THE HOMICIDE NEAR SHILOH from The Home Journal, Volume I, No. 12 Farmerville, LA, Friday 1 May 1885 ______________________________________________________________ Submitted by Karen Mabry Rice, great-grandaughter of William P. Mabry, and Archives Coordinator for the USGenWeb Archives for Union Parish, LA ______________________________________________________________ ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** THE HOMICIDE NEAR SHILOH The killing of Mr. W.P. Mabry, near Shiloh, of which mention was made last week has caused quite a breeze of excitement. On Thursday last W.C. Henderson and Walter Ferguson were arrested, and two others - Calvin Skinner and Jack Melton - have since been taken in custody and charged with complicity in the killing. One of the accused - Jack Melton made the subjoined voluntary statement: "On the 19th of April I saw W.C. Henderson at Pisgah church; he said he wanted to see me on particular business and I went to his house Tuesday night. When I went into the house I found Walter Fergerson and Calvin Skinner there. I asked Henderson if that was the crowd; he replied that it was. I at first refused to go with them and started to Mr. Bennett's but they begged me to go with them. When we reached Caroline's house we walked up into the yard and Skinner called to the old negro to open the door. She asked who it was? She commenced hallooing and opening the door, ran out by us. When they caught her, Skinner led her back to the house. We were all standing talking to her, when I thought I heard some person coming. I stepped around the house to see what it was and Skinner ran back something near 50 yards towards Mr. Mabry's house. I heard some one call out 'stop,' and then heard the report of a pistol. Skinner came back to where we were and said that he had shot, and stated that he guessed that he had hit old man Mabry. I asked him if he shot at him? He replied, 'No, I did it accidentally.' Mr. Mabry was friend, and when I went there I had no intention of harming him." The negro woman - Caroline Simley, being sworn, said: "I live at Mr. W.P. Mabry's. On the night of the homicide I and my two little boys, and two small grandchildren were asleep in my house. Late in the night Mr. Henderson, Mr. Fergerson, and others came to my house to talk with me. I became frightened, jumped up, put on my dress and ran out of the house. I ran some 30 yards from the house and fell. Mr. Fergerson met me there and struck me on the head with a small stick. Ferguson, Henderson and two other men the carried me back near the house. All of them were armed with pistols. Henderson struck me in the eye with a pistol. A few minutes afterwards Mr. Mabry came up and hallooed out: 'Heigho! What is the matter? What are you doing there?' Henderson then turned me loose and ran back in that direction. Someone exclaimed, 'Old Mabry has come!' I then heard two pistol shots, after which they all ran off in the woods. I went to Mr. Mabry's." On cross-examination, witness stated as follows: "I saw four men and first learned of the presence of Mr. Henderson and Mr. Fergerson by hearing their names called. The moon was not shining that night but it was light. I suppose I could see a man or a pistol about 100 yards; the pistols the men had looked new and bright. Mr. Fergerson and two other men had hold of me when the man that did the shooting, and did not see the flash of the weapon." Joseph E. Mabry, sworn, stated: "I am a son of W.P. Mabry, deceased. The last time I saw my father alive was Tuesday night, Apr 21st. He was then in his house. I next saw his dead body about a quarter of a mile from the house. Do not know when he left the house. I heard some one halloo and the report of a pistol which caused me to go to the place he was killed. When I found my father his body was warm, I turned him over and saw blood running from his nose and mouth; also saw blood on his brest that came from where he was shot. The ball entered a little to the left of the center of the breast." J.M. Russell sworn, stated: "Mr. Joe Mabry first informed me of the killing. I went to where the dead body was. Did not see any weapons there." R.T. Moore, sworn, stated: "I heard of the homicide the next morning after it occurred. I went direct to Mr. Mabry's house, and from thence to the place of the killing. I, with four others, examined and found tracks of persons leading off north from the house. We noticed two different tracks; one of about a No. 5, the other No. 7 shoes. We traced them about a quarter of a mile through the woods, and found where horses had been hitched in the woods, near the corner of a field. We found horse hair on the sapling where the horses had been hitched." The preliminary trial had not closed, up to the time of our going to press. We will publish the additional evidence in our next issue. Excerpt from a later issue, date unknown: The trial of W.C. Henderson and Calvin Skinner, charged with the murder of W.P. Mabry, was closed Friday night; the jury bringing in a verdict of: "Not guilty." ____________________________________________________________________________ It is interesting to note, from an historical perspective, that, despite Caroline Simley's eye-witness testimony, there was no conviction. Caroline Simley and two young boys, probably the sons rather than the grandsons, are enumerated on the 1880 Union Parish Federal Census.