St. Landry democrat., 1882-03-25
CRIMES AND CASUALTIES.

DALLAS, Texas was thrown into a
fever of excitement, March IA, by the an
nouncement that ex- Mayor j. NJ. Thurmond
had been shot and killed, in the County
Court, by Robert E. Cowart, prominent
lawyer. Deceased was politician and law
yer whos has lived in nearly all the Western
States. Cowart is prominent young law
yer, a native Of Atlanta, Georgia. Deceased
was elected Mayor of Dallas three years ago,
but was removed from office, Cowart TAX
ing prominent part against him. Since
then the most cordial hatred has existed be-
tween them. When they met in the County
Court, Thurmond accused Cowart of SLAM
dering his family. Cowart denied it. They
both drew pistols simultaneously. Cowart
fired, his bullet taking effect little above
Thurmond's right eye, killing him instantly.
Thurmond was very unpopular, and most
of the prominent lawyers have volunteered
to defend Cowart.
JOHN VAN DYKE, prominet farmer,
living near Ionia, Mich, died the other dav
after short illness. Before dying he said
he had been poisoned. Foul play is sus-
pected. The family relations of the de-
ceased are said to have been unpleasant for
some time.
A BOILER in the shoe factory of A. T.
Goodwin, at Lynn, Mass, exploded on the
10Th with horrible results. The cause is not
known. The building, which was of wood,
6)X30, three stories high, was blown to
atoms, and the engineer, John B. Moore,
was almost instantly killed. Several other
persons were reported killed. The firemen
on their arrival commenced an examination
of the debris, for the purpose of recovering
the bodies OF the dead and rescuing the in
jured. A portion of the boiler, weighing a
ton, was thrown quarter of mile distant,
and drove itself into the front doorway of a
private house. Glass in the immediate vi
entity was generally broken. Another piece
of the boiler went flying through a covered
walk across a court leading from the street
to the scene of the catastrophe. The body
of the engineer was horribly mangled and
bruised. He had charge of the boiler
for quite number of years, and was
looked upon as first-class man. Had
the accident happened half an hour later the
loss of life must have been terrible. Fifty
people were employed in the building above
he boiler, but fortunately they had not ar
lived when the explosion occurred.
PATRICK MCCoFFIN, an insane citi-
zen Waterbury, Vt, recently killed his wife
md motherin law with an ak and hid their
bodies in the cellar.
ALBERT WALKER was lifting a heavy
'ucketful OF ore at the Health lift Lode,
lear Leadville, Colo, March 18th, when the
handle of the windlass slipped from his
'rasped, and whirlng around picked him
If his feet and hurled him into the shaft.
Yearly every bone in his body was broken !
y the fall, and some men at the foot of the |
haft narrowly escaped being struck by the |
alling trunk.
AT St. Joseph, Mo-, on the 10th, five
oys were buried alive in cave made by
heir own hands to serve the purposes of a
clubhouse. They were attending school in
he vicinity, and had been excavating for
ONE months, penetrating hillside and
cooping out chamber six feet high and
bout six by eight in dimension. Jack Mont
emery, aged a; Ran Montgomery, aged
Nick kell, aged Is; Allen Rhodes, aged
I; Mike Garrish, aged II, repaired to the
ave for their usual frolic after school hours.
hen some seventeen feet of earth fell upop /
lem, crushing and smothering them to
cath. The alarm was given, a number of
tlzens soon collected, and the lifeless bod
$ OF the five boys were recovered.