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Obituaries and Death Notices
The Cairo Evening Citizen
2 Jan 1903- 31 Dec 1903
Cairo, Alexander County, Illinois
Transcribed and annotated by Darrel Dexter
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Friday, 2 Jan 1903:
A
baby belonging to a colored woman employed at the home of Mrs. Elizabeth
Boicourt, 208 Twelfth Street, was found dead in bed early yesterday
morning. Coroner McManus investigated the matter and it was
found that the child had been accidentally smothered in the coverings of the
bed.
Thursday, 8 Jan 1903:
(James Scruggs married Mrs. Julie Curry on 20 Jul 1897, in
Pulaski Co., Ill. George B.
Curry
married Julia E. Hoopaw on 28 Dec 1884, in Pulaski Co., Ill.—Darrel
Dexter)
A
serious wreck took place on the Big Four Railroad near Bethalto Station,
Ill., twenty-eight miles from St. Louis, at 9:45 o’clock last night.
The second section of train No. 11, west bound, the Southwestern limited,
which was three hours late, ran into No. 36, east bound, the Cincinnati
Express, which left Union Station at 8:25.
Engineer King of the westbound train had his leg broken in the
collision. Fireman Hendricks of the westbound train was not to
be found after the wreck and is supposed to have been injured by jumping.
Traffic is blockaded and information is meager, although reports say that
nine were killed and thirteen injured.
Miss
Camilla Halliday, daughter of Mrs. Charlotte Halliday, who
left here yesterday to return to Cincinnati where she attends the
Conservatory of Music, is supposed to have been on the train, and as no
message has been received from her, some apprehension is felt for her
safety. Mr. John S. Aisthorpe has wired to the school for
information.
Dr.
William A. Looney, one of the oldest and best known citizens of
Southern Illinois, died Monday, January 5, at his home one mile north of
Vienna, aged nearly 72 years. The funeral was held Wednesday morning
at the M. E. church, in Vienna, under the auspices of Vienna Lodge, No. 150
A. F. and A. M., of which order he was a loyal and prominent member.
The
services were conducted by Rev. J. H. Ford, of Vandalia, assisted by
Rev. W. D. Margrave, of Vienna. Dr. Looney is survived
by a widow and six children. He was a veteran of the Civil War and was
wounded at the Battle of Belmont.
(William A. Looney, 30, of Sarahsville, Williamson Co., Ill.,
a native of Kentucky, enlisted as a captain in Co. C, 31st
Illinois Infantry on 19 Aug 1861, and resigned 3 Jun 1862.
William A. Looney married Maria Oliver on 9 Apr 1873,
in Johnson Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
W. F.
Davis, of Union City, Tenn., was found dead in bed this morning at a
hotel conducted by Charles Weaver at 404 Commercial Avenue.
Davis
came to the city Sunday afternoon and engaged a room at the hotel, and after
telling the clerk that he needed rest and not to disturb him, went to bed.
Nothing was seen or heard of him after that. This morning the
proprietor becoming alarmed, bursts open the door of Davis’ room and
found the dead body. On the dresser in the room was a box labeled
morphine, in which remained about one-sixteenth of a grain of the drug.
Coroner McManus was at once notified and held an inquest this
afternoon, the verdict being that death resulted from an overdose of
morphine.
Death
must have occurred hours before the body was found, as mortification had set
in. The decedent was a member of the Elks Lodge in Jackson and Coroner
McManus at once communicated with the lodge regarding the disposition
of the remains, which were taken to Feith’s undertaking
establishment. The dead man’s clothing was of good quality
and indicated that he was in good circumstances. His acquaintances
here say that he was not in trouble; hence it is presumed that it was not
with suicidal intent that he took the morphine.
The
Cairo Lodge No. 651, B. P. O. E. will have charge of the remains until the
relatives are heard from.
Coroner McManus in conversation over the long distance phone with C.
E. Castle, exalted ruler of the Jackson lodge, learned that Davis
was a resident of Union City, Tenn. He joined the lodge in Jackson
there not being a lodge in Union City.
Deputy Sheriff Lance was killed
and John Taylor, a citizen, was badly wounded this morning at
Morehouse, Mo., by three brothers named Hill.
The
murderers are at large and it is thought may come to Cairo, on their way to
Johnson County, where they are known to have friends. One of the
fugitives was shot by Taylor and badly beaten in the struggle.
One of the Hills is described as being six feet tall and having red
hair.
Chief
Mahoney received a message this morning from Sheriff W. A. Harris
telling of the murder and asking the Cairo police to keep a look out for the
guilty parties. The officers are watching all incoming trains.
The
Hill brothers who killed Deputy Sheriff Lance and seriously
wounded John Taylor, at Morehouse, Mo., this morning were caught and
lynched. The news was reported here this afternoon by passengers who
arrived on the Cotton Belt train.
(The
10 Sep 1896, issue stated, “William Neadstine, who was bitten by a
rattlesnake, had his arm amputated this week, just above the elbow. The
operation was necessary in order to save his life. He stood it well and is
improving.”—Darrel Dexter)
Mrs.
Pasadena Conyers, aged 77 years, died this morning at the residence
of her granddaughter, Mrs. H. M. Goldsmith, at Twenty-first Street
and Holbrook Avenue. The decedent had been ill, but was able to be
about yesterday and retired at her usual bedtime last night. About 3
o’clock Mrs. Goldsmith went to her room and found her dead.
Funeral services will be held tomorrow morning at the residence at 10:30
o’clock. The train leaving at 11:42 o’clock will convey the remains
and friends of the family to Mounds. Services will be held at Shiloh
Church with interment in the Shiloh Cemetery.
(Otto
Studer, 21, born in Switzerland, married Lettie Eastwood, 18,
both of Ullin, on 11 Jun 1899, in Pulaski Co., Ill.
His marker in Concord Cemetery near Ullin reads:
Friderich Otto son of Jacob & Anna Studer Born March 18, 1878,
Died Jan. 16, 1903—Darrel Dexter)
Miss
Nellie Sheehan, mention of whose serious illness was reported several
days ago, died this afternoon at 1:45 o’clock at St. Mary’s Infirmary after
an illness of two weeks of typhoid fever.
The
decedent was the younger daughter of Mr. M. J. Sheehan and was nearly
nineteen years of age. She was taken ill on New Year’s Day and had
been in a critical condition from the beginning of her illness. She
was removed yesterday to St. Mary’s Infirmary in the hope that the careful
nursing of the sisters might be of benefit to her. Her death will be a
great shock to the many friends of the family. The surviving members
of the family are the father, a sister, Miss Mollie and a brother, John
Sheehan. For the bereaved ones the deep sympathy of all will be
felt. The mother of the decedent died three years ago.
(Michael J. Sheehan married Ellen Cummings on 27 Jun 1880, in
Alexander Co., Ill. Her marker
in Calvary Cemetery at Villa Ridge reads:
Nellie F. Sheehan Died Jan. 15, 1903 Aged 18 Years.—Darrel
Dexter)
Died,
Thursday, January 15, 1902, Nellie Sheehan, aged 18 years.
Funeral services will be held Saturday afternoon, January 17. Funeral
cortege will leave the family residence, No. 413 Eighth Street, at 2 o’clock
p.m. for St. Patrick’s Church, where services will be held. The
remains will be taken to Villa Ridge cemetery for interment. Funeral train
leaving foot of Eighth Street at 2:50 p.m.
Friends of the family are invited.
Regarding the late W. F. Davis, who was found dead in bed at
Webber’s Hotel, 404 Commercial Avenue, in this city, Tuesday, the result
of an overdose of morphine, a dispatch from Union City, Tenn., to the
Jackson Sun, says: The Elks of this city took charge this morning
of the remains of Will Davis, when they arrived from Cairo, where the
young man committed suicide by taking morphine. Formerly Davis
was in the newspaper business in this city and was known as one of the
brightest young minds in the city, who gave every promise of reaching the
pinnacle of success in journalism. But he left the newspaper field to
engage as a bartender, in which business he has been for several years.
He was also noted for his voice, a competent critic saying this morning that
Davis had the finest baritone voice he had ever heard either on or
off the stage. Davis has been drinking some since Christmas and
this is the only reason known for his rash act.
Cairo
friends of J. W. Bowser, a former well known lumberman who made
frequent business trips to this city, were shocked to learn of his
assassination, which occurred at his home at Henson, Mo., Friday night.
Bowser
was sitting at his home reading by a window about 8 o’clock. His wife
had been with him but left the room for a moment and while in the next room
heard the noise of an explosion, as she thought. She rushed back into
the sitting room and found her husband lying dead from terrible wounds.
Believing the murder to be the work of robbers, the thoroughly terrified
woman hid herself behind a door in the room and awaited she knew not what.
After a while she summoned her courage and ran to the nearest neighbor to
tell the awful news. Posses and bloodhounds were started out as soon
as possible, but as yet no clue to the murderer has been found.
Suspicion points, however, to a former employee of Bowser’s, however,
two had been ordered to leave his farm a day or two previous, although no
arrest have been made so far as learned. The remains of the murdered
man were taken to Charleston, Mo., yesterday for interment in the Odd
Fellows Cemetery.
Bowser
was formerly of the Bowser Milling Company at Anniston, Mo., but a
few months ago sold his interests in the firm to the Sondheimer
Lumber Company of this city and retired to live on his farm at Henson,
comprising 1,700 acres. He was well liked, but unfortunately had a
quick temper, which was the means of causing him the ill will of those with
whom he had disputes. It is known that he was not on good terms with
several of his former employees.
Thursday, 22 Jan 1903:
(His
marker in Cairo City Cemetery reads:
Daniel Kissner 1846-1903—Darrel Dexter)
Frederick Killius, the well known meat dealer, who successfully
conducted a store at 1312 Washington Avenue for a number of years, died last
evening at 5:30 o’clock at his home, Seventeenth and Locust streets after a
long illness of dropsy.
He is
survived by his wife and four young children. The decedent was an
honorable, upright young man, highly esteemed by all who knew him.
He
was a native of Germany and came to this country twenty years ago. For
the past twelve years he has been a resident of Cairo. Funeral
services will be held at the family residence tomorrow afternoon at 1:30
o’clock, conducted by Rev. Hursh, and the remains will be taken to
the new cemetery at Beech Grove for interment. The A. O. U. W. will
have charge of the burial.
(Frederick Killius married Mary Lape on 12 Feb 1867, in
Sangamon Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
(The
marker in Mound City National Cemetery, section E, 3416A reads:
Henry Hall U. S. Army Died Jan. 23, 1903.—Darrel Dexter)
(Lafayette E. Dillow married Mrs. Sarah A. Hartman on 7 Sep
1881, in Pulaski Co., Ill. His
marker in Anna City Cemetery reads:
Harley L. Dillow Born July 28, 1888 Died Jan. 26, 1903.—Darrel
Dexter)
Two
Illinois Central southbound passenger trains collided this morning between
Pulaski and Ullin.
Fireman Charles Breckner on the latter train was seriously injured.
Engine No. 223 on train No. 3 was badly damaged, as was also the mail car on
the same train.
Flagman C. E. Bryant, of this city, was in the rear of the car and
was slightly bruised about the head. None of the cars left the track. A
wrecking train was ordered out of Cairo with the company’s physician on
board. The private car was uncoupled and the remains placed in the
baggage car and brought to Cairo. The box was repaired and the funeral
party went south on the same train. Interment will take place in Tennessee
tomorrow.
Breckner
was seriously cut and bruised about the head and body. He is at St.
Mary’s Infirmary. The only passenger hurt was a colored woman who
received a cut over the left eye.
Saturday, 31 Jan 1903:
A
south-bound Illinois Central freight train which left Mounds yesterday
afternoon was derailed at 9 o’clock last night. The train ran into an
open switch as it was pulling out of the Fulton yards. The engine
turned over and fell down an embankment. Five cars left the track and
were piled crossways.
Brown
was making his first run over the road preparatory to accepting a position
as fireman.
Brown’s
shapeless body, which had been crushed beyond recognition was recovered this
morning and sent to his home for burial.
A
section hand for the Illinois Central was run over and killed at
Hollidaysburg this morning by Illinois Central passenger train No. 5, at
11:50 o’clock. While trying to get from in front of a north bound
freight train, he was struck by the passenger train and thrown under the
wheels. His head was cut entirely off.
Mrs.
John Anderson died last evening at 6:30 o’clock at her late home,
Thirty-third and Sycamore streets, after a long illness soft consumption.
The
decedent is survived by her husband and two children. She was a
daughter of Robert F. English and was well known and highly esteemed
by all who knew her.
The
funeral services were held at the residence at 4:30 o’clock this afternoon,
conducted by Rev. A. S. J. Baldridge, assisted by Rev. George W.
Rubush, and the remains will be taken to Charleston, Mo., tomorrow
morning at 7 o’clock via the Iron Mountain route, where interment
will be made in the Odd Fellows’ Cemetery.
Alto
Pass, Ill., Feb. 4.—Tilman Foster, aged 23, son of Mrs. L. Foster,
of this city, was killed in the Mobile & Ohio yards at Murphysboro last
night. His body, cut to pieces, was found there at 11 o’clock.
He was a fireman on the M. & O. and had been married only a year.
Foster
had been firing a little over a year. A few months ago he was let go
for leaving his engine. He was sick and had asked for relief and
supposed he would be at liberty to go to his home when he reached
Murphysboro. He did so and was discharged because officials claimed
that they had not received his request for relief. About two weeks ago
he was reinstated.
When
in Cairo he usually stopped at the Russell House. His brother,
William, is an engineer on the M. & O. Arrangements for the funeral
have not yet been announced
Chief
of Police Mahoney has received the following message and is unable to
locate the party addressed.
Anyone knowing Eugene Edmonds should notify Chief of Police
Mahoney at police headquarters, 1111 Commercial Avenue at once.
Coroner McManus held a post mortem examination this morning at
Feith’s undertaking establishment on the body of the unknown man
found yesterday lying near the Mobile & Ohio tracks about a mile south of
Hodges Park.
The
base of the skull was found to be fractured in a dozen places and a hole
resembling that produced by a bullet, was discovered, but no trace of a
bullet could be found. The bones in one foot were broken at the
articulation of the foot and ankle. The man was well built, 35 years
of age, about 5 feet 10 or 11 inches in height, and weighed perhaps 180
pounds. His hair is red and he had a beard of about a week’s growth.
He wore good working apparel, corduroy trousers, blue jumper suit, blue
flannel shirt and heavy shoes. There was nothing upon his person to
indicate his identity.
Coroner McManus suspects that he was murdered. While at Hodges
Park yesterday the coroner learned that the man had been seen walking along
the railroad with two companions. The fact that his hat and coat could
not be found and that all his pockets were empty leads to the belief.
The remains will be buried tomorrow.
Another of Cairo’s oldest citizens has gone to join the innumerable caravan
on the other side. This afternoon, Mr. John Antrim passed away
at St. Mary’s Infirmary, after a long period of ill health. He had
been gradually failing for several months.
The
decedent came to Cairo in 1855, and resided here with the exception of about
six years, during which he lived in St. Louis.
Mr.
Antrim was born in Lawrenceburg, Ind., Dec. 18, 1828, and was of
Irish parentage. Early in life he devolved a taste for mercantile
business, and for a number of years he was engaged here very successfully in
the clothing business, amassing a fortune of over $100,000. In 1864 he
went to St. Louis and embarked in the wholesale trade, in which he lost
heavily. He returned to Cairo in 1870.
Mr.
Antrim was highly esteemed as an upright, honorable citizen, and his
life was exemplary in his quiet devotion to his family. His wife died
some years ago. The late Mrs. John A. Haynes and Walter
Antrim were daughter and son of the decedent. The remaining
members of the family are his sons, John M. and Seymour, of Cairo, and his
daughters, Mrs. Kent and Miss Vila Antrim, of Chicago.
The latter will arrive tonight and Mrs. Kent will arrive tomorrow.
The funeral will be held Friday afternoon from the residence of Mr. Seymour
Antrim, 523 Eleventh Street, under the direction of the Masonic and
the Knights Templar.
(Frederick A. Kent married Addie T. Antrim on 25 Oct 1892, in
Alexander Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
DIED.—John Antrim, Wednesday, afternoon, February 11, at 1 o’clock.
Funeral services will be held at the residence of Mr. H. S. Antrim,
No. 523 Eleventh Street, Friday afternoon at 2 o’clock, conducted by Rev. J.
