The Dickinson press., 1899-01-21
TWO AGAINST A MOB.
AN OIL, TIME MISSISSIPPI, RIVER
SHOOTING scRAPE.

AN OIL, TIME MISSISSIPPI RIVER
SHOOTING scRAPE.
"a TrsyiSasgncident That Led TO the
swrsekiH9Sof the Old Postomce, and
~ PitAhGA Battle In Which Seven
se-sSsTe Slain.
''One sol Che worst shooting scrapes
shat 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-
uniting it to spin around with the
velocity Of a top, "took place ont there,
just above the mouth of the bayou,
about 80 years ago, when they burned
/. the old postofice and the warehouse.
You can see where they stood by the
piles of bricks there on the bank"
All admitted the ruins were plainly
visible, when he changed to the op-
posite side of the wheel, and after a
spirited effort made to counterfeit the
effects of an impinging current that
had caused the boat to swerve from her
course he continued:
: 1.-THE boat that I was on had got
caught in the fog, and we tied up un-
der the point there about 8 O'Clock in
the afternoon, and a lot of us went on
shore to take a little exercise. 1t was
on a Saturday, and q 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 we're pretty noisy.
When the postmaster said there were
only two letters and that they were
both for Bud johnson, q colored man,
q murmur Of disapproval went around,
and several of them insisted on q new
deal.
"'You a 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, a local politician, got up and made
q speech %derogatory to the administra-
ton. He insisted that the government
was prejudiced against white folks, and
that he had nc use for the office any
how. Several Of the others present ex-
pressed their approval of this senti-
ment, and a general smashing up of ev-
erything at M followed. During the
row the coal oil lamp was broken, the
house set on fire and everything burned
up.
Colonel Bunch, WIN owned the
property, noticing the fire, came up
from his plantation below and de-
nounoed. tho 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 aud couldn't do much but talk, 60
that when one of the men declared he
could whip any Bunch on earth he
looked like he felt himself in a pretty
close place, but the colonel stood his
ground until at 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, sprane
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 I can stand in his tracks
and take his part
Sat this juncture the shooting com.
menced, and 1 made for the boat. Ev-
erybody seemed to take sides against
the Bunches, and You would have
thought them a band of guerrillas from
the way they kept the fight up. Pres.
emily I noticed the colonel roll down
the bank and stop just at the edge 81
the water, ANA then his SOL came stag.
gering down, too, and fell near his side.
They were both dead! We wanted tc
leave, but the men were afraid to 20 on
shore to unite the lines, for the infuri.
ated crowd was still calling for more
Bunches and the colored man who had
got the letters, but be had climbed
tree, and they didn't know where hi
was. An hour or so later, when the
crowd had dispersed, he slid down from
his hiding place, came aboard the boa
and we had him in the hold until WI
got away and he was over his fright
He said there were five men lying OF
the bank that the Bunches had killed
before they fell" :
The boat at this ~juncture showing
disposition to become fractions, tn,
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 a feud. When there wer'
only about three families in a county,
two of them were usually engaged il
an effort to exterminate the other OF
account of some imaginary wrong, OF
maybe prompted by jealousy. Since tn
country has been settled up they are al
right. I used to think myself, " he wen
on to say after a brief tussle with tn
tiller, "that what a man wanted wa
room, but I have found out my mis-
take. What he stands most in need o
is plenty Of good neighbors, and I fin,
that the thicker you put people the bet
ter they get along. It makes them NOR
human, and besides they come to know
something, which is not the case whel
they live alone. I have learned q goo
deal myself by travelling around AM
seeing what is in the world, for I usu
ally go east every summer to swa
malarias. st. Louis Globe Democrat
Caused the First C0Olness.
Mr.. Newlywed (reading) = Nobod
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