St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1897-12-18

Ing the Courthouse,
In FranklintOn.
Special to the Times-nemocrat.
Amite City, La, Dec. l0.--The
climax in Tangipahoa assassina-
tions has been reached. Joe Reid
ha, been murdered; killed by four
bloody assassins who lurked in the
darkness outside of the Franklin.
ton courthouse and shot him down
from behind as he walked ont un-
suspectingly into the night.
Joe Reid was the most promi-
nent man in all the Florida parishes.
Some might say he was notorious,
but he was prominent n all that
the word implies. A country
lawyer Of exceptional ability ne
could have held his own At the
criminal bar of any city. for crimi-
nal practice was his forte. He
was : man of fine education, {:
magnetic orator and prepossessing
in appearance and aggressive n
thought, word and deed. The
news of his death has spread like
wild fire all over the Florida
parishes, up in St. Helena, over
in st. Tammany, across to Living
ston; in fact all through the dis
trict where he has practiced for so
many years.
The news of his death is the SEN
satiop Of the hour. It over:o2s IN
magnitude and intensity all of the
many bloody assassinations that
have characterized the parish OF
Tangipahoa, until it has become
the dsrk ard bloody ground of
Louisiana. Joe had just finished
.rgunen. IN case IL Franklir,0n,
where court was being held. Night
sessions were being conducted in
o Ger hat the work of the court
might be expedited. Earnest If
I'LL things. Joe Reid actually lost
his identity when engaged in a case
that brought into play ais
sHAPEsT FACULTIES
and keenest logic, and it was IT'S.
after finishing q brilliant aIyc-
ment in case iias he walked out of
the warm courtroom, hat in hand
as ais wont 70 gel breath of fres.'
cir. He walked 10 the dooc, an
as he passed out suddenly shots
rang out in the nigh: air and Joe
Reid fell MORALLY wounded. The
aes; ssins noun. ed ,ne;r lorses wai.-
ing near BY ana gallopec away into
the darkness.
DETAILS OF THE MI RIDER.
Joe Reid made a remark i've
minutes before his death shat was
a strange coincidence. He lad
been defending Bob Miller. II
man who is Charged VIII having
burned the Franklinton Courthouse
last March. In The course Of argu-
me 1t District Attorney Dunc'.n
Kemp nsG Stated that th,s sii03
of people sneAking a'o.pd Al
night setting fire % buildings
had 20 be stopped, aud Joe Reit.
in bis argument, replied .iat SET
ting FIRE to houses was not as baG
as sneaking around in the Ga:k
and shooting people ben ad 'aeir
bscks. Two minutes laier he con-
cluded his argument and three mn-
u es later ne was . corpse. tie
walled down stairs and went on.
the door, when two men stepped.
from each side Of the shadows. enc!
getting within six or eigSt Zee. Of
him, shot him in the back. live
csots were fred, only one Of which
took effect. II proved fatal. 1t
struck him just under the left
shoulder blade went and trough tie
upper portion Of the heart. a
minute after he SHOT was lied
J ldge Reid rushed down s.airs and
had Joe in his arms before he did.
but he was too fer gone to reply TO
tie judges questions as 70 who
did the shooting.
Mr.. Clinton Stegall, Official
s enographer Of the court end pri-
vate s.enog-apier 20 Joe Reid. saw
the whole affair. As soon IS zoe
had finished his argument Nj. Ste
gall went down stairs and Joe Reid
followed right after him. When
they got TO The foot of the e;aiis
Clint Stegall .olG Joe ne wanted 2
light for his cigar, and At the same
nomert stepped in o the clerks
Office, where . candle was Burning.
He knocked the sshes of his cig4;
:ld lighted it, consuming perhaps
quarter OF a minute. In The
meantime Joe iaG passed him an;
had gone out in the courthouse
yard. Clint S;eyall then came ors
of The clerks Office and . I'd just got
to the door of the court house when
he ssw three or four men, fou,, he
thinks, TWO from each Size, rush
up behind Joe and fire at him five
lin .. Then they ran for their
horses, mounted them and escaped.
Mr.. Stegall did not see the faces
of the men who did the shooting,
but remembers that they were of