The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1884-03-27
SOUTHERN GLEANINGS.
A Texas Tragedy-ViOIent Death of TIVE
Noted DesPeradoes at San Antonio.


The particulars of the killing of Ben
Thompson and King Fisher, the two most
noted desperadoes that Texas has ever
known, are as follows: Thompson and
Fisher arrived here on the eight O'Clock
train from Austin. They had been on I'M
friendly terms for some time, but had
made friends, got drunk and came here to
take in the town, acting in a boisterous
manner on the train. Arrived here they
went to an entertainments at Turner Hall,
where. they displayed their pistols con-
spicuously, but committed no act of viO-
lence other than forcing their way in with
out paying admission. just before the
close of the play they left the opera hall
and drove to the Vaudeville Theater. This
place viii be remembered as where
Thompson's last victim, Jack Harris, fell a
little over year ago. They took a drink
at the bar and sauntered upstairs and into
the gallery, where Joe Foster and Billy
Simms, the present proprietor of the Vau-
deville, and who were in partnership with
Jack Harris when he was killed, were seat
| ed. They spoke to and shook hands with
| Simms, and Thompson ordered the drinks.
| Owing to the insulting remarks of Thomp-
son to Foster a quarrel ensued almost inn
mediately, and all parties jumped to their
| feet. Special Policeman Jake Coy inter-
fered and ordered them to quiet down.
| Thompson addressed Foster with op-
! probrious epithets, called him a thief,
! and then changed his tone and asked
| Foster to shake hands with him.
| The latter refused, whereupon Thomp-
| son struck Foster with his cooked pistol,
cutting his lip; at the same time Officer
| Coy struck Thompson's pistol hand and
| the pistol went off, taking effect in Fosters
leg below the knee. Rapid firing from all
] IL q
with one ball through his head just above
| the left eye, one through the heart, and one
through the knee. His own pistol was not
| discharged. Thompson received one shot
| in the left eye, one in the temple and one
| through the abdomen. They fell side by
| side. Thompson continued TO shoot as he
fell. OF the theatre party, Foster, as be.
fore stated. had his left leg shattered be-
| low the knee. Officer Coy received flesh
| wound in the calf of the leg and Smms
| slight wound.
The greatest confusion prevailed in and
! about the theatre. Several parties jumped
out of the second-story window.
Officers took charge of the place and re-
moved the dead bodies to the jail. where
an inquest was held. The jury returned
verdict that Thompson and Fisher came to
their deaths from pistol shots st the hands
| of Foster, Simms and Coy. They further
/ find that the killing done in self-de-
fense,' the lives of the latter being in immi-
nent danger. No arrests were made.
| Thompson's body was shipped to Austin
/ and Fishers to Uvalde. Joseph Foster
had his leg amputated and it is thought
he cannot live. The public knows ThOmp-
sons history. King Fisher is credited
with having killed not less than twenty
| five men. Both have held high civil Of
] aA 20 bair
| fame, or possibly in consequence of it,
they have many, very many, friends.
miscellaneous items.
Lemoine & Co., tobacco warehouse
men, Louisville, KY, have failed for $780,,
! OOO
The Gov rnor of Mi sissippj has COM
muted the death sentence of John Nelson
to Imprisonment for life.
In an aLfray at Greenville, Tex, re-
Gently, two men named respectively Parker
and Baker killed each other.
There are indications of extensive
frauds in connection with the Louisville
| tobacco failures.
A surplus of $4,000 from the Texas
! Penitentiaries was recently banded over to
the Stat Treasurer.
The steamship j. c. Harris, of the
/
| at Brazos Harbor, Tex. She had eight feet
| of water in the hold and half her cargo was
damaged.
Mr.. Benjamin Gratz, aged ninety
| two, the last survivor of a large family
prominent in Philadelphia and brother of
Miss Rebecca Gratz, the heroine of Ivan
hoe, died in Lexington, KY, a few nights
ago.
John Duffield was assaulted by thugs
in the street in Galveston, Tex, recently
and defended himself, stabbing John Kel-
| ty, one of his assailants, to death.
Atlanta's flour trade is $5,0)0,000 a
year.
The presidents of cotton factories in
the neighbOrhood of Augusta, Ga, invite
the cotton mill owners of the South and
West to meet in Augusta April 5 to consid-
er a plan to decrease the production of cot
ton goods.
A cutt 'ng scrape occurred on the
steamer Headlight near Vicksburg, Miss,
a few days ago. George Martin cut Ferge
McFall in the left side and back. Both
men are negroes. McFaH was cared for on
the boat and Martin was turned over to the
authorities on the arrival of the boat at
| Vicksburg.
A few days ago Antonio Valdez went
to the house of TregOno Palacios at Browns
vile, Tex, and shot him through the body,
infiicting a fatal wound.
George Ball, the well-known Calves
ton banker who recently gave $4,000 to
build a public high school in Galveston,
died in that city few days ago from the
effect of a paralytic stroke.
The next session of the Southern I'M
migration Association is to be held in New
Orleans.
On a street corner in Nashville,
Tenn, few days ago, from a disagreement
about some business matters, William
Spence killed Edward s. Wheat with re-
volver. The victim was son-in-law of his
murderer, and succeeded him as United
States Marshal for the Middle District of
Tennessee.
Miss 'ssippi Legislature has adjourned.
J. R. Rawlston committed suicide in
the Brookhaven (Miss.) Jail few days
ago by severing the jugular vein with a
knife made from tin cup. He was arrest
ed on suspicion as being the man who had
beaten his wife and murdered an unborn
babe near YeFgersville, Grenada County,
some time ago. He was evidently insane.
A destructive cyclone passed near
GuntersvilIe, Ala, a few nights ago. H.
S. Hess and Mrs. John Tidmore were
killed. John Tidmore and Mrs. Frank, the
former severely, were injured. About
thirty houses were blown to atoms.
The Texas cattle drive for.the season
is estimated at 800, 900 head.
| The eastern-bound passenger train on
the Western North Carolina Railroad was
wrecked near Manor few days ago. The
engine and two cars were thrown down an
I enbankment. Engineer Kox was killed.