The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1898-12-27
TWO AGAINST A MOB.
AN OLD TIME MISSISSIPPI RIVER
SHOOTING ScRAPE.

a Pitched Rattle In Which Seven
Men Were Slain.
! "One of the worst shooting scrapes
that ever happened along the Missis'
sippi river began the man at the
wheel, relaxing his hold on the tiller,
which had been hard down, and per-
mitting it to spin around with the
velocity of top, "took place out there,
Just above the mouth of the bayou,
about 80 years ago, when they burned
the old postoffice and the warehouse.
Yoa can see where they stood by the
piles of bricks there on the bank. -
ALI admitted the ruins were plainly
visible, when he changed to the op-
posite side of the wheel, and after a
spirited effort made to counteract the
effects of an impinging current that
had caused the. boat to swerve from her
course he continued:
''The boat that 1 was on had got
caught in the fog, and we tied up un-
der the point there about O'Clock in
the afternoon, and a lot of US went On
shore to take little exercise. 1t was
on Saturday, and a good many people
had come in from the country to do
their trading and get their mail. Some
of them were pitching quoits and Others
shooting at a mark when we first land
ed, but they quit when they saw the
man carry the mail bag we had brought
and went in and stood around waiting
for the letters to be sorted. They had
all been drinking and were pretty noisy.
fHa
only two letters and that they were
both for Bud johnson, a colored man,
murmur of disapprovaI went around,
and several of them insisted on a new
deal.
You can look for yourselves said
the postmaster, tossing them the bag
but after searching and finding it empty
they were in a worse frame of mind
than ever. Presently one of the num-
Der, local politician, got up and made
a speech deroPatory to the administra-
tion. He insisted that the government
was prejudiced against white folks, and
that he had no use for the Office any
how. Several of the others present ex-
pressed their approval of this senti-
ment, and general smashing up of ev-
erything at once followed. During tue
row the coal oil lamp was broken, the
house set on fire and everything burned
up.
Colonel Bunch, who owned the
prop arty, noticing the fire, came up
from his plantation below and de-
nounced the perpetrators of the outrage
as vandals. The colonel was a high
spirited man and didn't stand any fool
ishness, but was getting along in years
now and couldn't do much but talk. so
that when one Of the men declared no
could whip any Bunch ON earth hu
looked like he felt himself in pretty
close place, but the colonel stood his
ground until ct last, when the contend
.ing parties were about to come to blows,
his son appeared upon the scene, and,
learning the cause of the trouble, sprang
between the two, and, drawing his re
volver, said, My name is Bunch, and
when my father gets to be too old to
defend himself 1 can stand in his tracks
and take his part.
AT this juncture the shooting com
menced, and | made for the boat. Ev-
erybody seemed TO take sides against
the Bunches, and You would have
thought them band Of guerrillas from
the way they kept the fight up. Pres
emily l noticed the colonel roll down
the bank and stop just at the edge Of
the water, and then his son came stag
gering down, too, and fell near his side.
They were both dead We wanted tc
leave, but the men were afraid to go on
shore to unite the lines, for the infuri-
ated crowd was still calling for more
Bupches and the colored man who had
got the letters, but be had climbed 4
tree, and they didn't know where be
was. An hour or so later, when the
crowd had dispersed, he slid down from
his hiding place, came aboard the boat
and we had him in the hold until we
got away and he was over his fright
He said there were five men lying OIL
the bank that the Bunches had killed
before they FELL"
The boat at this juncture showing {
disposition to become fractions, tht
pilot gave his undivided attention for {
moment to the wheel, when he went on
''But there is not much shooting
along the river now, and you hardly
ever hear of feud. When there wer
only about three families in county
two Of them were usually engaged il
an effort to exterininate the other @!
account of some Imaginary wrong, O.
maybe prompted by jealousy. Since til
country has been settled up they are al
right. 1 used to think myself, he wen
on to say after q brief tussle with tn
tilIer. THAT what man wanted Wa.
room, but l have found out my mis-
take What he stands most in need Q
is plenty OF coed neighbors, and | fin
that the thicker you put people the bet
ter they get along. 1t makes them NOR
human, and beside2 they come to know
something, which Is not the case whe
they live alone. I have learned goo
deal nnvself hv travelling arOnnd an