Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-06-28
A WARTIME TRAGEDY.
4 Leaf from the History OF the Old
Ice-House-Eobbery and Murder.

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The tearing down Of the old ice-house
on PostofIice between Twentieth and
Twenty-iirst streets, 10 make room for the
new opera-house, the construction Of
which will be Immediately begun. recalls
two tragic events In the history Of tn
city.
In the summer Of 1864 a Mrs. Frances
Shaw resided on the southwest corner OF
Postoffice and Thirteenth streets Among
the 1000 Confederate soldiers forming the
garrison of Galveston were II. L. Mackle-
murray. a lieutenant and 5. I. Wood
ward, private In "A battery Of light ar
tllcry, who came If the writer's memory
serves him right, from Burnet county.
These two men were intimate acquaint-
ances OF Mrs. Shaw. Only n block from
her residence lived Mr. r. Neibour we'll
tO-do merchant. who was supposed to have
a considerable amount of gold I'm his pos
session.
The two overwhelmingly and Wool
ward-fOrned a plan to rob him. Mr.
Ncibour owned a negro woman. and these
men. promising TO take her out to the
Federal blockadng fleet and give her free
dom, prevailed upon the woman 70 rob
the house. which she did taking more
than thousand dollars In gold. The
money was taken TO the residence or
Mrs. Shaw where II was secreted by
being thrown in a brick cistern half fun
OF water
The two soldiers. well knowing that as
soon as the robbery was discovered. the
negress would be suspected. proceeded
TO carry out their promise TO her the same
night by taking her to the bay shore on
the pretense Of placing her in a small
boat and taking her out TO the blockad-
ing fleet. Here they fired a couple OF pls-
tOl shots into the unfortunate woman,
and dragging the corpse into clump or
high weeds, left ii 10 be food for the
vultures.
The robbery was discovered the next
day. and the fact that the neSresS was
missing caused search to be made for her.
| which resulted in the dead body being
found near the bay shore
Suspicion attached to Macklemurray.
Woodward. and Mrs Shaw, and the
premises Of the latter being searched,
S9rD of the stolen money was found in
the cistern. All the parties were arrested;
| the two men being charged with murder,
and Mrs. Shaw with receiving stolen pro-
| perty.
The District Court was convened IN
! January 1865 by Judge James \. Baker
OF Huntsville, and the grand jury I'M
paneled. Indictments for murder were
! returned against Macklemurray ana
| Woodward. and against Mrs. Shaw Tor
receiving stolen property.
| on January 10Th Mrs. Shaw was placed
on trial and convicted. the jury assessing
her punishment At two years confinement
in the. uenitsntiary During hsr trial
enough was developed to Ak the murder
| on the two soldiers. and when their cases
| were called, application for chanSe or
| venue was made in their behalf rms
| was granted and the cases transferred 10
Harris county. D.
After the surrender OF the Army or
/ Northern Virainia by General Lee, In
/ April 1856. the Confederacy collapsed, the
! troops In the Transmississippi Department
! abandoned their colors. and the most OF
/ them left for home. For few weeks be-
! fore the Federal troops landed I'm Texas
there was universal chaos and demoraliza-
| ton. a blockade runner in the harbOr
| OF Galveston was plunoered OF her cargo.
| and the government stores at Houston
were looted. There being no police force
/ the citizens OF Galveston Were forced to
| patrol the streets for the purpose Of pre-
serving the peace and 10 prevent disorder.
During this period of Generalization
/ Macklemurray and Woodward went forth
/ from the Houston jail free men. An i'm
} portant witness against them on the muir
/ der trial was George ID. Sutton. a private
4 IN topk : AZ tliitIN i'bIIltht- LddNhlNlHuT-
ray threatened to XIII him. and came
/ down from Houston ostensibly for that
/ purpose.
At that time the military railroad
ran through Market street from end 10
end. and passengers disembarked In front
! OF Labadies drugstore at the intersection
OF Market and Twenty-secOnd streets,
where the Alvey building now stands.
/ Here MackIemurray left the cars and
! started in search of the man he had vowed
/ 10 Kill. he proceeded up Postofce street
toward the post-ofiice. Sutton, who had
heard Mscklemurray was looking for him.
located himself In the old ice-house in
the hall leading to the stairway. and
when Macklemurray appeared on the side
! walk shot him dead.
/ The corpse was permitted TO remain on
the sidewalk for several hours. The slayer
walked away and nothing was ever done
7 m