Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1879-04-25
REN rORTER'S MURDER.
The Story Which Miss EIlcl. Cummens,
the Actress, Tells.
Correspondence Cincinnati Commercial,

Correspondence CINCINNATI Commercial,
Your correspondent met Miss Ellen
Cummens, the actress, at Memphis.
As she assured him that no correct ac-
count Of the late tragedy, at Marshall,
Tex, had appeared in print to her
knowledge, and rs, moreover she is
we'll known in Cincinnati. where, at
Woods theatre, in her first season as
leading lady, she won her maiden
histriomc laurelS IN 1875 i, the readers
Of the Commercial may take interest in
her description Of the murder oE "poor
Ben Porter
We had given 4 matinee ut Shreve.
port, La, At l. O'clock, "Wednesday,
March -, will never forget that
date, The ! O'Clock train was held for
as, and We reached Marshall about Z
O'clock. All the company hut Mr..
Barrymore, Mr.. Porter and myself took
such supper Ms they could yet at the
depot hotel, We three concluded to
wait until after the theatre for ours, as
We had unched ON the train. After the
performance vt Diplomacy" to the
only good house we had had in Texas.
the entire company went to the Texas
and Pacific depot hotel TO wait for the
train Mt hal(-past > o'clock for Little
Rock. Ark. Those of the company
who had supped before went 10 the
parors. After doposting our sachels
we, Mr.. Porter, Mr., Barrymore and
myself, went INTO the eating saloon.
the lunch counter was high, and we
had "a sit upon high stools to eat, MIR.
Porter was upon my len, Mr., Barry
more unon my right II was lust md.
night Mr.. Barrymore ordered beer
for me and for himself Mr. Porter
declined, saying no would take
coffee MIR, Barrymore looked in
his pocket for money, and found
that he had hut twenty cents
IN change. With this he paid for the
beer, and said; "rll have to go to find
Redpath (the trcaSurcr) and yet some
money to take you out of pawn. III
leave ven here. Order your suppcrs.
and I'll be back in u few minutes" lilo
went ont laughing, We were ncgotiat-
ing ~ TO what we should eat when n
man, whom | now know was Cure,
camo in, drew the stool ON which Mr..
Barrymore had been sitting little
apart from me, and sat down to the
counter. | glanced NJ him, and ho re-
turned my look impudently. He was
powerfully built, rough-looking man,
not handsome, lilo wore u rough, SEEM
insly snuil.colorcd suit; u white shirt, |
think, and tho inevitable slouch hat. |
was alarmed nj his manner, or, rather,
felt out of place, whispered to Mr..
Porter, Hadn't we better 90 in thoro?'
pointing, ms thought, to n moro re-
tired dining room. Mr.. Porter replied;
THAT is the bar.room. You are NIL
right here" Then we turned our attcn-
ton again TO the supper question. Cur
II nj first ordered somo eggs, III u loud
tone, saying To the attendant that he
was going to eat his supper and then go
TO bed So far as ! could Judge he was
not drunk. nor even under the intlu-
enee of liquor. Mr.. Porter ordered COT.
fee and Cure did the same. Porter or
dcredsome eggs andwo continued TO chat
over orr supper had not looked
again nj Cure directly, but he seemed
10 me To be ordering everything that we
did. may he mistaken in this. Ho
paid for his supper, and when
the proprietor handed him five
cents chanpo he said keep that;
do you wait to insult mc?' and then
added, Ms understood him; "Do you
want to sell me dog2' ! thought this
WAS a new way of ordering drink, and
laughed at il to Mr.. Porter, after Cure
had gone in the direction of tho bar
room through II lattice door. Mr.. Bar
rymoro about this moment returned,
took his seat and said, pointing to the
remains of Cures supper: "What IL
this?' said, "Some man had some
supper aud il gone" Cure just then
passed back through the room and went
out the other way. called Barrymore
up and was telling him about the ex-
preston, 80 Hing \ dog when Cure
again cam0 IN and said To MIR. Porter,
who was leaning his face on his hands:
"What did you do that To mo fof2'
Porter turned and said "Did you speak
To me- Curre replied eyes; and !
want to know what you did that for
making peculiar motion of the hand
and arm past his head and ear, Porter
replied 81 wasn't thinking Of you, sir;
we were talking among ourselves"
Cure replied, calling Porter II Cd
id liar, Cd id st-r and Cd
id IN Of b-h. Mr.. Porter said:
BE careful; don't talk that way; there
is II Indy present" "A LADY," Cure
replied with sheer; well, | don't
know" Mr. Barrymore then turned to
the proprietor aud said: rs this the
sort Of place you keep Can not quiet
people come here and sup without be-
ing naulted2' Harvey said "Oh, he's
all right; don't mind him. jim, 20
home and 70 10 bed" ! said to both
the gentlemen with me: "Bo quiet
please don't answer him" Porter said;
"Go away. We don't know YOU. Wo
want y be quiet; We want to eat our
supper" Cure said: "Ill meet YOU by
and by, want 10 eat my supper now"
Then Cure said 10 Barrymore: per
hans you want TO take up his quarrel2'
had noticed that all this time he had
his hand on his pistol. Barrymore re-
piled. III can't fight with you; ] have
neither pistol nor knife" Cure said
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