The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1885-04-23

n 2.
will sponl the balance n tholr uisofn-
bic t,lstrnrOs within prison walls.
WILLIAM MEADOWS AMI rUfp. hAf
murdered an old negro named flnn
Morgan Iu che onrly part ui last Au-
gust Old Finn lived IN acnhin all alone
ON q farm iu the Cherokee Nation ana
WAS supposed 10 hU pOHsosAed Of cunsid'
cradle money, AZ frOd Rays farm not
FAR distant lived Fred Ray q inidule
aged man, his wife, JuO Raw, his half
wltIOd 0year old son, and VIM, Mead
ows, bright and handsome lad Of ID,
Ray had boon gone To the railroad after
supplies, and upon returning was IN
formed by Meadows that old Finn had
lots of money, and according "a Rays
statement, Meadows then suggested
and planned the murder and robbery OIL
the old negro. But Meadows tos-
titled that Ray planned the murder.
aud llrod tho fatal shot, and that no was
an unwilling witness 10 the trans
action. Each ondoayod 20 clear himself
hy saddlng the crime upon the other,
Tho testimony showed that MoadOws,
RRvmd Joe Ray, tho hulfwlttud child,
an armed, concealed themselves in the
woods, near old Firms hog pom, and
waited until he chme Ia feed his hogs,
when thoy confronted him with drawn
pistols aud demanded his money. lie
said no had none, but whom Fred Ray
threatened 10 kill him IL he did not give
up his money, the old negro reached
down in his pocket and drew out an old
tobacco bag containing silver dime,
which no handed TO Ray, remarking
that IL was all he had. The amount
seemed too small to satisfy Ray, for he
fired his pistol Immediately,
and Finn Morgan fell dead
with n bullet through his brain.
TIE three then searched for their vic
TINS money and got about 500, which
Fred Ray divided by giving to his son
Joe the silver dime, TO Meadows IS, aud
keeping the balance for himself They
then dug hole in the corniield and
buried the body, but its being dug up by
dogs few days later necessitatcu its
removal, whereupon Ray and Meadows
dragged IL to Il lake close by, tied stones
to il and threw it in the water. Finn
Morgan was soon missed. Joe Ray,
hearing some men talking about Finu's
disappearance, told tbam that he and
his father and Meadows killed him. All
of them were at once arrested, saud
Meadows handed over the money hC
had received, saying TO his captors,
'sTake this, IL has been like lead in my
pocket ever since the day l got it," He
told about the whole transaction-said
! RAY did the killing aud he was limo,
cent. His statement was not believed
and tho Jury returned 2 verdict of guilty
of murder against Fred Ray and VIM
| Meadows. aud not guilty as to Joe Ray,
MASON p. HoLCoMD
was tried and convicted last December
| for the murder of Franz Sigel Fischer
! Holcomb and Fischer We're comrades
working together in the hay fields near
| McAllister station, on the Missouri Pa
/ cifc railroad, in July, 1883, and one
evening when their days work wa
doue these two comrades, who had got
! ton some whisky and had been drink.
| ing, walked quietly along together snO
! for some uukrown reason left their fell
! low-worlmen ana quit the trail to take
| a short route through the woods. In
/ the dense woods at secluded spot they
! halted, and, according TO the testimony
of HOlcOmo, they met negro whom
! Fischer, in his drunken recklessness,
wanted TO shoot, when he (HLicomb)
remonstrated;: "a difficulty ensued, Fis-
| cher attacked him, and then began a
scuflle for the pistol; that Fischer be-
came furious, and he either had to shoot
him or be shot; that he killed Fischer to
save his own life, and fearing 'the boys
would not believe him, he fled to Ken
| lucky, his old home, where be was sub
sequently arrested. Holcomo pleaded
his innoc ence in that bold, frank man
ner so common to the westerner, and
showed neither fear nor concern unit!
the sentence of death was pronounced
upon him, when he broke down com
pietely and wept like child. He was
q handsome man, apparently we'll
raised and educated, and did not look
Ike Ike tp murderer oTarnmep Gus in the the
tae9gy 'o of tEs easo was that
Holcomb cen bribed by enemies
of Fischer murder hin that he per.
suaded Els eli otto leave the trail ana &C
through the woods with him, and see-
| ing drove of wild turkeys when in the
| thickest of the woods, Holcomb Dor
rowed Fischer's pistol TO shoot turkey
for supper, and then turned on his
friend and murdered him, according tC
his contract.
WILLIAM NICKSON
was the only negro in the gang thai
was to have died to-day, the others all
being white men. His crime was com
mitted in December, 1888, near Lake
| West, in the Choctaw Nation. A mum
Der of cotton pickers were having g
dance in an old store-house, and among
the lookers-on was Nickson, who, being
somewhat intoxicated, climbed upon
one of the counters, where he danced
and jumped about in very disorderly
manner. All efforts to quiet him
proved fruitless, until William Las
ter, one of the floor managers,
approached him and ordered him to be-
have. When asked who he was, Nick
son replied: 81 am a little piece Of
hell's fire." and put his hand upon his
pistol and when Laster said to him
''no id negro shall put his hand on his
pistol to shoot me-" Nickson drew NJ;
his pistol out, and he dropped dead IL
hia traota Other shots were fired, but
no one else was hurt. During the shoot
ing the lights went out and Nickson
escaped, and was at large until last Oc'
| tober, when a United States deput y
marshal caught him unarmed and al
fected his arrest.