The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-08-20

Nashville, August l2.-Informatiou
received from Centreville, Hickman
county. says that four Mormon elders
were shot and killed on Sunday last or
Cane Creek, in Lewis county, a place
remote from the railroad add telegraph
lines. AT ii O'Clock in the morning
about t~hirty-five men wearing masks
rode up to the house of Mr.. Condor,
where Mormon services were in progress
and. leaving three men to guard the
gate, the rest marched to the door anC
knocked for admission. Martin Condor
and John II. Hudson responded, aud
were told to surrender. which demand
they refused to accede to. One Of the
masked men struck Condor on the head
with a gun, crushing his skull, where
upon Hudson emptied a double-barrelled
gun at the crowd, killing David Henson,
a farmer, who lived in the nclghborhood.
The fire was returned, and Hudson drop
ped deal after running a short distance.
Going into the house the mob fircd at
two elders, one of them named Gibbs.
falling dead, the top of his head being
literally torn away by buckshot. The
other tried to escape, but just as he
reached the outside several bullets
entered his body, and he, too, was a
corpse. Two other elders managed to
flee from the house, but they were pur-
sued. and it is believed that they were
also killed. as many shots were fired at
them. Another elder was espied by
the mob endeavoring to hide behind
Mrs. Condor. One of the mob shot at
him and fractured Mrs. Condor's leg.
The elder escaped.
Visiting the house of another neigh
Dor the mob found an elder. tied him,
and took him TO the woods. Shots We're
heard, and it is believed that he was
killed. The mob then disappeared, and
90 n knows who they were. Henson
was buried to-day.
The scene at the Condor house was
terrible. The form of Henson lay
where it had fallen, his shotgun at his
side, and his horse, tied a few feet from
his head, snoring and trembling in its
fright. just inside the front door lay
the body of the Mormon elder, his
brains scattered on the wall and floor,
and on the greensward beneath the
window lay the other elder, with a load
of bucRshot in his breast.
Later intelligence says that the Nor
sympathizers in Lewis and coun-
ties adjacent are very much alarmed on
account of the high feeling, aud some
are contemplating removal to other
parts. where the pressure of public opin-
ion is not so strong. 1t was only a few
years ago that people in Wayne county,
wearied of the work of Mormon elders,
made the county so hot for them that
that they were obliged to leave, and
Dol made their appearance in Lewis
The elders saw that the intel
of the community fsrbade the at
tempt To establish there the prime
of their faith, polygamy. and
contentcd themselves with the
dissemination of other articles of their
creed. They gradually crystallized
two points-Shady Grove in
Hickman and Cane Greek in Lewis
These points were made the
base of operations, and here they hold
her meetings, and thence were sent to |
other sections and other States the apos
les of their creed. The presence of the
sect was the source of no little annOy-
lnce to the citizens, who abhorred the
existence in their neighborhood of those
who taught doctrines which involved
Inc obnoxious practice of polygamy.
This aversion I o the new sect, while
ieep, gave no potent expression of its
existence until the terrible deed of Sun
lay.
Mrs. Condor will die from the effects
# the wound she received while pro-
Getting one Of the elders. The bodies
# the dead have been buried, large
rowds attending the funerals.