The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-01
MADE A STERN FIGHT FOR LIFE
SHELTON DAMPIER DEFIES THE
SHERIFF"s POSSE.

The slayer of Sam Parker Is Finally
Run 10 Cover Near VaIdOsta-His
PursueFs Surround the Hut Where
He Hid and Await DayIight-1n-
trcnched Behind a Wall of Logs
the Desperate Gives shot For Shot.
He Finally Surrenders to Superior
Force.
Valdosta, Ga, Sept. 90.-Shelton Damp
Ter, the slayer of Sam Parker, at Hahira,
three weeks ago, was brought to the city
this evening, haggard, pale and wounded.
He was arrested by a sheriffs posse at
noon to-day in little log house on the
Barheld place, four miles from Hahira.
His arrest came after the most fearful
fusilade that has ever occurred in this
section of the state. The posse fired sew
eral hundred shots at the desperate while
he returned the fire, probably a hundred
times. The members of the posse kept
themselves concealed behind small sap
lings, and the log hut in which the des-
perado was hiding, kept him well forti-
fed. The posse consisted of Deputy
Sheriff Barney Harrell, Thatcher Smith,
his son Bud Smith. Webster Bradford,
Higgs Taylor and Harry Timer. Deputy
Harrell and Bud Smith had tracked Dam
pier all over the country, following him
along the river far down into Florida, and
returning close behind him Tuesday night,
they traced him to this city then, and lost
his trail here. clew was found yester-
day evening, and two posses Joined in
talr for
night last night they left this city and
went to the Barfield place, where they
were certain of finding their game, having
been informed that he was there in hiding,
in the little house. They surrounded the
building, and about dawn this morning
they heard a board being torn from the
inside of the house. They supposed that
it was Dampier making a
peep hole through which to
survey the situation. A little
later the door to the house opened and a
man appeared in it, He sat down on the
step and began chewing cane. The mem
bers of the posse watched him, and every
moment as the day dawned they had bet
ter view of him. They knew that he was
armed and that it would be death to the
man who attempted to arrest him. He
finally spied one of the members of the
posse and, Strengthening himself up, ut
tered, SO that they could hear him, an
oath, adding that he would die before he
would be arrested.
One member of the posse aimed at his
shoulder and fired, hoping to wound him
so that he could not handle his rife The
aim was accurate, and as the report of
the gun rang out through the woods, the
fugitive wheeled nearly around SIAM
ming the door, and opened a fusilade
through the cracks between the logs. The
members of the posse fired upon the build
ing in rapid succession, and the fusilade
kept up for six hours.
Deputy Harrell left for Hahira to tele-
phone here for more help and arms and,
as he went Off Dampier fired at him eight
times, one bullet grazing the deputys hat.
BY noon the other posses from here and
from Hahira arrived and then Dampier
saw that further resistance would be use
less. He yelled to some of them that he
was ready to surrender, and the door of
the hut was opened. He cursed out the
crowd for remaining behind trees after
they came upon him, but he got in a good
taking humor before he reached the city.
The wound on his shoulder caused him
good deal of trouble, and he was weak and
pale from it, He stated after his arrest
that he had been to Savannah a week
since the murder of Parker, but that
the quarantine regulations were so
strict that he could not get along well
from place to place. He has been in this
city several times since the killing, but
all efforts to capture him have been futile
until to-day.
He put UP the bravest fight imaginable,
and the members of the posse showed
equal determination. The killing of Par
ker, the escape of the slayer the chase
and the final capture make up a story as
sensational as can be.