The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1900-08-18
A Western Letter
Mr.. EDITOR:

liz quiet III llt Iltth H'dNtt
! "a Shooting ARRAY in Cheney
Vile" which appeared in the Texas
and Shreveport papers gave little
idea of the exciting events that
transpired there on Friday eve
ming last \ shove by the negro, a
blow from the white man. a draw
ING Of pistols and exchange of
shots. the instant death of the
white man, and the cry, "Benny
Wall has been killed by a nlgger:
he's hiding in the cane field, !"
aroused the fury of the neighbor-
hood and gathered an armed mob
bent on finishing up the negro.
Their trailing him with lanterns
through the cane field that night
by the track left by his broken
lee, his emptying his revolver at
his purSucrs, the fuSilIade which
announced his capture Listeners
were certain it meant his death)
all furnished an experience not
wholly unfamiliar TO your readers.
Considering the temper Of the mob
the negro's escape from lynchln&
is surprising. And a heated CON
trOversy between the few who op-
posed it and the angry numbers
who favored dispatching hlm as
the darkey lay upon the platform
listening. formed an exciting,
though not an enjoyable entertain
ment during most of our stay at
Chcneyyille.
Fortunately the I. and 7. agent
there, Mr.. Frank Hanley, who by
the way, is a son of our kind friend
Mrs. Z. Ilanley, had thoughtfully
attended to all preliminaries of
tickets and baggage early III the
evening and no confusion or delay
was occasioned to passengers by
the SubsequentOccur Indeed
this was but one instance OF the
courteous attention which the OF
ficials of that road uniformly eX-
tend towards those who travel
over it.
Leaving Cheneyville, we went
through Alexandria, the best adj
vcrtised town in the State, and
passed Shreveport, the most pro
gressive and enterprislng OF our
cities. The T. x =. road follows the
course of the most stirring cam
paign which occurred in Louisiana
during the Civil War, the retreat
of General Taylor before Banks's
army, and borders upon the battle
fields of Mansfield and Pleasant
Hill. These were the two great
conflicts between the opposing
armies, and the former was one OF
the most brilliant successes OF the
confederacy. Had it resulted in a
victory for Banks, the battlefield
would long ago have been made
national park. But to day there is
to the ordinary eye nothing to dis
tinguish these spots as places
where history was made.
Between Mansfield and Shreve-
port lies the Klingman nursery
which Is probably the largest in
Louisiana. The extent of the peach
department is particularly notice
able. A Shreveport attorney ot
high character and standing dl-
rected attention to its extent,
adding that according to report
Mr.. Klingman sometimes orders
carload of peach stones at a time
for planting. The statement sounds
extravagent but the young trees
are growing about as close to
gether as corn is usually dropped
with Us and 1t doubtless takes
many stones to plant an extensive
field of trees. One Texas point of
interest to some of our good peo
| pie is Scottville where are located
the grounds of the Holiness Camp
| Meeting. The meeting itself had
closed the previons Sunday. At
Marshall, a town of 10000, a 500,
600 count house is III course OF
erection, and the people are in
good spirits over the large car
shops now being built there by the
lT. & 7. At Fort Worth we found
| tha haudsomeSt denot one could