T. M. Knox.
Special train will leave foot of Eighth Street at 2:45 o’clock for Beech
Grove Cemetery. Friends of the family are invited.
The
case of Frank Shaw, the negro who shot and killed Wallace Stovall,
also colored, went to the jury this afternoon about 3 o’clock. The
next criminal case on the docket is that of Martin Small, who is
charged with shooting a negro in Will Walker’s saloon.
The
funeral of John Antrim was held this afternoon, the rites being
conduced by the Knights Templar and the Masonic lodge. Services were
held at the residence of Mr. Seymour Antrim, on Eleventh Street,
conducted by Rev. J. T. M. Knox, assisted by Rev. J. A. Scarritt,
and members of the Presbyterian choir sang. The remains were taken to
Beech Grove Cemetery for interment. The pallbearers were, J. B.
Delawter, M. M. Riley, A. Hoagland, and W. F. Gibson,
representing the Masonic, and William White, Frank Howe,
George G. Koehler, and C. G. Miller, selected from among the
friends of the deceased.
On
account of the severity of the weather the funeral of Phillip Laurent
has been postponed until tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. Services will be
held at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Rudy Laurent, No. 616 Center
Street, at 8:30 a.m. Special train will leave Eighteenth Street and
Ohio levee at 9:45 a.m. for interment at Beech Grove Cemetery. Friends
of the family are invited to attend.
Phillip Laurent died Saturday evening at St. Mary’s Infirmary after a
three days’ illness of pneumonia. He was taken to the hospital that
day but the disease had already made fatal inroads upon the system and the
case was hopeless.
The
decedent was 44 years of age and was born and reared in Cairo. He is
survived by his mother, his brothers, Rudy and Albert Laurent, and
his sisters, Mrs. R. Hebsacker, and Mrs. L. H. Kaha, of this
city, and Mrs. Frank Greeley, of Denver, Colo. Funeral services
will be held tomorrow forenoon at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Rudy
Laurent, 616 Center Street, and interment will be made at Beech Grove
Cemetery.
(Louis H. Kaha married Josephine Laurent on 15 Jul 1875, in
Alexander Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
Robert Edmundson, aged 71 years, formerly an old citizen of East Cape
Girardeau, Ill., died at his home in Dexter, Mo., February 11th.
The deceased was born in Tennessee February 14, 1831, and came to Illinois
with his parents when a young man and resided here a number of years before
he moved to Missouri.
He
leaves a wife and two children, Edward and Allen, an only sister, Mrs. U. J.
Loneheimer, and a large number of friends and relatives to mourn his
death. Edward Edmundson, his oldest son, is a farmer at East Cape.
The
remains were brought to East Cape Girardeau for burial Thursday and were
taken to the Bankard Cemetery for interment last Friday.
It
has only been about four years since his oldest brother, R. A. Edmundson,
died and about two years since the death of his youngest brother, Cain
Edmundson.
(Robert M. Edmondson, 25, from Alexander County, a native of Gibson
Co., Tenn., enlisted in Co. M, 6th U. S. Cavalry on 10 Dec
1862, and was discharged for disabilityon 31 Aug 1864.
A marker in Bankert Cemetery reads:
R. M. Edmondson Co. M, 6 Ill. Cav.
A nearby marker in the cemetery reads:
Allie L. wife of U. J. Lonhienne Died Sept. 8, 1911, Aged 69
Yrs., 11 Mos., & 24 Days.—Darrel Dexter)
The memory of
a good man, an able lawyer and patriotic spirit was observed this afternoon
at the courthouse in the presentation of a memorial to the late Judge
William H. Green by the attorneys of the Cairo bar. A committee was
appointed by Judge Joseph P. Robarts some time ago to draft an
appropriate tribute to the memory of one of Cairo’s best citizens and this
was accordingly presented this afternoon before an audience composed of
attorneys and other citizens. Mr. J. M. Lansden, chairman of the
committee, introducing the memorial, which was read by Hon. Walter Warder.
The memorial was in part as follows.
To the Honorable Joseph P. Robarts, Judge of the Circuit Court
of Alexander County, in the State of Illinois:
The undersigned members of the Alexander County bar, heretofore by
your honor appointed a committee to prepare and present to the court a
tribute of respect to the memory of the late Judge William H. Green,
respectfully report as follows:
Judge William H. Green was a citizen of Illinois whose
successful career at the bar covered a half a century of time and we
sincerely believe that the distinguished honors won by him justly entitle
his name to a place in the front rank of the scholars, advocates and jurists
of Illinois.
[After a biographical sketch of the decedent, in which his ancestry
and the early part of his life was reviewed, the details of which were
published in The Citizen at the time of Judge Green’s death,
the memorial continues as follows:]
He was admitted to the bar at Mount Vernon in 1852 and at once
entered upon the practice of the law at that place.
In 1853 he was elected as a representative in the lower house of the
General Assembly from the district composed of the counties of Massac, Pope
and Hardin. At this session he cast his vote for Stephen A. Douglas
for United States senator, was appointed by the speaker, William E.
Morrison, his lifelong friend, chairman of the judiciary committee and
became the acknowledged leader of his party on the floor of the house.
In 1860 he was re-elected to the house and in 1862 he was returned to
the state senate. Here he was again honored with the chairmanship of the
judiciary committee, the first in rank, and was recognized by all as one of
the leaders of the senate on the Democratic side. In 1863 he removed to
Cairo where he has since resided continuously to the date of his death.
In 1865 he was elected judge of the third judicial circuit, a
position he filled with marked ability until the end of the unexpired term
for which he had been elected. Declining a re-election to the bench, he
resumed the active practice of the law at Cairo, where, in 1867, he formed a
partnership with Honorable William B. Gilbert, which continued
unbroken for 35 years, until his death.
In 1869 he was appointed an attorney for the Illinois Central Railway
Company, a position he resigned in 1902, but a short time previous to his
final illness.
For many years he stood high in the councils of the Democratic Party.
He was repeatedly chosen a member of the State Central Committee and was a
delegate to the national Democratic conventions of 1860, 1864 and 1868.
His most notable service while a member of the legislature was on
behalf of the common school system, which was then in its formative state.
Always a zealous friend of the public schools, he did much in the
legislature, by his pen, and as a public speaker, to give to the people of
the state the present splendid system of common schools of which every
citizen of Illinois today feels justly proud.
His activity in the interest of the public school system while in the
legislature led to his appointment by the governor in 1860 to a membership
on the Board of Education for the State of Illinois, which position he held
continuously through every administration, Democratic and Republican, to the
time of his death. He was early made president and continued to preside over
the deliberations of the board as long as he lived, beloved and revered by
his fellow members.
He took an active interest in all local educational affairs. For many
years he has been president of the board of directors of the Safford
Memorial Library, in the work of which his wide knowledge of history and
general literature was of great value to the board and to the public at
large.
In the senate Judge Green was regarded as a ready debater, an
eloquent orator and a profound and philosophical reasoner; on the bench he
proved himself to be learned, dignified, fearless and impartial judge; on
the bustings, as a political speaker and teacher, he was always the advocate
and defender of the rights of the common people, cultivated and
argumentative in diction, but implacable and persistent in his attacks upon
what he sincerely believed to be wrong in the policy and principles of his
political opponents.
His oratory was clear, forcible and deliberate, and in the use of
pure English he was unexcelled. He had been all his life a student of history, politics, and
literature, and as a pleasing and instructive conversationalist he had few
equals and no superiors.
It was, however, as a lawyer and an advocate that Judge Green
won his highest laurels. He worked at his chosen profession of the law for
fully fifty years. He was studious, scholarly, preserving and above all
indefatigably industrious. His pride was not only to know the law, but to
know the source and reason of the law; to know what the law should be as
well as to know what it is; to not only know and understand the law himself,
but by his labor and learning to illuminate and point it out and apply it
for the benefit of court and client.
In all the relations of home and society he was the honorable,
courteous, and dignified gentleman, exercising toleration towards all and
holding malice against none. He was charitable to the poor, helpful to the
weak, kind to the old, loving to the young and respectful, polite and
chivalrous to all with whom he came in contact.
Your committee recommends that a page of the records of this court be
set apart and duly dedicated and inscribed to the memory of Judge William H.
Green, and that this memorial be spread at large thereon, and that a
properly certified copy of the same be presented to Honorable Reed Green,
the son of the deceased. John M. Lansden William B. Gilbert Walter Warder William N. Butler William S. Dewey, Committee
Hon. W. B. Gilbert, who was the decedent’s law partner for
years, and Mr. J. M. Lansden made addresses and the sentiments of
appreciation for the virtues of the departed expressed found a response in
the hearts of all present who knew Judge Green to love and revere
him.
Short addresses were also made by Rev. J. A. Scarritt, Hon.
Walter Warder, Judge Dewey, State’s Attorney Wilson,
City Attorney O’Shea, W. N. Butler, Angus Leek, E. S.
Dewey, Miles S. Gilbert, and F. M. Moore.
CARD OF THANKS.
Mr.
B. C. Taylor desires to express his gratitude to the friends and
neighbors who showed him such great kindness during the illness and death of
his wife.
Saturday, 21 Feb 1903:
Dr.
Harry Whitaker, nephew of postmaster, Sidney B. Miller, and
County Clerk Jesse E. Miller, was shot accidentally and instantly
killed at Elco this morning. He was dressing, when a pistol, which he
started to take from his pocket, slipped from his grasp, struck against
something and went off, the ball entering his breast and killing him
instantly.
The
news was conveyed to his relatives here in a telegraph dispatch and later a
message was received over the telephone giving more particulars. Postmaster
Miller went to Elco this afternoon on the Mobile & Ohio passenger
train. Mr. Jesse Miller was prevented from going by the serious
illness of his mother at his residence here.
Dr.
Harry Whitaker was visiting at the home of his father, Henry
Whitaker, south of Elco. He had brought his wife from Osceola, Ark.,
where he located to practice medicine, as she was ill. He was arranging to
return when the dreadful accident happened.
The
deceased was about 24 years of age. Only last summer he was graduated from a
St. Louis medical college.
(Henry Whitaker married Margaret S. Miller on 31 May 1866, in
Alexander Co., Ill. His marker
in Hazlewood Cemetery reads: Dr.
H. H. Whitaker Died Feb. 22, 1903 Aged 24 Yrs., 2 Mos., & 22 Ds.
Gone to rest.—Darrel Dexter)
(W.
C. Mulkey married Alice Roach on 24 Aug 1891, in Madison Co.,
Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
DIED.—Edgar Milton Davidson, son of Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Davidson,
Tuesday morning, February 24, at 5 o’clock.
Funeral services will be held this evening at the residence, 213 Eighth
Street. The remains will be taken to Mayfield, Ky., for interment tomorrow
morning at 8:30 o’clock.
Thursday, 26 Feb 1903:
Mr.
Thomas B. Farrin, Sr., of this city, passed away at 2 o’clock this
morning in St. Louis at the Baptist Hospital. Dissolution came after a
gradual breaking down of the vital forces extending over two years.
The
news of his death was not unexpected to his family, as it was known that he
could not survive, having been unconscious for several days. His devoted
wife, who went to St. Louis two weeks ago to be with him, and his son, Mayo,
were at his bedside when the end came.
Mr.
Farrin was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1841, and was married to Miss
Julia Harvey in Canton, Mississippi, in 1863. Shortly after the Civil
War, they came to Cairo and have since resided here, being identified with
the city’s best element. From the beginning of his residence here Mr.
Farrin was business manager and vice president of the Woodward Iron and
Hardware Company. At the time of the reorganization of that company about
two years ago, he retired on account of ill health and since that time had
gone to various health resorts in a fruitless quest for strength.
Thirteen children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Farrin, all of whom but
two survive. They are George M., Mrs. John Snyder, Mayo, Thomas B.,
James, Will, John, Richard, Frank and Julia, all of this city, and Mrs.
Thomas Norris, of Jonesboro, Ill.
The
remains will be brought to Cairo, arriving this evening at 7 o’clock and
will be taken to the family residence, 722 Twenty-third Street. The
arrangements for the funeral have not been determined upon, but will be
announced later.
James
Summerwell, one of Cairo’s oldest citizens, died this afternoon at
12:40 o’clock at St. Mary’s Infirmary, where he was taken last evening. The
decedent had been in poor health for some time and had been confined to his
bed for the past week with kidney trouble. Peritonitis developed yesterday
and his physicians decided upon a surgical operation and the patient was
removed to the hospital for that purpose, but his strength failed rapidly
and the idea was abandoned.
The
decedent would have attained the seventy-eighth year of his age next
Tuesday. He is survived by his wife and four children, Guy, Olla, Lotta and
Roy, all of whom reside here.
Mr.
Summerwell was born in Pittsburg and came to Cairo fifty-one years
ago. In 1846 he was married here to Mary Gordon Kennedy. He was
engaged in contracting for house moving for years, but retired from business
about a year ago. He was a member of the Masonic lodge and was the oldest
Mason in Cairo. The funeral will be held Thursday with interment at Beech
Grove Cemetery.
Mr.
W. E. Smith received a telegram this afternoon announcing the death
of W. A. Rust, of Eau Claire, Wis., president of the Three States
Lumber Company and the W. E. Smith Lumber Company, which occurred in
Boston this morning. Mr. Rust was one of the Wisconsin’s pioneer
lumbermen. His ailment was organic heart trouble. He was a multimillionaire.
He was a warm personal friend of Mr. Smith, who deeply feels his
loss.
Mrs.
Florence C. Maybrick, a granddaughter of Darius B. Holbrook,
one of the pioneer settlers of Cairo, who has for thirteen years lain in an
English prison, charged with the murder of her husband, will be released May
1, 1903.
This
information comes direct from the State Department at Washington through
representatives of Mrs. Maybrick, who are now at Richmond, Va., in
connection with her suit for large land holdings in that state, which is now
pending in the chancery court there. On the evening of her conviction Mrs.
Maybrick resigned all claim to the land in question in consideration
of the sum of $10,000. It was to upset this agreement that the suit pending
was instituted, and it is stated that the woman will be released in time to
secure these broad acres, which lie in southwest Virginia and adjacent
states, a million in round numbers.
The
last seven years of Mrs. Maybrick’s imprisonment have been spent in
Ailsworth Prison and of late years she has been allowed to communicate
freely with her friends in this country.
Mrs.
Maybrick was Miss Florence Chandler, of Mobile, Ala., and her
husband was a wealthy Englishman, once a resident of Norfolk, Va.
DIED,
at St. Louis, Tuesday, March 3, 1903, Thomas B. Farrin, Sr., aged 61
years.
Funeral services will be held at the family residence, No. 722 Twenty-third
Street, tomorrow (Thursday) at 1:30 o’clock p.m. Remains will be taken to
Villa Ridge cemetery for interment, funeral train leaving Eighteenth Street
and Ohio Levee at 3 o’clock p.m.
Friends of the family are invited to attend.
DIED,
Tuesday morning, March 3, James Summerwell, aged 77 years.
Funeral services will be held at his late residence, 2914 Sycamore Street,
Thursday afternoon, March 5, at 1:45 o’clock. Special train from Eighteenth
Street, to the cemetery. Friends of the family are invited.
At
his late residence, 2814 Sycamore Street, this afternoon the last sad rites
were said over the remains of the late James Sumerwell, one of
Cairo’s oldest citizens. Cairo Lodge A. F. & A. M., of which decedent had
been a member for many years, in fact, being the oldest Mason in the city,
attended the services. Rev. J. T. M. Knox, chaplain of the lodge,
conducted the services at the residence and at the cemetery. The pallbearers
were Messrs G. A. Swoboda, Frank Thomas, George Van
Brocklin, J. J. Webster, W. F. Gibson, and Abraham
Hoagland.
The
funeral of Thomas B. Farrin, Sr., was held this afternoon at 1:30
o’clock at the family residence, 722 Twenty-third Street, conducted by Rev.
J. A. Scarritt. Appropriate music was rendered by the choir of the
First M. E. Church. A delegation from Safford Lodge, I. O. O. F., of which
the decedent was a member, attended and many other friends of the family.
The active pallbearers were six sons of the decedent, the Messrs. George,
Mayo H., Thomas B., Jr., Will, John and James. The honorary pallbearers were
Messrs T. L. Pulley, Jesse Miller, Henry Moore, C. B.
S. Pennebaker, Frank Schaaf, D. A. Connell, S.
Wagner, and E. A. Smith. The remains were interred in Villa Ridge
cemetery.
