Lamar Co., TX - Obituary - James J. Vessels

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June Tuck <juneet@verizon.net>

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From the files of June Tuck


James J. Vessels

VESSELS, JAMES J. - Lamar County - The Chartist of the 11th instant says - Just
before court, a citizen of Lamar County, James J. Vessels, was enticed from his
home by a stranger who pretended that he could show him (Vessels) where to find
a certain mule that he had lost. The stranger said that the mule was in the
Nation. Vessels went after his mule, and has not since been seen or heard from
by his wife. The poor woman, with a large and helpless family to provide for.
The missing man is the leading and principal witness in several important suits,
pending in our courts, and it is gravely suggested that a confederate of one of
the opposing parties who would be injured by his testimony, has silenced
forever, this side the grave, the tongue of the witness. A dead body has been
found in the Nation to increase the already existing excitement. From the press
of the 8th inst., we slip the following: Mr. Mose Arthur, who resides on Red
River, sends us word that a man was found dead by the Indians about six miles
from his ferry in the Nation. He had been shot through the head, and had been
dead for some time. The hogs had eaten the flesh from the bones. He is described
as a tall man, with light hair and whiskers; a saddle, partly buried, and one
shoe was found near the body. Mr. Arthur suggests that it may be the body of the
missing man Vessels, whose disappearance has created so much excitement in the
Roxton neighborhood. (Galveston Weekly News, Dec. 22, 1873)