Denison's night of terror
By Donna Hunt
Herald Democrat
October 24, 1913
On
Friday, May 19, 1892, a mass meeting was held in Denison’s City Hall to
make a plan of action to capture the murderer
or murderers who took the
lives of four women here the previous Tuesday night.
Denison
Mayor J. D. Yocum conducted the meeting and the Denison Sunday Gazetteer
editor George B. Goodwin, who spoke for a committee formed because of
the tragedies, offered a set of resolutions deploring the affair and
pledging to use their untiring energies in finding and arresting the
criminals. The group was offering a $1,000 reward for the capture and
conviction of the perpetrators. This $1,000, along with another $1,000
offered by the governor, $1,000 by the city and $500 by Dr. W. F. Haynes
brought the reward to $3,500. Sheriff Lee McAfee, who wasn’t
present at the meeting, later added $100 to the reward pot and T. C.
Dillard of Denison, a brother-in-law of Dr. Haynes, also added $100. As
would be expected if so many murders were to take place in one night
today, the town was up in arms. The Stanley rangers, Denison’s rifles,
and many private citizens were on duty protecting the citizens. Sheriff
McAfee and his deputies had barely closed their eyes since Tuesday
morning when information on all four murders became known. Anyone who
looked the least bit suspicious was being watched closely, and talk on
the streets was that information on some startling developments would
be released within the next 24 hours although no arrests had been made
the day the article was published in the Sherman newspaper. People
throughout Denison, and Sherman too, were talking about the happenings
and about the story of a man named Myers being picked up at the union
depot and later released on Wednesday afternoon. Conductor Lasher
of the Houston and Texas Central (H&TC) Railroad said, “This fellow
boarded my train at some point
below Ennis. I suspected that he was a
crook of some kind, and, after a while, I sat down in the seat in front
of him. I asked him what his business was. He replied that he used to
run an engine on the Central. I asked his name and he gave the name of
an old engineer who is now dead. I penned him down on that and he said
he was the engineer’s son. I knew that was not true, for the engineer
was a young man. The fellow got off at Denison, and on Wednesday
afternoon got on a southbound with a grip on which was painted a name
different from the one he had given me. On reaching Sherman I turned
him over
to the officers.” The suspect told the Sherman officers
that his name was Myers. They searched him and became convinced that he
was unaware of the murders. They let him go. He didn’t leave town and
still was hanging around on Thursday. A story published on May
22, 1892, in the Sunday Gazetteer stated that on Tuesday night the
skies were cloudless and the streets were neither dusty nor muddy. The
town seemed like a peaceful place that would be safe for all the
citizens. The North Methodist congregation, with a large group in
attendance, was participating in a literary competition under the
auspices of the Knights Templars. The Elks Lodge, 51 members strong,
along with 20 visiting members, were at the Denison club rooms holding
a reception for members and the organization of the order. This
picture of tranquility didn’t last long though. As the dark shadow of
death struck the city sending a chilling blast of hell’s demons to the
hearts of Denisonians, the night went down in history as one that had
never been known before either here, or all over Texas, if not the
entire United States. During the quiet hours of the late evening
and early morning, four women, two of whom were among the city’s most
respectable people, were targets for the killer’s deadly weapon — the
six shooter or a Winchester. The first murder took place at the home of Dr. and Mrs. W. F. Haynes in south Denison, near the exposition grounds. The
second shooting took place at Madame Lester’s bagnio (brothel) on
Chestnut Street, which was known as Skiddy Street at that time. As a
man was thumping away on the piano, Madame Lester was coaxing customers
to purchase a bottle of beer when one of her girls yelled, “I am shot.” A short time later a girl in the Rivers bagnio, across the block, was dancing when she, too, was shot. Early
in the morning a man approached the bed of a sleeping young woman. She
woke to see a man with a pistol in one
hand and a knife in the others.
During the ensuing panic, the young woman was shot and died instantly. While
four women lost their lives that night, a brief notice in the Southern
Afternoon Press on May 20, told of another woman being shot by what
seemed to be the same person. She was also in a bagnio in Denison and
was shot by a bullet fired through a window that passed through the
fleshy part of her leg. The article said she was expected to live. Each
of the murders is a story within itself and three subsequent articles
will detail the events of the unforgettable night in Denison.
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of four articles about Denison’s “Night of Terror” that took place in May 1892.
1892 Denison murder believed to be robbery gone wrong
By Donna Hunt
Herald Democrat
October 27, 2013
Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of four articles about Denison’s “Night of Terror” that took place in May 1892.
