Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1886-04-09
BLOOD FLOWING.

VA OEA1f ARAAA 0g-0 Il WOW OAGAA4RA
special from Dallas, says: A special to
the Herald from Fort Worth, states
that at 10 o'clock this morning 1900
people assembled at the Missouri
Pacific depot to see Sheriff Maddox
send out a train, which he said last
night he would do, or die in the at
tempt. AT II O'Clock an engine with
twenty deputies backed into the
yard to take out a train Of
twenty cars, when ready the
engine backed down the track and for
some unknown cause there remains
Sheriff Maddox and thirty deputies
are guarding the yards, warning the
strikers to keep away. 1t now seems
as though 1t will not bepossible to send
the train out before this afternoon.
LATER-It is this moment learned
the train pulled out for the south and
reached the New Orleans crossing, two
miles south of the city. and that
Sheriff Maddox and posse was attacked
at ! o'clock and a regular battle ensued.
Three deputies are shot to pieces and
several Of the strikers are supposed to
have been killed. The names of the
deputies wounded are Charles Sneed
j. j. Trueford, and Dick Townsend.
Sneed will die.
Several hundred merchants and cit.
liens are now marching down Main
street, armed with Winchester rifles
and shot guns. Several men are now
dead and a number are wounded. The
gnnstores are closed and under guard.
A later Fort Worth, Texas, special
to the Post Dispatch says: "Ihe citi-
zens are arming on all sides. A fight
is now going on between the strikers
and fifty mounted police. The strikers
are well armed with Winchesters, and
everything is in an extremely feverish
condition"
The details Of the desperate affair at
Fort Worth, Texas, are given as fol-
lows In specials to the Post Dispatch:
THE suggestive quiet that marked the
rassage Of the freight train through
the city was not without its sequel.
When the train left the depot it was
under the protection of a posse of off.
GERS, commanded by Jim COPYRIGHT.
The train proceeded to the crossing of
the Fort Worth & New Orleans road,
when it stopped a%scustOmary What fol-
lowed is reported by a railroad en-
ploye, who was on the train. He says
that when the train stopped it was
noticed that several men were con-
gregatcd on the track in front of the
train. The posses commander ap.
preached the men and asked why they
impeded the progress Of the train. To
which they replied that they had
nothing TO do with it; that they were
not armed, and had no intention of
interfering with the road. AS the
officers returned to the train
they noticed several men sitting or
lying in the grass a few yards from
the track. The entire posse advanced
toward the men in ambush until they
had reached the ditch alongside of the
track, when they commanded a throw
ing up of hands. The command was
obeyed, but as the hands came up they
brought Winchester rifles with them,
which belched forth a deadly fire. The
posse returned the fire, it is said, with
fatal effect. There were, per-
haps, n hundred shots fired; after
the first fire the posse advanced
and continued firing. The ambushers
retreated behind some piles of ties
which proved a most excellent breast
work, and from the security Of which
they poured a murderous fire into the
posse. From this position they were
finally dislodged and driven beyond
range of the posses pistols. The cas-.
ualties among the posse were found to
be three, Police Officer Tilford shot
through both thighs; Special
Officer Dick Townsend shot through
the left breast ear the nipple, fatal;
Special Officer Charles Sneed, shot
through the heart and jaw.
The casualties among the ambush.
ers is only a matter of con
lecture, though there seems to be good
grounds for saying that three or more
Of them were wounded, probably
fatally. The same authority says there
were half a dozen or more horses
visible from the train that were
ambushed, which it is believed
belong to the ambushing party, The
posse carried the wounded men aboard
the train which backed into the Union
depot where the wounded were lying
when the Mail reporter saw them.
From another source the Mai
gets the following: 1t was
the determination OF the strikers
that 10 trains should run
on the Missouri Pacific, injunction or
no injunction. IL was arranged that
should the train pass through Fort
Worth it must be stopped elsewhere.
To this end a number of strikers had
been detailed to watch the road south
of the city. The train arrived at the
crossing when it was tagged by the
strikers, not obeying the strikers next
resorted to thowing a switch; as the
man approached and threw the switch
he was fred upon by the posse,
and the FIRE was promptly re-
turned by the men in ambush. This
narrator says 1t was not the intention