A
writer in the Paducah News Democrat pays this tribute to the late
Thomas B. Farrin:
“A
gallant soldier of Co. D, 3rd Kentucky Infantry, C. S. A. is dead. He
enlisted from this city, which was his home from infancy. He was a true and
faithful soldier, never shirked a duty or a battle. The highest meet of
praise that can be given any man is that he was a gallant soldier, true and
faithful to the cause and his comrades. Every man who served in the
Confederate Army was recognized as a comrade by Tommy Farrin.
By
his death we number one less of the survivors of Co. D. Year by year we are
becoming fewer. We are all on the shady side of sixty years. Out of one
hundred and fifty from first to last, there are yet supposed to be living:
George H. Mattell, J. G. Brooks, Charles Reed, T. B.
Fauntleroy, H. W. Hand, Robert Pell, Louis Pell, T.
J. Lovelace, John Johns, Charles Ewell, Henry E.
Hord, George Haden, Peter Wilson, C. F. Jarrett,
Thomas Brown, J. V. Grief.
Sixteen and some of these may be dead, as they are scattered over the
country in Mississippi, Arkansas Texas, California, Colorado, Montana, and
Tennessee. It can be but a few years at most, when we will all pass over and
rest in the shade.”
The
deceased was the father of L. C. Perks and Mrs. T. H. Higgins,
of this city (Mound City), Harry Perks, of St. Louis, William
Perks, of Crescent, Ia., and Mrs. Warren Brown, of Olive Branch.
(Thomas Higgins married Nannie A. Perks on 17 Oct 1888, in
Pulaski Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
Mr.
T. J. Evans, son-in-law of Mr. R. F. Robertson, died at Hot
Springs, Ark., at 7 o’clock last evening, where he had gone in search of
health. Mr. Evans married Miss Leila Robertson, of this city.
Mr.
Evans had been an invalid for a number of years.
Mrs.
Louis DeMontcourt, whose serious illness was noted in these columns,
passed away Saturday night at 11 o’clock at her home, No. 324 Ninth Street.
Her illness was of two weeks’ duration and was caused by a complication of
diseases.
Mrs.
DeMontcourt left three children. Two of them reside here, Miss Marie
and Albert. The other is Mrs. J. W. Byram, of Concordia, Kan.
Funeral services were held at the Cairo Baptist church last evening after
the evening service, Rev. Dr. Gee officiating and the remains were
taken to Hickman today. Accompanying the body besides the family were Dr.
Gee, J. W. Wenger, E. L. Gilbert, and Ted Cochran.
(John
W. Byram married Ida L. DeMontcourt on 4 Aug 1892, in
Alexander Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
Mrs.
Barbara Klein, widow of the late Francis Klein, died Saturday
evening at 6 o’clock at her home, corner of Twelfth and Cedar streets. She
was 71 years of age, and had been a resident of Cairo since the Civil War,
at the close of which she came here with her husband. She leaves three
daughters, Mrs. Peter Lind, Mrs. Jacob Lind, and Miss Anna
Klein. The funeral was held this afternoon, services being conducted at
1:30 o’clock at St. Joseph’s Church and interment at Villa Ridge cemetery.
(Jacob Lind married Lena F. Klein on 29 Nov 1883, in Alexander
Co., Ill. Peter Lind
married Theresa Klein on 10 Oct 1888, in Alexander Co., Ill.
Her marker in Calvary Cemetery at Villa Ridge reads:
Barbara Klein died March 7, 1903 Aged 71 Yrs., 2 Mos., & 26
Ds.—Darrel Dexter)
Thomas Outhouse, of Cairo, is one of nine heirs to an estate valued
at $5,000,000. Mr. Outhouse is employed as engineer on the Mobile &
Ohio Railroad.
The
story of his connection with this fortune is as follows:
In
1858 Johann Schoenberg, who lived in St. Clair County, which place
had been his home for many years, went to Austria to claim a fortune, to
which he had fallen heir. He was single, and having no special ties in this
country, remained in Austria, locating at Buda Pesth.
Relatives heard from Mr. Schoenberg, just before the Civil War and
again just after the war closed. No other word has been received from his
since he left St. Clair County.
Recently an advertisement appeared in a St. Louis paper to the effect that
Johann Schoenburg had died in Buda Pesth, Austria, leaving a fortune
of $5,000,000 with no heirs. The advertisement asked that any heirs to
deceased let their location be known to the officials of Austria.
Besides the immense amount of money, 30 houses and several hundred acres of
land are included in the estate.
Mr.
Outhouse has written, telling of the circumstances of his uncle
leaving the country and as the description of the man who left the fortune,
compares with that of his uncle, there is but little doubt that the money
belongs to them.
Mrs.
Outhouse and a daughter at Marissa, W. J. Outhouse, of Ava,
and John Outhouse, of Marion, are among the heirs.
Shortly after midnight last night the spirit of Mrs. Nanny J. Yost
took its flight from its tired body. After an illness which confined her to
her bed for more than four months, and which was filled with intense
sufferings, she passed away peacefully.
Mrs.
Yost was in her 70th year. She was the widow of William J.
Yost, who died in 1859. He was a lawyer and a man of much prominence.
Mrs.
Yost leaves one daughter, Miss Emma Yost, and a sister, the
wife of Judge Monroe C. Crawford.
The
remains will be taken to Benton, Ill., for interment beside her husband.
Funeral services will be held at the family residence on Eleventh Street at
8:30 o’clock tonight and the remains will be taken to Benton, Ill., for
interment leaving on the 5:30 a.m. train tomorrow.
(His
marker in Cairo City Cemetery at Villa Ridge reads:
Andrew R. infant son of Andrew R. & Bertha F. Serbian Born
Oct. 24, 1900 Died March 10, 1903.—Darrel Dexter)
E. P.
Jackson, a brother of the Jackson brothers, of Cairo, died at
Dallas, Tex., at 5 o’clock this morning. His funeral will occur there next
Sunday or Monday.
He
was sick about ten days at the Oriental Hotel in Dallas, but his relatives
were shocked to hear of his death as his illness was not thought to be
serious. Dallas has been his home most of the time since leaving Cairo
twenty years ago. He traveled for a St. Louis wholesale house.
G. H.
Jackson and sister, Mrs. M. M. Baldwin, left for Dallas on the
Iron Mountain train this afternoon.
Dr. J. H. Oakley returned last
night from Evansville, where he was called by the serious illness of his
mother, who is suffering from a stroke of paralysis. Mrs. Oakley is
in a very precarious condition.
Wednesday, 18 Mar 1903:
(William A. Peeler married Ollie Ivo Miller on 17 Dec 1894, in
Union Co., Ill. A marker in Mt.
Pisgah Cemetery near Wetaug reads:
Gussie dau. of W. A. & O.
I. Peeler Born Dec. 8,
1902 Died March 16, 1903.—Darrel Dexter)
TO THE SILENT LAND.
With
grief-stricken hearts the family of Mr. N. V. Lewis received a
message today announcing the death of Mrs. E. W. Thielecke, sister of
Mrs. Lewis, which occurred at 8 o’clock this morning at Phoenix,
Arizona, where the decedent had gone in quest of health, accompanied by her
devoted husband and little daughter.
The
sad news, while not altogether unexpected to her friends, is nevertheless a
deep sorrow to all who knew this amiable young woman, and the heartbroken
husband and motherless little daughter have the warmest sympathy of all in
their bereavement.
The
decedent previous to her marriage was Miss Cora Bartleson. She was a
young woman of gentle, sweet nature, retiring in disposition, beloved by all
and appreciated for her Christian character. Four years ago last September
she was married in this city to Mr. E. W. Thielecke, who for many
years was editor of The Bulletin. They resided here until December
1901, when they went to St. Louis to live and it was there that Mrs.
Thielecke contracted tuberculosis, the disease that terminated her life.
In August of last year, her physicians advised a change of climate and the
family went to Phoenix, in the hope of restoring the invalid to health, but
the disease continued its fatal inroads on her constitution. The devoted
husband gave up business and watched untiringly at the bedside of his wife,
with whose death the light of his life has gone out. Mrs. Lewis,
sister of the decedent, left here February 12 for Phoenix, and since that
time had been with her. The remains will be brought to Grand Chain for
interment, leaving Phoenix tomorrow night and arriving at their destination
probably next Wednesday. Mrs. Thomas Porter, of Jacksonville, Fla.,
another sister of the decedent will attend the funeral.
(E.
W. Thielecke married Cora Bartleson on 7 Sep 1898, in Pulaski
Co., Ill. N. V. Lewis
married Jennie Bartleson on 5 Sep 1888, in Pulaski Co., Ill.
Thomas V. Porter married Amanda C. Bartleson on 5 Jul
1874, in Pulaski Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
Coroner McManus and State’s Attorney Wilson will go to Gale
this evening to investigate a murder case there. The early part of last week
a negro woman was missing there and it was reported that she had been
killed. Later her body was found in the creek at Gale and the parties
accused of the murder, some negroes, fled when they heard of the finding of
the body.
This
case is the same one that The Telegram reproduced a sensational
account of from the Paducah News-Democrat in which there were
numerous errors. Coroner McManus as soon as the case was reported to
him wired his deputy at Gale and finding that he was not there sent a
message to J. F. Parker at Thebes to hold an inquest on the body,
which was promptly done. Coroner McManus did not neglect his duty in
this matter and the facts as above stated are given in justice to him.
Within the past twelve months Cairo has lost a greater number of her older
citizens perhaps, than in any other period of her existence. It has been the
subject of remark and general note.
Last
evening at 6:45 o’clock Mrs. Margaret Winter, another resident of
long standing, passed to her reward, surrounded by her family of grief
stricken sons, daughters and grandchildren. The decedent had been ill for
about ten days and while it was known that the disease with which she was
afflicted, typhoid malaria, was likely to prove serious, the end came
unexpectedly and was a severe shock to the family.
The
decedent was born in Newburg, N. Y., December 23, 1835, and was married
August 13, 1851, at Cannelton, Ind., to Henry Winter. They came to
Cairo in August 1856, and Mr. Winter died in this city May 19, 1893.
A large family of children was born to them, of whom the surviving members
are William, Claude, and Augustus Winter, Mrs. George W. Marston
and the Misses Josie, Jessie and Flora Winter. The funeral will be
held tomorrow with interment at Villa Ridge cemetery.
Died—Mrs. Margaret Winter, Wednesday evening, March 25, at 6:45
o’clock.
Funeral services will be held at the family residence, 1001 Walnut Street,
Friday afternoon at 1:30 o’clock, conducted by Rev. J. T. M. Knox.
Special train from foot of Eighth Street at 2:50 o’clock to Villa Ridge
cemetery. Friends of the family are invited to attend.
Friday, 27 Mar 1903:
The
funeral of Mrs. Margaret Winter was held this afternoon at the family
residence 1001 Walnut Street, and the services were conducted by Rev. J. T.
M. Knox. Many friends of the family were present at the last rites
attesting by their presence their respect for the dead and their sympathy
for those left to mourn the loss of a devoted mother. The remains were
interred at Villa Ridge cemetery.
When
death smiles on one young in years, the stirring of the sorrow is hard to
bear for those near and dear to the departed, and when today Mr. Phil C.
Barclay received the news of death of his brother, Hugh, which occurred
last night in Tucson, Ariz., and imparted the knowledge to the friends of
the decedent here, it was received with a feeling of extreme sadness that
one in the flower of youth should be taken.
Hugh
Barclay was born in this city June 24, 1870, and was reared and
educated in this city. After he had attained the age of twenty, he went to
Mexico where he remained for some time and later he located in Denver, Colo.
At the breaking out of the Spanish war some of his friends, officers in the
Fifth Cavalry, U. S. A., induced him to enlist in the army so as to be with
them and he did so, going to San Juan, where his proficiency in the Spanish
language gained for him the position of interpreter at headquarters. After
service in this branch of work he secured his discharge and shortly after
was made transportation agent of the Island of Porto Rico for the
quartermaster’s department, which position he held until last June, when ill
health produced by consumption caused him to be transferred to the Untied
States General Hospital at Ft. Bayard, N. M.
His
father, Mr. P. W. Barclay, who has been spending the winter in
Guaymas, Mexico, with his daughter, Mrs. J. A. Naugle, visited him
there ten days in January and on March 5 received word from his son’s
commanding officer that his condition was critical. Mr. Barclay at
once left for Ft. Bayard and was at the bedside of his son until his death.
Last Thursday Mr. and Mrs. Naugle went from Guaymas and to gratify
the invalid’s desire to get to a lower altitude took him in their private
car to Tucson, but the trip resulted only in the comfort of having granted
the dying man’s wish.
The
remains will be taken to Chicago for interment at Rose Hill Cemetery where
rest the remains of his mother of beloved memory. The Cairo relatives will
arrange to go to Chicago as soon as definite information concerning the
arrangements is received.
(Philander W. Barclay married Mary E. Crews on 27 Feb 1856, in
Cook Co., Ill. John A. Naugle
married Fannie Lou Barclay on 16 Dec 1884, in Alexander Co.,
Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
Charles Hammond, a sailor on the steamer City of Memphis, fell
into the river Saturday evening while the boat lay at the wharf here and was
drowned. Hammond was intoxicated and in attempting to step from the
Memphis to the Fowler he walked into the river. An attempt was
made to lower a skiff and go to his rescue, but before this could be done
Hammond was swept down by the flood and the last seen of him was down
near the ferry dock. Hammond was a one-armed white man and hailed
from St. Louis.
E. J.
Hodges, better known as “Ned,” came into Cairo today and gave himself
up to Sheriff Roche for the part he took in a shooting scrape at
Clank Sunday night.
Hodges
was in company with John Gassoway and Leslie Atherton at the
saloon at Clank. They had been drinking and were fooling with a pistol.
According to one statement a discussion arose as to which one could shoot
the quickest and Gassoway told Hodges if he could shoot
quicker than he could, to shoot ahead, whereupon Hodges fired and the
ball entered Gassoway’s abdomen.
The
wounded man was brought down to Cairo today by Atherton and Dr.
Aird was taken to St. Mary’s Infirmary. The ball has not been located.
Gassoway lives on Sheriff Roche’s farm.
A
preliminary hearing was held before Judge Robinson this afternoon and
Hodges waived examination and was released under $1,500 bond.
State’s Attorney Wilson and Coroner McManus, after an
investigation of the murder case at Gale, in which a negro woman was the
victim, have secured the guilty parties and the former swore out warrants
for the arrest of Alice Kennedy and Edward Granville, both
negroes. They were brought here and put in the county jail.
The
crime was committed on a shanty boat on which the prisoners lived with their
victim and a man whose name was not given. The four were under the influence
of cocaine the night of the murder.
Wednesday, 1 Jul 1903: The
funeral of Dr. S. C. Hall, father of Mrs. C. N. Buchanan and
Miss Nellie Hall, of this city, was held yesterday afternoon at
Omaha, Ill., the home of the decedent. Mr. and Mrs. C. N. Buchanan
and Miss Hall were summoned to Omaha Sunday by a message stating that
their father had been taken suddenly and seriously ill. Dr.
Hall was a practitioner of recognized ability and his acquaintances
throughout Southern Illinois was general. He served during Gov. Altgeld’s
administration as physician in charge of the annex at the Southern Illinois
Hospital for the Insane at Anna. After retiring from that office he located
in Omaha, his former home, and resumed the practice of medicine and surgery.
Dr. Hall, in his frequent visits to Cairo, made many friends who will
be grieved to learn of his death. He was a gentleman in the strictest sense
of all that the word implies, dignified, courteous and possessed of a mind
of superior strength. His death is a sad shock to his family as only two
weeks ago he visited them here, and was seemingly in excellent health. The
other surviving members of his family are his daughter, Mrs. C. C.
Kurzdorfer, of St. Louis, and his son, Sam Hall, of Little Rock,
Ark. (Cyrus N.
Buchanan married Lula Hall on 12 May 1892, in Gallatin Co.,
Ill.—Darrel Dexter) (Her name
is recorded as Mary Harney in the 7 Jul 1903, issue.—Darrel Dexter) (Edward J.
Atherton married Etta Harney on 29 Sep 1884, in Pulaski Co.,
Ill. William Moore
married Ida C. Harney on 22 Jan 1886, in Pulaski Co., Ill.
Henry W. Holstenburg married Mrs. Ida C. Moore on 1 Oct
1900, in Pulaski Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter) (Marion W.
George married Mary Coleman on 12 May 1900, in Alexander Co.,
Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
(The lynching occurred at Thebes on 26 Apr 1903.