Denison
had its first taste of violence on a clear night in May 1892. While
stories have been passed down through the years about how wild and
woolly Denison was, nothing compared to the events of that night in
1892 when four women were killed in four separate murders. The
first victim was Mrs. Hattie G. Haynes, the beautiful young wife of Dr.
W. F. Haynes. In some reports the good doctor was named Henry F.
Haynes, and in others J. H. Haynes. However, it is believed that the
true name of one of Denison’s young practicing physician was W. F.
Haynes, as he signed in a card of thanks in the Denison Gazetteer a few
days after his wife was killed. Hattie
Haynes, the 28-year-old daughter of Dr. and Mrs. J. D. Garner, had
lived in Denison only a few months when she was murdered in her own
home and dragged to the brush nearby and robbed. Mrs. Haynes, her mother, who moved to Denison from Stringtown in Indian Territory and lived next door to her daughter
and son-in-law in South Denison near the exposition grounds, and a niece attended a temperance entertainment downtown. The entertainment was in the form of a literary exercise at the North Methodist Church on the corner of Fannin Avenue
and Woodard Street, across the avenue from St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. The program was being presented with a social
to follow on the lawn. Dr. Haynes came with the ladies on the motor car
on the dummy line and went to the organizing exercises of the Denison
Elks at their club room in the State National Bank building. When
the church social ended, the ladies returned home on the motor car, a
steam train that operated in Denison down Woodard Street, across the
old wooden viaduct through the Cotton Mill district and on to the
Exposition Building in their neighborhood. Their homes were located
where Woodlawn Avenue and Bullock Street now intersect. When they
neared their homes, Mrs. Haynes told to her mother: “You need not go in
with me, I see the doctor is already here, as a light is burning. We
put them all out when we left.” At that, they said goodnight. That was
the last that Mrs. Haynes saw or heard from her daughter until her dead
body was found southeast of there. Mrs.
Garner had barely entered her house when she heard her daughter scream.
She ran outside with her husband right behind with his gun. Two lamps
were burning, one up and the other downstairs, and every room in the
house was in shambles. Two or three minutes later three pistol shots
were fired. Dr. Garner ran out, but couldn’t tell from which direction
the sound came. Houston Bostwick rode the same motor car with the ladies headed home. In a few minutes he ran up to the Elks’ Hall and
told his father and Dr. Haynes what had happened. The lodge shut down and all the members volunteered their service.
The Central Railway offered them the use of the yard engine and a wild
ride to and from Sherman followed, to dispatch Sheriff McAfee and his
bloodhounds as quickly as possible. Soon the motor train was speeding
back to the Exposition Hall with members of the Elks’ Lodge. In the
meantime the search for Mrs. Haynes continued. The
night was dark and the woods dense, but dozens of lamps and lanterns
glittered in every direction. An attempt was made to hold back the
search until Sheriff McAfee and the dogs arrived, but it was impossible
to restrain friends and the search continued. Two
hours after the shooting, W. W. Bostwick, with lantern in hand, came
upon the body of Hattie Haynes about 100 yards from her house, with one
bullet in her head and another in her breast. She was shot at her
house, dragged to the brush and another bullet was fired into her
brain, killing her instantly. Her finger rings and earrings were gone.
In removing the rings from her fingers, the killer was in such a hurry
that her fingers were badly broken and disfigured. It was a horrible
sight — Mrs. Haynes lying on her back near a dry branch with a ball
from a 44-caliber revolver bullet having passed through her
brain, burying itself in the ground. News
of the terrible death intensified the excitement. Searching parties
were all called in and nothing more happened until the sheriff, his
deputies and trained dogs arrived. It
was surmised that the perpetrator was caught in the act of robbery,
and, fearing she would be able to identify him, he killed Mrs. Haynes
when she ran toward the Garner’s house by cutting across the field. The
murder occurred about 10:30 p.m. A funeral for Mrs. Haynes took place at the Presbyterian Church where her husband had been an elder and superintendent
of the Sunday school. The service was attended by an estimated 1,500 people. A card of thanks was placed in the Gazetteer reading: “We,
the husband and parents, for ourselves and other relatives of Mrs.
