El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-11-17
The Spectator.

Some days ago there appeared In the
news columns of this paper short dis
patch from Galveston. telling of the
killing in that city of q young news
paper reporter by a politician. No de-
rails were given, and the matter, while
remarked upon at the time as being in
some respects of an unusual nature,
was soon passed over and forgotten.
The dispatch was but an outline. The
Spectator has been looking out for
more particulars of the affair, as he
felt that there might be material for q
good story behind the little
note that came over the
wire. 1t was even so. The crime was
one of the most dastardly murders that
has ever taken place in the history of
the state. 1t was horrible in its DELHI
erateness, its cold bloodedness, and
it's awful consequences. The young
man, just entering upon d career of
great promise, was murdered as he
knelt at the feet of his murderer beg
ging for mercy. There is much of
heart interest in the story, and while
its details are narrowing, nevertheless
something about the case touches the
great heart of huma L ity, and the chord,
once struck, will echo until it is.silenced
by other and greater sounds. The
young reporter, w. B. Blythe, was
twenty six years old. He wrote q
story for the Tribune which he obtain
ed from various reliable persons. aud
which had reference to certain people
of the city. The article was quite in
offensive, assumed names and other de-
tails'were used throughout, and while
the story was a readable one it was not
thought that anyone could take offense
because of it's pu blica tion. The story
had been floating around for some
days. 1t appears that Edwin S. Easley
took offence at the story. He sent for
the business manager of the paper and
he and his wife showed during the
interview that theg were provoked,
hut Easley did not appear to be angry.
The business manager, Fred Chase,
promised to try to find out the
source of the story and he then left
the house. Mr.. Chase early the next
day ascertained that Blythe had writ
! ten the article, and told him about Ess-
ley. Blythe told where he secured the
story. From this point We will let Mr..
Chase tell the tale of this horrible as
sassiu alton:
"Blythe said that he would sooner suf-
fer the the loss of his right hand than
| have hurt auyone's feelings in the pu b.
! LEGATION of an article, and that he was
innocent of any intent to injure any
one, aud turned in the story which he
| thought concealed the identity of any,
one connected with it, because he
| thought it was legitimate ard good
story. L was sitting at my desk in the
| Tribune office at about twenty min
\ utes to nine this morning when Mr..
| Easley walked in; he did not appear
TO me any differently than he ORD mar
| lily has been; that is, he did not show
any excitement nor act nor talk any
differently than L have observed dur
ing the time | have known him, about
six years; 1 told him that 1 had found
the source OF the article which he re-
ferred to; he said he would like to see
| the reporter q moment; we went w
stairs to the Tribune editorial room
| Mr.. Blythe was out and Mr.. Easley
/ had to wait three or four minutes; he
had both hands in his overcoat DO ck
cts, as l most always had noticed he
did when he wore an overcOat; wher
Blythe came into the editorial room
introduced him to Mr.. Easley; Mr.
Easley, 10 his ordinary voice, asked
him the source of his information: Mr.
Blythe told him that the woman who
tended the cigar stand in the -
building, the one who is referred to ir
the article as Mrs. Montfort, told it t.
him, and that he was very
sorry If he had given Mr.
Easley any offense; with that Mr. Eas
ley pulled large revolver from his
overcoat pocket and grabbed Blythe
about the arms and Blythe in TURF
grabbed the revolver with both hands
myself and several of the employees o.
the Tribune grabbed hold OF Easle,
and begged him to do nothing rasn
Blythe all the time was protesting hi
innocence of any intent to hurt
anyone's feelings through the publ
cation of the articles: Easley then asked
him if be would sign retraction ant
turned to me and asked me if the Tri-
bune would publish it; Blythe said b,
would sign q retrsction, and said tina
the Tribune would not only publish it
but would do everything it could to re