A new article has been added at Newspaper Abstracts > United States > Texas > Henderson http://www.newspaperabstracts.com/index.php?action=displaycat&catid=2413 Also visit our new sister site: http://www.Genealogy101.com Direct link to article: http://www.newspaperabstracts.com/link.php?id=38383 Submitted by: Fourls1223 Article Title: Athens Weekly Review Article Date: February 14 1924 Article Description: Think Last of Humphrey Assailants Now Located Article Text: Feb. 14. 1924 Think Last of Humphrey Assailants Now Located The hand of the law reaches across continents and few there be that can elude it. Twenty-five years ago Henderson county and especially the Transcedar country held the attention of the world, for it was that long ago that the now historic Humphrey's lynching took place. It is unnecessary to recount the details of the affair today for it is still vivid in the minds of Henderson county people. Of the ten men implicated in the lynching, nine were convicted and served out their time in the penitentiary. The man Commodore Mahan, made his escape and a nation-wide search failed to locate him. But time solves all mysteries. Mahan has enjoyed twenty-five years of freedom -- or rather he has eluded the officers for that length of time. But he may yet pay the penalty of his part in the Transcedar affair. A. letter received today by Senator J. J. Faulk from H. C. Geddie, a lawyer of Kerrville, gives an account of the arrest of a man there on a moonshining charge, who has been identified by a former Athenian as Commadore Mahan, who participated in the lynching. Mr. Geddie's letter is as follows: "There is an old man in jail here who gives the name of Williford, and who has just been indicted for moonshining. He has been hid away in the hill for some months, perhaps a year or two and very few people have known him. A man by the name of Taylor who used to live in the vicinity of Athens has told the sheriff here that this man is one of the men who took part in the lynching of the Humphries in the Transcedar region years ago. Taylor said the man's name was Commodore Mahan or Mahoney or some such name. "I was not able to give the sheriff the facts but told him I would write to someone who was there at the time. Taylor says that one of the ten was never captured and that in his opinion this is the man. He is a small man, blue eyed, rather hunched over now, badly weather beaten and says he has lived in Arizona and everywhere else except that part of the country. "Taylor was seventeen years old, according to his story, when this occurred and says he knew the man and that to the best of his knowledge this is the party. "If there is anything to the statements made by him concerning the matter, you might give this letter to the sheriff and let further investigation be made. The man may be tried next week, the latter part, and if he should be acquitted, of course he can disappear." When the letter was read among a group of lawyers at the Deen Hotel today it served as an occasion for reminiscences. R. A. Brack, a traveling salesman, who is stopping at the Deen, recalled that he was among the party that searched the country for the lynchers at the time. He was just a kid, so he relates and accompanied Deputy Sheriff Joseph Quarles of Ranger county all over East Texas in search of the men. It was also recalled that Bill McDonald was very active here at that time as head of the Ranger force and that Captain Bill received his first licking at the hands of a man who is now a citizen of Athens. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ TX-Old-News ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ NewspaperAbstracts.com - Finding our ancestors in the news! TM http://www.NewspaperAbstracts.com