The Opelousas courier., 1904-03-19
PARISH
cdled While Resisting Arrest.


Fisher and Ieputy Sheriff Tx,
: Stagg, sailed Forth in searcii ot
; u negrh criminal nAnled Taylor
Weldon. The accused was charged
with assault, with intent to muir
der. Weldon was of rowing dis.
position, and for time iQfested
, the prairie section near Opelou-
sas, where he committed the of
Tense charged against him. 1t
seems, however, that not long ago
he got an lntimation that the Of
I1ceis of ttie law H".li,l soon be
altgf hinl, 1n,t conciu,icG 10 leave
faG@ a mere secludct. pi.,ct He
Established himself ! on, Bayou
Conrtableau, where ke could, in
a pinch, easily take y he woods
iii order to clude hA pur>uers
aud at the~salne iimssS<l:take Of
the conth WE'D huspit.WtN Of bis
rela'iveabbsinIn The exeStt Jon of
this mia 3s.elpt of duty the s&s riff
antlc1pas Gn}o such results as a.
CURED daA ttpnly picked Up 4dlis
rifle nH|Nuniis is wont to d} SO
w',e'IF to til pi'l search of c'',n;-
nais son. lc, never had occa ~ion
TO diSas refndNets rifle in arresling
anNon seeia is (ia and did not ex-
panfse, for, Aes ]. do so on this oc-
GWl ssSh f:His luty was entirely
ul5",flned, aud Mben he started off
anl told the Sheriff so, he re-
M lrked to him: fWell, you won't
nted ahy arms" s1So on they pro-
4 eded, the She Atf f and Deputy
Il eDagg in one bugkd and Mr. Fisher |
Adllowing behind 1.-THE latter ac-
d4mpanying the eSheriff for the
Purpose of identifying Taylor
Weldon, as he was unknown to
both the Sheriff and his deputy. |
On reaching the vicinity where
they expected to find the fugitive
they started on down to enquire
of centain resident there as TO
the location of a particular house.
As they passed a cabin near what
is known as the CAN'T ditch, Mr..
Stagg observed very tall man
standing on the gallery talking to
woman, and remarked to the
Sheriff that "there is probably
the man we want, as he IS so TALL"
About this instant Mr.. Fisher,
who was behind, called out,
"Sheriff, there is our man." The
Sheriff then stopped his horse,
jumped out of the buggy and told
Deputy Stagg to hold his horse.
Mr.. Fisher also left his buggy,
and they started into the yard by
crawling under the fence. Taylor
Weldon in the meantime disap-
peared from the gallery and went
into the house. Sheriff Swords
and Mr.. Fisher, determined to
cut off his retreat from the back
of the house, attempted to cir
-ss,f - the Sheriff
gong oas-s;''s We Gseltsi Fisher
to the left. AS they atpf----.->@-@4=s % u +
the house the woman on the ga[-
lery, who was Weldon's sister,
was heard to say: "Put that gun
down! don't shoot here!" The
negro then ran, out through the
back door and reached ditch, in
or along which there were some
bushes and trees. Swords and
Fisher were in pursuit, though
coming in from opposite direc-
tions. AS Mr.. Fisher neared the
ditch the negro shot him from
behind Il tree with a shotgun
loaded with small shot. At the
second shot Fisher fell, having
been struck IN the face, head and
shoulder with quite a number Of
shot. The Sheriff did not then
see the negro, who was concealed
behind a forked tree, but located
him. from the smoke of his gun,
and then saw him through small
between the limbs of the
tree. He brought his rifle down
on him and fired, shooting him in ,
the arm and side with a mush- .
room bullet from a Krag-Jorgen-
son rife. The ball made horri- {
bic wound, penetrating the body ,
TO the opposite side. Though
fatally wounded, the negro did ,
not fall there, but ran about Is
yards and then fell, exclaiming: ;
10 Lordi O Lord! / am killed." ,
he Coroner was Immediately no.
Med of the tragedy. He repaired
the scene at once, empanelled !
Try and went into the custom :
: examination in such cases. :
pr concluding the examination !
sCoroner's jury geturned fhe /
wing verdict: Taylor Vel :
davas killed while resisting ar :
by a gunshot wound Of the !
@ fred from gun in the :
hs of NJ. L. Swords, Sheriff
\ q Landry parish. \
bob in Springfield, Ohio, {
9 nas banged q dead niger and t
2 naIh dozen or more buildings, {
= = sisied. In the course of Is
Time same Uang will huG the | a