Hattie G. Haynes, murdered by burglars on Tuesday night last, desire to
make grateful acknowledgment to the generous people of Denison for
their numberless manifestations of sympathy in our awful bereavement. “It
would be invidious to mention names where the proffers of sympathy and
assistance have been so universal. As the years pass by, the memory of
so much considerate kindness will abide as a balm to assuage the
bitterness of our grief. “The
gentlemen connected with the management of the motor line and the
MK&T railway have made special and extraordinary efforts to aid the
officers in the investigation of the crime, as well as to bring to our
doors relatives and friends from a distance, and will please accept our
heartfelt thanks. “Our
thanks are otherwise due to the press of the city for its considerate
and sympathetic treatment of an occurrence so distressing.” It was
signed W. F. Haynes and Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Garner. The second and third shooting will be discussed in following articles of the series.
Denison's night of terror, third in series
By Donna Hunt
Herald Democrat
October 29, 2013
Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of four articles about Denison’s “Night of Terror” that took place in May 1892.
In the
second article in this series we related how Hattie Haynes, wife of a
Denison physician, was the first to lose her life in the hands of a
murderer. Hattie was shot to death at her home in south Denison and her
diamonds were brutally ripped from her ears and her fingers. In
August 1942 Grayson County Sheriff Lee McAfee related that at a
restaurant on Austin Avenue that belonged to a man identified only as
“Tom” was where business contracts could be made for house burglaries,
horse and cattle thefts and
even an assassination if such a contract was to be made. Sheriff
McAfee thought that Mrs. Haynes’ killer told Tom about the bungled
robbery, which upset him so much that he took his gun and went to Madam
Lester’s saloon and brothel in the 100 block on Skiddy Street (now
Chestnut) looking for Mrs. Haynes’ half-brother, George Garner, whom he
thought had double crossed him. The half-brother was a son of Mrs.
Haynes’ father, Dr. J. D. Garner and his first wife. George frequently
was at Madam Lester’s place, a bagnio, a disreputable house also called
a brothel just one block from Main Street. The “house” was a 50-foot
frame building in front with a two-story brick building like a hotel in
the rear where Madam Lester quartered her “girls.” The
sheriff believed that the killer walked into Madam Lester’s shortly
before midnight, where the scene was quite festive with a man plunking
away on the piano and the madame was coaxing a frequenter to purchase a
drink. Girls and men were lounging about the room in a rather
promiscuous manner enjoying the evening, according to an article in the
Sunday Gazetteer on May 22, 1892. Maude Kramer was seated in a wicker
chair near the front center of the third room and to her
rear were George Garner and Alice Adams. Standing in front of these three was another woman. According
to the Gazetteer, the shooter, without warning fired his .45-caliber
pistol. The flash startled everyone, and then was followed by a few
seconds of hushed stillness. Not a breath was drawn, not a voice was
heard and no one moved. Another flash was seen as the culprit began
shooting at Garner from the door and hit Maude instead, then turned and
ran. Maude threw up her hands and cried out in a low, but audible
voice, “I’m shot!” He missed Garner completely. The
wildest confusion followed with women screaming and men darting out and
behind every conceivable object. Someone made a break for the rear door
and men and women literally trampled one another in the stampede to
exit the building. The first bullet had passed entirely through the right side of Maude Kramer, through the arm of the chair, then the clothing
of the woman standing in front of Alice Adams and George Garner before
burying itself in the opposite wall near the door leading out to the
beer chest. The
second shot entered Maude’s body near the center on the right side and
passed entirely through the stomach. Its force had been spent, however
and it fell down into the chair and when she was removed, it rolled out
onto the floor. She was taken to the upper room and a physician was
summoned. The
house soon filled with an excited crowd of morbidly curious men. During
the excitement, news was received of the earlier tragedy at the home of
Dr. W. F. Haynes near the Exposition Building in south Denison. After
the shooting at Madame Lester’s a man with a heavy mustache, dark
clothing, square shoulders and a rather striking appearance called at
the front door and asked permission to see the wounded woman. His
request was denied and the man acted very strangely. He drew out a
large pistol from his hip pocket and said: “The wages of sin is death,”
and turned to a man nearby and said “You would make a good target.” He
spoke at some length on the wickedness of the world and appeared to be
a kind of ministerial crank. On leaving the building he headed toward
Main Street and nothing more was seen of him. He was a stranger to
everyone and by a good many he was thought to be implicated in the
assassination. A short time after the shooting at Madame Lester’s someone ran across the block to the Rivers bagnio and informed the
girls there of the tragedy, and all, of course, wanted to go down to
see. In the front east room was a girl, Rosa Stuart, and her company.
