thanks tammy you're wonderful! Lisa xo ---------- > From: Bastropcc@aol.com > To: TXBASTRO-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [TXBASTRO] Christmas Shootout in McDade 12/1883 McLemore letter > Date: August 2, 2000 12:31 AM > > This is for you Lisa, > > Short Background for others: > Near Yegua Knobbs (Lee-Bastrop Co line) Boaz Heffington, Lee Co deputy > sheriff was murdered when investigating a robbery and double murder in Fedor > community. > Vigilantes formed, a list of names read of suspected cattle rustlers and > horse thieves at the saloon (Henry Pfieffer and Thad and Wright McLemore, > included), and these three men marched out of town and hanged. Heywood > Beaty's name was also read because Milton, the storekeeper, stated that > Heywood had helped Boaz Heffington's murderer leave town. Batey's and > McLemore's were kin. The Batey boys came into town the next day (Christmas > Day) which resulted in a shooting and deaths. > We must remember how it was back then, with the railroad came rough > characters, and Bastrop County was not immune to violance. The land was raw > and still untamed, and so were some of the men. People were scared and > otherwise law abiding men dawned masks for one reason or another and pointed > fingers at their neighbors. Mustangs ran free and everyone seemed to live on > an unfenced prairie, moving cattle to wherever there was grass. > This is just one of the many stories of the time, one that made the > newspapers. > > Bastrop Advertisor 1/26/1884 > The Late Tragedies at McDade From the News > MCDADE. January 14, 1881-Now while the horrible tragedy that was enacted at > this place on Christmas eve and day is going the rounds of the press, just as > correspondents see fit to clothe, and as reporters get it, I, a widow of one > of the victims, claim a hearing. Three weeks have passed since the McLemore > and Batey families received their double blow. Life with its duties and > cares are before us, while behind us lies the shadow of our murdered dead and > heart wounds that time can never heal. > The Bastrop Advertisor, containing an account of the tripple lynching in > Texas, as taken from the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, s before me; also the > reported interview with F. H. McLemore. It seems that it was proved at the > inquest that Thad McLemore was under arrest, charged with burglary; that > Wright McLemore and Henry Pfeiffer were under a nominal bond for > cattle-stealing when taken from the saloon. That Jack, Azberry and Haywood > Batey, Charley Goodman, Burt Hasley and Robert Stevens came in town next day > defient, trying to learn the fate of their friends; that all were old > residents, and all were under bad repute except Jack Batey. Thad McLemore > was under arrest through charges by S. E. Walker, as was ascertained > afterward. I hope that Thad died in ignorance of the latter fact, for he > thought Walker a friend. As to Wright McLemore, my husband, being under a > nominal bond for cattle-stealing, there is no truth in it. His accusers have > not, nor can not, come forth! That all were old residents, and under bad > repute, is another untruth. Wright McLemore had only been in the county six > months, was almost an entire stranger. We had been living in McDade only > about two and a half months. My husband was old and badly crippled with > rheumatism, an object of pity to anyone who had a spark of that element. He > felt that his life was nearly over, and came here to spend his remaining days > near his brothers. The southern and north-western couties know W. K. > McLemore; Bastrop did not. Thad McLemore and his brother Felix were > volunteers from here in the Confederate army; served their time, came back, > married and settled down in this county, where they have lived ever since in > good repute; and yet one of those brothers, while in custody, was taken by a > mob from a town he had helped to build, at an early hour, and on an evening > when such a thing would be more difficult to perform than at any other time, > carried out and hanged, and McDade knew nothing of it until the next day. > And that next day! Oh, it is a deed worthy of being handed down to posterity > with the Alamo! > As to the Batey crowd going in armed and defianmt, that is also false. It is > true they went in together. It is a custom of old Mrs. Batey to get all of > her family together on Christmas day. They boys said they would ride into > town to see what was going on; and come back for an early dinner. They were > not drinking; none were armed except Haywood Batey and Charley Goodman; the > latter never used his pistol, it being on his person all the time, and turned > the ball that wounded him. Haywood Batey had only four charges in his, so > that might account for the miraculous escape of Milton and Bishop, as there > were from sixty to one hundred shots! I saw them as they rode into town, and > a few minutes later Azberry Batey rode up to my door to see if the news he > had heard was true. I think the very last rational words he ever spoke were > to me. I saw him fifteen minutes later lying in the streets dead. I see > from the Bastrop Advertisor that it is generally supposed that the lynching > was the outgrowth of a vigilant commitee organized in McDade after the > shooting of Heffington, of Lee County, and that the McLemore brothers were > suspected as being implicated. My husband did not know Heffington. Thad > McLemore left town before the train came down that Fitzpatrick, the accused, > was on. We knew nothing of a man being shot until the following MOnday. The > shooting was done on Saturday night. In a special from McDade to The > Galveston News, dated December 25, it was stated that Wright McLemore > happened to be present when the others were taken out. Since them The News > has come out with an editorial which should elect him for our next governor, > if such a man could be spared from the press. Texas, the empire State of the > Union, has a constitution that demands the right to say who shall and who > shall not be put to death. > The Globe-Democrat reporter, in copying from notes made during his interview > with Felix McLemore, was sadly out of time; but then he had been at the scene > of carnage, and I suppose had caught the infection so it will have to be > excused. Felix is well known in this county and wants it distinctly > understood that he emphatically denies having once said, "I can prove this > and so." He told the reported from the beginning that he knew nothing about > it only what his family and friends had told him; he was not home at the > time, and only stayed a short time when he did go. He made no allusions as to > his dead brother's families being dependent on him for a support. Everyone > in that mob knew Thad McLemore was the father of six children, all under > twelve years of age, and left without a maintenance. The part referred to > where Thad had a conversation with Goodman and Fitzpatrick is all wrong. > Felix has the letter now which my husband wrote him after the death of > Heffington, containing the substance of what he related to the reporter. He > is not staying from home through any fears of killing or being killed. He is > a living flesh and blood man, with perfect organization. and, it is > presumble, he has the power of feeling. I can establish all and more than is > contained in this article and earnestly request that you give it publication. > > Mrs W. K. McLemore > > Tammy Owen > Bastrop CO, TX Coordinator > Bastropcc@aol.com > http://www.rootsweb.com/~txbastro/bastrop.htm > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~txtammy/bastrop/bastropmain.html > > > ==== TXBASTRO Mailing List ==== > Search the TXBASTRO-L archives for previously posted messages, > http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=TXBASTRO > > ============================== > Join the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project: > Linking the world, one GEDCOM at a time. > http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/