The Cairo Citizen issues for that time are not extant, but the
27 Apr 1903, Chicago Tribune stated that a 10-year-old
daughter of Branson Davis, a farmer one and a half miles east of
Santa Fe, was grabbed by the man in the barnyard, but her screams brought
her mother to her rescue. A
posse apprehended the man, but an angry mob of farmers took the man away and
lynched him from an oak tree near the new railroad bridge at Thebes across
the Mississippi River. The
alleged attacker was believed to be a workman on the bridge.
After the body dangled in the air a few moments, it was riddled with
bullets. The mob then raided the
tent camp of black workers employed on the bridge.
The workers ran for the woods, some wounded, and the mob burned the
tents. The name of the lynched
man is not recorded. The 2 May
1903, Jonesboro Gazette also contains an account of the
lynching.—Darrel Dexter) For the
first time in the history of the circuit court of Alexander County a jury
has been secured which is made up entirely of colored men. The case is the
murder trial of Granville Edwards, who is charged with killing a
negro woman at Gale and throwing her body into the creek. The jury was
secured last evening. This forenoon the defendant was put on the stand to
testify in his own behalf by his attorneys, W. N. Butler and Frank M.
Moore. With the
conclusion of the murder case, the work of the July term will be concluded. The jury
in the Granville Edwards murder case reached a verdict last night and
brought in a sealed verdict this morning. When opened it was found to be
“not guilty.” Edwards was charged with the murder of the colored
woman at Gale. The jury which tried him was made up entirely of colored men. Tom
Lattner, aged 20, the only son of Mr. and Mrs. George Lattner, of
468 Commercial Avenue, was run over by an Illinois Central train in the
yards at North Cairo at 11:35 o’clock last night and died at 1:30 o’clock a
short time after he had been taken to the infirmary and before an operation
could be performed that would bring him relief. His death was caused by the
shock of the accident, as his right leg alone was injured. Lattner
was checking cars in the yard. He mounted the footboard of switch engine No.
122 to go from one part of the yard to another. In passing some piling lying
beside the track; one of the piling protruded beyond the others came into
contact with the footboard, breaking it and throwing Lattner down
right in front of the cars which the engine was pulling. His right leg fell
across the rail and the car passed over it crushing it at the knee in a
dreadful manner. Lattner
was taken to St. Mary’s Infirmary as soon as possible and Drs. Grindstead
and Bondurant were called, but the shock of the accident caused his
death at 1:30 o’clock, before the doctors had time to bring him relief by
amputating the member. The limb was literally ground to a pulp below
the knee and the thigh was injured. Amputation would have been necessary,
but although the usual methods were resorted to to relieve pain, the shock
was too great. (George Lattner married Bridget E.
Horgan on 31 May 1882, in Alexander Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
The body in the Mississippi River Tuesday afternoon was not the
remains of Stephen Castleman. That fact was clearly established, Mr.
Castleman’s son having viewed the body. The remains were those of a
young man of about 25 or 30 years, weighing probably 150 pounds and neatly
attired. The body appeared to have been in the water for some time. It could
not be identified and Coroner McManus ordered it buried at Villa
Ridge.
(His marker in Oakland Cemetery at Carbondale reads:
Dr. Charles Marion Galbraith Born May 22, 1872 Died July 23,
1903. Lieut. Surgeon 4 Ill. Vol.
Inf. War with Spain. Capt.
Surgeon 47 U. S. Vol. Inf. War in Philippines.—Darrel Dexter)
(Her marker in Baumgard Cemetery reads:
Clara F. Rudy Born Oct. 19, 1871 Died July 23, 1903.—Darrel
Dexter)
(James Tuttle married Julia Whitcamp on 22 Jan 1882, in
Alexander Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
The Thebes rioting case was called in the county court this
afternoon before Judge Dewey, when Harry LaCelle, Harry
Pettit, and Ed Laish were arraigned for being participants in the
riot there when the negro was lynched and the camp and commissary destroyed.
The defendants were represented by Hon. Reed Green while the State’s
Attorney conducted the prosecution.
In attempting to get out of the way of one train, David
Westley, of Villa Ridge, was struck by another at Mounds last evening,
and will probably die from his injuries. His right arm was mangled and had
to be amputated, and his foot was injured. Westley is a blacksmith
and his home is at Villa Ridge. He was working on the Illinois Central track
at Mounds about 5:30 o’clock when the accident occurred.
For participating in the Thebes riot, Harry LaCelle must
pay a fine of $100 and spend three months in jail. This was the sentence of
Judge W. S. Dewey at the conclusion of the trial, which was not
reached until 7:30 last evening.
A
great many citizens of Thebes were here as witnesses and they were anxious
to return home, so Judge Dewey kept the case grinding through the
supper hour last evening and completed the trial at the hour stated. No
arguments were made by the attorneys and the case was tried by the court.
Harry Pettit and Ed Laish were found not guilty. The evidence
showed that instead of participating in the riot, Pettit was trying
to prevent it. Laish was proven to be mentally irresponsible and so
was released.
About 25 witnesses were examined. The evidence was brought out that
LaCelle arrived on the scene of the lynching just after the negro had
been hung. He then returned to Thebes, borrowed a gun and returned and
meeting some colored men, ordered them to leave town; that he saw some
people running up the hill and raised his gun to fire at them, but that he
was told that they were white people and so did not fire. On the stand he
claimed that he armed himself to protect the women and children there, whom
he feared were in danger.
Pettit, it appears from the evidence, tried to raise a posse to
prevent the lynching. He went to Dr. Spann, president of the town
board, when he heard of the trouble, and asked that he be empowered to raise
a posse and go down there to help Ed Durham, who was coming up
towards Thebes with the negro in his custody. Dr. Spann stated that
he was not authorized to take any action since the crime was not committed
in the village. Pettit then returned to where the crowd was, just
about the time they had reached Thebes and were stringing up the negro. The
evidence showed that he did not go down to the camp when the mob turned from
their victim to wreak its vengeance further, but tried to keep others from
going down there.
It
appears from the evidence that the ringleaders in the rioting have not been
apprehended. Who they were was not brought out in the trial. From other
sources however we are informed that some of the bridge men, the caisson
men, were the ring leaders in the affair; that the principal has since died
and that most of those who were so active in executing lynch law became
alarmed when they saw that someone was going to be punished for the lynching
and skipped out.
(W. C. Simpson married Cora Jackson on 3 Oct 1889, in Johnson
Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
W. A. Miller, traveling passenger agent for the Big Four
Railroad, was run over by a passenger train at Harrisburg this morning and
died from his injuries in a couple of hours.
Such was the shocking news that reached his friends in Cairo this morning.
Mr. Miller left this morning on the 5:45 passenger train for
Litchfield. It is presumed that he stepped off the train at Harrisburg to
speak to the agent and that he attempted to get back on after the train was
in rapid motion. Falling between the cars, both of his legs were cut off.
The passenger train was due to reach Harrisburg at 8:05 so that was about
the time of the accident. Death came within a couple of hours to relieve his
terrible suffering.
Mr. Miller came here from Jackson, Mich., about two months ago,
succeeding Campbell Kennedy, as traveling passenger agent. During the
St. Louis flood he was drafted into the service at Alton to help the company
keep traffic open, and had only been back at his post of duty here a few
weeks. He made a number of warm friends here during his short residence. He
was about 25 years of age and unmarried, and his home was in Columbus, Ohio,
where the remains will probably be taken.
Monday, 2 Aug 1903:
The breaking of a car wheel on a banana train Sunday afternoon ditched five
cars and the caboose and fatally injured John Hassell, banana
messenger, who was also in the caboose.
Gus Crumborn, who was also in the caboose, was injured but not
very seriously.
The wreck occurred shortly before 3 o’clock. The fifth car ahead of the
caboose left the track and all the rest followed as the train, northbound
had reached Fillmore, between East Cairo and Wickliffe. The cars all went
into the ditch and were badly wrecked. Hassell and Crumborn
did not know what struck them. They were both injured on the head, and were
brought over to Cairo on No. 6, and were taken to the infirmary where they
were waited upon by the company’s physician. Hassell is probably
fatally injured. A large section of his skull broke over his forehead and
was driven into his brain. He sustained other fractures. His home is in
Chicago.
Crumborn sustained extensive lacerations on his forehead, but was
able to leave for his home in New Orleans today.
(Rolla H. Spann married Alice M. McAdoo on 7 Jun 1899, in
Union Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
S.
C. Henderson, brother of C. W. Henderson, of Cairo, died at
his home at Joplin, Mo., at 9:30 o’clock last night, after an illness of six
or eight months. He left a wife, one son and two grandchildren. Mr. C. W.
Henderson visited him a few days ago, as at that time his death was
momentarily expected.
Jacob L. Mansker, an old
resident of Thebes, died on July 26th, at the age of 72 years. He
had been a resident of Thebes for 40 years. When the railroad entered
Thebes, they bought from him the land where the hotel now stands. He laid
out his other property in town lots and sold them at good prices. The last
of this property he disposed of last winter, when he moved upon the hill. He
left a wife and two sons.
(Jacob L. Mansker married Margaret E. Bond on 17 Apr 1870, in
Union Co., Ill. His marker in
Old Thebes Cemetery reads: Jacob
L. Mansker Born Aug. 6, 1832 Died July 26, 1903 Aged 70 Yrs., 11
Mos., & 20 Days.—Darrel Dexter)
Here is a tale of unparalleled inhumanity. It is said that a man living in
the vicinity of the wreck at East Cairo Sunday afternoon charged the crew of
the train 50 cents a bucket for water which they secured to relieve the
sufferings of the injured in the wreck, and $1 each for towels. The excuse
was that it was for the railroad company who were able to pay the bill. It
is hard to believe that anyone could be so inhuman.
More claims for damages growing out of the Thebes riot on April 26th
last have been presented to the county board for payment. They aggregate in
all $668.75. The claims are those of the colored laborers whose personal
effects were destroyed by the mob when they made their attack upon the camp
there. Senator Walter Warder represents eight of these claimants and
Charles L. Rice, the colored attorney of Mound City, is attorney for
one or two others. The board discussed these claims at a meeting this
morning and allowed them.
Wednesday, 5 Aug 1903:
Frank T. Walsh died at St. Mary’s Infirmary at 2:55 o’clock this
afternoon. His last illness lasted just nine days and he was taken to the
hospital Monday night. His trouble was erysipelas and pneumonia.
The deceased was 34 years old and leaves a wife, who was Miss Mamie
Fitzgerald, and a son aged five years. He also leaves two brothers and a
sister, the former Matt Walsh, who is agent for the Frisco at Thebes,
and Martin Walsh, who lives in Mississippi. His sister is a nun at
the Loretto home in Kentucky.
Frank Walsh was formerly manager of the business of Houston
Bros. here. Then he went into
business in Chicago. For two months he has made his headquarters in Cairo
while he traveled over the surrounding country.
(Frank B. Walsh married Mamie E. Fitzgerald on 1 Feb 1894, in
Alexander Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
A
distressing accident at Villa Ridge Tuesday, at the gravel pit on the
Illinois Central just below town. A portion of the bank caved and caught
several colored men, one of whom, Andrew Thompson, was killed, his
neck being broken.
J.
O. Harkless, father of Mrs. E. A. Burke, died at his home near
Blandville, Ky., last night. The deceased was a prominent farmer and
contractor in that section, and was 72 years old. Mrs. Burke had been
at his bedside during his illness and Mr. Burke went over this
morning to attend the funeral.
The funeral of Frank P. Walsh was held at St. Patrick’s Church this
morning and was attended by a large number of friends. Rev. Father Gillen
said mass and Rev. Father Diepenbrock preached the sermon. The
pallbearers, four of whom were taken from the Ancient Order of Hibernians,
of which the deceased was a member, and the remainder from among his
business friends, were W. E. Smith, James H. Galligan, P. T.
Langan, Fred D. Nellis, M. S. Egan, James Meehan,
D. M. Kelly, W. H. Greble, Rudolph Sondheimer, M. J.
O’Shea, Martin Donohue, Robert Stapleton.
A
number of relatives were in attendance from abroad, among them being his
brother, Matt Walsh, now of Thebes; Mrs. Graham of St. Louis,
Richard Burns of St. Louis, Martin Walsh and wife of Little
Rock, James Giecke and sister of St. Louis, all of these cousins of
the deceased, and James Walsh, of Chicago, his nephew.
The remains were interred in the Catholic cemetery at Villa Ridge.
Saturday, 8 Aug 1903:
(Thomas Jefferson Mowery married Maryan Elenory Lentz on 17
Jan 1884, in Pulaski Co., Ill.
Her marker in Mt. Pisgah Cemetery near Wetaug reads:
Mary E. wife of T. J. Mowery Born Oct. 24, 1862 Died Aug. 3,
1903.—Darrel Dexter)
Tuesday, 11 Aug 1903:
Paul Clark, whose serious
illness from consumption was noted in The Citizen, passed away at El
Paso, Texas, at 12:30 o’clock last Saturday afternoon. His mother was with
him, but his brother Hal was in Matahaula, Mexico. The remains will be
brought to Cairo for burial.
Thursday, 13 Aug 1903:
L.
C. Ratchford, baggage master on Illinois Central passenger train No.
3, which left Cairo at 3:35 this morning, fell from his train at Moffett,
Tenn., about 6 o’clock this morning and broke his neck. No one saw him fall,
and he was not missed from his train at the time, but the local which
followed No. 3 picked up his body as it lay beside the track and took it to
Newbern. Ratchford ran between Cairo and Memphis.
On
Friday last, Mrs. Oscar Williamson living at Ullin was shot and
seriously wounded by Lawrence Harmon, a small lad, and a son of the
town marshal. He was with some boys shooting birds with a small rifle. The
bullet struck her on the right side of the chest and ranged toward the
heart.
Mrs. Minnie Davis, who will be remembered by most Cairoites as Miss
Minnie Yost, died at Dover, Ark., Monday. She was a ward of Casper
Yost, and when the news of her death came, he tried to reach there to
attend the funeral, but the message announcing her death had been delayed
and he was unable to make the connections that would put him there in time.
Mrs. Davis had but recently removed to Dover with her husband and
family. She leaves two little girls, May Belle and Frances B., and Mr.
Yost has sent for them to come and make their home with him and expects
them to arrive in a few days.
Monday, 17 Aug 1903:
James
Keegan, beloved husband of Mary Keegan, aged 67, died at 8
a.m. Tuesday, August 18, 1903. Funeral services will be held at St. Joseph’s
Church at 8:30 a.m. Thursday. Interment at Villa Ridge Cemetery.
(His marker in Calvary Cemetery at Villa Ridge reads:
James Keegan Born Feb. 2, 1836 Died Aug. 18, 1903.
Father.—Darrel Dexter)
Thursday, 20 Aug 1903:
(O. W. Redden married Fannie Forsith on 25 Nov 1891, in
Pulaski Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
(George W. Farnsworth married Ann Marie Maddock on 30 Oct
1870, in Alexander Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
(Henry Eichhoff married Katie Foehr on 19 Mar 1871, in Union
Co., Ill. His marker in Cairo
City Cemetery at Villa Ridge reads:
Frederich Eichhoff 1884-1903.—Darrel Dexter)
(Thomas J. Kendall married Lulu Etta Sherritz on 22 Aug 1897,
in Alexander Co., Ill. His
marker in Old Thebes Cemetery reads:
T. J. Kendall Died Aug. 17, 1903 Aged 42 Yrs., 4 Mos., & 22
Days.—Darrel Dexter)
Exhausted from a 50-hour stretch of work, N. J. Evans, flagman on the
Illinois Central lay down on the track and slept last night and a train came
along and ran over him, killing him instantly. His mangled body was found
this morning.
Evans ran between St. Louis and Mounds. He came in off the road at 11
o’clock last night and at 3 o’clock this morning was sent to the north end
of the yards to flag a train. That was the last seen of him until his body
was found with his head all crushed as if struck by a train.
Evans was about 28 years of age, unmarried and lived in Newark, Ohio.
He held membership in a Knights of Pythias lodge there, and the Mound City
lodge took charge of his remains this morning. He also had a membership card
in a Y. M. C. A. in Texas.
(Gideon Blankenship married Margaret Jane Gatlin on 29 May
1852, in Alexander Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
The story comes from Texarkana that Martin Bush, the self-confessed
murderer, who was taken back there Wednesday by Sheriff Dillard of
that place, is not the negro wanted there and that the sheriff is out $50 on
the trip. Bush made a confession to Chief Price that he had
killed two men at Texarkana and the Chief notified the authorities there and
the sheriff came up after him. When he returned he had to discharge him. It
is believed that Bush wanted to go back at the expense of someone
else.
