The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1898-12-09
BLOODY BIT OF
HISTORY RECALLED
Yesterday Vas the Tenth Anniversary oil
the HAYES Riot.
WAS A TERRIBLE TRAGEDY
Twelve Men Were Killed and Sixteen
Wounded.
THE FACTS WHICH PRECEDED 1T
The Horrible Story of the Man Who
Murdered His Wife and Two Chill
dren and Expiated His Crime
on the Gallows.

Just ten years ago this morning The
Age-Herald chronicled the most terrible
tragedy in the history of Birmingham. 1t
will scarcely be necessary to state that it
was the Halves riot which occurred on
the memorable night of Saturday December
8, 1885,
Although the boodest chapter in the his
tory of the city 1t may be interesting to re-
call some of the circumstances of the ter
rible event which resulted from the black
est crime in the annals of the state-a
crime so unnatural that it can scarcely be
accredited to a human being.
Finding Mays Body
On Tuesday morning, December 4, 1888,
John Keeth and Ben Culbolson, two young
men who were rowing across East Lake,
discovered the body of 10-year-old girl
floating on the surface of the water and i'm
med ately reported the matter to the au-
thorites. The body was removed to the
undertaking room of Lockwood & Miller,
in Second avenue, where it was viewed by
hundreds of people, in an effort to iden-
tify her.
No report that the child was missing had
been made to the authorities and no trace
of the parents could be found. Suspicion of
foul play was aroused, but no marks of
violence could be found. On thatn!ght spe-
cial dispatch to The Age-Herald from its
correspondent at Columbus, Miss,
conveyed the information that at O'Clock
on that afternoon Richard r. Halves was
married to Miss Mayes Stores, popular
young lady of that city. The dispatch fur
Their stated that the couple would pass
| through Birmingham on the night train en-
route to Augusta, Ga, on bridal tour.
Halves Arrested.
The officers were at once notified and on
the arrival of the train from Columbus at
$40 o'clock Halves was placed under ar
rest at the depot by Deputy Sheriff Truss.
His bride of a few hours, beautiful young
woman, was placed in charge of an ac-
| quaintance and after having testified before
| the coroner returned to her home at Co
| lumbus, without ever again looking upon
| the face of the man to whom she was wed.
4awes was informed of the charge
against him and feigned surprise, although
he showed no emotion. He told an appar-
emily plausible story of his life, stating
that he had been divorced from his former
wife and had sent her away. The divorce
| he said had been obtained in Atlanta, but
press dispatch from that city stated that
no record could be found of the proceedings
| and the mystery began to deepen. A search
| of the house lately occupied ythe Halves
| family revealed disordered state of affairs
| and several blood stains on the floor and
walls, another link in the chain of evidence
| that was slowly winding around the doomed
man.
The Other Bodies Found.
1t was decided to drag the little artificial
| lake at Lake View and Saturday at
| 1890 O. cock the body of Mrs. HAYES was
brought to the surface with fifty pounds of
| railroad iron tied to it. An hour later the
| body of Irene, the younger child, was also
discovered and the city was thrown into
| an intense state of excitement and despite
| the counsel of cooler heads there was
| talk of lynching.
Groups of men gathered on the street
| corners and by nightfall the city was in
| a turmoil. Sheriff Joe Smith had detailed
between thirty and forty men in the jail
to resist any attempt that might be made
| to get to the prisoner
About 10 o'clock at night a crowd began to
gather, but was without a leader start
was made for the Jail and many persons
out of curiosity followed.
Advanced on the Jail.
Mayor Thompson and other well known
citizens counseled the men to do no rash
act and for time they listened. The
crowd behind pushed and soon advanced
down Twenty-first street to the mouth of
the alley leading to the jail, where they
| were warned by Sheriff Smith to turn back.
A few hot heads urged the crowd on, when
the officers in the jail opened fire, with the
result that twelve men were killed and six
teen wounded
Among the killed were NJ. B. Throckmor-
ton, postmaster of Birmingham, who was
among the lookers-on.
The local military was called into SER
vice. which on the following morning was
further augmented by the arrival of al
most the entire Second regiment under
command of Col. Thomas G.. Jones, who
afterwards became governor The military
companies remained on duty for about ten
DAYS until all excitement had subsidized.
A few months later Halves was tried
and convicted and paid the penalty of his
terrible crime on the gallows with his lips
sealed.