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http://newspaperarchive.com/us/indiana/sullivan/sullivan-democrat/1896/03-06/

Sullivan Democrat
Friday Edition
Sullivan Indiana
March 6, 1896

front page

Going to Law.

Taddlock Allen, a wealthy money lender of Curry township, and somewhat
eccentric, died in 1891.  His estate was divided up between his
children without any administration or executor, and the assets did
not prove to be as large as was anticipated, and some of the heirs are
dissatisfied with the division made and propose to put the estate into
the courts to secure a more satisfactory accounting.  A son, Dr.
James L.  Allen, of Terre Haute, has inaugurated the suit in the Vigo
Circuit Court.

http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/39986581/

June 8, 1897
The Indianapolis News from Indianapolis, Indiana, Page 7

Terre Haute, Ind...  June 8.  Dr.  James L.  Allen has filed suit In
the Circuit Court here against Rhoda Jarrett, John Allen, William
Allen and Rosa Allen to secure a redivision of their father's estate,
and to secure an accounting from the two defendants, John and Will
Allen, who are administrators.  He alleges that they have failed to
account for $14,000 in greenbacks and $16,000 in other forms of
personal property, - chiefly notes, bonds and mortgages.  The late
James T.  Allen was one of the most noted residents of Sullivan
county.  For years he loaned and hoarded money, and is known to have
had as much as $10,000 out on 10 per cent.  interest at one time.  He
lived between Shelburn and Farmersburg and kept his money secreted
about the premises, never trusting the banks.  After his death $15,000
was found in the beds and trunks.

History of Sullivan County

These events probably date from the February term of 1866 as indicated on p.  553 (term extending until August) but the narrative is not edited well enough to be linear.  Pieces of activity dating from as early as 1864 are mixed in between the term announcement and the section I quote below.

(Among the interspersed bits is a story of a man attending a supper party held by the presiding judge.  The man hid what he thought was cake in his stove-pipe hat.  It was actually two pounds of butter which started melting as the party continued.  The supper consisted of many wild meats, and the man with the butter was gnawing on opossum as the butter ran down from his hat.  This story is remarkably similar to something penned by Mark Twain in Huckleberry Finn when Tom Sawyer did much the same thing.)

bottom of p. 557, continuing to p. 558

The Murder of a Stranger

At this same term of the Circuit Court, the grand jury returned an indictment against Haydon Cuppy, William W.  Rogers and James T.  Allen, charging them with the murder of a stranger, by hanging him by the neck.  The circumstances of the case were substantially these: Shortly previous to the sitting of the grand jury, two strange men, claiming to be from Louisville, Ky., got off the cars at the town of Shelburn, and started to the country for the ostensible purpose of looking at some land one of them claimed to own, and proposed to sell to the other.  They had not been long gone when one of them returned.  Some time during the day, a lady and some children were attracted into a thick wood by the moans of a person, where they found the other stranger apparently in a dying condition.  He had been beaten over the head with a club in a terrible manner, and he had also been stabbed a number of times.  He was entirely insensible, and no hopes of recovery were entertained.  He had been robbed of all his money and other valuables carried upon his person.  The news of the supposed murder and robbery spread rapidly, and soon there were several hundred people on the ground.  The man that had returned to Shelburn was recognized as the person that had got off the train in company with the murdered man.  He was promptly arrested, and admitted his crime.  He was taken to the woods east of Shelburn, and, in presence of a crowd of from five to seven hundred people, was hanged.  The cause was not tried till the February term, 1867, and the defendants were admitted to bail in the sum of $5,000 each.

(Another footnote: the town of Shelburn was named for Paschal Shelburn, brother of Desdemona Shelburn, who was the grandmother of Rosa Mae Siner.  Rosa Mae Siner married John Riley Allen, the son of James T.  Allen, and produced Hazel and Vern.  John Riley was born in 1863, so he would have been around 3 or 4 years old when his family had laid out this $5000.)

bottom of p. 558, continuing to p. 559

The February term of 1867, of the Circuit Court, which convened on the 18th day of February, was held by Sewell Coulson as Judge pro tempore.  Jacob S.  Brodwell, who had been elected at the preceding October election, was Prosecuting Attorney.  The case of the State of Indiana against Haydon Cuppy, William W.  Rogers and James T.  Allen was tried by a jury and the defendants were acquitted.  Although it was claimed that over five hundred persons were present and witnessed the transaction, no witness was produced, although many were examined and testified that they were present and witnessed the hanging as previously stated, who were able to state who the parties were that hung the man.  The excitement and confusion seemed to have been so great that one one knew how or by whom the hanging was done.

(One last note.  Haydon Cuppy might be a mis-read of the manuscript records for Haydon Curry.  The towns of Shelburn and Farmersburg Indiana are located in Curry Township of Sullivan County Indiana.  The township was named for its first non-native settler some 50 years earlier and by this time there were many Curry descendants living there. I have not ascertained whether there were both Curry and Cuppy families settled around there.)