(His marker in Oakland Cemetery in Carbondale reads:
Francis Asbury Prickett Died Aug. 31, 1903 Aged 60 Yrs. & 10
Mos.—Darrel Dexter)
For some time it has been known here that the attorney general would assist
in the prosecution of those who led the mob at Thebes last May. This
decision was reached before Gov. Yates went to Europe.
Yesterday, Assistant Attorney General George B. Gillespie was here in
conference with State’s Attorney Wilson in regard to the matter.
The case will come up at the October term of court. John Hickson
is already in jail under indictment of the grand jury for murder, the charge
being that he assisted in tying the rope around the negro who was lynched
there. His trial was continued at the July term, as some of the
witnesses could not be secured.
(There is a marker in Cairo City Cemetery at Villa Ridge which has no dates,
but reads: Charles C.
Davidson Family.—Darrel Dexter)
Eugene Parks died at 12:30 today at St. Mary’s Infirmary. He is
survived by his wife and two daughters, the Misses Stella and Lottie
Parks, for whom the sympathy of the community is felt.
A
frightful accident occurred at the new Halliday estate building under
process of construction at Fourth Street and Ohio Levee this morning about
8:15 o’clock in which Eugene Parks, a well known carpenter sustained
injuries that cost him his life. Mr. Parks was standing on the
brick wall at the third story front of the building prying a girder with a
piece of wooden beam when the beam broke and he lost his balance and was
precipitated to the street level from a height of 45 feet onto some boards
that formed a walk from the building to the street. He fell in a
sprawling manner and the shock to his entire system was a fearful one.
Dr. A. A. Bondurant was summoned immediately and after an examination
of the injured man found that the skull was fractured, the brain injured and
that both legs and one arm were broken. There were also indications of
internal injuries. The unconscious patient was removed to St. Mary’s
Infirmary where the members of his anxious family and friends soon were at
his bedside. Mr. Parks was of middle age and resided with his
family at 228 Twentieth Street.
(Eugene S. Parks married Anna M. Grindler on 12 Aug 1880, in
Alexander Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
(Thomas W. McRaven married Irene Culley on 5 Nov 1882, in
Alexander Co., Ill. His marker
in Lindsey Cemetery near McClure reads:
Thomas W. McRaven Born Sept. 6, 1859 Died Aug. 19,
1903.—Darrel Dexter)
East Cape Girardeau had a serious shooting scrape yesterday afternoon and as
a result Clark Conway is fatally wounded, Clark James slightly
injured and James Robert Finley, a stepson of Conway, is in
the county jail.
The fight occurred at the saloon of Clark James, inside and on the
porch.
Conway had been over to the Cape and returning entered James’
saloon and raised a disturbance. James warned to put him out
and Conway began shooting. He shot wild and emptied his gun.
Then his stepson, Finley, ran up and shot Clark James twice,
once in the mouth and once in the temple.
James then ran behind the bar after his pistol, which he thought was
there. It was, however, in his inside vest pocket and drawing it he
shot at the boy, missing him, and then fired at Conway, shooting him
four times. Two balls passed through his hand, one entered the muscle
of his arm and the other passed through his right lung.
James then went over to the Cape where a doctor extracted the ball
from his temple. He is not seriously injured. The doctor
pronounced Conway’s wounds as fatal.
Constable Ed Abernathie arrested Finley and brought him down
to the county jail this afternoon.
(Clark James married Julia Edmundson on 16 Dec 1891, in
Alexander Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
News was received here today of the death of Herman Meyers, formerly
a well-known Cairo citizen, which occurred yesterday in New York. For
the past year Mr. Meyers had been in poor health and several months
ago he and his wife went abroad hoping that his health might be improved by
the change. He grew steadily worse, however, and his physicians
decided that to relieve the gangrenous condition of his leg, which was the
source of his trouble, amputation of his foot would be necessary and advised
him to return home. Accordingly, Mr. and Mrs. Meyers sailed for
this country, arriving in New York last week. The patient was removed
to a hospital in that city on his arrival, and it was there that he died.
Mr. Meyers was for many years a resident of this city, having located
here in 1861. He conducted a successful business in cigars and tobacco
on Ohio Levee and accumulated considerable property.
Six years ago the family removed to St. Louis, which has since been
their home. The decedent is survived by his wife and several sons, all
of whom have the deep sympathy of a wide circle of friends in their
bereavement. It is understood that the remains will be brought to
Villa Ridge for interment.
Mrs. Bella J. Ramsey, formerly of this city, widow of the late George
Ramsey, former traveling passenger agent for the Mobile & Ohio
railroad, died at her home in Minneapolis, Minn., Saturday. The
decedent was a member of the Cairo lodge, Knight and Ladies of Honor and had
$1,000 life insurance in the order.
Mrs. Douthitt, the aged mother of Mrs. Anna Kobler, died this
morning at 10 o’clock at the home of the latter, 704 Center Street.
The decedent was 84 years old and was a resident of Cairo many years ago,
but later resided in DuQuoin.
Three daughters, Mrs. Kobler, Mrs. A. N. Swayne, of DuQuoin,
and Mrs. John Major, of Sandoval, survive her, also a son who resides
in Mississippi.
(George B. Ramsey married Belle J. Fleming on 3 Feb 1876, in
Alexander Co., Ill. John
Major married Mary Douphet on 16 Jun 1869, in Alexander Co.,
Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
(John W. Hileman married Rachel S. Reed on 3 Nov 1867, in
Pulaski Co., Ill. His marker in
Vick Cemetery near Mill Creek reads:
Curtis E. son of J. W. & S. R. Hileman Died Sept. 21,1903 Aged
20 Yrs., 3 Mos., & 22 Ds.—Darrel Dexter)
Mrs. W. H. Grapevine, wife of Capt. W. H. Grapevine, died
yesterday morning at the family residence in Carondelet near St. Louis.
The many friends of Capt. Grapevine in this city will be pained to
learn of the sad loss he has sustained in the death of his wife.
Through an error in information given, this morning’s papers, both announced
the death of Capt. Grapevine himself.
(His marker in Anna City Cemetery reads:
Robert Fillmore Rushing Born April 11, 1903 Died Sept. 24,
1903.—Darrel Dexter)
John Sullivan, familiarly known as “Jack,” died this morning at St.
Mary’s Infirmary at 8 o’clock after three months’ illness.
The decedent was about 44 years of age. He was born and reared in this
city and was the sole survivor of his family. He was a cousin of P. A.
Doud, the well-known grocer. He was formerly assistant city
jailer and was a familiar figure about police headquarters having been
employed there in various capacities. The funeral will be held
tomorrow afternoon.
At
the regular meeting of local union, No. 894 of United Brotherhood of
Carpenters and Joiners of America, the following resolutions were
unanimously adopted: That
Whereas, it has pleased the All-Wise Ruler of this universe to remove from
among us our esteemed and worthy brother, Eugene Parks, to the Great
Beyond, where the sound of the gavel is heard no more and where we all
sooner or later, must join him; Therefore be it
Resolved, That we deeply mourn the sudden demise of our worthy brother, and
that we extend our sincere sympathy to the bereaved family of whom he was
ever a kind and loving husband, and indulgent father. And be it
further
Resolved, That the charter of this union be draped in mourning for thirty
days from this, and that a copy of these resolutions be spread upon the
records of this union, and also that a copy be presented to the bereaved
family, and one to each daily paper of this city, and the Carpenter, with a
request that they be published.
A
tragedy, one of the worst in Cairo’s annals, occurred last night about 9
o’clock in the Brewery Saloon at Washington Avenue, in which Con Sheehan
was killed and Mike Egan was mortally wounded by Thomas O’Neil.
Sheehan was shot through the heart and died instantly. Egan
was taken to the drugstore of H. N. Henckell on Commercial Avenue,
where Dr. W. C. Clarke attended him and pronounced his wounds fatal.
Later he was taken to St. Mary’s Infirmary.
O’Neil escaped from the saloon by a rear door after the shooting and
was in hiding until about 11 o’clock, when he surrendered to the police and
was lodged in the county jail.
William Grimes, barkeeper for O’Neil, stated to the police
that the two men shot, with two others, had come into the hall from the
street and had gone into the wine room where other men were seated at tables
with women drinking and that the newcomers had tried to raise a disturbance.
O’Neil ordered them out of the place and they refused to go. He
then tried to eject them and a fight ensued in which the four men attacked
O’Neil, who managed to close the door. O’Neil went to
the bar and got his pistol and returned to the door, which he, Grimes,
was holding shut against the efforts of the four men on the outside.
When O’Neil came back, Grimes let go and the door was forced
open by the men outside, who started to go into the saloon, making threats
against O’Neil. The latter then fired at them and left the
place.
John Bridges, who was one of the four, told a different story.
He said they went into the saloon without any intention of raising a
disturbance. O’Neil came in the wine room and ordered them to
leave. They resisted the efforts he made to put them out and blows
were exchanged by all the crowd. O’Neil left the hall and went
into the saloon threatening to kill them. He states that the four did
not attempt to follow O’Neil, but rather they tried to hold the door
shut, fearing that he was armed and would shoot. He forced the door
open, however, and the shooting followed.
Dr. McManus, the coroner, was summoned and had the remains of
Sheehan removed to Feith’s undertaking establishment, where an
inquest was held this morning.
Chief Price and several officers arrested Bob Kemp, the
assistant barkeeper and a woman in the place at the time of the shooting.
The Brewery Saloon recently has been run as a disreputable joint. At
all hours of the day or night, painted, bedizenred women have been
seen coming from the place, which is located on a leading thoroughfare, and
it is doubtful if there is a more immoral resort in the city. Strange
to say, no effort had been made to restrain the proprietor, O’Neil,
from carrying on his nefarious business, which has been brought to a sudden
close.
Con Sheehan, the dead man, was a son of Con Sheehan, one of
the city’s oldest residents, and was born and reared in this city.
Egan is also a native of Cairo and the parents of both men survive them.
Both were young men not over 30 years of age. Sheehan was
employed as bartender at Gardner’s Saloon at Thirty-Fourth and
Sycamore streets and Egan was bartender at Powers’ Saloon at
Twenty-seventh Street and Commercial Avenue.
The coroner’s jury was composed of Frank Gorman, William Magner,
John Haggerty, Mike Kiley, Richard Jones, and William
Boren. After viewing the remains at the undertaker’s, the jury
adjourned to the courthouse, where the inquest was held. Coroner
McManus examined seven witnesses this morning, all people who were in or
about the saloon at the time the murder was committed.
Adjournment was taken at the noon hour and the jurors re-assembled at 2
o’clock. Other witnesses were examined, including two policemen.
The jury arrived at a verdict shortly after 3 o’clock this afternoon
deciding that Sheehan’s death resulted from the wounds received at
the hands of O’Neil and that William Grimes was an accessory
to the fact. The jury held O’Neil and Grimes subject to
the grand jury without bond. Kemp the other bartender at
O’Neil’s saloon was released from custody.
Sheriff James S. Roche today took Thomas O’Neil and William
Grimes from Cairo. The prisoners with the sheriff and Jailer
Riggle left on the Mobile & Ohio train at 1:36 p.m. They kept
their destination secret from the public, but it is believed to have been
Murphysboro. Sheriff Roche took this step as a precaution.
Perry G. Farrow, announcement of whose critical illness was published
in The Citizen, died last night at 9:40 o’clock at St. Mary’s
Infirmary, after an illness lasting about two weeks. He had been in
poor health for the past year.
The decedent was 45 years of age and is survived by his wife and daughter,
Miss Frances, and two brothers. Mr. Farrow for a number of
years had been engaged as a promoter and builder of telephone properties in
this state and Indiana, in which he had been successful.
His daughter arrived home this morning from Fond du Lac, Wis., where she has
been attending school.
The remains were taken to Feith’s undertaking establishment last
night whence they will be removed this evening to the late home of the
decedent, 324 Sixth Street. Two brothers of the decedent, Rev. J. H.
Farrow, and Mr. William Farrow, of Alamo, Tenn., arrived this
morning to attend the funeral, which will be held tomorrow afternoon at 1:45
o’clock at the residence conducted by Rev. L. D. Hill. The
Masonic lodge will have charge of the services the decedent having been a
member of that order.
DIED—Perry G. Farrow at St.
Mary’s Infirmary Friday night, Oct. 2, at 9:40 o’clock. Funeral
services will be held at his late residence, 324 Sixth Street Sunday
afternoon at 1:45 o’clock conducted by Rev. L. D. Hill. Special
train will leave foot of Sixth Street for Beech Grove Cemetery.
Friends of the family are invited.
Sam Moss, a colored man living near the Dr. Wood farm in the
drainage district, was shot and instantly killed by “Col.” Ogden,
also colored, about 8 o’clock this morning. The shooting occurred in
the northern end of the drainage district.
Moss worked in Cairo for Mr. George Parsons. He was
coming in this morning on a wagon in company with Asbury Day.
As they approached the home of a man named McKnight, they saw
Ogden there with a gun in his hands. Neither man apparently
thought anything of it, but when they were near Ogden, he said, “Moss,
you had your day Saturday. It is my time this morning.” Before
Moss could make any reply, Ogden pulled down on him with his
gun, shooting him through the body, and as he fell in his wagon, Ogden
drew a pistol and put a bullet in his victim’s head. Then Ogden
walked toward the house, threw the gun inside and started off in a northerly
direction toward the home of his brother, Tom Ogden.
Day and McKnight were both witnesses to the shooting, but it
was all so quickly done that neither had time to interfere.
Day brought the news to Cairo and the above account was told by him
to a Citizen representative.
What the trouble was between the two men Day stated that he did not
know. Ogden made his home with McKnight.
Dr. James McManus, coroner, went out this morning and held an inquest
over the remains of Moss. The verdict rendered held Ogden
responsible for the killing. The testimony even developed the fact
that the trouble between the two men was caused by Ogden’s attentions
to Moss’ wife. Moss had warned him a few days ago that
he must stay way from his house and pay no attention to his wife. The
whole left side of the dead man was torn away by the first shot, which was
fired from an old army musket. Sheriff Roche and his deputies
are scouring the country for Ogden, who is still at large and word
received this afternoon is that he was on the track of him between Mound
City and Olmsted.
(This may be the same person as Samuel Moss who married Frances
Barnett on 29 May 1895, in Alexander Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
(Jesse L. Bowling married Eva M. Rouse on 23 Apr 1873, in
Pulaski Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
Wednesday, 7 Oct 1903:
Mrs. Edward Reno, wife of
Assistant Postmaster Reno, was called to Paducah, Ky., last evening
by the death of her brother, James E. Robertson, a former newspaper
publisher and real estate man who died yesterday afternoon at St. Louis in
the Missouri Baptist Sanitarium.
The decedent had been in poor health for the past year and while returning
from Mud Lavia Springs, Ind., a week ago was taken ill in St. Louis, which
proved to be the end of his suffering.
His wife and one son and three brothers, Messrs. Lloyd Robertson,
formerly of this city, Byers Robertson, of Paducah, and F. B.
Robertson, of Memphis, and his sister, Mrs. Reno, survive him. The
remains were taken to Paducah today.
(Edward Reno married Anna H. Roberson on 17 May 1887, in
Alexander Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
Bespattered with mud from long drives
over the county roads in pursuit of “Col.” Ogden, the murderer of Sam
Moss, Sheriff Roche and his deputies returned at 2 o’clock
this morning. Albert Moore, John Peterson, Green Lipe,
T. A. Head, and Jim Nalen were the deputies who assisted in
the search.
Head and Nalen are at Grand Chain today and wired here that
they are close on the trail of the murderer. Sheriff Roche
arrested a man at the wharf at Mound City yesterday who closely answered the
description of Ogden, but he proved to be another party.
Ogden has a scar over his left eye that will assist in his
identification. Inquires were made of the fishermen along the river
with the thought that Ogden had tried to get to the Kentucky shore,
but no inquiries for boats had been made of them, hence it is believed that
he is without doubt on this side of the river. Sheriff Roche
says the nature of the cold-blooded crime committed by Ogden makes it
doubly obligatory upon him to find him and he will neglect no means of doing
so.
Sheriff Roche went up to Grand Chain this afternoon.
W. M. Morris, while acting as
switchman for the Illinois Central railroad at Herrin Monday night was hit
by the cars and knocked under the wheels, which passed over him mangling his
right arm and leg. He was taken to Murphysboro and placed in St.
