The Opelousas courier., 1888-08-18
Assassination.

Last Saturday night two colored mel
were brought to our Jail, bound togeth
er, and both evidently dangerousl,
wounded. No satisfactory explanation
was given by the officer having charg'
of the prisoners, who Immediately lef
town after turning them over to ths
man in charge of the jail at the time
without seeing either the sheriff or th'
jailor.
| Naturally on Sunday morning oil
sorts of startling rumors were atioa
concerning the affair which it is needless
here to repeat, as the coroner's inquest
which is quite voluminous, and appears
to be as searching as the circumstances
would admit, doubtless affords as COR
rect version of the terrible affair as
can be had Of this time.
Early Sunday morning, as soon al
sheriff Fontenot was informed of the
fact, he Immediately repaired to the Jail
and perceived at once that George An
derson, one of the prisoners, was in &
dying condition, and hurriedly sent fol
the parish physician and magistrate
to take the dying declaration of the
prisoner, from which we make the fol-
lowing extracts: .
*so* John Seelcy shot me to please Louis
Young. John Seeley and fellow by the name
of Rivers (Riyiere) were in company and
brought us to town. Was on our way to Opel
ousas; was STOPPING down in the hack wher
shot. Mr.. Louis Young started up
ahead of US as though he was coming to town;
it was him and Mr. Seeley who shot me.
Our hands were tied when coming here as
| Cr,nf N1aox fO o1n1a aos
to Jail. ~ J. w. Seeley had charge of me
Smith & Wesson. can't talk any
more These fellows shot me for nothing
The prisoner died soon after magis-
trate Brooks had taken the declaration
which was evidently hurriedly writ
| ten and somewhat incoherent.
From the vOluminous testimony TAX
en- before the. e.coroner's jury, twenty or
more witnesses having been examined,
We gather the following particulars:
George Anderson and Louis Jackson
wereRE-ested under act 81 of 1886, on
an affidavit of Louis Young on the 1lth,
in the 10Th ward of this parish, and sent
by the magistrate of that ward to Opel
ousas under charge of John N. Seeley,
deputy sheriff, who bound the two to-
gether and put them in a ahack--Riviere
Richardson and Louis Chapman occu-
pied the same hack with the deputy
sheriff and his prise ters, starting foI
Opelousas about dark.sf
Mr.. j. Jumere testifA d before the cor
| oner's inquest that at about $50 or 9
o'clock Saturday night he heard noise
in front of his house on the ,public road
and eight or ten shots fred.
The testimony of Louis jackson, the
surviving prisoner, whose wounds are
not considered fatal, and will probably
recover, appears to be more complete
than the others, with bat slight varia-
tion from the testimony of a majority OF
the other witnesses; We give it entire.
He says:
1 was arrested on Saturday, the lltl, by j.
N. Seeley and taken before judge Lafieur
when George Anderson and myself were tied
together and placed in hack with Seeleys
When we reached Vidrine's store they bought
three bottles of liquor. After leaving the store
ON reaching Mr.. Eraste Dupr6's house, near
Baptiste Rideaus, two men came up to where
we were and said to Geo. Anderson sis that
you, George2" George Anderson replied "yes
Io 40 as.:msaS s, w @ Ss " .J..ai Ji 1:...;si' @
Mne luessaonsa Ahaeison 1 , sSlaga LII LII WIN m
that way" with that the man shot him. Then
Mr.. Louis Young and Seeley shot at him. The
p:pp Tepprts wore siLlsiCancOus; inen nHlere N5E
Tnn;s VoOnnS sna ahat I % az LanS r
was Louis Young who struck Anderson, and
he and Seeley shot together was drinking
but stopped when saw whiskey was getting
Mr.. Louis Young and his SON. / heard Mr.
Eraste Dupre's name mentioned. l was shot
before was stabbed me hack 10 which we
hns Tare Ts ssar I'LL ~ a ite5 pn Sa.
SON was shot before was. was tied to Geo
Anderson when We left Mr.. Lafeur's; we never
united unit until ! we @ reached opeionsas,; l dld
Anderson Was Vas sitting down in the hack when
he was shot. Anderson, after he was shot,
cried out. When we reached Jnmere's. Rivi,
b 81 che ana
The man in the wagon was Frank CaroIins AZ
we call him. did not see Lncien Chapman
shoot this Frank Caroline. When was shot
saere M were W OF 9 snots nrsa: ed: Tecognlzed
were w fred. MI. Eraste Dnpr6 came m after alter
some shots were fred-before either Of US
were shot Tn These shots were fred at George
han +; han mns Vnnn anu a sUfdGi h;
were were, on or horsebaek whas thew came nm. We We
slept from the time we were shot and struck
Until IN we reached the jail; ! cant say whether
Rvssa We snos
The verdict Of the coroner,a iurrv : il
That George Anderson came to his
death by a gunshot wound from the
hands of j. w. Seeley, Louis Young,