The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-03-31
THE TERRELL TRACEY.
THE FATAL ENCOUNTER.

L
THE FATAL ENCOUNTER.
THE BEGINNING OF THE rRoUBLE--THE Dl
VoRCE SUIT AND THE EXAsPERATIgG CUES
| TIoN-CoL. TERRELL's RELATIONS WITH M
| VIcTIM-THE SCENE OF THE SHOOTING
TESTIMONY AT THE CoRoNER's Inquest.
A terrible tragedy occurred in Covington
Kentucky, on Saturday, the 18th instant, tn,
scene of the shooting taking place in the of
flee of Stevenson, Myers & Co. From tn,
Cincinnati Commercials statement of the
affair, and also from the testimony ELECTED
at the coroner's inquest, we obtained the fol,
lowing facts: During last December. while
Col. w. q. Terrell was acting as the Covipg-
ton reporter of the Commercial he was
stabbed by young man named Francis
from the effects of which he had not fully
recovered at the time of committing this
crime. Col. Terrell says that he has been
exceedingly i'll ever since he was stabbed bv
young Francis. His physicians have been of
the opinion that there was an abscess FORM
ing in his liver, which was probably scraped
by the knife. He has been unable for more
than month to lie in bed, and could sleep
only in chair.
There has been, since 1870, a suit for d.
vorce, brought by. his wife. Concerning
this suit Colonel Terrell has been very SEN
sitive and reticent. He has believed that the
lawyers of his wife were protracting the mat
ter maliciously, and he has blamed them
for the failure to settle the case, which grew
out of infrmities of temper on bis part
and the displeasure of his stepson at the dis
position of some property which belonged
TO his mother. The stepson is Mr. John M.
Thornton. At the time that Colonel Terrell
was in peril of his life after being stabbed
by Francis, there was hope of
RECONCILIATION WITH HIS WIFE,
And he received evidences of sympathy from
his stepson. He thought he had reason to
believe that the attorneys of his wife Thar.
veY Myers and Oliver Root)were response
BILE for the continuance of the proceedings.
Terrell had personal difficulties at different
times with both Myers and Root. One diff.
Guilty with Myers occurred some years since
but that was settled. Again he had some
difficulty with Myers, and talk of duel was
had, and finally the matter was settled by
agreeing to decide their trouble by the code
in such cases, and after they had come to the
understanding that they would settle this
difficulty between them under the code, Ter
rell had constantly treated Myers with the
greatest courtesy. He considered, that ow-
ing to the engagement between them, it was
necessary and becoming that they should
recognize each other as gentlemen. Myers
had, he considered, so recognized him. in
agreeing to give him satisfaction in a gentle
manly way tor the grievance that he had
caused him.
Owing to the extreme delicacy of his
health and his great suff5rlngs, Colonel
Terrell had made arrangements to leave the
city last evening. He intended to go TO
Brookville, Ind, thence to Indianapolis,
and thence to Greencastle, proposing to
thus break the journey to Greencastle, be
cause he feared that he might not be able to
"a hot fo inn rrClx n
ant for him to finish taking deposition
yesterday. He was very anxious 20 get it
done before he left for Indiana, feeling that
there was some uncertainty about his return.
During the time that Col. Terrell had ex-
hibited the intirmities of temper that, in
connection with other causes, led to the di-
vorce suit, he had suffered terribly from
neuralgia disease, and in the examination OF
medical expert called in the case, he had
had the question asked as to the tendency
OF neuralgia disease to produce irritability,
and cause unpleasant exhibitions of ;em-
per. On looking at the questions yesterday
morning, prepared for the cross-examinatiOn
of this medical expert, Terrell found, writ
ten in the handwriting of Myers, an inquiry
il it was not the tendency of syphilis to pro-
duce these neuralgia disorders that resulted
in this loss of command over the
temper. This was an inquiry that was
EXTREMELY EXAsPERATING
To Terrell, for it was evidently meant to in.
sinuate that he had been sufferer from
syphilis. The extreme irritability of Terrell
on this subject arises in part from the fact
that he has, for some years, had a personal
deformity in his face, the resultof a cancer
Gus affection of the nose. Terrell was ex.
ceedingly wrought up, by his sense of wrong
towards the attorneys of his wife. He be-
lieved that he would have been reconciled to
her and that all would have been we'll again
in his family relations if it had not been for
them. He thought also, considering the re-
lations between himself and Myers,
which we have detailed, that as
field of honor, the insinuation conveyed in
| the question was ''gratuitous and wanton
as we'll as false" He therefore determined
as he was on the eye of leaving the city, that
he would call on Myers and demand to know
of him what he meant by it. He had made
up his mind exactly what to say to Myers
and exactly when to stop. Owing to his
difficulties with Francis and others, Colonel
Terrell has habitually gone armed, carrying
a large Derringer pistol in his pocket, which
| is, unfortunately, too much the habit in
| Covington. He carried this as regularly as his
pocket knife. he went into the front office Of
Stevenson 81 Myers, where there was young
man sitting, and inquired for Myers, and
/ was told he was in private room. He
walked then to the door, and said TO Myers
he saw question there this morning that
conveyed an insinuation. and wanted to
know what was meant by it. Myers i'm
mediately sprang up in state of great ex-
ASPIRATION and said to him, cd d-n you
leave my office" Terrell turned about tc
go, when suddenly Myers caught him by
| the collar. and showed him violently through
| the front office, then out into the hall and
along the length of The hall and at last thrus
him against the wall at the head of the stair
way. Terrell had said to Myers as he caught
him by the collar and was showing him out
You know / am a sick man." But he wa;
hustled forward with increasing violence
when, al the brink of the stairway, think
ing he was to be thrown down, he got his
pistol out and fired. The distance from
where be was first taken by the collar to the
point where he fired is about forty feet
| Terrell protests that he had no though
| whatever of a difficulty on this occasion. 81,
| says that he had expected difficulty som,
days ago with Oliver Root. But it was Ter
4 rall,s daeira Tn avoid parSO0al pplo