Andrew’s Hospital where he died before amputation of the limbs could be
made.
The decedent resided in Mounds, having come there a year ago from Tuscumbia,
Ala. He was recently promoted to the position of substitute conductor.
He leaves a wife who left her southern home a month ago to join him in
Mounds. Mrs. Morris was notified promptly of the accident to
her husband and left on the next train for Murphysboro but had the
heart-rending experience to find him dead. On the anniversary of his
coming to Mounds his sorrowing wife, her brother and sister and Mr. and Mrs.
A. H. Plemons left on their sad journey for Tuscumbia with the
remains. Mr. Phlemons is yardmaster of the Illinois Central at
Mounds and was a personal friend of the decedent.
A
colored passenger on the Rees Lee died as the boat lay at the wharf
here this morning. Coroner McManus impaneled a jury with Samuel
Halliday as foreman and they found that he had taken the boat at
Stuart’s Landing, Mo., to go to St. Louis and became sick during the night.
His death was the result of natural causes. The man’s name was Leslie
Brooks.
William Aird, a plumber formerly employed by Thomas W. Gannon,
E. C. Halliday and Casey & Walder, committed suicide at
Anna yesterday by shooting himself with a revolver.
Aird went to Anna some time ago to do some plumbing work at the
Southern Illinois Hospital for Insane, but made occasional trips here to see
his friends. Last Sunday he spent the day here and returned to Anna.
He drank heavily and it is presumed that he was dependent after dissipation
and committed the deed while in this state.
The Plumbers’ Union received a message announcing the news and a meeting was
held to make arrangements for his funeral. Frank Armstrong,
president of the union, went to Anna this morning to attend to the details.
Dr. J. J. Aird, a highly respected resident of Olive Branch, was a
brother of the decedent. He was notified of the sad death of his
brother and went to Anna to take charge of the remains. The decedent
was about 35 years of age and St. Louis was his former home.
(John B. Simpson married Martha M. Carter on 30 Jul 1865, in
Johnson Co., Ill. Sherman
Whiteside married Mary M. Simpson on 1 Aug 1887, in Johnson Co.,
Ill. Joseph B. Johnson
married Siddie Simpson on 1 May 1895, in Johnson Co., Ill.—Darrel
Dexter)
The details of the suicide of W. P. Aird, of this city, who had been
employed at the Southern Illinois Hospital for Insane at Anna, are told as
follows in the Anna Democrat.
Aird threatened to shoot City Marshal Menees and R. O.
Willis at the Anna Hotel yesterday afternoon and after a morning of
episodes which caused consternation among the hotel guests and employees, W.
R. Aid put a bullet from a 44-calibre revolver through his own head
and died instantly in the hallway on the third floor at the head of the
stairs, from which place only a few moments before he had threatened to
shoot Willis and Menees. Aird was a plumber and
had been working at the hospital. He was discharged last week for
drunkenness, but on Monday was re-employed. The institution was badly
in need of his services. Wednesday evening about 9 o’clock he
registered at the Anna Hotel and soon afterward retired. At about
11:30 o’clock Virgil Maxfield, a hotel employee, went to Aird’s
room on third floor and called him for dinner. He was lying on the bed
with the door open. He talked rationally, saying he did not want
anything to eat. Soon after that the trouble began. Mr.
Willis heard screams upstairs and he and Fulton Sherell ran up to
learn what had happened. The man ordered them back, saying he would
kill them if they came near him. City Marshal Menees was called
and he and Willis received the same orders from the man and obeyed.
Deputy Sheriff Hoggins came and tried to frighten the fellow by
shooting at him twice. Aird paid no special attention to the
shots. Then the officials and hotel employee tried to coax the fellow
out onto the roof and he went part of the way out but crawled back and ended
his life. After the suicide when the hotel people were free to venture
up to the third floor, they found that Aird had been in all of the
rooms. It was about 3:30 p.m. when he killed himself and the lifeless
form, clad only in underclothing, lay on the floor with blood and brains
oozing from the wound.
Maj. A. D. Stinson died at his home in Anna early Sunday
morning aged nearly 73 years.
Maj. Stinson came from a prominent family of Norristown, Pa. He
was of Scotch extraction and his parents were people of education, ability
and means. He came from Revolutionary stock. Maj. Stinson
went to California in 1849 during the gold excitement. During the
Civil War he was found fighting on the Union side and was a staff officer.
He went with Gen. Sherman on his memorable March to the Sea.
Maj. Stinson married in 1871 to Miss Mattie King, of Anna.
She passed way only a year to two ago. They had no children.
Maj. Stinson was one of the first four Republicans of the county to
vote for Fremont. He was a member of the Republican State
Committee at one time, served in the legislature, was treasurer of the
hospital, and was always prominent in political affairs. He was
interested in real estate in Anna and was engaged in the business of
handling grain and lime. He left a valuable estate.
Maj. Stinson was a man of commanding figure and military bearing.
He was strong in his likes and dislikes.
The funeral will be held Tuesday afternoon, conducted by the G. A. R. post.
After the death of his wife, Maj. Stinson spent much time in travel.
He made a trip to the Holy Land and only six weeks ago returned from a trip
to Europe, which his friends think hastened, his death as it was too much of
a tax upon his strength.
His only surviving brother is Frank Stinson, of Norristown, Pa., who
will attend the funeral.
(Robert Stinson married Mattie King on 21 Dec 1870, in
Alexander Co., Ill. His marker
in Anna City Cemetery reads:
Robert Burns Stinson Born Dec. 6, 1830 Died Oct. 11, 1903.—Darrel
Dexter)
Walter B. Jennings, formerly of this city, died suddenly at Corning,
Ark., at the St. James Hotel Friday morning at 9:45 o’clock. His wife,
friends and physicians worked with the sick man, but to no avail. Mr.
Jennings had been employed in the newspaper offices of this city as
compositor at various times and was well known.
He
had been employed recently as manager of the Corning Leader. He
was much esteemed by his friends there. The decedent was about 35
years of age and was born in Vienna, Ill. The remains will probably be
taken to Bernie, Mo., for interment where relatives of the decedent reside.
Mr. Jennings visited friends in Cairo ten days ago and had applied to
the local Typographical Union for membership.
The sad news of the death of Mrs. Rose A. Lentz, who passed away last
night at 9:15 o’clock at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Charles Hancock,
in Stuart, Fla., was received by the relatives of the decedent in the city
today.
Mrs. Lentz was a resident of Cairo for many years and left here only
last January for Florida. She was generally beloved because of her
sweet and kindly nature and the news of her passing to the other world will
leave a feeling of deep sadness in the hearts of many Cairo friends.
Mrs. Lentz had been in poor health for the past two years and it was
partially in the hope that a change would benefit her, that her son-in-law,
J. Charles Hancock, with whose family she lived, decided to go south.
Frequent spells of heart trouble presaged the end, which came peacefully.
Definite word regarding the disposition of the remains has not been received
but it is believed that the family will bring the body here for interment.
The surviving members of the family are her daughter, Mrs. J. C. Hancock,
of Stuart, Fla., and her son Harry Lentz of this city, two sisters,
Mesdames Charles Galligher, of this city and Reese Dugan, of
Chicago, and two brothers, Capt. W. D. Lippett, and Mrs. Arnold C.
Lippett, both of this city.
(Charles Hancock married Miss Lentz on 9 Oct 1889, in
Alexander Co., Ill. Arnold
Lippitt married Georgina Redman on 11 Nov 1872, in Alexander Co.,
Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
Thomas G. Arrison, former resident of this city, dropped dead while
on his way to work this morning in Metropolis. The decedent and his
family resided in this city for fifteen years and were well known.
About a year ago they moved to Metropolis, their former home.
Mrs. Arrison was about 60 years of age. He is survived by his
wife. During his residence here he was engaged at the trade of ship
carpenter.
A
mob of masked men from Keevil, Ky., lynched Tom Hawes, a negro at
Wickliffe about 1 o’clock this morning, hanging him to a walnut tree in the
courthouse yard. The mob rode on horseback to within a quarter of a
mile of town and then dismounted tying their horses in a grove and then
walked into town.
They demanded of Jailer Z. T. Dulworth that he give the prisoner into
their hands, but he refused at first. The cold rims of several
revolvers pressed against his temples had the desired effect and Hawes
was given into the hands of the determined mob. Hawes was
quickly dragged out of the jail and hanged to a tree, quietly and without
causing an uproar in the town. In fact, Wickliffe parties stated that
the residents of the town were not aroused and that none of them took part
in the lynching. After the hanging, the mob quietly left the town and
returned to Keevil.
The crime, which led to the lynching, was committed last Sunday evening at
Keevil on the Cairo and Paducah branch of the Illinois Central railroad.
Several negro desperadoes drove passengers off the station platform
including women. Crockett Childress and another white boy
refused to leave and Hawes shot the former. After the shooting
Hawes was arrested and taken to Wickliffe and lodged in jail.
It was reported that all the negroes left Keevil afterward, fearing that
there would be further trouble. While men puchased revolvers in case,
the negroes continued to molest them, which were probably carried by members
of the mob this morning.
DIED—Mrs. Rose A Lentz, Tuesday night, Oct. 13, 1903, at Stuart, Fla.
Funeral services will be held at the residence of the son of the decedent,
H. C. Lentz, 624 Fifteenth Street, Saturday morning, Oct. 17 at 9
o’clock. Special train will leave foot of Fourteenth Street at 10
o’clock. Friends are invited.
Judge Robarts is dead. His great, sympathetic soul has passed
into the beyond. What can we say of him that will be a fitting
tribute?
He
was the first of all a patriot. Those who remember how eager he was to
give his services to his country at the outbreak of the Spanish-American
War, know that he was inspired by patriotism. It was a keen
disappointment to him that he could not go to the front. He organized
his regiment, the Eleventh Illinois, and had made all arrangements to go
into service. He realized fully what it meant for a man of his
physique to take the field in a tropical country, where fever lurked and
disease bore down even the strongest convictions. Yet that did not
deter him. His love for his country and its flag made these dangers
seem but trivial.
Judge Robarts realized the true importance of his office as judge of
the great forum of the common people. He never became hardened by the
wickedness of mankind, which was constantly brought to his notice.
These things never could change his sympathetic nature, which was of rate
tender heartedness.
And what can we say of the beautiful devotion of his wife during his long
illness. Never did she allow herself to give up hope of his recovery.
No wife could be more of a helpmeet than she was. She can console
herself in her affliction with the thought that no effort of hers was spared
in ministering to his comfort.
The
trial of Napoleon Hixon, the Thebes rioter, will be held tomorrow.
Two attorneys from Essex, Mo., will defend.
Miss Lou Ozburn, sister of Mrs.
J. P. Robarts, received a message last night stating that the remains
of the late Judge Robarts will arrive in Carbondale Monday and the
funeral will be held there Tuesday afternoon.
Judge Vickers, in the circuit court here yesterday appointed a
committee of five members of the bar to arrange for the funeral of the late
Judge Robarts. Those chosen were Hon. Miles Frederick
Gilbert, Hon. Reed Green, Senator Walter Warder, Messrs.
J. M. Lansden, and W. N. Butler. All the attorneys in
the circuit court will be notified and it is understood that all of the
membership of the Alexander County bar will attend. A large delegation
of Elks, Knight of Pythias and Odd Fellows from Cairo will attend.
Claud Crain, son of the late Dr. Crain of Villa Ridge, died at
Poplar Bluff Tuesday night from an overdose of chloroform, taken to relieve
pain. Some time ago he was injured in a wreck on the Illinois Central.
He was let out at the time and went to work firing on the Iron Mountain.
His injuries were not properly treated and he suffered much from pain in his
side, and was in the habit of using chloroform as a relief.
The deceased was a brother of Dr. Coral and Festal Crain, the
osteopath physicians.
The remains were brought over from Poplar Bluff today and taken to Villa
Ridge for interment this afternoon.
New Hope Lodge No. 37, B. L. F., of Centralia, had charge of the funeral and
Rev. J. T. M. Knox officiated.
(Samuel P. Tufts married Zerrilda Goodwin on 4 Oct 1857, in
Marion Co., Ill. Samuel P.
Tufts was 1st lieutenant of Co. H, 1st Illinois
Cavalry, enlisting on 24 Jun 1861.
He was mustered out on 5 Juol 1862, in St. Louis, Mo.—Darrel
Dexter)
C.
Kusener, H. A. Engler, James Higlan, William White,
Charles Bowlar, Daniel Franklin, F. X. Austin, George
Alexander, John W. Howard, Thomas Gwyn, Joseph Bass,
P. W. Ward.
Five are colored men and seven are white. All are from Cairo.
Attorney Hubbard and Taylor of Essex, Mo., are representing
Hixon and A. E. Patterson is assisting State’s Attorney Wilson
in the prosecution.
Sol Edwards, colored, shot his wife at 2:45 o’clock this morning at
her home, 211 Nineteenth Street, and then put a bullet though his own brain.
He died instantly and she lived until about 6 o’clock.
Edwards and his wife had not been living together. He had been
at the Soldiers’ Home at Quincy. Returning to Cairo Thursday he
effected a reconciliation with his wife, then he visited his son at Mounds
and returned last night. Edwards’ wife claimed the shooting
came unexpectedly to her. She was able to talk about the tragedy of
Officer Wilson, who was the first on the scene. She told him
that the first she knew Edwards fired at her and missed her.
Then he fired again, and the ball entered her left breast just above the
heart. She then ran into the next room when she heard another shot.
It was the one, which ended Edwards’ own life.
Officers Wilson, Hofheniz, and Glade were summoned, but
there was nothing to be done. Edwards had placed the pistol to
his right ear and sent the bullet into his brain.
Edwards was regarded as a peaceable hard working colored man, owned
80 acres of land in Pulaski County west of Mounds and was one who always met
his obligations. His wife was employed as a janitress at the high
school last year.
Edwards suspected his wife of having received attentions from other
men and this was the reason he committed the deed. He told Officers
Wilson some time ago, when he was seen hashing around the New York
Store, that he was watching for a man whom he suspected of meeting his wife,
and that if he caught him he would kill them both and himself. He kept
his word so far as two of them were concerned.
The jury in the case of Napoleon Hixon, charged with participating in
the Thebes rioting, failed to agree and were discharged. They reported
at 9 o’clock this morning but the court sent them back. Then they
returned again about 10 and still failing to agree were discharged. It
is understood that up to 5 o’clock this morning, five were for conviction
and seven for acquittal. Then three changed and it stood two for
conviction and ten for acquittal. The two are reported to have favored
hanging.
Hixon was then remanded to jail and will be tried again at the next
term.
Tomorrow at 11 o’clock the special train chartered by the Elks Lodge will
convey the friends of Judge Robarts to Carbondale to attend the
funeral. The Elks’s Lodge will go in a body and will be the only Cairo
organization to do so. Representatives will also attend from the
Masons, Knight of Pythias, and the K. M. K. C., but they will go as
individuals. The Cairo bar will also attend in a body.
The special train will be made up of two cars with room for 120 people and
at Mounds it will pick up a car from Mound City, chartered by the Knights of
Pythias from that city.
Judge Robarts’ funeral will be in charge of the Masonic lodge of
Carbondale at the request of the Cairo lodge.
H.
H. Halliday has had charge of the arrangements for the special train
and has been besieged with requests of those desiring to attend.
Some will probably go on the regular train at 11:42 a.m.
The San Diego Tribune contains this account of Judge Robarts’
death:
Judge Joseph P. Robarts, of Cairo, Ill., died at 735 Kearney Avenue,
this morning at 8:40 o’clock.
Michael J. Moffett married Frances Bischof on 2 Mar 1897, in
Perry Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
The funeral of Judge Joseph P.
Robarts occurred at Carbondale this afternoon and was very largely
attended by personal and political friends of the deceased from all over the
state, and by the entire bar of Southern Illinois.
Services were held in the Methodist church, and were conducted by the
pastor, Rev. C. E. McCammon.
Shekinah Lodge No. 241 A. F. & A. M. had charge of the funeral and at the
grave. Judge Monroe C. Crawford, past grand master of the
Masonic order, officiated.
Judge Robarts’ remains arrived in Carbondale at 4 o’clock yesterday
afternoon from Chicago and were met by a large committee, which accompanied
them to the church where they lay instate.
The business houses of Carbondale were closed from 2 to 4 o’clock out of
respect to Judge Robarts’ memory.
