The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1912-05-18
ANOTHER VERSION GIVEN
Of DEPL0RABLE AFFAIR
W. l.. p. Leigh Gives Graphic Ac-
count of Incident In Early His
tory of Bowie County.

Mr.. w. L. P. Leigh of Waxahachie
is one of the pioneers of Texas,
having resided in the eastern part
of the state many years before COM
ing to Waxahachie He was citi-
zen of Bowie county in 1S47 and
| resided there for more than twenty
years afterward.
Mr.. Leigh read with great deal
of interest the story in last Satur-
| days paper written by J. N. Rent
| frow of the Rentfrow Pathfinders
entitled can Incident of Early
Days" He was a resident of Bos-
| ton at the time the incident Is alleg
cd to have occurred, and was ia
miliar with all it's details. In an
| interview with a representative OF
this paper he gives a different YER
| sion to the one thai came from the
pen of Mr.. Rentfrow In discussing
the matter Mr.. Leigh said.
| 81 read with much interest the
| Showman's narrative of one of the
saddest affairs that ever occurred in
| the history of Bowie county. | have
no doubt that in writing his version
of what occurred at the time he
| gave from his own point of view
what he considered a true account
of the unfortunate affair, but the
| facts as | now give them to you can
| be verified by many of the best citi-
IONS now living in Bowie county.
I'm 1857 the people of Texas were
passing through what was then
termed the reconstruction period.
Never was people on earth cursed
with a more damnable or despica-
BILE wretch than the Reverend Kirk
man who had charge of the Freed
mans Bureau at Boston, the county
seat of Bowie county, at the time of
this lamentablc affair and who was
no doubt the prime mover and
| cause of tho bloodshcd.
while this reverend scamp, Kirk
nan, was in the midst of his glory
as the head and front of all his
meanness, forcing money from the
pockets of our impoverished peo-
| pie under the pretense that they
owed some negro and whose word
outweighed the solemn oath of a
dozen good white citizens, there
| came to our town of Boston circus,
small affair as compared with
i those of today, and it was literally
i patronized by our people. At the
Il circus Reverend Kirkman stationed
his soldiers (some ton OF twelve
t men) armed With Springfield rifles
l Why he did so no one ever knew
but they were there all the same
The performance was carried o.
i without hindrance or Interference
: tho people all joyous and happy a
: the sights. The last act had bee,
| finished and the people were leav
ing for their homes when three
| young men, Tom Duke. John Rich
: ardson and John Tillar, all well con-
, nected white boys who had been
raised in and near town, concluded
to try their hands by riding their
horses into the tent and gaiiop
around the ring. Just as they did
so one soldier without giving any
warning empted his rifle into the
| body of Tom Duke, killing him in
stantly. Richardson and Tillar then
surrendered and were incarcerated
in the county jail. Possibly 8 week
afterward friends and relatives Of
these young men arranged for their
escape. A note was placed in the
| Jail giving them information as to
where their horses might be found
and instructing them as to the time
when they should make their es-
cape. The escape from Jail was
successfully accomplished, but to
their surprise the party entrusted to
place their horses at the point dos
| ignated failed to carry out his part
of the plans, and while the young
men were running in search of
and gave the alarm. Pursuit was
given and after they had run about
one-fourth mile and while attempt
ing to ross a field Richardson be-
came exhausted. Seeing that ne
would be captured he threw up both
hands as token of surrender, but
a soldier shot him squarely through
the body under the arms.
"a sister of Judge James Talbot
(now one of the judges of the cour.
of civil appeals at Dallas) was
standing on the gallery of her faith
er's house. She saw Richardson
shot down in cold blood Springing
to the ground she ran to the field
and succeeded in throwing her arms
around Tillar's neck just as the
yankee soldier was preparing to
take his life. Tillar was taken back
to jail and again incarcerated.
THE idea of any concocted scheme
to rob the circus or any connection
with Cullen Baker to annihilate the
outfit is news to me. Later, how