Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-12-22
BOUR's BLOOD.
Arrival Of tile Four Men Charged
with Having Shed 1t.
The Circumstantial Evidence
upon which They were
Committed.
Fun and Interesting Details of
the Grundy County Horror.

liminary examination at Tracy City, and
, failing to give the required bond were com
mitted for trial before the Grurdy County
Circnit Court, which meets on the third
Monday in next month.
Soon after the arrival of the accused, a
UNION AND AMEMcAN reporter had a
talk with them, when the entire party ex-
pressed themselves as being confident of
their ability to prove their innocence Of
the charge. They assert that the prosecu-
ton is malicious, and that they will have
no difficulty in proving an abb.
w. III. Hampton is an attorney, is mar
RED and has a wife and three children.
He was born and reared in GruDdy county,
and is thity-two years of age. His man
ner is easy, and he uses good anguaee.
ID. w. PurdOm, the elder of the two
brothers Of that name, is twenty two years
Of age. He is unmarried and was born in
Hamilton county, though for the past if
teen years he has resided in Grundy. He
has been guarding eonvicts and was so en-
gage1 when arrested at Tracy City.
George Myers is a farmer, thiny-twO
years Of age. He is married and has wife
and six children. He was born and reared
in Grundy county.
B. 5. PurdOm is the youngest Of the
1
presents quite boyish appearance, with a
perfectly smooth face. light hair and blue
eyes. He has lived all his life on a farm
in Grundy county.
All of the party were dressed plainly but
comfortably, and presented what may be
| termed a respectable appearance
THE STORY OF THE MURDER.
On Monday night, Nov. 80, about IL
O'Clock, or a little before the servant Girl
had gone to bed, she heard a voice in front
of the store, and near her front window
her room being on the ground floor and
next TO the STORYTELLING for Mr.. BOur.
She states that the voice called him several
times and called in English. She stepped
to her window, or door, and told the party
| calling that Mr.. Bour would be down in a
few minutes he was in bed up stairs. BOur
came down and went 10 the store door. On
opening it, found the lattice gate Of his
| porch open, and stepped TO shut it, when
he saw what he at first supposed negrO's
face, and stepped back 10 get into the
store, when the man advanced and ordered
him to halt. BOur by this time discovered
that the face was masked. This alarmed
him, and being unarmed, he hastend to
| shut the door, out before he could do so
| the masked man fired, the ball striking him
between the sixth and seventh ribs,
passing through the liver, some
Of the intestines, and the kid
neys, | believe. THIS was the fatal shot.
BOur Immediately ran into the room where
the servant girl anG his housekeeper were,
exclsiming, Il am shot, !" and sat down for
a moment or two in chair, but feeling, no
| doubt, that his wound was fatal, and
showing that whoever had shot him had,
beyond all doubt, pursued him into the
| store, and might the next moment rush into
| that room and kill him there, and perlAps
the two women, be got up and sought to
escape by passing again into the back part
Of the stOre-roOm and out at the back door
To reach the house of Mr.. Bursch, who
lived about twenty or forty yards distant in
the same lot. As he reached and was open
ing the back door, he was, shot again, the
ball striking him in the thigh, inficiing
only flesh wound of no serious nature.
He succeeded, however, in getting out and
running over to Bursch's, who, by this
time, had been awakened by the report Of
firearms, for they had gone to bed.
BOur escaping, left only the two unprO-
tected women in the store, and the great
wonder is, that these assaSsInS did not rush
into the room and dispatch them and plum
der the whole establishment. This they
doubtless would have done bad not BOur
eluded them. But, being fearful that
Bursch might at any moment empty the
contents of dOuble-barrel shot gun upon
them; and that the loud cries of "murIer,"
smurder, would awake the inmates of |.
two or three houses, within four or five |
hundred yards, they, no doubt, thought it |
best for their safety to get away from there, |
and so beat hasty retreat, without having |
succeeded in getting into the money
drawer Of the store, or into the pOstOffiCe,
iD which is mOney-Order Office.
The lower end Of the counter, in viii il /
was the money-drawer, is about even with
the door of the room where the women
were, and the young woman testified that
she saw the dark figure Of a man, by the
dim light of the candle which BOur had
left on the counter, pass around the end of
the counter by her door, toward the money
drawer. There is a part OF he evidence,
right here, which we will not give 10 the
public for prudential reasons.
Upon examination of the ground, there
was found, in the rear of the house, the
tracks of two men, who were evidently
running away, which passed 10 the fence
and over into the main AltamOnt road at
y /
five-fIom and to the right of the front Of
the store. The men who were at the front,
who did the shooting. evidently made their
escape by running through gate leading
into the lot where the stables were, across
a piece of grassland, and through a field
of plOwed ground, where they were tracked
10 lane which opens into the main Alta
mont road not far from where the other two
men got over the fence.
It was just about where the two men got
over the fence who came from the rear Of
he house, that the mask was found the
morning after Bour was shot; there was
also found heavy hickory stick, or cane,
at tue fence where the two tracks stopped,
which one of the men no doubt dropped in |
bis haste to get over and away from the
scene of his terrible crime
Of course, the first question asked after
he murder came to be known was: "Wlo
killed BOur?T The next question was:
'Who were away from home Monday
light?'
Why suspicion fell upon Hampton, Myers
and the two PurdOm brothers we DO not
know, unless it be that the two first
named have heretofore been. suspected
If other crimes; and the Purdom's,
lad been for some DAYS away from home, ,
eluding peace-warTant which an officer.
mad ready TO execute on them at the first
Certain il is they were Sus-
Dected and arrested-Hampton and Myers
On Tuesday, the other two on Wednesday
evening.
When arrested, Hampton was told that !
he was suspected, and asked to give full !
of where he was on Monday ,
night, that he might show his innocence. ,
His statement was that he staid at Geo.
Ayres'; that Myers and his wife occupied |
Dne bed and he the other. Myers and his !
wife state that the PurdOms did not stay
here Monday night; Hampton stated that
hey came in late that night, after he had !
gone to sleep, and got in bed with him. ,
The Purdoms state that they left there a
little before daylight; but they were seen !
within half or three fOuTths of a mile Of I
Tracy at a little before sunrise Tuesday
morning, distance Of fourteen miles from I
Geo. Myers, which distance they could I
not have travelled in the space Of time nell !
TONED, while Tracy is only seven or eight :
miles from the place where the murder I
was committed-a distance which l
hey would have just about made /
IN the time. Further, the Purdoms,
when questioned as to the route they tray
sled, gave almost entirely different roads.
Over each eye hole Of the mask was {
= III h. 4