Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1865-12-01


Joseph s. Beegle, sasora--I was in town
on Saturday afternoon; saw Grouse after the
fight at Groves hotel he told soldier then
that their boys up there said they could take
their jackets off them, there were eight or
ten soldiers present, I stopped at Grove
when I saw the crowd there; the soldiers
swore the Reed colldn't do it; Grouse told
them they'd better go up and they started
and | started ahead Of them and saw John
?. Reed before the door; H. ?. Reed, Sr.l
| told him that he better go in the soldiers
were coming up and they might raise anoth-
er fuss. He went in and shut the door. |
sat on the steps of Reeds house and the
soldiers and Grouse came up to the halter
shop where Grouse stopped and the soldiers
came on mp to tho. J8ssabs sshe soldiers stood
before the house then and swore they were
the boys that could take the jackets off Of
them; they didn't see any body, and | said
how would you ike it, it looks like if you
were going to mob body; the soldiers said
they should come out and take the jackets
off them if they could.
VIM. Rush, stoora-I was at the court
house an Saturday evening after the first
difficulty; the soldiers met in front of the
court house and William Rifle got up and
proposed to ride Reeds boys and the cop
perheads out of town; the soldiers went
down street; this meeting was before dark;
/ then came up street after dark and there
were some soldiers and others at Reeds house
| did not tell John P Reed of this; I know
the soldiers were there after John p. Reed;
John 2. Reed, ST. was there; was there
couple of minutes The soldiers were talk
ing about John P, talking against him; /
don remember that saw John p Reed ir
that evening; | think 1 saw him sitting on
chair that evening; / remember now very
well told Reed jr of this vote.
Cross s-eeananed-The soldiers were not
very noisy at the time they were at Reed S;
| they were noisy when they were at the
court house; George Gray was present at
the meeting at the Court house.
George Gray, S,oora-I was at the sol
diers meeting at the court house; the sci
diers appointed committee to wait upon
j. p. Reed and order him to leave town.
That is all l heard there and the soldiers
started down street
Cross-eramined-I was with the soldiers at
the meeting as long as Rush was; we fol-
lowed the crowd down street to see what
was to be done, the crowd separated, I
saw j. p. Reed on his fathers door steps
nothing said to him in my hearing.
jacob Reed re-called-Defts mother was
at her window crying they will kill him; l
told her it was all over; there was some
thing said l didn't hear; Grouse after a
momentary pause followed j. ?. Reed down
street, / was at the house of J. p Reed
when the soldiers came, one made motions
toJ. P indicating to him that he wanted to
see him the soldiers said toJ. p. that they
understood that he said that hecould whip
any one in their company j. p. Reed de-
claimed anything of the kind, he IT, p. J
said he'd gone about town as gentleman
that he always tried to act as gentleman
He appeared to satisfy them that he didn't
make such challenge.
| Several soldiers were now standing just
off the pavement; they appeared consider
ably excited; stepped out to talk to them,
inquired why they came there; they said
that Grouse and others told them or some
thing to that effect, that John ?. said he
could whip any of them; | told them that
Grouse was quarrelsome man, that he told
an untruth, that it was for the purpose Of
taking up his quarrel that he'd got them
there, that he was man of no character
and no respectable men associate with him.
Mr.. Shires and Mr.. Jordan son appeared
anxious to get up the fight; the soldiers left
on Saturday night | was in my store; Sam
Defbaugh came in; / went up to Reeds tC
place them upon their guard, and as Johr
Pwas at my house and we sentSchell down tC
give information to John z. | heard some
one screaming and ran thitherward. lwent
into the crowd to hunt up John ?. to get
him away; there were fifteen or twenty sol
diers there; they were rushing through tht
crowd saying where is the damned rascal
the damned REBEL" | told them there wal
no damned traitor or damned rebel there
The first sight got of John 2. was wheI
he, in STOPPING posture was trying, to ge
out of the crowd, and Grouse was trying tt
rush on him, as Grouse was about to sprint
on him he threw himself forward and strucl
him and knocked Grouse back; John p. wa
Immediately taken away by his friends; thel
turned my attention to the soldiers; | saw
Schell soon after, he appeared to be hur
very badly; this was between s and 8 o clock
Schelps face and neck seemed to be swollen
John p was kept at my house till afte
eleven that night; | went home with him;
, was at my brothers house very frequently
! was in my bank at the time of the killing;
! heard the report of pistol; it didn't startl
me much until saw Mengel ReeG run pas
: my door; we rushed to the door; the frs
E thing that met my sight was Grouse oT
hands and knees; did not observe John T
but Mengel Mengel was standing % or 81
feet this side of Grouse; | saw Grouse
coat on the post; saw Crouse's hand whi
in his declining posture, covering a ston
,, larger than the one produced to the Court
| saw John P. next day; he suffered much;
did not see the state of his body.
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