The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-28
STORY FROM STOPPER.
Two Negroes Were Drinking Gtn d
 Cocaine.

Two Negroes Were Drinking Gis d Cocaine. Washington. March 27.--(Spet D-- While on his way home to dinner this evening Representative J. Thomas Hefiin had trouble with a couple of ne- groes In a street car.
 The negroes were in an intoxicated condition and were not only using profane and obscene language, but l were In the act of drinking out of a bottle which later proved. to be. the 1 police say, a mixture of gin and co- caine. which Is received here in large | quantities through the mails by peo- 1 pie who cannot purchase 1t here. Just before the difficulty occurred Representative Ellerbe of South Caro- lima. was on the car with MT. Hefiin but he got of at Sixth Street to go to his hotel
 Mr. Hefiin had demonstrated with the negroes, reminding them that a woman was sitting near and that they should not drink before her and i'm dulge In such language. One of the black men sullenly replied that 1t was none of the Congressman's business When the car reached the opposite corner the negroes arose to leave the car, and as they were going out one of them applied the vilest and most insulting epithets to Mir. Hehin. at the same time assuming q threatening at- titude.
 Owing to a number of threatening letters received since he pressed in the House his Jim Crow" street car amendment. Mir. Hefin has secured a permit from the police department to carry a revolver. for 1t was common talk among Washington negroes that some day they would "hx him."
 Hearing the loud talk Mir. Ellerbe Nov Al. had stopped at that corner.
 v Just then two shots were fired by Mr. Hefin. The bullets went through the car window.
 The negroes. according to Mir. El- ierbe and other witnesses, had whirled around and one of them was reaching for his hip-pocket. Mir. Heflin. 1t is stated. then fired quickly two shots. The glass in one of the car windows
 Didn't shoot to XIII.
 Mir. Hefiin says that he did not att tempt to shoot the negroes but fired with a view of frightening them. One of them rushed on the car again. and while in close contact Mir. Hefiin struck him a hard blow on the fore head with the butt end of the pistol. This felled the fellow.
 One of the spent bullets hit in the calf of the leg Thomas McCreary, a horse trainer for August Belmont of New York. McCreary went to hos pifaf but the wound proved fo be slight. the ball was easily taken out and he went away with his wife in q few minutes.
 The negro who was struck oyer the head insisted on being taken to a hos pita1. His name is Lewis Lundy and he lives in one of the many alleys that ia Inhabited by the blacks. The Lieu tenant of police said tonight that Lundy was not dangerously hurt and he was beastly drunk at the hospital. Mfr. Hefiin was placed under arrest and 1t was necessary to detain him until nearly 10 o'clock at the police station. This was because 1t was some time before the clerk of the court could be found to accept a bond in the sum of s6.00O. hotel proprietor was there ready to go bail for the Ala bamtan, but 1t was found that while he had considerable property he did not own any Washington real estate. Then realty owner came to the front and the bond was finally fixed up. Twenty or more Congressman hur- ried to the station as soon as they heard of the affair. among the number being Representatives Wiley Clayton. Burnett and Craig of the Alabama delegation. As they. are not realty owners here they could not go on the bond.
 Many Wild Reports.
 In the earlier part of the evening the most sensational reports of the affair were in circulation. One story was that Mir. Hehin had been badly cut with a razor and was not expected to live. Another was that he had killed two men, one negro and q white man, and that he was locked up in a cell. Of course. he was only detained in a private room until the bond could be arranged.
 Another story that went the rounds was that Senator Bailey of Texas had been slashed all to pieces by a negro near one of the downtown hotels. This caused hundreds of people to rush to telephones and quite a crowd gathered near the supposed scene of the tragedy.
 Negroes became very much excited when they heard the news, and for sev- eral hours they gathered in groups near the scene of the dificulty in which the Alabama member actually figured.
 This is substantially a correct &C., count of the affair as obtained from Representatives Ellerbe and Hehin and the police who investigated the case
 The prevailing belief Is that if Lunay insists upon prosecuting Mr. Henin he will not have much of a case. for Mfr. Ellerbe and others witnessed the oc- currence and know all the circum- stances leading up to the diffculty
 Alfred J. Stofer