NEARLY BIT OFF HIS EAR
P. W. Oliver (colored), of Roanoke, was on Tuesday ordered to be arrested and presented by the city school board upon the charge of assaulting D. W. Harth, principal of the Fifth Ward colored school, while the school was in session, and nearly biting off one of the  ears.  Oliver, it seems, was angry with Harth because he (Harth) had suspended his daughter, as a pupil in the school, for disobedience to orders.
(The Lexington Gazette, Jan. 12, 1898. Submitted by Linda Rodriguez)

REASON DETHRONED
Mr. Paul, whose wife was so badly burned some days ago, and who has been a constant watch night and day at her bedside, became deranged Monday night and injured his little girl by striking her on the head.  At 4 o’clock Tuesday morning Policeman James Walker summoned a number of men, who, with great difficulty, arrested him. The unfortunate man is now confined in the county jail.
(The Lexington Gazette, Jan. 12, 1898. Submitted by Linda Rodriguez)

ESCAPED FROM JAIL
The two colored prisoners in jail here for breaking in a store in Goshen some time ago, made a second attempt Sunday night to break jail. They followed the same plan of escape as before by trying to dislodge the stones of the wall. Jailer Jackson removed the prisoners to another room and chained them for security. Mr. Jackson went into the cell this morning to fix a stove pupe when one of the prisoners who had not yet gotten up, and who had by some means released himself from his chains, sprang from the bed, ran downstairs and succeeded in escaping.
(The Lexington Gazette, Jan. 19, 1898. Submitted by Linda Rodriguez)