There was a cheer for that man when he left the camp, and anyone who had proposed shooting him would himself have been riddled.
13. The Palmyra Butchery
As long as Pete Donan was the editor of the Lexington Caucasian, that paper once each year published an account substantially in this wise:
“So long as God gives us life and the earth is cursed with the presence of McNeil we feel it to be our solemn duty to rehearse once every year the story of the most atrocious and horrible occurrence in the annals of barbarous warfare.”
“On Friday, the 17th day of October, 1862, a deed was enacted at the fair grounds at Palmyra, Mo., which sent a thrill of horror through the civilized world.”
“Ten brave and true and innocent men were taken from their prison, driven to the edge of the town, seated on their rough board coffins, for no crime of their own, and murdered like so many swine.”
“Murdered!”
“Butchered!!”