Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1865-08-04
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yosT MARSHAL CRoUsE SHOT DEAD IN THE
STREET on TrEspag NoMaSG-Hls MURDER
eRs ARRESTED A3D lN 1AfT..--For the first time
in the histo.y of opT borough a man has been
murdered in our streets The awful tragedy
created intense excitement, business was sus-
pended, crowds assembled in the streets and
active steps were taken to arrest the murder
ers. We Will endeayor in a far and impartial
uauner TO give nn account Of the circnmstan-
ees which led to the commission Of the horrid
deed.
John ?. Reed, Jr., and Mengel Reed,
sons Of John r. Reed, ESD. an old citizen Of
this borough, and formerly Prothonotary Of
this county, are charged With the commission
ofthis heinous crime John p Reed, jr., di-
rectly after the breaking ont Of the rebellion
visited Canada and studied law in. the Office Of
Canadian Barrister While there he was
drafted. The general impression among all
classes in this community was that he had
cone to Canada to avoid the military service
Of the United States. Immediately after
President Lincoln issued his Proclamation
irving deHnquents until certain date to re-
mort his friends got permission to pay comnlu-
tadorfor haa and IN . short time thereafter
he returned to this place. Mengel Reed, in
the latter part Of June, 1863, in company with
Briuton Lyon went >McConnellsburg, Full
ton county, IN time to join, or as his friends
allege, to be pressed into the rebel service.
He was captured BY our men at the battle of
Gettysburg and confined at Fort Delaware,
where he was found by his friends, and efforts
made to secnre his release, which we're sue
cessful. The evidence in favor of his having
zone into the rebel service voluntarily was so
strong that few persons, if any, doubted it.
This being the case he was generally regar
Ged as a traitor and treated as such by Union
men For the last two years he has spent the
greater part of his time in Philadelphia study
lug medicine, only returning here at intervals
Of several months to spend few days. He
returned here on the Sd Of July last, and he
Was notified by sene Of the returned soldiers
to leave in a few hours. The soldiers were,
however, prevailed upon not TO molest him
and he has remained from that time until the
present.
On last Saturday afternoon as Jacob Grouse
passed the Mengel House, Mengel Reed was
standing in front Of it on the side walk. Mr..
Grouse remarked How are you, Johnny r.
aud passed on. As he crossed the alley North
of the Hotel he heard Reed call to him to
stop and he would cane him. Grouse halted
and told him that he would not need to 20 any
further to doitathan just there. At this point
John p Reed, jr. ran in and struck Grouse
A scufie ensued in which Grouse aud Reed
were precipitated to the ground with the ad-
vantage in favor Of Reed. The friends Of
Reed rallied to the spot to the number of ten
to one, and readily assisted him to maintain
any advantage that he might have acquired,
but the moment Grouse began to recover then
they we're parted. Grouse told the writer of
this article that he was kicked number Of
times by Reeds friends aud that he was under
the impression that he had been hit once
tith a cane. While the affair was in progress
cries appeared to come from all sides ''Now
you've got him, kill himl'' XIII the id
son Of "a b-h!'' The Tesultw heralded as
triumph for the Reeds. About O'Clock
the same evening as ScheH Reed was passing
the Western Union Telegraph Office, Grouse
mistook him for his brother, John p. Reed,
m. and,attaeked him. The latter came to the
assistance of his brother but finding the quar-
ters decidedly too hot be beat Hasty retreat,
while the other was left off with very little in
jury.
Here the matter rested until last Tuesday
morning, the lst Of August. Grouse, it APP
pears, had given over all idea of any further
diHeultyts Ineeonyersation that morning with
his wife he expressed his regrets at what had
passed, stating that if he had it to do over
again he would not do it. lie expressed
himself as being very sorry that he had mis-
took schel Reed for his brother, but said
he sit IS all over now, there viii be no more
ofit" He came down street and as he pas
sed Mann corner be met his murderer. We
present the facts elected beiore the Coroner's
Inquest.
A few words passed between them, Grouse
took Off his coat and threw il on post near
By, Reed reached to his side and presented a
pistol, Grouse reached for and obtained two
stones. and for moment regarded the move
ments of his antagonist In the meantime
Reed had cooked his pistol Grouse hest
tating no longer threw a stone striking Reed
on the hip, and in moment more Reed aimed
aud discharged his pistol and Grouse sank to
the earth and expired in few minutes Men
gel Reed appears to have been on the alert aud
hurried to the scene Of action with stone in
his hand, which he poised to throw in case
Grouse should attempt 70 rise Holding It IN
this position several seconds and finding that
Grouse could net recover he hurried away.
A large crowd assembled at once and deman-
ded the surrender OF the perpetrators Of this
horrible crime, and they were promptly sur
rendered to the authorities AMI lodged in jail
to await their trial, or TO escape, as we learn
they haze not been put in irons. One hall
the culprits coa6ned in the Jail for the las
three years have escaped and we cannot ex
pect greater effort to retain these criminal;
than usual.
Thus ended this horrible tragedy. It was
shown that Reed had told-a number Of per
sons that he would shoot him and that he hat
been practicing on Monday during good par
ofthe day. A post Dportem examination wa
made upon the body OF Grouse BY Drs. J. L
9aFbourg and William Watson, with the fol
lowing result
The ball entered below the left shoulder