River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1910-06-02

ouns and the clerk was ordered to take charge
of them The big man under arrest promised
all manner of things if Captain Bill would let
him go. He was set free, with warning
Peace now seemed to be restored and in the
general gratitude of the community refresh
ments and invitations were rendered to Cap
tain Bill from both sides. He decided, how
ever, to remain on duty during the rest OF the
day and night. His two men arrived next
morning but everything was still quiet and
there appeared no sign of renewal OF hostll1-
ties. The Reece-Townsend trouble, for the
time at least, was over.
Captain Mcdonald was still at Columbus
when he received telegram ordering him to
report at once to Assistant Attorney General
Morris and the local officials at Athens, Hen
derson county, Texas, for the purpose of in
vestigating the lynching of three respectable
citizens-a father and two sons, named Hum
phrey-in a timbered tract between Trinity
river and Cedar Creek, known the Trans
cedar bottoms.
The Humphreys were honest, sturdy men
fearless and open in their dealings They were
a menace to a gang who made moonshlne
whisky, stole whatever they could lay hands
on and would swear a mans life away for
lean hog. 1t was necessary for the welfare OF
the neighborhood that the Humphreys be dis
posed of, and they were taken by mob one
nieht and hanged-three of them to one tree
they having been placed upon horses and the
horses driven from under them Then, when
the ropes had proven too long and the feet of
one of the three Humphreys had touched the
ground, the mob had bent back the legs OF
the victims at the knee and tied the feet up
ward to the hands, so that the Humphreys
might swing clear.
Bill Mcdonald knew something of the
Trans-cedar country and the character of it's
settlement for he had passed his youth and his
early manhood at Henderson and at M1neola,
both within IS miles of that very district. He set
out by first train and arriving at Athens he
learned the details of the CHASTITY crime which
already, through the telegraphed reports, had
stirred the entire state He learned that the
lynching had taken place about 25 miles from
Athens, near little postofice named Aley
and he hurried to that place without delay
taking with him one Guy Green, an Athens
lawyer, familiar with the neighborhood. With
Green the Rangers went straight to the scene
of the murder and made such examination Of
the tracks and various clues remained. Two
days had passed since the crime and many
of the signs had been obliterated. Still there
was enough for a man with the faculties Of
CAPTAIN Bill. He identified no less than four
trails-one as he decided, made by five horses,
another by three, third by two, and fourth
the track Of a single horse The trails wound
in and out crossed and recrossed, and were
evidently made with the idea of baking pur-
suit Captain Mcdonald did not consider them
especially difficult, and having satisfied him
self that they could be followed, he went on to
Alley, for it near nightfall
At Alley he joined Assistant Attorney Gen
eral Ned Morris, District Attorney Jerry Cook
and others who had come out from Athens to
aid the investigation.
He discussed the case with the officials
and learned that one Joe Wikerson was Sus-
pected as having been connected with the MUIR
der, it being well known that Wilkerson had
pursued the Humphreys and bemeaned them,
finally accusing them of stealing hogs, and
swearing to some meat which the Humphreys
had earned by digging wells. In the evidence
it had developed that the Wilkerson hogs,
though morteaged by him, had in reality been