(His marker in Oakland Cemetery at Carbonale reads:
Joseph P. Robarts Born March 2, 1849 Died Oct. 20,
1903.—Darrel Dexter)
(His marker in Hulen Cemetery reads:
Monroe McCrite Born Jan. 3, 1857 Died Oct. 29, 1903.
Farewell Papa, till we meet again In that home where Jesue
reigns.—Darrel Dexter)
Frank McCosh, one of the oldest engineers on the Illinois Central
Railroad running between Cairo and Centralia, died very suddenly at St.
Louis yesterday.
He
seemed to be in perfect health until yesterday when he became suddenly ill
and was removed to a hospital in St. Louis, where he died later.
(Christian Nordling married Friderika Hess on 24 Jun 1861, in
Union Co., Ill. A marker in Anna
City Cemetery reads: C.
Nordling Born Sept. 15, 1825.
Friedericka wife of C. Nordling Born Sept. 4, 1839 Died Jan.
4, 1895. Mother.—Darrel
Dexter)
Spencer—Died at 4:50 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, 1903, at Cairo, Ill.,
after a lingering illness, H. H. Spencer, aged 70 years.
Funeral services will be held at his residence at Villa Ridge, Ill., Sunday,
Nov. 1, at 2 o’clock p.m. Interment at Beech Grove Cemetery at 3:45
p.m.
H.
H. Spencer, father of Frank Spencer, assistant cashier of the
Alexander County National Bank, died at St. Mary’s Infirmary at 5 o’clock
this morning.
The remains were taken to his home at Villa Ridge this afternoon.
Henry H. Spencer was born at Whitney Point, New York, on Nov.17,
1832. He came from a family of eight children, two brothers, Elias T.
Spencer, of Pulaski, and Nehemiah Spencer, of Centralia, and
several sisters surviving him.
Mr. Spencer came west in 1852 and spent several years at Bloomington,
Ill. In 1855 he removed to Pulaski County and engaged in sawmilling at
Ullin, removing to Villa Ridge in 1857. He had sawmills at various
points in Pulaski County, and followed the business until 1872. Having
by that time acquired valuable farming interests, he gave up the more active
business life. In 1875 he was elected sheriff of Pulaski County,
serving two years, and in 1878 he was elected to the lower house of the
Illinois legislatures by the republicans. Up to this time he had
always been an active Republican and was one of seven to vote for Fremont
in that county in 1856. Later, however, Mr. Spencer found his
sympathies were more with the free trade policy of the Democratic Party, and
he allied himself with the Democrats, although he took no active part in
politics.
Mr. Spencer was married in September 1855, to Miss Eleanor T.
Gould, at Bloomington, Ill. She died in May 1878. As a
result of this union, six children were born, four of them still surviving
as follows: Frank Spencer, of Cairo, Mrs. John W. Titus,
of Beechwood, and Mrs. John F. Welson and Mrs. C. E. Parker,
of Villa Ridge.
On
May 1, 1894, Mr. Spencer was united again to Mrs. Louis H. Winters,
at DuQuoin, a daughter of Dr. Dyer, his widow surviving him.
Mr. Spencer’s last illness dates from the first of July. Two
weeks ago he was bought to Cairo and taken to the infirmary. His death
resulted from heart trouble.
Mr. Spencer was one of the men who made Pulaski County what it is.
He was a man of character, integrity and intelligence far above the
ordinary. In his family life he was devoted to his wife and children.
Funeral services will be held tomorrow afternoon as will be seen from a
notice elsewhere in The Citizen.
(H. H. Spencer married Ellen Gould on 8 Feb 1856, in Fayette
Co., Ill. John W. Titus
married Ella Spencer on 20 Apr 1881, in Pulaski Co., Ill.
Edward Parker married Zena Spencer on 23 Oct 1889, in
Pulaski Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
Mate
Lawrence M. Gale of the snag boat Wright, died at the United
States Marine Hospital at 10:30 o’clock last night, as the result of the
injuries received on the boat a few days ago. Dr. T. H. D.
Griffiths, surgeon in charge of the hospital, attempted to save the
man’s life by amputating the injured leg, and was assisted in the operation
by Drs. Clark and Walsh, but it was unavailing. Gale
was formerly a watchman for the Valley line. His home was in Racine,
Ohio, and the remains will be shipped tonight to Pomeroy, Ohio, in care of
the Masonic lodge there. The deceased was a member of Jasper Lodge No.
164, of Rush City, Minn.
(Isaac F. Champion married Lucy F. Richerson on 29 Apr 1875,
in Union Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
(This
is James C. Barnett.—Darrel Dexter)
Prof.
Joel M. Bowlby, principal of Thebes school and one of the best-known
educators in Southern Illinois, died at Carbondale Sunday morning.
The
Carbondale Free Press says of him:
Prof.
Bowlby has for 33 years been a prominent factor in educational ranks.
He was graduated from the Pittsburg, Pa., high school and later from the
Millersville Normal, one of the best schools in Pennsylvania, and took a
position in the city schools of Pittsburg, later becoming one of the ward
principals.
He
was born Oct. 14, 1847, at Cincinnati, Ohio, and came to Jackson County with
his parents ten years later, but returned to Pennsylvania. The family,
however, took up their permanent residence here in 1870. In 1873 he
was married to Miss Susan Smith, of Murphysboro, and to the union
five children were born, only one, Joel M., Jr., a student at the
university, surviving.
He
was principal of the schools at Grand Tower from 1870-73; Murphysboro
1873-77; Carlyle 1879-85; Vandalia 1885-86; Eitchfield 1886-92; Metropolis
1892-98; Mound City 1898-99; instructor in State Normal 1899-1901; Grand
Tower 1901-02; McClure 1902-03; and Thebes the few months of the present
fall. In 1877 he was a prominent candidate for county superintendent,
but was defeated in the Republican convention by Prof. Harwood.
He was admitted to the bar in 1884 and shortly before was granted a life
state teacher’s certificate.
Prof.
Bowlby has been Secretary of the Illinois State Teachers’ Association
for the past 15 years.
He
was a member of Gethsemane Commandery Knights Templar Masons, the A. O. U.
W., in the latter order carrying $2,000 life insurance, and the Presbyterian
church.
Prof.
Bowlby probably had a wider acquaintance among the teachers of the
state than any other teacher of this section. His private character
was pure; his home life ideal. He was a man of deep convictions who
made lasting friends.
(Joel
M. Bowlby married Amelia S. Smith on 24 Jul 1873, in Jackson
Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
Mrs.
William T. Raefsnyder died at her home at Fifteenth and Cedar streets
at 7:20 o’clock this morning, after a long illness. Death came to her
as a relief from suffering, as she had been an invalid for years. The
deceased was 73 years old. She was born in New York City and was
married in Allegheny City, Pa., on Nov. 11, 1855. Her husband and one
daughter, Miss Kate, alone survive her.
(Her
marker in I. O. O. F. Cemetery at Dongola reads:
Myrtle Weatherly 1882-1903.—Darrel Dexter)
(Her
marker in Lindsey Cemetery near McClure reads:
Gladys Callans 1890-1903.—Darrel Dexter)
Tuesday, 10 Nov 1903:
(Frederick A. Krauss married Mary Mabry on 4 Sep 1890, in
Alexander Co., Ill. Frederick A.
Krauss married Mary L. Mabry on 26 Jun 1895, in Alexander Co.,
Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
(Martin Creighton married Mary Cullinan on 6 Feb 1870, in
Alexander Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
Thursday, 12 Nov 1903:
Mrs.
Robert W. Miller, formerly a resident of Cairo, died in Boston,
Mass., Monday, Nov. 9, at the home of her daughter. The remains were
brought to Beardstown, Ill., for interment.
Mrs.
Miller had been ill since last spring. Her condition grew so
serious recently that all the children were summoned to her bedside.
She left three daughters and four sons. The daughters are Mrs. C. C.
Todd, of Chicago, who was Miss Mary Miller; Mrs. Thompson,
wife of D. E. Thompson, the American consul at Petropolis, Brazil,
who was Miss Jeannette Miller, and the daughter at whose home she
died, whose name could not be remembered by her friends here, but whose name
was Miss Eliza Miller. The sons are Winlock and Robert, of
Kansas City, and Richard and Edward, of Chicago.
Mrs.
Miller was a sister of Mrs. James Barclay.
(Robert W. Miller married Eliza B. Taylor on 19 Mar 1863, in
Cass Co., Ill. Charles S.
Todd married Mary B. Miller on 12 Dec 1895, in Cook Co., Ill.
David E. Thompson married Jeannette Miller on 27 Jan
1892, in Cook Co., Ill. James S.
Barclay married Mary E. Taylor on 25 Jun 1874, in Sangamon
Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
Alto
Pass, Ill., Nov. 16.—Dr. Perry McElvain, one of the oldest practicing
physicians in Southern Illinois, died suddenly of apoplexy while sitting in
a chair in his office in this city Friday. He was given a Masonic
funeral here Sunday morning. Judge Crawford had the ceremonies
in charge.
Dr.
McElvain was a bachelor. A sister living at Omaha, Neb., to
whom the greater part of his fortune is left by the provisions of his will,
was unable to be here.
A
reply to a telegram to his brother at Butler, Pa., stated that his brother
there had just died.
Dr.
McElvain practiced medicine in this community for more than twenty
years and was known as a broad-minded, Christian gentleman of unusual
strength of character and fidelity to the principles of right living.
He was a strong Republican and a veteran of the Civil War.
(His
marker in Alto Pass Cemetery reads:
Perry McElvain Born Feb. 1, 1840 Died Nov. 13, 1903.—Darrel
Dexter)
Mrs.
Joseph Bross, widow of the brother of Judge F. Bross, died at
her home in Waterloo, Ill., Friday night at the age of 65. She and her
husband were formerly residents of Cairo, Mr. Bross conducting a
grocery business at Tenth and Washington.
(Joseph Bross married Verona Sutter on 17 Sep 1864, in St.
Clair Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
Mrs.
Maria A. White, whose death occurred in Chicago Saturday morning, was
buried at Beech Grove Cemetery this morning, a special train taking Cairo
friends to the funeral. Rev. Roland conducted the service.
The deceased was the widow of John C. White, an old resident of
Cairo, and was the mother of Mrs. David J. Baker and Mrs. J. B.
Humphrey, of Chicago. She was 78 years old.
Mrs.
Anna Harrison, wife of W. Dick Harrison, died at the Crawford
Sanitarium at Memphis, Saturday. She was a niece of Mrs. Katerine
Fitzgerald, of Cairo, and was a native of Cairo, residing her for
several years. The remains were buried at Villa Ridge.
Mrs.
Mary Dowd, who died at her home, No. 801 Cedar Street, Friday
afternoon, was buried Saturday afternoon at Villa Ridge, funeral services
having been conducted by Rev. Father Gillen. The deceased was
82 years of age, had resided in Cairo nearly twenty-five years, and is
survived by four children, Mrs. Mary Driscoll and Mrs. John Levitt,
of Cairo, Peter Dowd, of Carbondale, and Michael Dowd, whose
residence is unknown.
(Michael Driscoll married Mary Dowd on 22 Sep 1887, in
Alexander Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
(Her
name is recorded as Carrie Lovett elsewhere in the paper.—Darrel
Dexter)
(Her
name is recorded as Carrie Levett elsewhere in the paper.—Darrel
Dexter)
Judge
Fredolin Bross passed away at 12:35 o’clock this morning. After
an illness lasting for about a year, he succumbed to Bright’s disease.
Judge
Fredoline Bross was born at Sashback, Achern County, Grand Dukedom of
Baden, German, on May 22, 1835. He was the tenth of a family of
fourteen children, and his father, Anton Bross, was an architect and
builder and afterward an officer in the government insurance department of
that county. Judge Bross was apprenticed to a cabinet maker at
the age of 14 and worked as a journeyman in various cities in Germany and
Switzerland until 1852, when he came to America, in company with his
brother, William, and settled in Greenwood, Miss., where his sister’s
husband was engaged in the manufacture of furniture. They succeeded to
the business on the death of the brother-in-law from yellow fever, but in
1856 Judge Bross sold out to his brother and removed to Cairo.
Here,
he engaged in the hotel business, running the Central hotel for eight years.
In addition he imported Rhine wines and amassed considerable money in this
business. In 1864 he was elected police magistrate, serving twelve
years, and in 1869 he was elected county judge and re-elected in 1873.
He was the first county judge under the new constitution of 1870, under the
old system the county commissioners serving as the county court.
In
1875 Judge Bross was elected president of the Alexander County Bank
had has held that position ever since.
Judge
Bross was very active in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
His fidelity to his order resulted in his leaving the Catholic Church in
which he was reared. He joined the Odd Fellows in 1858 and ten years
later was elected a member of the grand lodge of Illinois, the next year as
grand warden and in 1872 as grand master.
On
December 17, 1853, Judge Bross was married to Miss Mary Fischer,
a native of Germany. They had four children, Louis, who is now dead,
Mrs. Emma Waller, Fredolin J. and Mrs. Matilda J. Herbert,
wife of John M. Herbert, of Murphysboro.
Judge
Bross was one of the most valuable men in Cairo. He was quiet
and unostentatious in his manner and habits, but he was a man of sterling
qualities. His judgment was sought at every hand and he was a wise
counselor to many a person in trouble. He was a warm friend, a
faithful and loving husband and father.
Judge
Bross left an estate valued at about $75,000. Besides his
elegant home on upper Washington Avenue, and his holding of stock in the
Alexander County National and Savings banks, he owned considerable valuable
real estate in Cairo, among which is the property at Eleventh and
Commercial, occupied by the Jones Furniture Store, the property at
Sixth and Commercial, where he was formerly in the wholesale liquor
business, and a number of dwelling houses.
Judge
Bross was at the head of the Alexander County Bank from its start in
1875 until his death. When the national bank was organized in 1887, he
was continued as president and when the savings bank was started in 1889, he
was made president of that also. He was director and vice president of
the Cairo & St. Louis Railroad Company, whose line is leased by the Mobile &
Ohio. He was one of the original founders of the Board of Trade.
He was a member of the Alexander Club.
His
brother, Charles Bross, the only surviving brother of the family in
America, of Pekin, Ill., was at his bedside for a week or more before his
death.
The
funeral will occur Saturday and will be in charge of Alexander Lodge I. O.
O. F. Judge Bross was also a member of Ascalon Lodge, Knights
of Pythias.
(Wilson E. Waller married Emmareh Lotta Bross on 28 Oct 1885,
in Alexander Co., Ill. John M.
Herbert married Tillie V. Bross on 28 Sep 1893, in Alexander
Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
Trains on the Illinois Central have been delayed all day today by a bad
wreck at Dongola, which has locked the track since last evening. About
7 o’clock a southbound freight train left the track on account of spreading
rails and the engine rolled over in the ditch and fireman Ed Flanagan
was killed.
No
one was hurt in the second wreck. Both trains 21 and 5, due in Cairo
at 10:50 a.m. and the 12:45 p.m. are behind the wreck.
All
members of Alexander Lodge No 224, I. O. O. F. are requested to meet at
their hall at 7:30 this evening for the purpose of arranging for the funeral
of their late brother Fredolin Bross.
Died—Fredolin Bross, Wednesday, November 18, 1903, aged 68 years.
Funeral services will be held at this late residence, Saturday, November 21st,
at 1:30 p.m. Special train will leave foot of Fourteenth Street at
2:15 p.m. Interment at Villa Ridge.
The
members of Safford Lodge, I. O. O. F., are requested to meet at Alexander
Hall tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. to attend the funeral of Brother Fredolin
Bross.
The
members of Parthenia Rebekah Lodge will meet at Alexander Hall tomorrow at
12:30 p.m. to attend the funeral of Brother Bross. By order of
Members of Alexander Lodge No. 224, I. O. O. F. are requested to meet at
their hall at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow to attend the funeral of Brother Fredolin
Bross. Safford Lodge, Parthenia Lodge and all visiting brothers
are invited to attend.
In
the death of Judge Fredolin Bross the Cairo National Bank recognizes
that the city of Cairo has sustained a great loss; that for nearly half a
century Judge Bross has been one of its most enterprising citizens
and public benefactors, that for a quarter of a century he has shown himself
to be one of its most able financiers, and that his influence has been felt
throughout Alexander and Pulaski counties.
The
last sad rites over the remains of Judge F. Bross will be held
tomorrow afternoon. Services will be held at the residence on upper
Washington at 1:30 o’clock, and the funeral train will leave Fourteenth
Street for Villa Ridge cemetery at 2:15 p.m. The banks of the city
will close, and the lodges of which the deceased was a member will turn out,
the Mound City Bank having been secured by them.
