Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-12-01
he ansv cred. Two other young men

cdLHc up, Snu tney nau guns. ne
name OF one was Cook. Both were
white men. Head then came up.
He asked me where l was going. l
made the same reply that | had to
the others, He said You can't go
yet awhile.' He asked what I had
in the box. | said I had papers.
STARTED TOWARDS HEADQUARTERS
He said: You will have to 90 down
to the headquarters and have the box
examined Head ordered the two
young men, who were armed, to get
on their horses. They mounted and
said to me: Now let's get right Off
After we had gone apiece, some one
hailed me and said, Hold on A
man named Rllls then came up and
said: Ben it amt worth while for
you to take pistol down there He
ran his hand round my body and
took my pistol, and said: Il will
hand it back to You when you get
back said: Yes, l would like to
have it, for | am Constable at the
polls to-day He said: Go ahead,
that will be all right We rode on
about fifty yards and were halted
again, voice calling ont, Halt! who
comes there One of the guards
with me replied, Scott One of
them went ahead and whispered to
the man who had halted us, who
said: 'All right pass through
There were two of them and they
were armed We rode Oh Il short
distance and were haltcd-in SINH
lar manner and similar response
was made, and short distance fur
Their on we were a third time halted
and, after the countersign Scott had
had been given, we were told to pass
on. In front of Joe Mitchell's house
we came upon
y LARGE BODY OF MEN.
We got off IN front of fire. Some
of the men were standing up, some
lying down, and all were with arms.
There were about seventy-nine or
eighty in sight around the camp
They whispered around Il while, and
one Of them rode off towards Joe
Mitchell's house and left Buck MIN
ms standing with me. Very soon
Joe Mitchell and Bob Endom came
up within about twenty-five feet Of
me, and they talked together little
while, and heard Joe Mitchell say,
! "a II ri,rIt y ,,l p,k E,JD,,, ,nl, a
Joe Mitchell said: Boys get on
your horses He came up to me
and said
4 WISH 1 HAD a DoUBLE-BARRELED
GUN
and then marched on down the road
] said, Shall | ride or wulk?' He
replied, You may ride. or let your
pony be there turned away from
the fire and got about ten steps. |
then broke and ran, for | knew they
were going to kill me by their con
versation. started for the wood
They then commenced shooting, and
Joe Mitchell was right after me on a
horse shooting a pistol at me ! got
about thirty or forty feet from Co {.
Pargoudl's fence, and Joe fired his
gun at me and hit me in the arm. |
don't know whether | was shot be-
fore or not
THERE WAS so MUCH SHOOTING.
Joe Mitchell, who was between the
company and myself, was calling
ont to the men, Don't shoot me. Be
careful, sayn | kept right on, and
got over the fence, but when | got
to the ditch | fell in it. | crawled
up on the further side and was so
weak l could go no further, and Joe
was at the fence. He SAID: Hold
on, boys!
/ Ill FIN HIM, DAMN HIM"
| He climbed over and ran round me,
and placed his pistol between my
head and the ground and fired. |
became insensible then and did not
recover for some time, don't know
how long. The ball had glanced
from my temple, but had not made a
deep wound. Altogether, have five
wounds,-two in the arms, one in
the temple, one III the back of the
head, and one III the hip. When |
came to | could see no one around,
and | started away, but when | had
gone short distance | tainted from
loss of blood and pain. The blood
from the wound i'll my temple ran in
to my mouth and nearly strangled
me. laid there until daylight.
N a DITCH.
At s or Q o'clock in the morning
went back Of Col Frank Pargoudi's
stable and called for Lawrence Dun
more, a colored man. A parcel of
women and children came out who
knew me. Frank Pargoudi came
out and asked me if | knew who had
done it. told him | did. He said
he did not wish to know, but had
better make affidavit to it, Col. Par
gould is
y VERY LIBERAL, KIND MAN
and wouldn't allow any bulldozing
on his place. He ordered Lawrence
Dunmorc to hitch up cart and take
me home, which he did. | have not
seen my pistol or my tilly since.
The election at the Logwood poll
was not held, owing to the fact that
| was shot. Their object in trying
to kill me could have been nothing
else than a desire to prevent the cleo
ton, as | had never done any of
them any harm. I was
KNOWN AS n REPUBLICAN
by whites and blacks all over the
parish, and had ,aken some part in
organizing the party. | had been an
election officer at that poll at every
election since 1868, and had general
ly distributed Republican tickets.
the poll usually gave about IT'S Re
publican majority. The men who
attempted to kill me so far rs knew,
were all Democrats. There are two
roads from the poll where | live to
the Logtown polls, and they were
| 1 a.