River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1888-12-13
POWDER AND BALL.

Exists aud the City Is Guarded by MILF
I tia-Arrest of the Sheriff and Chief of
Police on Charge of Murder-The
Brutal Murder which Caused the Trag-
edy.
/ BIRNINGHAM, Ala, Dec. l0-An attempt
at midnight Saturday night to lynch Rich
ard Halves, in jail ON a charge Of murder
! ing his wife and daughter, resulted IN a
/ terrible tragedy The alleged murderer
is unframed but a score of citizens of
| Birmingham are killed and wounded At u
O'Clock the mob made an attack upon
4 the Jail Sheriff Smith twice warned them
/ back. Get back, men" he cried. Il am go
/ ing to do my duty aud protect these pris-
| oners" The mob howled in derision, and
| above the din could be heard: I'VE
| don't want to hurt you, Smith, but
/ we must have that murderer" Then
| there was a great rush and Sheriff
| Smith ordered the men handling the Cat
| ling gun TO fire. There was a terrific Sc
ries of reports, the mob staggered and
men began to fall on all sides They hest.
tated, and as the deadly Lullets continued
/ to rain upon them, with oaths and curses
| they fell back in disorder
| As a result of the murderous fire Of the
/ Calling gun nine lives were lost and
many persons were wounded. The names
\ of the dead are as follows:
NJ. b. Throckmorton, the postmaster; j. R.
/ Mccoy, fell at the first volley; A. B. Tarrant
/ was shot in the back; A. ID. Bryant, was shot
! through the heart Colbert Smith Ccolored),
died this moruing; Charles Jenkins, aged 20,
of Smithsheld shot through the mead, died this
morning: - b. Anden, died this morning
| Frank Childer.
! An unknown negro shot through the lungs
1 died this morning.
The wounded are as follows:
q. C. Tate, painter of East Lake, aged IS,
shot through the hip, thigh and loin, is dying;
! Lawrence Fitzhugh, a civil engineer. aged 20
shoulder badly wounded; A. J. Sehiede, me-
chanic formerly of Kalamazoo, Mich, shot in
the left side and il is thought he will die; J. T..
Montgomery, left Jaw slightly wounded; Mr..
1 Berkeley shot through both legs below the
knee; c. Bailey, of Boston, Louisville s New
Albany brakeman, shot in the right side,
wound may prove serious; John II. Merritt
shot through calf of left leg; Matt Kennedy,
aged 90, shot through both legs, right leg shat
/ tered, left arm brokea; j. w Owen, a carpen-
ter. aged 80, shot through right thigh; j. W.
Gilmore of Green Springs, aged &c. thought TO
be fatally wounded; Albert Smith (cOloredl
seriously wounded in the back; W. A. Byrd,
aged 80 shot in right shoulder, the ball emerg-
ing near the spinal cord.
Postmaster ThrOckmOrton was a very
porular citizen. He was born at Lou s.
vile, KY, thirty years ago and came to
Birmingham in 1880 as agent for the
Southern Express Company. About eight
cen months ago he was appointed post
master He leaves q wife and one child
A. b Tarrant, after the first
volley, lay down on the ground
with the hope of avoiding the fly
ing bullets. Fate would not have it
so, however, and a ball struck him as he
lay ON his face and ranged up the back.
After few minutes suffering he died
Mr. Brandon, one of the dead, told hos
pital attendant that he boarded at
| the house of the sheriff of Etowah
County at Gadshea and that he
came here on business in the United
State Court. Mr.. Berkeley, one of the
wounded was sitting on the rear por ch of
w Siddons' residence when shot Will
lam YoungblOOd, Mr.. Alexander and Ed
ward Cooper, first reported as either
killed or wounded, were not hurt. A. ID.
Bryant fell at the first vol'ey. He was
near the front of the crowd aud was try
ing to RESTRAIN the mob at the time.
The patrol-wagon carted off the dead and
wounded to the hospital. The firing was
commenced by the police, but equally as
many shots were fired by the mob. Over
500 rounds were fired. Inside the Jail the
bullets fired by the mob whistled around
y
the inside, and bullets whistled within an
inch OF his hesd. A desUltory fire was
kept up for half an hour. Halves was in
different throughout the riot
4 The defenders of tie sheriff declare that
| Saturday nights work will prove val
4 liable though tragic lesson to mobs. The
public is not inclined, however, to look
! philosophically upon it and nine citizens
I out of every ten in this city openly de
nounce the shooting as an awful crime.
Men were shot down, they say, who were
neither members nor meters to mob ven
| geance. Their dead bodies when examined
were not loaded down with artillery and
none present saw any of the killed do any
act of violence or commit any offense that
could be construed either as a crime or in
tent to commit crime. Throckmorton had
no pistol and was endeavoring to induce
the crowd TO withdraw. 1t is gen
orally declared that the reckIessness
ami haste of the sheriff in Civ.
ing the command to fire was assassina-
tion, and it is claimed on all sides that the
immense gathering at the Jail was not for
the purpose at all of forcing the doors, but
rather a mob which gathered out OF curios-
ity, and that there was never any real
danger of assault. The alleged crime of
Halves has almost disappeared from the
public mind, and the indignation expressed
is directed against Sheriff Smith and the
posse who fired the fearful volley.
The city is military encampmcnt. Civil
authorities have practically stepped down
and out, and Colonel Jones, of Mont
gomery, with ten military companies,
is absolutely in charge of affairs.
with picket lines extended several
squares in every direction and at each
approach there frowns a Gattling gun.
Mounted scouts are sent out of the city
and at regular intervals acquaint Colonel
Jones with the condition Of the public
mind aud prospects of an armed rising by
the people. Fire bells sound military
alarms and soldiers in uniform and armed
with Winchester rifles have desolated the
principal streets and driven back the thou
sands who have all day been looking to-
ward the Jail The military were ordered
out by Governor Seay from Montgomery,
and with the Chief Executive Colonel
Jones is m regular telegraphic CO respond
ence. Eve more companies of troops are
expected here.
In the meanwhile the citizens have not
kept within doors. They have congre-
gated in hotels or on street corners and in
front of bulletin boards Some of the
streets have been a wing maddened mass
of PEOPLE, and very little oratorical
pyrotechnics could readily organize
a mob TO avenge the killing of Throck-
morton and those who fell by him All
along the walls of the city are posted pc
titions of various kinds signed by thou
sands of people. One of these re-
cites at length the fact that Sheriff
Smith had butchered in cold blood
some Of the best citizens of Birming-
ham by an act as unprovOked as it was I'M
necessary, and asks Governor Seay TO i'm
mediately relieve him Of his duties as
sher f. Another petition reads: This is
to hang him. and is signed by thousands
Of passers-bv.
About o'clock p. m Sunday citizen
went before a justice of the peace and
swore out warrant for ne arrest Of Smith
an his deputies on the charge of murder.
Ills was served by the coroner, who found
Smith n the Jail. The coroner took charge
Of the Jail Captain PeytOn Bibb,
in command of the Montgomery Blues, adj
vised that the military take Smith aud
Halves out of Jail and carry them 10 Mont
e merry for safe keeping. This was
not Gcceded to- During the after
moor the rumor became widespread
that l. 500 miners from Pratt mines,
about FIVE miles from Birmingham,
would. after dark, march TO the city,
armed with guns pistols and dynamite
cartridges and assault the soldiers, and
with dynamite blow TO atoms the Jail
That such an attempt would be made
was expected even by the military,
.h....t, =, er.ca~eFt,T finale xx-aa not apttrf.