The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-12
AFTER THE MEACHAMITES.
Four Alabama Counties are Up in
Arms.

First Industrious Farmers, Were
Afterward Illicit Liquor Vendors,
and are Now Murderers and Out
laws-Three of Them Already Killed,
and the Last one of the Lot to be
Riddled If Come Upon.
Mobile, Aug. 1l.-A special to the Reg
lister from jackson, Ala, says that the
counties Of Clark, Choctaw, Wilcox and
Marengo, are stirred TO the highest pitch
at the murderous doings Of the notorious
Meachamites, and at this writing be-
tween 400 and 500 heavily armed men are
in Meacham beat for the avowed purpose
of
wIPING OUT EVERY MEMBER
Of tho gang and avenging the numerous
wrongs perpetrated upon the good people
Of the counties named. From a resident
of Jackson, who is well acquainted with
the operations of the gang, an interesting
story was cleaned The Meachamites
number between 35 and 80 men and
their point of operations is in Meaeham
beat, six miles from Coifeeville and about
seventeen from Thomasville Five years
ago when the settlement was founded,
these men
Piled THEIR VOCATION AS FARMERS.
and were to all intents and purposes good
citizens. A year ago, however, trouble
began, The county is a prohibition one,
but one day sign was displayed on
tree in the village that whisky could be
secured on certain nights during tho
week by applying TO a certain store.
Customers were plentiful When they
entered the store they were
MET BY MASKED MEN
who would deal out to them whisky in
such quantities as desired No questions
were a-ked by either party, and then the
buyer was warned, under penalty of
death, to say nothing Of the business
methods followed by the dealer This vio-
lation of the law went on for some time,
and the selling of whisky led to crimes
being committed. Several fatal shOotingS
between drunken men occurred. The best
citizens expressed themselves freely, and
several of them
WERE THREATENED WITH DEATH.
If they attempted TO take any action.
Finally, John A. Hare, had his barn,
stables and house burned, and on his GO
ing into the yard TO fight the flames he
was SiOb hb ana HhEGUNly CnIhpGtA ldbNL
injury. Joseph Anderson was another
victim He was shot down on a Sunday
evening while walking through his field,
and died instantly. His assassin was
never arrested although 10 was well
known who committed the deed. A few
months later a thrifty old negro, and the
only one in the Meacham beat at the
time, was
KILLED WHILE AT WORK
at his mill. At this time the clanwas WIDEN
ing and taking in more new men. Terror
existed among all, and men joined the
gang through fear to protect themselves.
In December last Ernest McQorquodale's
death followed This cowardly assassin-
alton, occurring as 10 did on Christmas
night in the presence of the unfortunabe's
family, worked up tho entire community,
and
HIS ASSASSIN WAS FINALLY LOCATED.
The evidence was complete, and on
Monday afternoon the murderer met his
death. He was James, the leader Of the
Meachamites, anda an acknowledged
terror in the community Tho
posse located James near Coffeeville
Monday afternoon at o'clock. He had
been out attending a meeting of the clan
and was on the way back in the act OF
entering his gate, when four men who
were stationed at near by points of adj
vantage
PULLED DOWN ON HIM.
with four Wlnchesters Every bullet took
effect and James fell in his tracks. His
body was carried into the house by his
family, and next morning the remains
were inferred in the little cemetery Of.
the town. James leaves a wife and seV-i
eral children. Kirk James and others
Of the gang are said TO have met their
death at the same time.
AMONG THE OTHER ACTS OF LAwLEssNEss,
committed by the gang were the distill-
ing of Illicit 1whisky and the counterfeit
ing Of money. Since the killing of Nc
COrquodale they have also added two
more crimes to their category. Two
weeks ago the alarm was given in Mea-
cham beat that a negro had attempts
ed to outrage a white woman. A
posse was formed and all the negroes in
the beat were brought before the woman,
who failed to identify the guilty person.
Sam House. a brother of Willis House,
was one of those brought forward, and he
was identified,
BUT PROVED AN ALIBI
by two prominent men and was released.
About two hours before daylight the next
morning House was called TO his door and
shot dead by two unknown men. Subse-
quent developments went to show that
bUtFG WAS no dbb5IlDb W tAttE0 hAAO
woman, but the affair was a ruse to get a
chance to dispose of House, who had re-
lated TO certain parties that he knew who
had killed his brother, Willis House.
Then followed
THE TROUBLE At THOMAsyILB.
The Meachamites threaten to clean out
the whole town on account Of one of their
number who stole pair Of shoes, being
caught up with. This last outbreak on
the part of the outlaws caused the law
abiding citizens of all the surrounding
country to come together and agree that
the gang should be stamped out.
Later.-Looch Bedsoe, one of the
Meacham gang, was captured after q
hard chase by the posse. Seeing his end
was near. he said that Bob Bourke killed
John Anderson and shot down William
House, and that James, the leader of the
gang, killed Ernest McCorquodale for a
large sum Of money, and that James
Gordon killed Lem House; also
that CAPS. James EOrscue had
been marked as the next victim.
The posse riddled Bedsoe with bull
let's. The dead of the gang are:
Lev, James, Beds0e and Kirk James.
Other members Of the gang are located in
the swamps and the posse proposes to
bag them all by tomorrow night. One
man. Sandy Norris who was taken to-
day, was in such condition that the
posse turned him over to the sheriff in