Statesville, Aug.24—A singular coincidence was recalled today by former Sheriff J.M. Deaton, referring to the double homicide which occurred on the McKnight homestead six miles east of Mooresville, on Wednesday evening, August 20, when Locke McKnight, landlord, and Grover Stutts, tenant, met each other in mortal combat.
“Five persons have been killed on the same farm and near the same spot within 17 years,” said Sheriff Deaton, who added that it was in the year 1907, about this time of the year, that John Moore, colored, killed three other negroes, all tenants on the McKnight farm, then owned by the father of Loke McKnight. Mr. Deaton was at the time a deputy under Sheriff W.A. Summers, and he recalls that he joined a large number of citizens from that section of Iredell and road horseback for two days and nights without rest in a diligent, but fruitless search for the alleged murderer.
Pictures and minute description of the negro were sent out in circular form all over the United States, but no trace of the man could be found. After Mr. Deaton became sheriff of Iredell County, he made Locke McKnight a deputy and the two worked hard on the case, but they could never secure any clue as to the whereabouts of Moore.
A possible explanation of the man’s escape was that he had brothers who are porters on some of the fast trains, and he might have eluded the officers through their assistance. This was the only criminal of any consequence who ever succeeded in getting away from Sheriff Deaton, either during his 12 years a deputy or his eight years as sheriff of Iredell county. Sheriff Jim Deaton was universally recognized as a terror to evil-doers.
From the front page of the Concord Times, Aug.25, 1924
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn91068271/1924-08-25/ed-1/seq-1/#words=AUGUST+25%2C+1924
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