Isaac B. Desha
Shortly after his father's election as governor in 1824, Desha was accused of robbing and killing a man named Francis Baker, who was passing through Kentucky.
While awaiting a third trial, Desha attempted suicide by slitting his throat, but doctors saved his life, reconnecting his severed windpipe with a silver tube.
A legend soon arose that he had faked his death and fled to Hawaii, where he married a native woman and fathered several children.
[4] Shortly before Desha's election, the Kentucky Court of Appeals had struck down some legislation as unconstitutional that had been passed by the Relief Party, then a majority in the Assembly.
[5] After Desha was elected, Relief legislators, who held majorities in both houses of the General Assembly, attempted to remove the offending judges from office.
Editor of the Mississippian newspaper in Natchez, Baker was returning to his hometown of Trenton, New Jersey to marry a young woman there.
[9] Over breakfast, Baker mentioned wanting to visit a friend, Captain John Bickley, who lived in the area.
[10] Desha remarked that he knew where Bickley lived and, intending to ride in that direction, asked if Baker wanted to join him.
[10] Catching the horse, he rode it up the road, shortly finding Desha's riderless bay (which he recognized), with a saddle but no bridle.
[12] His unusual behavior continued to the point that Desha's pregnant wife Cornelia moved out of the house and refused to return.
Over the next few days, neighbors began to discover items along the route Desha and Baker had taken from Doggate's Tavern to Maysville.
[12] These included a bloody glove, a pair of saddlebags with the bottoms cut out, and Desha's missing horse bridle.
[12] On November 8, three men discovered a man's body – its upper half covered by a log – about 50 yards (46 m) off the road on the Fleming County side.
[13] The man wore a shirt, waistcoat, socks, and a single glove; a search of the area yielded pantaloons and a coat.
[13] Returning to search the area again, authorities found several changes of clothes and other accoutrements, all with marks identifying the owner cut out.
[14] Desha complied, showed no emotion when viewing Baker's body, and did not attempt to flee although left unguarded in the house.
[5] On November 24, State Representative John Rowan – a Relief partisan – introduced legislation in the Kentucky General Assembly ordering the Fleming Circuit Court to convene a special session in December for Desha's trial; it provided that, at the trial, Desha would be given the option of a change of venue from Fleming County, where he lived and the murder was committed, to Harrison County, where his father lived.
[18] Rowan, who had just been elected to the U.S. Senate, was Desha's primary defense counsel, assisted by the governor's Secretary of State (and later U.S.
[23] Throughout the court's March and June terms, a jury was unable to be empaneled due to the extreme publicity the case received.
[6] He set aside the verdict, ruling that the prosecution had failed to prove that the murder occurred in Fleming County, as charged in the indictment.
[27] Although legend holds that Governor Desha resigned immediately after issuing the pardon, records show that he served out the rest of his term.
[22] The pardon damaged the governor's reputation and that of the Relief Party, which lost a number of legislative seats in the subsequent elections.
[28] Crawford urged Desha to abandon his illegal activities and offered to give him free passage to New Orleans, Louisiana.
[28] Desha accepted, telling Crawford that he planned to travel on to a distant place, assume a new name, and seek a fresh start.
[28] Meeting an Ohio native named Thomas Early, he learned the man was carrying a substantial amount of money and was on his way to Texas to purchase some horses and mules.
[29] Desha joined Early, traveling with him on a schooner dubbed the Rights of Man across the Gulf of Mexico into Galveston Bay.
[29] After his death, a legend arose that he had not died, that his funeral was staged, and that he had escaped to Hawaii, married a native woman, and fathered several children with her.
