The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1875-11-04
AN ILLINOIS VENDETTA.

victiOn of Three of the Murderers.
John Bulliner, Allen Baker and Mar /
shall Grain, three of the m !, - nave
made Williamson county, ILL.,, by-word |
for years, have been convicted of some |
of the crimes of which they were guilty
the first two of the murder of Capt.
George w. Sisney, and the latter of the
murder of William Spence. Bulliner
and Baker have been sentenced each to
% years in the penitentiary, and Grain
will expiate his crime on the gallows. It
is the first glimpse of law and order that /
this desperate region has seen for ten
years past. The vendetta of the Bull
ners and Hendersons, with the glamour
of far centuries and softening legend
thrown upon it, might sound as well as
that of the Capulets and Montagues, butin
the hard light of the present, a more vul-
gar, ignoble, simply brutal feud, cannot
be conceived than this is. Both these
families came to Illinois from Tennessee,
the Bulliners In 1864, the Hendersons in
1866, In the character of "Union refu-
gees - both were of the same social
grade, poor whites, who had pulled
themselves up in measure from their
class by hard work, and got together
some money. Of the Bulliners there
was :" Old George" the father Dave,
Monroe and Emanuel, sons and sod
Dave an uncle. They were all big,
burly, bully fellows, with "sand in their
craws," not to be "put upon," and
prompt to click any Teller out'n his
boots" who had any fault to find. The
Hendersons were "Old JIM" sold
Bill" and : Old Joe - young Jim and
Fielding and Sam and Pad they were
off the same piece, swore, and bullied,
and Dragged, and hung around dog
geries. They came to congenial neigh.
bors when they immigrated into old
Egypt, which had been peopled for
a generation or two with their sort,
whose worthy posterity ranged them
selves in admiring craftsmanship with
Bulliners or Hendersons, drank their
whisky and fought their battles.
With such material, all that was need
ed to start a feud was a doggery fight,
and, one day, two or three Bulhners
caught young Henderson at drinking
shop and thrashed him. The young
Henderson, day or two after, offered
cold Dave" Bulliner his choice out of a
brace of pistols, exile from the State be-
ing the alternative to square fight. The
old man chose exile. The next man to
mix in was Capt. Sisney, who disputed
with young Dave Bulliner about grain
bargain, and emphasized his opinions by
gashing Dave with spade. The imme-
date result was a spirited hunting down
of Sisney by the Bulliner family, till he
fell in his cornfeld with a bullet in his
%1no R11I1
ners and money damages for Sisney. So
it went on for several years dreary
sameness of fights and fines until, not
quite two years ago, matters grew more
serious. Old George" Bulliner was
assassinated from thicket. Dave Bull
iner was shot on the way from church,
one Sunday, in the midst of friends. and
died two days after. The bodies of
father and son were sent in succession to
Tennessee for home burial, and word
came back from their friends that they
"didn't want any more Bulliners sent to
McNair in wooden overcoats. This put
the Bulliners on their mettle, and the
vendetta was on in earnest. They tried
to convict Tom Russell of cold
Georges murder he had motive, for
John Bulliner had seduced the prettiest
girl in the village, Toms beloved cousin;
also there were several strong links
/ of circumstantial evidence yet
he was acquitted. Old Dave came
back from Tennessee, with four or five
relations, crack shots, all of them. Then
cold Jim" Henderson was shot down in
his field John and Monroe Bulliner and
Jim Norris were charged with it in his
dying breath John Bulliner was tried
for it and acquitted the others were
never arrested. Half dozen men who
worked on the farms of the Hendersons
were shot at, and most of them wounded.
Then DR.. Vincent Hinchcliffe, who had
been the only man in all the region that
dared to move in the interest of Justice,
and had worked up evidence against
several of the murderers, was shot dead
before his door. Two Hendersons were
arrested for his murder, admitted to bail,
and are at large. Then followed the muir
| der of Sisney, who was called to his door
in Carbonate, and shot through the win
dow. The morning after his funeral in
Evansville, William Spence, merchant,
who had incautiously limited that he
knew something about these murderers,
was found dead at his store door, with q
shotgun tear in his body, pistol wound
in his brain and another In his heart.
This is the list of. the victims of the
Williamson county vendetta, two of whose
worst partisans have met their fate at
the hands of the law. The country
round about has been these two years in
state of terror. Men who have re-
ceived warnings" have at any sacrifice
abandoned their homes and fed. Not q
step has been taken to enforce justice !;
men haven't even dared to whisper
s'murder" or allow that any one was sus-
pected. We may presume that the con-
viction and sentence of the outlaws is
but the earnest of thorough work that
will close the disgraceful record.
Six Persons Drowned.