The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1907-12-31

The Staying Of the Little Girl by a
Drunken Passenger on the Train.
A Heart-Rending Affair.

Vile Saturday afternoon when little
Alma Green was shot and killed by
Joe Lance is Of special interest to
Charlotte people, owing TO the fact
that Lance lived here for some time
and was the principal figure IN q shoot
ing episode a Waxhaw, just over the
South Carolina line about one year
ago. He shot and killed a negro. Ben
Hood, and was in turn shot In the
arm, from which he suffered many
months in the Presbyterian hospital.
Lance was in the employ of c. II
Robinson & Company, representing
the wholesale book department Of this
firm as travelling salesman He. with
another representative, went TO the
home of Ben Hood to collect a bad
debt and became engaged in a quar-
sci, the negro drawing his gun ana
firing on the agent. The white man
was quick with his weapon and killed
the negr0 instantly but was wounded
himself in the left arm. He was taken
to the hospital in Monroe and was not
expected TO live for several days.
| blood poison having set in on count
Of the lack Of Immediate attention He
was later brought to the Presbyterian
hospital here and underwent treat
ment for about six months.
Upon being dismissed from the hos
pital here Lance was taken to Lam
caster, S. c., where he was tried for
the murder of Hood. He was acQuitt-
ed of the charge but fined a large sum
for carrying a concealed weapon.
Lance was regarded as a fine sales
man and collector by his employers
here. Those who knew him pretty
we'll did not regard him as a bal char
acter.
The little girl was a sister OF Mr.. J.
P. Green, a prominent contractor OF
this city.
The following account of the Ashe-
vile shooting is taken from yesterdays
issue of the Asheville Citizen:
Miss Althea Green, the 14-year-old
daughter Of ]. NJ. Green of Buena Wis
ia, was shot and killed by a reckless
shot fired by Joseph Lance, ofSky-
1duu HUN IlS Il dill 1IoII ASuCSAIISk ~
Lake Toxaway as it passed the Buena
Vista station yesterday afternoon, five
miles from Asheville.
Stirred to the utmost, the dispatch
er's Office made frantic efforts to ap-
prehend those who had slain. Wires
were sent to the officers at points on
the S~partanburg road to apprehend
Lance and Special Agent w. L. Nc
Candless and Patrolmen Williams and
Webb boarded the S%partanburg train,
which followed on the heels On the
TOxaway train, No. s, from Biltmore.
From Buena Vista came the report
that the train had been stopped there
and that a mob was forming to lynch
Lance.
A Citizen representative was one of
those who went with the Spartanburg
train to Buena Vista, and found that a
little girl had indeed been slain by
the reckless shot of the drunken Lance,
who fired his pistol from the baggage
car to celebrate Christmas, and b
died in IS minutes, in the arms OF her
mother to whom she pitifully eX-
claimed: Mama, I don't want TO
die expiring momentarily thereafter.
The scenes at the child's bedside
were heartrending. The aged mother
was crying bitterly, refusing to lie
comforted and eve refusing to allow
| the physicians to give her a Sedative.
The father, with stony face, gave no
| evidence of the grief he felt, but the
grown brothers of the dead child
made no effort to hide their tears.
Numbers of neighbors had gathered at
: the house and it would indeed have
| gone hard with the slayer had he been
within reach. Little talk of violence
was heard, but the silence of the stall
| Wart farmers, was in itself ominods,
and there were many who believed
that an effort would be made during
the night to storm the Jail at Hender-
~sonville, where Lance was taken after
the shooting.
Early in the afternoon, Mrs. Green
had gone to a neighbor's leaving the
little girl and one of her brothers at
the house When the train came into
Tie StdIlOu al Buend VISTA, she CaIieu
TO her brother, Let's go wave at Billy
Black. Mr.. Black is the engineer
on No. 8 and a prime ~favorite with
many Of the children along the line.
Together she and Jack, her brother,
ran down toward the track. The en-
CINE dashed by and ere she had ceas-
ed waving at the engineer, a shot rang
out from the baggage car of the train
and the little girl fell, 1nortally wound
ed. One Of the neighbors witnessed
the shooting from a distance. and call
ing to his family, ran to her, and,
picking her up, carried her into the
house. Charlotte Chronicle.
Governor eileen has received the pay