The Duluth rip-saw. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1917-19??, 1918-08-24
WHEN TOM LEWIS SHOT. JOHN
!. - MCAEFT.EY. - =. :.


AT LaPrairie, MIMI, around 8 p.
M, August q, 1892, Tom Dalton
alias TomLewis, shot and almost In
stantly-killed John McCanrey--~
Mccartney conducted a saloon at
'LaPratrfe,; then a wild and Woody
town on the, Mississippi river. about
three miles from Grand Rapids. Tom
Lewis, a tough character, conducted
redlight Joints in both IaPrafrie and
Grand Rapids.
On. the. fateful day, Lewis had
words with some Of his. women in
the, Grand Rapids joint over, their
attentions to men patrons, after
which he proceeded to- get drunk.
49, Around supper time, Lewis shot at
two or three Grand Rapids citizens
but missed them:
The authorities neglected to inter
fere with that form of amusement.
After terrorizing that, community for
a few hours, Lewis went. over to
LaPrairie. From the sidewalk, in
front of Hugh McGIire's saloon, he
took a shot at the proprietor, against
whom he had an old grudge and,
missing the object of his anger,
chased him out Of the back door OF
the, place. >, ....s........ ., .c;..
Coming back through the saloon.
Lewis stood for moment on the
sidewalk. Seeing John Mccartney
standing on the opposite side OF the
street, the drunken bad man dashed
across and began to abuse the, man.
whats the. matter, Tom? ?"
uueried Mccartney. Have I not al
ways used you like a gentleman"
eyes, d-n you. but you had to"
was the, surly reply.
"McCaffrey, let us fight this thing
out, right now - = --'
-'tAfl right" assented McCaffrey.
''Have some one search YOU. You
are armed and / am not. / want a
fair show" 49," ..-. d..
McCaffrey had no intention and no
desire to fight. He really was look
| ing for loophole to get away from
! drunken, quarrelsome man. y
Lewis started to take off his coat,
then pulled it back on. That was a
feint to enable him to-. secure a re-
volver in his hip pocket. He jumped
towards his victim and kicked him
50 hard that he was pushed 5off the
elevated sidewalk. He then quickly
aimed and shot. The bullet entered
the back of McCaffrey's' head and
came out at the top and front Of the
skull. He fell face downwards in
| the sand and, although he lived an
J b1,r ba nyoc peci0uc ond nouor
spoke again..
Village Marshal Elmsley arrested
Lewis and started for the lookup but
he neglected to relieve the desperate
of his revolver. ...@r.-. 49,
A crowd quickly began to gather.
Lewis feared summary Justice.
When the marshal turned a corner
and got out of sight of anyone, Lewis
said: 49,. ,...., r.... H.. .--
"Look here, Emsley, don't want
to kill you but am going to get out
of this scrape if possible. / am
armed and you are not, therefore you
had better skip out Of here"
Lewis fired his revolver over the
marshars head and that officer fed
around the corner. g., ..-r... >.
Lewis: fed to his bagnio in
LaPrairie and, at about 9:15 p. M,
took $500 from his safe and then
stuck three or four more revolvers
7 in his pocket. -,. .......
"Look after things until you hear
from me-" he told the women, after
which he disappeared in the woods
nearby. 49, -'~ - . ..-
It was a couple Of hours before
posse could be organized All search
availed nothing. In a couple of days
Sheriff Markham came up from At
kin but even his work brought no
results. Pat varley, an intimate
friend of Mccartney was given charge
of nine men at IS a day and a re-
ward of $500 was offered for the
arrest of the murderer, but he made
good his escape. ...~.-- .,.
incidentally, the citizens then
cleaned out some of the immoral
dumps that had sprung up In
LaPrairie. But that did not restore
Mccartney to- life. 81 e.. =. :