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Memphis, Tennessee, December 12, 1891.

Tall Hall, alias Hill, Stokes, and Button, the Virginia Desperado, who was arrested here

Wednesday, charged with the murder of 99 men, attempted to secure his liberty through a writ

of habeas corpus today, but failed.

The court remanded him to jail to await the arrival of the agents of the state of Virginia

who will reach here tomorrow.

The failure of the outlaw to gain his freedom aroused all of his brutal instincts,

and when he was seen at the jail tonight, he was in a rage and cursed everybody in sight.

He swore that he would not be taken back to Virginia alive and said that if he could break through the bars of the jail, he would murder every newspaper reporter and officer in town.

His ravings became so violent that the jail officials ordered him

confined in the dungeon. Toulton Hall was born in what is now Floyd County, Kentucky in 1849.

He started out on his career of murder and rape at the age of 13 years when he assassinated

George Loughke in Lecher County, Kentucky. Hill was never punished for this crime, and this fact

seemed to embolden him to commit further deeds of violence. He soon became the terror of the

neighborhood. His aim with a rifle was as true as the needle

of a compass to the poles, and no one dared to dispute his word. At the age of 25, he married a woman

named Triplett, but shortly after became involved in a row with her two brothers, the triplet boys, which terminated

by Hall shooting both men dead in their tracks. A warrant was issued for him and placed in the hands

of the sheriff. The sheriff apprehended Hall and placing a pistol to his face ordered him to surrender.

Hall sank to the ground and in doing so drew a revolver and fired on the sheriff

and he, with a cocked pistol in his hand, fell dead on the spot.

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