Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-03-13
ACROSS THE RIVER.
An Unfortunate n melancholy
Affair.
IT, ~. Ul,tn. oet -

AAANAAa
To the Editor Of the Ledger:
1t is my painful duty to record another
sad tragedy. which transpired at Pacific
Place, Crittenden county, Ark, on the
evening of the 10th inst.
A Mr.. Thomas Leon, from DeSoto
county, Miss, came to this county to
rent a home in our bottom lands to cult.
vate a small crop of cotton. BE rented
a small tract adjacent to the Pacific
Place, where he lived for the past month.
he brought with him a horse which es.
trayed, and was lost, and c. r. Morris
furnished him with a team to make his
crop. Leon was a poor man, having A
wife and child and no personal property.
Yet withsl, his seeming integrity and
ge-shesditiveness gave him favor ameng
strangers. At Pacific Place he received
more than his just deserts, for no hos
pitslity was spared TO render him com
Portable.
With carbine and Colts navy he
wanted no other companion a Y whisky,
which seemed a part of his life. When
thus maddened he was a demon incar.
nate.
Prior to his taking the small farm, q
Mr.. Honara Price was granted the priv
ilege Of picking the scattering and I'M
picked cotton. At this be becameiudig
nant and ordered Price from the ground
Price quit the field, and all WAS quiet.
A Mr.. Sam I. Hardwick, a young mar
cropping at the place, remarked that the
conduct Of Leon was outrageous, which
was falsely reported by a scape-graee,
Stephen Beach, to Leon that Hardwick
had said he would kill Leon.
At this Leon went to a trading boal
and replenished his flask and brain, and
returned home and attacked Hardwick
who wal unsrmed, sick and unable to
defend himself. Leon was armed with
a butcher knife, had his sleeves rolled
up, and made for Hsrdwick's heart.
Hardwick appealed TO him, stating he
was sick and that the accusation was
false. Leon dealt his blews with knife
clutched for the fatal stab, and was ward
ed of by Hardwiok, who stood his
ground, pressed too hard to retreat, and
naught was left but to fight it through
unarmed, and without hope, as Leon had
him in his power.
At this juncture George Foglemau
Morris, a youth Of seventeen summers
a friend OF Hardwick's, approached Will
a double barreled gun charged with duck
shot, and appealed to Leon 10 spar
Hardwick, who wac innocent and toe
weak to eight. Leon, knowing Hardwicl
was unarmed and at his mercy, rushed
with knife drawn above his head for the
fatal thrust. Morris told him to stop
and retreated, Leou pressing him.
Receiving the contents Of one barre.
in the stomach, Leon staggering, buI
regained his footing, Morris still retreat
ing, when the second load penetrated
his left side, and he fell, face to the
ground, with q death grip on bis blade
dying without a groan, thus closing a
desperate and dissipated career. The
poor wife and child have our sympathy.
Young Morris was s~rrsigned before
Esquire SWingler and q jury Of our best
citizens, and was honorably acquitted
upon the ground Of seltdefense. Cap
tain Thos. P. Sexton, David @. Barrow,
W. W. Ball, james r. Ayers, Thos.
James, VIM. Raglsnd, VIM. Bobero,
Henry Smith, John Spencer, john Rag.
land, John Harris and John Venable,
we're the ~(impaueled) jury. S..