Year: 1869




ward Yerger personally for twenty


seven years; ! belonged to his father
l lived in the family twenty-seve
years before the surrender, and hav


often been with them since; / know


that f. NJ. Yerger has always been


strange man at times, and often hart


to get along with; | recOlleet on on


occasion we had boy at our house


he was very fond of, he used often I,
get him TO dance and sing for him; h,


would amuse himself by having hin


dance and sing comic songs; he ont
day shot him, without any caus,
whatever; asked him afterward.


why he did it, and he said he did mo-


know, that he could not help shooting


him; that was the first thing that


saw him do that ] thought was very
/ bad; he was about nineteen or twenty


years old then; the boy had given nc
| OffenSe, he had been dancing a few
minutes before he was shot; | said,
suppose YOU had killed the bOy. how


would you have felt? he said, I in
| tended to kill him, and l could not


help it; he felt IKE he was bound to
shoot him. On another occasion he


had very i'll child; the child had


been given up by Or. Bailey, the
physician; / was sent for 10 sit I'D


with it that night; when / went over


he said he had taken the case into his
own hands, and he intended to doctor
/ il himself; she then had rattling in
her throat from difficulty OF breath
ing; thought the child was looking
very badly, and ne commenced to
give her medicine; he said he wGuId
give her medicine every fifteen
minutes, but | suppose it Was not
more than Tnll3gte between the
times; he said he WAS going to cure
her; ! thought il was very strange at
the time, and | said, don't YOU give
her any more, she will die; he said,
no she shan't die; he was determined
to make her vOmit. and he had his
hand in her mouth when she died; he
said he was determined to cure her
but after the child was dead. he ran
up and down stairs, pulled his hair,
and went on very much like = man
wh0 was insane; he did not look like
himself st ali; ne said none of his
hmily should come into his house to
bury it; the child had died and be
intended to bury it himself. that he
intended to ss~t the doors ON them
Sy:l, none Of them should come in; he
pulled his hair; lie did not 5set ike a
sane mau; then he would take her up
SI1 say, sAe y not dead-~he Shap't
die.


thought his e0nduct very strange,
and went and told his mother, and
she told me not to say anything about
it, for it would injure him through
life, and she did not want anEtt.ing
said about it: She sGi5i tl.a c5iRi was
gone and il mas a good thing for
child haFing 4 crazy father, and she
said moi to say anything about il 80 as
to let II out; this was his fifth child;
he seemed To be mad about money
matters at one time, and he was row
ing about the house backwards and
forwards; l doH't know the cause Of
it; and his mother sent me vTdftt over
to watch hiLl sne was afraid he
would kill himself; 1 watched him all
night: he would run around the
bushes and fire his pistol off and we
would be afraid TO go near him. That
was when he was living in Mr.. Free
mans house; he stayed out of the
house till next morning Just running
around the yard; in the morning he
came in and threw himself down in
the hall, and none of US moved him
till about ten O'Clock. When his
brother was sick in YazOo, Mr.. Yer
ger sent for me to ask me if would
go with him, to help nurse his
brother: | told him ! would gladly do
so if he would pay my expenses,
which he consented'to to DO; he Seemed
TO be in perfect good humor then,
though very much distressed about
his brother; afterwards | went home
and came back again: he said | had
better come over there 10 spend the
night, as we would leave about three
O'Clock in the morning; when I came
back again, he was raVing and pitch
ing all night till we started, ae was
curSing too. GG 1vt know Tho cause; I
was IN the adjoining room; | heard
him walking the floor from his room
to his Wife's, cUrsing and going on;
when We started he got very
much annoyed at the driver, and
said Ii he met him he would shoot
him; when he got to the printing
Office, down here, he banged at the
door and beat at it, and said ne wished
he had an AK, he WOalt, cut the door
down; ! did not see any more of him
tillwe got to Vaughn station; we cot
there just about light; / went into the
kitchen to warm myself; when ! was
in there, he rushed in and began curS-
ing and damning the cook, because
breakfast was not ready; she said she
would have it ready in time; he asked
her what she had TO cook, and called
her a damned poor cook; thecoOk said
he had better go into the house Snd
stay with the paSSeng9I5. by this time
the proprietor CAME out and said:
who is that cprsipg here" and
picked UP q stick and said, "I1tkill
that fellows" | said let him alone, that
is Mr., Yerger, he is not himself; he is
on a visit to Capt. Nerger, who is very
ill; he said he belonged to Capt. Yer
gers company, and for that reason, he
said he would not hurt Aim, ne said
you must 90 out OF my room, and he
vent and took hold of him, and said [
viii have breakfast ready as soon as /
can; with that Edward Yerger foil
down and cried ever so long, and said
he was so much distressed about his
brother, and could not help doing as
he did; he then came back out Of the
house into the kitchen, and COM
menced cursing the cook again; l
thought it was strange, but l knew he
was very much distressed, and when
ever he was distressed or worried,
would generally exhibit something of
that kind. Afterwards we got into the
stage, and there was a gentleman
there OF the name of Morgan, mem
Der Of the Convention. He COM
menced cursing and swearing at him.
Mr.. Morgan took it very quietly;
when we got to the station and the
driver got out and staid rather long,
Edward jumped out and called to him
"yOu are staying too long" While
he was gone / said to Mr.. Morgan, " /
hope you will not mind anything Mr..
Yerger says, because he is not himself"
After we got to YaZoo City he went on
in the same manner. When we got
to the plantation we did not want him
to go to see his brother for fear he
would alarm him. He wanted to rush
into the room, but his brother George
held him back. He said his brother
should not die, he'd be damned if he
should die, he would stretch him or
litter and carry him out OF the swamp.
He went on in that way all day, but
had little sleep in the night; the
Doctor came about 10 or IL O'Clock
next day, and when he was told that
his brother was decidedly better it
seemed to soothe him, and he did not
do any more as he had been doing; i