 19.—The Daily Champion has an account of a horrible murder perpetrated near Sterling, Rice county, early on the morning of the 18th. About 9 o'clock that morning a man named Patton appeared in Sterling, covered with blood, with a bullet hole through the back of his head. One ball lodged in the neck, and another through the upper lip, with the ball lodged in the cheek bone. His story is that he and a companion, Douglass, were arrested for horse stealing, and were en route from Wichita to Great Bend, in charge of deputized officers. They were lying in a wagon, shackled together, and an officer was riding horseback behind. About sunrise Monday morning, one of the officers rode up and shot Patton through the back of the head. Douglass jumped up and begged for life, but was shot through the right temple, killing him instantly. The bodies were then thrown out of the wagon. Seeing Patton breathe, another shot was fired at him, the ball passing through his lip and lodging in the cheek bone. The bodies were then dragged in about two hundred yards from the road, and the murderers took their departure westward. When they were out of sight Patton, who still survived, waded the Arkansas river and made his appearance at Sterling, creating quite a sensation. A party of citizens went out and found the body of the murdered man. Patton was completely exhausted from loss of blood, and lies in a very critical condition. The authorities at Wichita and Great Bend have been telegraphed. Patton's story is that he belonged to a gang of horse thieves and peached on them, and that the man who shot him was captain of the band. Great excitement exists in Rice county over this bloody affair.