The Van Buren press., 1869-05-18
Cool.Bloodod Nardsr.

uIiuhiuS S6toOu, WAS StaEtlcu on MOuu6f
afternoon, of last week, by the report of
two pistol shots. On investigation, we
found it was produced from pistol in
the hands of John Read. of Fayetteville,
who had shot and mortally wounded
A. Bledsoe, Of Bentonville. 1t appears
from what we could learn, the cause Of
the shooting, grew out of an old affair Of
gamblmg 1t seems that, sometime last
Fall, Bledsoe won horse from Read,
and rather than to give up the horse
Read agreed to pay Bledsoe S75 instead
On Monday the parties met here at the
saloon above mentioned, and Bledsoe
asked Read for the money Read denied
owing it; Bledsoe then asked Read if he
would swear to it, and Read said he would !;
Bledsoe then said, you would swear to
a damnd lic Whereupon, Read stepped
to the door of the saloon and drew his
pistol and turned and shot twice at Bled-
soe-the first shot taking effect in the
throat, causing almost instant death
Read was armed with two six shooters
and no doubt premeditated committing
the murder, as he had been requested
several times to lay off his arms, in ac-
cordance with the provision of City
Ordinance, but persistently refused. Az
ter he had fired the fatal shots, he walk
ed up to the store Of d. c. Williams d
Co.'S. and stole from there horse, which
he got on to and road off, in the face ofa
hundred witnesses. After he had got
out Of town a faint attempt to capture by
the officers Of the law was made, but
without success Read was here in at
tendance on the U. S. Court as a juror,
we believe. He has been standing juror
for the past four years-either petit or
grand, in the U. S. Court; whether to
the credit of the officers Of the court or
not, we leave it, for the public to Judge
The evidence before the Coroners jury
gave not an extenuating circumstance for
the committing Of the murder. Rledsoe,
was young man probably % years old
and has father residing at Bentonville.
Read is also young man and resides in
Washington county, and We believe has
family, and is well connected. This is
but one Of the bitter fruits Of the gamb-
ling table.
The following is the evidence before
the Coroners Jury, and their verdict:
Linzy Gibson being sworn deposeth
and saith: | came into the saloon and
Bryant asked me to take = drink. Reed
was in there at the time. Reed said he
was the fastest man in town, and said that
he had been scared out of game by men
coming in and crowding him out, etc,
but he would settle it. Just then Bled-
soc came in and says let's settle it now,
and asked Reed if he did not owe him
(S75) seventy five dollars. Reed said
no. Bledsoe asked him if he would swear
it, Reed said yes. Bledsoe said when he
sworc that, he swore a damned lie. Reed
stepped to the door and turned and fired
a shot al Bledsoe, and Bledsoe fell, and
pvvu 81 sccuuu srUt.
a Marcum being g.sworn deposeth and
saith: L was standing in the saloon
Aen heard Bledsoe say to Reed, Don't
You owe me (s75) seventy-fve dollars
Reed said no. Bledsoe asked him if he
could swear it, Reed said yes. Bledsoe
said he would not swear lie for ($75)
seventy five dollars. At this | stepped
outside on the walk between the two
doors; while standing there / heard a
shot fred, stepped to the door and saw
Bledsoe lying on the floor bleeding. /
know the deceased very well, deceased
is blacksmith by trade and had worked
IN his fathers shop at Bentonville; he also
work with NE in my shop at that place
| suppose, from what l heard deceased
say, that there had been some previous
difficulty between them.
We, the jury, find that Alonzo Blcdsoc,
deceased, came to his death by pistol
shot ;;v the hands Of John Reed said
shot tokino effect in the neck, about one
inch below the chin on the left side ofthe
windpipe, the bali making its exit close
to the fourth cervicai vertebrs, partially
fracturing the same, causii.g almost I'm
mediate death. This 10th day OF May.
1859, A. ID.
John H. Dcchcrd, Foreman.
j. S. Lane, j. p Lane,
Is. G.. Joice, NJ w. Warden,
Mathew Horn, r. w. Davis,
f. A. Bcller, Jas. Z. Barnes,
David Dugan, James Hinkle,
Frank Kinney.
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