New-York tribune., 1874-06-17
J1IL DELIVERY IN TEXAS.

The condition of things in Texas reminds
us of what Orator Phillips said of BOnaparte
it is grand gloomy, and peculiar"
! reducing to reality the grim ideals OF the
| saffron paper rOmances. In some of the locali-
ties, murder seems to be the rule, and people
| who go on living appear to do SO by excep-
| tional accident Oifenses personal, which IN
| other States culminate in temperate nOse-pull-
ing or cheek smiling, end there in a gum
powdery and plumbcous denouement. Where
we mild hammered men shed ink and
relieve ourselves by libel. these more
ardent souls find homicide the only mitigation
of their exacerbations. The newspapers are
| nothing if not obituary. You look into them
| to find the state of the wool or hide market,
and you read how in such a county the unfor-
| tunate 80 -and-sO was "badly cut in the abdO-
"men during an alteration" with so-and so.
| The Lynch law reports, with the decisions OF
boOdthirsty BlackstOnes, crowd the tame
doings of the common law courts out of sight.
| There are bandits meandering and carrying
| off mules not their own in Bandera County; the
noble Indian tOmahawk ks and scalps at will in Me-
nard; the Sheriff of Brown has been madeaway
with by outlaws; the dreadful Mexican is
ravagng the frontier, and all is horse steal
ing homicide, and narrowing horror! No
wonder that Texans of the pacific sort at last
lose their tempers, and holding conference
with their consciences, resolve that patience
has ceased to be virtue. No wonder that
sef-cOnstituted courts indict, arraign, try, find
puilty, and then incontinenty hang the rest
less and red-handed No wonder that sick OF
the snail pace of official Justice, the Lynchers
do to death rowing rascals whenever and wher-
ever they are caught. Has the reader heard
of the nice little Jail delivery in Bell County,
on the oath ult. 1t was very curious.
There is a Jail, you see, in Bell County, and
| naturally it was full of thOughtlessly energetic
men. most of whom had yielded to passion
for the mules of their neighbors. There were
| a few charged with the minor offenses of mur-
der and burglary, but the mule marauders
were in the majority both as to numbers and
importance. This being the situation, down
upon the donjon of Bell County
came a crowd of the orderly, peace
able, and law-abiding mule-Owners of the
| yicinage. Into Jail they broke with celerity
and easerness never displayed by anybody in
breaking out of it. Hanging was by far too
long q process for the hungry stomachs of
the avengers-neat and rapid shooting was
the operation resorted to. Mr.. Coleman, who
killed his wife in Carol County, fell first /;
Mr.. Crone, lover of other peoples horses, then
succumbed then Mr. McCowen, also horse
conyeyancer then yielded their lives to the
fierce fusllade few murderers, including an
operator bearing the dissatisfied name of
william Henry Grumbles. AS may be sup
posed, Mr.. Grumbles found q great deal of
fault, not with his execution, for that
the man, used to Texan ways, seems
70 have accepted as matter of course, but at
the bungling manner IN which the judicial job
was done. "Mr. Grumbles" we are told, even
before the firing, "cursed the killing party
considerably His opinion of the execution
ers, delivered with great freedom and vigor,
and backed up by his personal oaths in great
number, probably interfered with the point
blank of the rifles. Mr.. Grumbles had reason
to complain that he was missed entirely at the
first discharge, and he Immediately returned
brisk fire of sarcastic illusions to the
bad quality of the Lynch shooting.
He sneeringly invited the party "to
"try again. and under the stimulus of
this sarcasm Mr.. Grumbles was so peppered
that he ceased grumbling at once and forever.
When the Sheriff. who had been wandering
in some far distant region in search of an
escaped prisoner, got back to the cage he
found nine corpses therein-the prisoners of
Death! SO he buried them, swept out the
cage, and made all ready for another batch.
One hardly knows what to say of proceed
ipg. like these. Tbis '.o5.. Us unQues-