“Murder Will Out”
The Murders of Tom Pickens and John Askew
Written by Justin D. Lamb
“Murder will out” is an old adage meaning the crime of murder will always become public and the culprit will eventually be caught. The phrase originated from a Middle Age inane superstition that a murderer’s identity would be revealed by fresh bleeding once they are placed near the corpse of their victim. The superstition origin may have been absurd, but the saying held true in September 1897 when Will Cato finally confessed to two heinous murders in a Princeton jail.
Will Cato was a renegade to say the least. He lived his life outside the law and spread his menace wherever he went. He lived his life on the rivers of western Kentucky and made his way by plundering, looting, and stealing ever chance he had. In the autumn of 1896, Cato drifted into Birmingham, located along the Tennessee River in Marshall County. After robbing a few homes and terrorizing the locals during one late October afternoon, Cato came upon the home of Tom Pickens, an elderly black man who lived in the Grubbs addition of Birmingham. Cato plundered the Pickens home, taking what he wanted and destroying the rest. He then took off through the woods behind the Pickens home and ran upon Tom Pickens gathering water in a nearby spring. Cato ambushed Pickens and brutally beat him before shooting him several times. The body was discovered the following day, but Cato had long since escaped across the river.
Authorities looked for Cato, but to no avail as he was successfully hiding out in Lyon County. Cato next turned up in September 1897 when he was employed by Cormick Dave Askew on his riverboat along the Tennessee River. Cato took up with another employee, John Holley, and the two began to hatch a plot to steal Askew’s money and take over his boat. Shortly after midnight on September 19, Cato and Holley began to execute their evil plans. Askew docked the boat at the Star Lights community just across the river from Birmingham. After Askew turned in for the night, Holley left the boat and brought back two large stones weighing twenty pounds apiece from a nearby bluff. Cato secured a large double bit axe, and after Askew dozed off to sleep, he struck Askew in the head with several painful blows. Authorities later recounted “Askew’s head was crushed to jelly and his brains laid bare.” To dispose of the body, Cato with the help of Holley tied the large rock to the Askew’s arm and another to the opposite leg. They rowed the boat to the middle of the Tennessee River and threw Askew’s body into the deep turbid waters. Both thought they had got away with the heinous crime as Askew’s body sunk to the bottom of the river.
However, suspicions began to rise in the following weeks by local farmers who had regular business relations with Askew and had noticed his absence and questioned Cato and Holley’s takeover of the riverboat. Askew’s body was found once it washed up to shore and the Lyon County Sheriff was contacted. Cato and Holley were questioned, and after the murder axe was found, the two were taken into custody. The community became outraged and a lynch mob was organized and descended upon the jail. The sheriff ordered Cato and Holley to be moved to a Princeton jail for safe keeping. After arriving in Princeton, Cato confessed to murder of Askew and Pickens.
The Lyon County Circuit Judge ordered Cato and Holley to be tried separately. Holley was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment in Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville. Cato’s trial came next and as the Commonwealth Attorney concluded his arguments by stating “It was one of the most cold blooded murders ever committed. The details of the murder are most revolting and display a blood thirstiness almost incredible.” The jury agreed and Cato was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. Shortly after noon on Friday, November 25, 1898, Will Cato paid for his crime as he was hanged in front of a large disorderly crowd in Eddyville.