| On
Wednesday evening, July 30th, a band under the
lead of Joe Thompson, (many of whom had taken the oath and
given bond.) entered Paris, cut down the flag pole, took the
Sheriff and the Clerks of the Circuit and County Courts
prisoners, forced the keys of the jail from the jailor, set
at liberty a man who was indicted for murder in the first
degree, demanded of the Sheriff the warrant of commitment
and all the money which he had collected for taxes, (but he
having disposed of it, they got none.)
They took the two
Clerks to the jail, in a room of which was the Clerk’s
office, and forced the Clerk of the Circuit Court to deliver
such indictments as Joe Thompson wanted. They took from
some of the stores such goods as suited them, amounting to
hundreds of dollars, pressed a wagon, and then loaded it and
drove it off, forced the people to deliver their money,
furnish them supper, etc.
About night some four
hundred men, entered town about daylight, having marched all
night. He had a battery of three pieces, and his men
wee well equipped. At night, having learned that
Porter, with a large force, was skedaddling north through
the country, Col. McNeil left about dark in pursuit. Porter’s
gang, as they passed through, took a great many horses,
bridles, and saddles. Today Major Caldwell and others,
with a heavy force, batter, etc, arrived in pursuit.
Source: Page 2 of the
Liberty Weekly Tribune dated 08 Aug 1862 at http://newspapers.umsystem.edu/archive. |
