SHOCKING MURDER!!!

Extract of a letter from a gentleman in Greensborough, (Guilford) to his friend in Raleigh, dated May 23rd, 1811.

A cruel murder has just been committed in the neighbourhood of this place. A negro fellow belonging to Maj. Welborn of Rowan, knowing that a Mr. Wheeler of this county,  living on Deep river, on the Salisbury Road, had a little money, formed the plan of killing Wheeler and all the grown persons in his house. Wheeler kept a Grog Shop, and the negro being known at the house asked and obtained permission to stay all night. At a late hour of the night he prepared for his enterprise, by setting open the doors of the house and placing the chairs near to the wall; and then took down part of an iron pot rack, and went to Wheeler's bed. Wheeler's wife first discovered him; she awok'd her husband, who in attempting to rise from bed was struck down. The blow, although severe, was not mortal; he leaped from the bed and seized the negro, who continued his blows. Wheeler by an act of desperate exertion, after having torn a spinning wheel to pieces to get a defensive weapon, succeeded in throwing the negro out the door, which he instantly shut, and called to a Mr. Frazier, who was lying in the same room asleep, to jump up and get his gun, which was suspended over the opposite door. The negro ran round the house, and entered this door just at the moment Frazier was approaching it to get the gun; he struck Frazier down, and pushed forward across the room to Wheeler who opened the door and ran, the negro pursued him and in about a hundred yards he overtook him - - Wheeler threw him down & had the better of the combat for some time; but being at length exhausted by the loss of blood, he begged for his life; the negro told him he would spare his life if he would tell him where his money was; Wheeler told him, and the negro left him and returned to the house, where the found Wheeler's mother, an old woman of sixty or seventy years, weeping over Frazier who was still lying on the floor apparently dead. He struck the old woman over the head and killed her instantly. He looked under one of the beds and found there a Mr. Thomas, who being drunk had, during the time the negro was out of the house, got out of bed and crawl under it. He was dragged out and beaten until he appeared to be dead. The negro then took all the money he could find and went away. Wheeler's wife crept behind a large chest & was not discovered; otherwise she would have shared the same fate. The skulls of Frazier and Thomas are broken to pieces - - they were alive on yesterday, but no hope is entertained of their recovery. Wheeler will probably get well. The negro has been apprehended and is now in jail, there is no doubt of his conviction. I have described the particulars of this horrid affair thinking it might gratify your curiosity to know them.