Daily national Democrat., 1859-09-08
A Serious and Bloody AGray.


difficulty, Joe McGee, was brought into town
in an express wagon and laid on the porch of
the ST. Nicholas Hotel. Doctor Gray was
summoned to see him, and soon after he was
removed to a room in the hotel up stairs.
As soon as we could obtain mode of con.
veyance, we went to the scene of blood, and
obtained from an eye witness Of the transac-
tion the following information. This wit
ness states, that after the polls at the pre-
cinct at Lands Ranch were opened and
| few votes cast, R. NJ Turner Benjamin Tur-
ner. Alfred Turner and Richard Thomas, and
several other parties being present, besides
the Board of Judges, James Simpson arrived,
and as soon as he stepped on the porch to de-
posit his vote, r NJ. Turner, struck at him
with large hickory stick The first blow
Simpson lodged The second struck him on
the head, when Simpson clinched with his
assaiant, and either threw him or forced
him back into the door of an adjoining room.
! As soon as r. NJ. Turner struck at Simpson,
the other Turner's and Richard Thomas drew
l tANiA MtaDOuSS anu W Nlt hAlhi Ial Wy az
McGee, who had come upon the ground from
/ the city. Soon after, firing commenced, but
witness cannot say who commenced shooting
first MeGee, who appeared to be a friend
Of Simpson, was out numbered and shot by
some of the crowd, the ball taking effect in
the abdomen Then, Benjamin Turner ran
into the room where r. NJ. Turner and Simp-
son were struggling, Simpson being on top,
and putting his pistol within foot of Simp-
2on's side, fred the ball passing through en-
tering his right side near the right nipple
and coming out lower down on the left,
lodging in the skin. Simpson exclaimed that
he was shot, and asked the contestants to let
him-alone r. NJ. Turner then got on him
and commenced beating him. After much
difficulty, r. NJ. Turner was taken off In
the meantime, most of the persons on the
porch had left, two of them being wounded
slightly, with mere harmless injuries of the
skin. Turner remarked, after the shooting
was over, that tsSmpson insulted him every
time he met him, and that moreover he was
the cause of the death of brother of hi,
Turner's who was killed by Mike Gray in
1855, in Marysvie. Seeing the bad condi
tion of Simpson, R. NJ Turner urged tho
sending for doctor Immediately.
During the melee, McGee fired four shots
at Thomas and the Turner's, none of which
took effect, and was himself shot, as above
recorded, in the abdomen, the wound being
in the region Of the pelyis bone. 1t is sup.
posed that Ale Turner was the one who shot
McGee. McGee was also shot in the right
arm-a mere flesh wound-and this NAV
have been the cause of his wild shooting
Women and children were screaming in and
around the house, balls were flying, striking
, the posts of the porch ard the gate, and go
ing through the roof of the porch, as the pis
tolls were knocked up, and a general scene o.
dire confusion prevailed.
The above is one account. Another is
that Joe McGee began the entire difficulty
drawing first, shooting first, and creating the
, impression that he and Simpson had come fol
a difficulty with the Turner'S, and intended
to do desperate and bloody work There
are other statements again. conflicting with
them, and it would be perhaps better for the
public to suspend their judgment in the mat
ter until a preliminary examination has been
had in the case and the true facts have been
sworn to as they occurred.
The cause of the difficulty, it would seem,
is an old feud which has existed between
Simpson and the Turner's since 1855. Dur
ing that year R. NJ. Turner was running on
the Know Nothing ticket for the Assembly.
Simpson was resolved to beat him, and issued
we believe a handbill, affidavit or something
of the kind, to the effect that r. NJ Turner
had put his (Turners) brand over the brand
of Simpson on some cattle belonging to the
latter and claimed them as his own. A
brother of Turner's during the formers TEN
porary absence approached Mike Gray, who
had reported Simpsons story, and fight en-
sued with pistols, in which Turner was killed
by shot from derringer in the hands OF
Mike Gray. Ever since that time there has
been no good feeling between the surviving
Turner's and the Simpsons they believing
that Simpson was the cause of their broth
er's death.
We left the scene of the difficulty at about
o'clock P. NJ, yesterday. At that time
Simpson was in great pain, bleeding profuse-
Iy, and suffering also from internal hemm-
horagc. His physicians are Doctors Watts
and Mcdaniel, and Dr. Gray called in for
consultation 1t was the opinion of one doe
tor that the ball had passed through only
one lung, while it was the opinion of the
other two that it had passed through both.
One of the doctors informed him (the wound
ed NAM short time before we left, that the
chances were against him and that he would
do well to prepare for DEATH He bore the
Information with fortitude, called his wife
and children around him, said few words
to them and left some instructions to friends
who were present, in relation to his worldly
affairs. At the same time, he expressed a
hope that he would survive the shock and
recover.
Upon returning to the city, we ascertained
that McGee was likely to recover from the
wounds which he had received. The fact Of
his missing, every shot that he fired, is to be
accounted for probably by the circumstance
of his having been shot in one of the mus
cles Of the right arm, in the beginning of