Elizabeth daily monitor. [volume] (Elizabeth, N.J.) 1868-1880, 1873-09-06
A BAD Town FOR SHOWS.


somebody is always killed when cir
Gus visits the place. Until the 18th
inst there had not been circus in
CRANKY since three years ago when
Lakes company exhibited there and the
proprietor, William Lake, was murder
ed. The man who killed Lake is well
known, but has never been brought to
trial for his crime. A reward of one
thousand dollars was offered by the
State for his capture, and he permitted
some of his friends to bring him in and
gain the reward. Having taken the
money they used portion of it to pay
somebody for stealing the Indictment
found against the murderer, who has
since gone at large without molesta-
ton.
On Monday of last week another show
put in an appearance in CRANKY, attract
ing great crowd from the surrounding
country. The grog shops were literally
patronized, but the day passed without
any serious breach of the peace. There
were number of unruly characters
about, however, and among these, says
a correspondent OF the Missouri Repub-
lican, was brother of the man who
killed Lake. During the afternoon he
staggered through the main street of
the town, defiantly fiourishing his pis-
toll, boasting that his brother had made
name for himself by killing show
man, and he, too, was going to kill
somebody. Peaceful people prudently
kept out of the way, and night came
without a fight or disturbance.
At night, however, the performance
in the circus was interrupted by the
sound of noisy disturbance off to one
side of the tent. High words were
heard passing between negro and a
white, who could be but imperfectly
distinguished in the audience Very
few words seemed to pass between them,
and attention had scarcely been direct,
ed to tho point of the quarrel, when the
sharp report of pistol was heard, fol-
lowed by others in quick succession.
At the first shot scene of the widest
uproar and confusion arose. Women
shrieked and children began to cry and
cling to those around them. Men III sh-
ed hither and thither blindly, some
seeking the door and others hurying
to the quarter of the ARRAY. For a
time it was impossible to tell what had
happened, and who or how many were
hurt. After while, however, when
the frightened women and children had
been quoted. and the dazed men brought
back to their senses, it was discovered
that an estimable citizen, clothing
merchant named M. Schmidt, had been
MORALLY wounded, another man severe
ly hurt, and a negro also badly wound
ed. Besides these q Mrs. Sweet had
received an ugly shot in her arm, and
another lady was slightly grazed by a
ball.
Nobody seemed to know who fired
the first shot. After the first words
were heard between white man and a
negro, man named Hall was seen to
place pistol at the head of the negro
The cap missed fire, however, and then
q man named Killegan fired at the
negro, hitting him in the neck. A Sec
ond shot after this took effect in the
negro's breast, and third in his chin.
Other shots were fired simultaneously
and rapidly. The parties engaged in
the ARRAY discharged their weapons
with most reckless disregard of the
hundreds of people standing in such
dangerous proximity to them.
In the confusion which this random
shooting created, the guilty parties
managed to make their escape. Armed
and mounted men at the last accounts
were securing the country in search of
the fiends, and every effort will be made
to bring them to justice. A reward of
four hundred dollars has been offered,
but the feeling in the community is so
intense that ii they are captured the law
will scarcely be permitted to take its
slow and uncertain course, but instant
and summary punishment will very
likely be inflicted, as the courts are
either powerless or unwilling to deal
with the desperadoes who have had
their own way in the region of CRANKY
for several years, committing many
murders in that time.