The
active pallbearers were taken from the various organizations of which Judge
Bross was a member.
The
pallbearers have been selected as follows:
Active—Thomas J. Kerth, George J. Becker, Peter Lind,
Charles F. Miller, Charles O. Paiter, Calvin V. Neff,
Walter H. Wood, Phil C. Barclay.
Honorary—John M. Lansden, P. W. Barclay, John S. Aisthorpe,
Egbert A. Smith, Henry Hasenjaeger, Andrew Lohr, Dr. S.
B. Cary, John H. Robinson, Charles E. Hessian, Thomas
J. Keefe, H. E. Halliday, Thomas W. Gannon, M. J.
Howely, N. B. Thistlewood, Claude Winter, E. E. Ellis.
The
employees of the Alexander County National Bank will form a guard of honor
around the hearse, marching on the outside of the active pallbearers.
Mrs.
Amanda Thompson, residing with her daughter, Mrs. C. B. McKnight,
on Thirty-fourth Street, died suddenly yesterday afternoon. The
deceased returned from a visit to Paducah last Friday night and was very ill
on her arrival here and Dr. McNemer was summoned and found his
patient suffering from Bright’s disease and was in a precarious condition,
from which death resulted yesterday. Besides Mrs. McKnight, she
leaves a daughter, Mrs. Lena Davis, residing in California and a son,
C. E. Johnson, residing on Thirty-third Street. The deceased
was 56 years old. The interment will be held at Beech Grove
Cemetery tomorrow afternoon. Funeral notice will be found elsewhere.
(Ullen B. McKnight married Belle R. Thompson on 19 Mar 1883,
in Alexander Co., Ill.
Irvin Davis married Lena Thompson on 15 May 1887, in
Alexander Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
Died—Mrs. Amanda Thompson, Sunday, November 22, 1903, aged 56 years.
Funeral services will be held at the residence of Mr. C. B. McKnight,
412 Thirty-fourth Street, Tuesday, November 24th, at 1 o’clock p.m.
Special train will leave foot of Thirty-fourth Street at 2:30 p.m.
Interment at Beech Grove Cemetery. All friends of the deceased and
family are invited to attend.
The
funeral of Judge Bross Saturday afternoon was one of the largest seen
in Cairo in years. Nine coaches were required to convey the crowd to
the cemetery.
At
the grave Hon. John M. Lansden paid a tribute to the deceased,
speaking as follows.
“Let
us not depart hence without some tribute to the memory of him whom we are to
leave here. The words that we speak may seem feeble and unworthy, but
what more can we do? We can but speak or attempt to speak of the
thought of our minds and the feelings of our hearts. Sometimes silence
seems to be appropriate. Sometimes, indeed, it speaks more than human
lips can utter, but for the most part, on occasions like this, someone
should voice or attempt to voice the thoughts that are in so many minds.”
Then
Mr. Lansden gave a sketch of the life of Judge Bross,
continuing as follows:
“In
this day and age when matters of business seem to form a larger part of
men’s lives than formerly, their characters and conduct in business matters
are more sharply observed and carefully noted. What they are in their
relations to others in all those transactions we call business, become a
distinguished feature which is pointed to and remarked upon by men in all
walks of life. As in his official life so also in his business life of
more than forty years, that some sterling sense of right and wrong clung
closely to him even as a well fitting garment, distinguishing him at all
times, and conveying the impression that in such a man the fullest trust and
confidence could be reposed.
“But
how incomplete would be any attempt like this, did we omit to mention those
social and genial traits of character which he possessed in such high
degree. Here is the secret of his general acquaintance here at home
and of his extensive acquaintance in many part of the state. You all
knew him too well to require more than the mere mention of his brought and
ever cheerful nature. Many of us would speak first of this trait or
characteristic of Judge Bross. It is not an acquirement.
It is a gift of nature. He who possesses it is made happy by its
possession, and by it he makes others happy.
“Judge Bross was indeed a German. The seventeen years of his
early life in Germany were not effaced by his fifty-one years in America;
not would they have been had the fifty-one years been lengthened out to one
hundred. Americans have been spoken of as a kind of composite race,
neither English, Irish, Scotch not Germany, but one different from them all.
In a certain sense and to a certain extent this is true, but Judge Bross’
German characteristics were too strongly marked and too deeply ingrained to
admit of obliteration in a lifetime. He was a German out and out, not
so much, perhaps, in personal appearance. He thought as a German; he
spoke as a German. He possessed the German honesty and integrity of
character. His views of education were German. He believed,
heartily, I think, in the German view of social life. He possessed,
also, quite the ordinary share of German tenacity, which some persons now
and then call stubbornness and obstinacy. But who of us do not believe
very much in the rather stiff traits of character. The Fatherland to
Judge Bross was more to him than a mere ideality. He lived it
and I am sure he rejoiced in its grand unification.
“But
as much as he was a German, he was nonetheless, an earnest, hearty America,
ever rejoicing in the grand progress of his adopted country. He
rejoiced also, as well he might, for what Germans have done in and for this
land of freedom and free institutions. To him such a land demanded a
high grade of citizenship, and in a high degree he illustrated what that
citizenship ought to be. He was a German-American, and I am sure that
did he deem it necessary he would have emphasized the American part of his
name.
“Judge Bross stood in the front rank of our public-spirited citizens.
No enterprise, tending to the public welfare, was without his aid and
support. Men turned to him for counsel. The poor and humble were
accustomed to seek his advice and they never sought it in vain. In his
death they have lost one of their truest and best friends. The loss of
the public and of all the business enterprises with which he was connected
we all fully recognize. We cannot speak of the great loss of those who
stood nearest to him.
“What
I have said falls short of presenting, even in outline, any just estimate of
the man by the side whose grave we now stand. But he is gone from us.
We shall, see his face no more nor hear his cheerful voice nor receive his
hearty greeting.
“The
busy world will move on and note but for a short time the vacant place which
the hand of death has wrought. It must be so, for the living cannot
tarry long with the dead. The months and the years rush by, and every
now and then some one is taken from out sight. We cannot complain for
it is so ordered. The duty these experiences manifestly impose upon us
is to love and to cherish the memory of the departed, to strengthen our own
lives and conform them to those rules and principles which have been so
exemplified in the life that has come to an end, and thus to obtain profit
out of what seemed only to be in the nature of a calamity.”
Murphysboro, Ill., Nov. 23.—James Hoffman, of Elco, who had both of
his legs crushed and his head injured while attempting to board an M. & O.
train while at Tamms Saturday afternoon, died about 6 o’clock that evening
at St. Andrew’s Hospital. He was brought to Murphysboro on passenger
train No. 2 and taken to the hospital about 4 o’clock.
Hoffman
was a lad about eighteen years old and was the son of F. A. Hoffman,
a blacksmith at Elco. Mr. Hoffman accompanied his son to
Murphysboro and returned home with the body on the late train Saturday
night.
We
desire to thank the many kind friends who assisted us in the death and
burial of our other, for the beautiful floral tributes and especially the
ladies of the Calvary Baptist Aid Circle.
(Richard B. Sowers married Catharine M. Randleman on 22
Jul 1852, in Union Co., Ill. Her
marker in Mt. Pisgah Cemetery near Wetaug reads:
Catharine M. wife of Richard B. Sowers Born Oct. 8, 1833 Died
Nov. 13, 1903 Aged 70 Yrs., 1 Mo., & 5 Ds.—Darrel Dexter)
Minnie Wright, an inmate of 235 Thirteenth Street, a house conducted
by Alice Parham, ended her life last night by swallowing carbolic
acid. Dr. Dickerson was summoned but could do nothing to save
her. This morning Coroner McManus held an inquest over the
remains, which are at Mrs. Feith’s undertaking establishment.
The girl’s father was expected from Olmsted today to take charge of the
remains.
(Philander W. Barclay married Mary E. Crews on 27 Feb 1856, in
Cook Co., Ill.—Darrel Dexter)
(Her
marker in Calvary Cemetery at Villa Ridge reads:
Catharine P. wife of John H. Kinker Died Nov. 24, 1903 Aged 64
Yrs., 9 Mos., & _ Ds.—Darrel Dexter)
A
stranger was killed on the Tenth Street crossing of the Mobile & Ohio this
morning about 10 o’clock. Standing in the center of the track as a
caboose was being backed down upon him, he paid no attention to eat warnings
shouts of the trainmen, and the caboose struck him, knocked him down and
crushed out his life.
Who
the stranger was could not be ascertained. He had the appearance of
being a tramp, and the jury summoned by Coroner McManus this morning
failed to find anything on his person to identify him.
The
man was seen around the yards of the company about midnight last night.
He sought shelter in a building there but was told he could not stay there
and was warned to keep away from the tracks, as he had the appearance of
being demented. He then built a fire beside the track and remained
there for an hour or more. That was the last noticed of him until this
morning when he deliberately got in the way of the train.
He
appeared to be about 40 years of age.
Last
evening the man tried to get into several house uptown and caused the
occupants considerable annoyance.
DIED FROM HIS INJURIES.
Leroy
Williams, the colored brakeman on the Illinois Central who was run
over and severely injured at Mounds a few weeks ago, died at St. May’s
Infirmary last night. Coroner McManus held an inquest over his
remains this afternoon.
Williams
lost his left arm in the accident and his left leg was so badly crushed that
the efforts of the physicians to save it failed and his death resulted.
His
home was at Strong, Miss.
Jonesboro, Ill., Dec. 5.—At the coroner’s inquest over the body of Samuel
Bodkins, who was found dead in an outbuilding at his wagon shop in
Cobden several weeks ago, Coroner Lence found on Mr. Bodkins’
person a demit from Barnesville Masonic Lodge at Ellington, Mo.
Through correspondence with that lodge it was developed that Mr. Bodkins
has been going under an assumed name for the past 27 years, his right name
being Josiah Berryman Barnes. This will, no doubt be a surprise
to his many friends there, as he had always been found to be an upright,
honest man with all whom he had business dealing with.
The
following letters will explain:
Centreville, Mo., Nov. 30, 1903.—J. J. Lence, Jonesboro, Ill.:
Dear Bro.:—Yours of the 12th inst. to hand and contents noted.
Will say in regard to Josiah B. Barnes, I never knew him, as I am a
young Mason, but he was once a resident of Centreville and has a large
family here. His wife owns town property in Centreville. I was
to see Mrs. Barnes this morning and she tells me it has been 27 years
since he left here and that he (Barnes) told her that he would go by
the name of Samuel Bodkins when he left. His wife received
letters from him for a year or so after he left, but has not heard from him
for 25 years or more.
Centreville, Mo., Nov. 30, 1903.—J. J. Lence: Dear Sir—In
regard to the letter of yours directed to the Barnesville lodge asking for
information in regard to J. B. Barnes, I can give you any you want.
He is my father. He has a wife here living in the same house that he
was when he left here, which was in August 1876. He also has seven
children living. I am the oldest. He was at one time sheriff and
collector of this (Reynobas) county for years and representative of county
two terms and county treasurer when he left here and was a defaulter.
His weight was about 135 pounds; had blue eyes, some would call grey.
He was born January 1, 1837. The B. in his name is for Berryman.
He has one brother and three sisters living.
Eldorado, Ill., Dec. 7.—While Mrs. Martha Gaston, widow of J. M.
Gaston, the first circuit clerk of Saline county, was at work drying
clothes at an open stove, her clothes caught fire, and before the neighbors
could rescue her, the clothing was burned from her body. Her injuries
are fatal. She was 81 years old and very feeble.
Thursday, 10 Dec 1903:
In a
terrible battle at Hodges Park Sunday afternoon, Steve Johnson killed
John Shaw in order to save his own life.
The
homicide resulted from a quarrel over a crap game. The men with a
number of other negroes were shooting craps back of the depot about 3
o’clock in the afternoon. Johnson threw down a dollar and
Shaw picked it up and said that he would keep it to pay for the dollar
Johnson had taken from him when he was drunk. A quarrel
instantly resulted. Shaw is said to have drawn a knife and
started after Johnson. The latter, after crossing the railroad
track, picked up a rock and threw it at Shaw but missed him.
Then he threw a brick and struck Shaw in the head, knocking him down.
Shaw rose and walked over to the hitch rack in front of Ned Hodges’
store. Then he turned back to where he was knocked down and fell and
did not rise. He was picked up and taken to his home where he died
about 6 o’clock. His death resulted from a severe gash in his throat,
which severed the jugular vein. Just when he received this injury from
Johnson is not exactly clear, as the witnesses to the fight were
unable to tell. At the conclusion of the fight Johnson gave
himself up.
Coroner McManus was called to Unity yesterday and held an inquest,
examining a dozen or fifteen witnesses. At the conclusion of the
testimony, the jury found a verdict of justifiable homicide and Johnson
was released.
Herman Hinckley, secretary and treasurer of the Cairo Water Company,
died at his home in Williamsport, Pa., Saturday, at the age of 68.
He
was city comptroller of Williamsport and for years had been the trusted
secretary, of Peter Herdic and was his confidential adviser and
associate in all of his large dealings until the failure of Mr. Herdic.
He was an expert accountant and a man of thorough honesty. He became
secretary and treasurer of the Cairo Water Company when nit was established
in 1885 and held the position until his death.
The
death of Mr. Hinckley will make the election of a new secretary and
treasurer necessary, and a meeting of the directors of the Cairo Water
Company will probably be called to meet in Cairo at an early date.
Selma
Mitchell, one of the proprietors of the resort at 212 Thirteenth
Street, ended her life this afternoon in a fit of despondency. She
chose the morphine route and only lived a couple of hours after taking the
drug.
We
wish to express our thanks to the neighbors and friends who so kindly came
to our assistance in our late bereavement.
About
noon Saturday the horribly mutilated body of Thomas Hastings, the
ill-fated fireman of the Illinois Central passenger train wrecked at Church
Station Friday night, was recovered. The body was badly burned and in
such condition that the young widow of Hastings will not be permitted
to see it. Coroner McCracken held the inquest Monday.
The
stockman injured was Rhodes Merchon, who is now under treatment in
St. Mary’s Hospital in East St. Louis. The physicians there think he
has a chance for life. Engineer McConiky of the passenger
jumped when he saw the collision was inevitable. He says Hastings
did not grasp the situation quick enough to save himself.
Elmer
Simpson, a car inspector employed by the Mobile and Ohio, met a
horrible death in the yards of the company near Tenth Street about midnight
last night. He had been a resident of Cairo for about a year, coming
here with his wife from Evansville, Ind.
In
pursuit of his duty last night he was inspecting the trucks of a car when
the switch engine backed up. In moving to get out of the way he rose
to a standing position and his head and shoulders were caught between the
ends of two boxcars, crushing the parts to a jelly and causing instant
death.
At 3
o’clock this afternoon, in Judge J. E. Jackson’s court, the Thebes
lynching case came up for trial. The parties who had been arrested for
complicity in the lynching and riot were Henry Midcalf, James
Rains, C. C. Bailey, James Buster, Bryant Davis,
Lieut. J. F. Parker, formerly of Cairo.
The
witnesses in the case were J. P. Lightner, Harry Pettit, John
Surders, Charlie Ingram, Kate Ingram, William King,
Jake Lasar, Henry Brown, John Bankston, Will
Bankston, Charles Richard, Ed Durham, John France.
After
spending three days in the county jail, five of the six Thebes men who were
brought to Cairo to answer to the charge of participating in the lynching of
William Johnson last spring were released. The case came up in
Justice Jackson’s court last evening and the state was represented by
Assistant Attorney General George B. Gillespie, Judge William A.
Wall, of Mound City, and State’s Attorney Wilson. Attorney
Frank Moore appeared for the defense. As the evidence was not
sufficient to hold the men, James Rains, C. C. Bailey, James
Buster, Grant Davis and Lieut. J. F. Parker were
released. Henry Metcalf was held for ten days longer when his
hearing is set.
Mount
Carmel, Ill., Dec. 28.—William Lacer is in jail, charged with murder
of his mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Lacer, who was shot in her home while
sitting at supper. The assassin fired through a window. The
bullet taken from Mrs. Lacer’s head is similar to those used in an
old rifle used by her son.
His
peculiar actions on the night of the murder, his efforts to fasten the crime
on five other persons and the marked discrepancies in the statement made by
Lacer and his wife are given as a reason for his arrest.
Lacer is a farmer, 33 years old, and married, but has no children.
By the death of his mother, two farms go to him and his sisters, together
with considerable personal property. |
