New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-09-18
KILLING A CONJUROR.
Horrible Tale OF Ignorance, Superstition
and Crime.

We copy the following from the Avoyelles
Republican of the eleventh instant
On Thursday, the second of September
Evariste Ponthieu, VIII le hunting in the
swamp about two miles from Grand Cotes,
on Coulee Corale, came upon the dead body
OF a man which he recognized to be that of
a colored man named Joe Lee, resident
of Big Hills in this parish. Mr. Ponthieu
blew his horn for his brother, who was AT
some distance from him. They in company
with some other on examination discovered
that the man must have met his death by
violence. The murder was committed with
a shot gun or musket, and the party who
did the shooting must have fred at him at
a very short distance as the shirt of the de
ceased was powder burnt the eyes of the
corpse were bandaged with white linen
handkerchief.
On the examination before the parish
court, A. j johnson deposed that he recog-
nized it as the property of Sam Paul. one
of the parties arrested for the murder, from
the fact that while preaching some time
ago, requiring handkerchief, this identical
one was handed to him by Sam Paul, aud
he recognized it when he saw it on the
corpse of Joe Lee, from its having yellow
border. The arms of the deceased had evi.
IDENTIFY been tied, as the marks of the rope
were visible on his wrists They traced the
tracks of four or five Creole horses, and the
feet of two persons, one of them being
without shoes, evidently those of Joe
Lee, for some distance. The marks
of one of the mems feet near the corpse
was sworn to by A. j. johnson, from some
peculiarites as belonging to one of the
persons arrested for the crime. Jack Gull
lory, Gustave Ravare, Samuel Paul, Will
liam Riley, Arthur Riley, Manette Guillory,
and Richard were arrested on an affidavit
made by Eli Ricard on the seventh of Sep
tember, before F. Ricord, Justice of tie
peace. charging the above named persons
with the murder OF Joe Lee, on the first of
September. These parties were brought
before the parish court, and the investiga-
tiou is going on as We go TO press. The
evidence against the accused is circum-
stantial, and seems to rest on the facts We
have cited, such as the handkerchiefs, the
tracks around the corpse, and the threats
made against the deceased for having cor
jured them, one OF the witnesses swearing
that seven persons in one family were con
jured; he was blamed for it, One witness
Falery Ponthieu, deposed that one of the
accused, Js X Guillory, came to him some
three weeks before the murder and asked
him to join a party to assassinate
Joe Lee which, OF course, he refused to do.
Although there was no direct evidence. this
and other circumstances fixed the suspicion
OF the murder on the per )ns arrested. The
deceased. Joe Lee, has for some time past
been held in bad odor by the neighb bor-
hood in which Re lived, being accused OF
having conjured Or poisoned a number of
persons. In fact, all the sickness thai oc-
Cured in his vicinity seems TO have been
attributed to him, fnd the feeling ran so
high against him that be was making ar
rangements to move to Bayou des Glase,
to the house of his father-in law, when over.
taken by this horrible fate; the owner of
tho hn1aa ba iypA in ba yJpu oiy him,
tice to quit, and when last seen, on Tuesday,
he was on his way to his house to gather up
his goods and chattels, with the view of
leaving that region. Joe Lee had the
of being quiet, inotfensive, law
abiding citizen, and up to the time he
acquired this unfortunate reputation of con-
iuring, he seems to have stood well in the
estimation of people of his color. He was
man of some education, and a member and
class leader of the Methodist Church. The
wife of the unfortunate Joe Lee had Just
been confined six days prior to the murder
of her husband. The horrible fate met
by her husband, as might have been
expected, completely Frustrated her, and
she was too sick to appear before the court
OF inquiry. There are large number OF
witnesses, over dozen for the prosecution,
and larger number for the defense. As
we go to press the preliminary examination
before Judge Ducote is going on. The tes-
timony OF Ozite Lee, widow of the late Joe
Lee, was taken. On motion of Mr.. Thorpe, |
acting district ait Irney, Richard Wiley, |
and Gustave Ravare were discharged by |
he court, and called by the district attor- |
ney as witnesses for the State. Little was
elected from Richard but the testimony of |
Gustave Ravare, was of very eliminating |
character against the accused. He testified |
that he went to the house of Sam Paul, on |
the night of Tuesday, the thirty first of |
August, and found assembled Joe Lee and |
he accused, and that the prisoners at the |
oar took Joe Lee and tied him with rope, |
carried him into the WOODS, and after they |
mad gone some distance he desired them to |
stop, when he told them that he was going |
20 return, as Joe Lee had never injured hm |
II any way, and he had not anything |
against him, and that he would not have |
anything to do with it, so he left them. |
When they started from the house, he un- |
lerstood that Joe Lee was to be turned |
over to the vigilance committee.