James Chastaine

James Chastaine

• James Chastaine was born circa 1847 in Georgia.
• He married Elizabeth Huldah Myrick, daughter of John T. Myrick and Rebecca L. Kilbee, circa 1869.
• The following appeared on 19 June 1875 in the Augusta Daily Chronicle & Sentinal: [Memphis Avalanche, June 15.] The fact transpired more than three weeks since that James A. Chastaine, for several years past cashier for Ely, Harvey & Richardson, had been systematically robbing his employers, but for satisfactory reasons the newspapers consented to temporarily withhold the details from the public. The sums stolen, directly or indirectly, aggregated about $10,000, the greater portion of which it is understood has been secured to the firm through assignment of property owned by Chastaine here and elsewhere. On the 6th instant Chastaine left, ostensibly for Georgia, where he has relatives, but he took the early morning train on the Little Rock Railroad, and was soon heard of in Little Rock and Hot Springs. Meanwhile, it came to light that he had forged the signatureof Mr. Thad. S. Ely, of the firm, to a note or acceptance for $500, and endeavored to sell it to one of his (Chastaine's) most intimate friends; who, however, suspecting that all was not right, declined to purchase. This fact determined the firm to arrest Chastaine. He was overhawled in Hot
  Springs, a few days since, but before a requisition could reach Governor Garland he was released on a writ of habeas corpus. His first act thereafter was to ship his trunk to St. Louis; his next to "break" for the woods, the better to avoid another arrest. At last accounts he had not been rearrested. Chastaine is a Georgian by birth, and what is known as a "fast man," spending money on himself and friends lavishly, and has been generally esteemed by his friends a "good fellow." It is said that this is not his first crime, but that he stole several thousand dollars from a former employer in Georgia some years ago, but his relatives made up the deficit and stopped the prosecution.
• James Chastaine died in March 1881 in Montgomery, Alabama.
• The following appeared on 2 April 1881 in The Macon Daily Telegraph: Press dispatches in the Telegraph, of Thursday, contained brief particulars of the killing in Montgomery, by the police, of James Chastaine, a noted burglar and penitentiary convict, who bore the alias of Sutton, while under arrest and being conducted to the barracks by Capt. Martin and officer Jones, attempting to break from custody, was shot twice, from effects of which he died.
        Saturday night last, Chastaine entered the residence, in Eufaula, of Mr. J. G. Guice, and robbed it of about $1,800 worth of watches, diamonds, etc.
       The home was entered through a parlor window opening on the front porch, and it will be seen from the followingt account taken from the Eufaula Bulletin that there were two Macon young ladies visiting Mr. and Mrs. Guice at the time, and their room was entered by the burglar: He went up stairs to the sleeping room of Mr. Guice and wife and stole from a bureau drawer several valuable articles of jewelry and a watch, all belonging to Mrs. Guice. He also took out of the room the clothing which Mr. G. had worn, and taking them down into the parlor rifled the pockets of their contents. He also entered the room occupied by Miss Lucia Etheridge and Miss May Bonner, both of Macon, Ga., who are now the guests of Mr. and Mrs. Guice, but fortunately those young ladies had left their jewelry in the keeping of Mrs. Drewry for the night, and the thief succeeded in getting only the purse of Miss Etheridge, containing a small sum of money, and her handsome memorandum book, which the rascal mistook for another purse, as, after leaving the house, he threw the book down on the sidewalk. After going through the upper rooms of the house, the thief then came down stairs and walked from the parlor into a room just back of it, occupied by Mr. John Drewry, a lad of nineteen or twenty years, who heard him when he entered and saw the light of the dark lantern the thief was using as it flashed in the room, but as Mrs. Drewry or the Doctor were frequently in the habit of entering the room at night with a light, John thought nothing of it, and lay still. The thief then removed some buttons from John's shirt, and after knocking about the room awhile went out. When young Drewry heard him go out on the front porch, he knew it was a stranger about the house, and seized the gun, and making after the intruder, fired at him just as he left the gate.
       The following are the principal articles stolen: One pair of handsome Etruscan gold bracelets; one pair of ear-rings of solitaire diamonds; one lady's diamond breast pin containing eleven diamonds; one lady's gold necklace; one Etruscan gold locket; one lady's double-case gold watch and gold chain; one lady's small chain necklace of Etruscan gold and carved ear-rings, about 1-1/2 inches in circumference; one pair Etruscan gold-carved ear-rings; three lady's gold scarf pins; one gent's gold hunting case patent lever watch, No. 332,457, with "J. J. Guice, Eufaula, Ala..," carved on the inner case. One gent's heavy gold watch chain, etc. /P/ Chastaine left Eufaula Sunday, after the entrance the night before into Mr. Guice's residence, and went to New Orleans and returned to Montgomery Tuesday. It is believed he pawned some of the stolen jewelry in New Orleans, as a pawn-broker's ticket was found on his person. He had on a new black cloth suit and hat when he returned, and $60 in money, with which he paid his board bill, and some other little debts there. There are no developments as to what has been done with the silver plate and other articles not recovered.
       We understand that a portion of the jewelry stolen from Mrs. Guice has been recovered. Chastaine, the dead burglar, was well connected, well educated and a man of the world. He married a Miss Myrick, of Mariana, Florida, some ten or twelve years since, a daughter of John T. Myrick, a prominent merchant of that place, and one of the best families in Florida. He is said to have been born and raised in Lee county, Georgia, but it is not known certainly where the place of his nativity is.

• Last Edited: 7 Jun 2015