The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-02-13
A SALOON WAS THE SCENE
Lee Turner's Quarter House.
 a Slaughter House.
The Place Was Fired by Kembsrs q Posse and Those Who Attempt cd to Escape Were Shot
 Down.

Knoxville. Tenn. Feb. 12.-A special tA The Journal and Tribune from its Mids dlesboro. Ky, correspondent, says: Six are dead and as many more arc dying as the result of battle betwee1 officers from Middiesboro and moun@ taineers.
 The battle. which was one of the most desperate and revolting of its kind in tho history of mountain warfare. occurred between 1 and o'clock this afternoc1 at Lee Turner's Quarter house" safoons three and a half miles from Middlesboro.
 Last month Turner had some mules and other goods levied on in payment for a debt and a few nights ago. it ia alleged. he. with others. went to virginias where the property had been taken1 secured what was formerly his and re- turned to the quarter house."
 Today Deputy Sherif William Thomp- son summoned a posse of ten or fifteen men for the purpose of arrestlng Turner at his quarter house. saloon The Louisville and Nashville refused to con- vey the officers to the saloon and they footed 1t through the mountains. Tur- ner had heard that an attempt would be made to arrest him, and he and hin men,. fifteen in number, gave the officers a warm reception.
 The saloon Is we'll suited for an attack like this. It is built of huge logs and is surrounded by a thirty-foot fence in which loop holes are cut so that the in- mates can shoot at outsiders Turner's surrender was demanded His reply was round of shots. Charley Cecil of Mid- dlesboro was riding a paifrey in plain view of the Turner gang Some one who is believed to have been Mike Welch. Turner's bar tender. raised q window of the dive and shot Cecil. who fell dead.
 Instantly the murderer fell back pierced by a half dozen bullets. Then the firing began in earnest. the officers; scatfered behind trees and rocks poured q galiing fire into the mountain fortress. Iu the fight John Doyle. a former railroad man was badly wounded, perhaps fatally. and simon Bean. another ex-railroad man was shot in the hand.
 The town men gathered closer around Turner's place undaunted at the shots which whizzed around them. As soon as Cecil was killed his companions deter mined to burn Turner's rendezvous and in the midst of the battle man applied a torch to an exposed side of the building. A few minutes later the Building was in flames.
 Several of the mountaineers came to the window and were immediately shot down. The posse surrounded the barri- cade, determined to let none escape. Lee Turner and his friends however, in some manner escaped and are now at Minge mines, eight miles from Middles- boro. Several of his men perished in the flames. eEN
 This has been the most exciting day ever known in Middlesboro, notwithstand- ing the fact that many dreadful battles have been fought within the town limits. and in the near vicinity. All sorts of ru- mors are afioat tonight. one being that five Turnerites were killed by the Win- chesters of the attacking men and five more perlshed in the flames. It Is also believed that the posse lost more men than one. and that some of the Middies- bcro fighting may now be lying dead OF dying in the hollows surrounding tha Quarter House.
 Some of the deputies came in tonighk with their Winchesters over their shoui- ders They state that half of tine men are still at the Quarter House, and that they will return with endorsements.
 It is feared that the trouble Is nst at an end. Turner. who 1t is alleged, has killed several men, is not one who is easily cowed. and 1t is believed that he will organize a band and avenge tho death of his friends and the burning of his saloon. Turner. the handsome pro- prtetor of the saloon, gradulted at Rose Hill Va. He was a brother of Willie BiIl'' Turner, who was killed several years ago.
 Lees Quarter House. is known far and wide because of the number who have been killed within its confines. PiaclnS the days number of deaths at only six. fifty-nine have been killed there and twice that number wounded