The lamp was burning brightly, and Rosa gathered an outer garment and
was putting it on over her head when there was a flash and a loud pop
and the girl sank to the floor with a stream of blood gushing out from
the right lower breast and another on the opposite side behind. The
window shade had not been pulled completely down, leaving a crack about
two inches between the top of the window sill and the bottom of the
curtain. On the outside of the window was a wire screen and the deadly
bullet passed through the screen. The
doctor was just finishing dressing the wounds of the Kramer girl when
he was summoned to rush to the Rivers house, where his services were
urgently needed. Everything possible was done for Rosa but at that time
it was thought that death would be sure and soon. After
the shooting, the killer was believed by McAfee to have returned to his
Austin Avenue business, and then headed north toward Morton Street. According
to the newspaper article, news of the shootings spread like wildfire.
Men armed themselves and waited at their homes for the next attack of
the “fiend.” The Stanley Rangers and the Denison Rifles were called out
and every stranger on the streets was stopped. Officers Preston and
Deering stationed themselves at a point in the rear of the Star Lumber
Yard.
A suspicious character was seen, and when he was called to surrender,
he turned on his heels and fled. Chase was given, four shots were
fired, but the fleeing man turned the corner at the north approaching
the viaduct and disappeared in the darkness. His identity was never
known. Some
believed that Tom also had a contract to kill Rosa that had been
arranged by her brother who came down from Michigan and was rejected in
his plea for Rosa to return to her husband and children back in that
state. Sheriff McAfee surmised that Tom recognized Rosa and decided it
was as good a time as any to complete the contract so he shot her too. Fortunately
Rosa didn’t die, but she did return home to her family in Michigan as
soon as she was able to travel. Maude, however, didn’t fare as well,
and died.
About
3:20 a.m. a courier came down to Main Street from the North part of
town and announced that there had been another killing. The fourth
article in the series will go directly to Morton Street where the
killing occurred.
1892 murderer shot his victim through the window
By Donna Hunt
Herald Democrat
November 6, 2013
Editor’s note: This is the last in a series of four articles about Denison’s “Night of Terror” that took place in May 1892.
This
last article in the series will cover the murder of the third victim
and the shooting of a fourth who survived on the night of May 18, 1892,
in the normally peaceful and quiet 20 year old Denison. While
people were still milling around the 100 block of West Chestnut (named
Skiddy Street at the time) where two young women had been shot in
brothels there and another had been shot a couple of hours earlier at
her home in south Denison,
a courier came down to Main Street from North Denison about 3:20 a.m.
and announced that another shooting had taken place in the 200 block
West Morton Street. The
young organist at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church was shot through the
window as she sat in the lap of her widowed mother, trembling after an
intruder had taken their jewelry. Mrs. Hawley and her daughters,
Florentine “Teen” and her sister, Allie, had come to Denison some eight
or ten months earlier from Shreveport Loisiana, and had been living in the
brick cottage about four months. Teen Hawley was an accomplished,
modest and refined young lady who was highly respected. She and her
sister were rapidly becoming members of Denison’s best society. On
Tuesday night the family had retired about the usual time. Mrs. Hawley
occupied a small bedroom to the extreme north end on the west side of
the home, while the girls slept in an adjoining room to the east. The
doorway leading from the mother’s room opened into the kitchen as well
as into the girls’ room. Watt Smith and a Mr. Kellogg of the Missouri,
Kansas
& Texas civil engineering corps, rented the front room next to the
parlor, but Kellogg was down the road at work and Smith was in their
room alone. About
3 a.m., a peculiar noise in the kitchen woke Allie, and she saw the
form of a man approaching the bed. In the dim light in the room, she
saw a pistol in one hand and a knife in the other. She screamed and the
man commanded her to hush or
he would kill her. She told him, “Take anything you want. If you can’t
find it, I will get it for you. I don’t want you to wake my sister. She
is very excitable and will go into hysterics.” “I’ll
do worse than that,” he answered. “I am going to kill her.” Allie
screamed and jumped out of the bed, evading the intruder. A
noise in another room frightened the villain and he started to run.
Both young ladies were terribly frightened and jumped out of bed. He
turned and fired back into the room, but the bullet buried itself in
the brick wall of the opposite side of the room. By
this time, Teen and Allie were hysterical, and Teen ran into her
mother’s room and sat down in her lap. Mrs. Hawley put her arms around
her daughter and tried to console her. Smith, who had been awakened by
the first shot, went back into the kitchen and, after closing the door
and window and assuring the ladies that the man was gone, returned to
his room. As Mrs. Hawley and her daughters sat there, the revolver rang
out again. Through the wire screen of the window came a bullet that
struck Teen just below the right shoulder blade, making a ghastly wound
through her body. She fell forward and died instantly. The
noise aroused the neighbors, and Alex Regensberger, who lived next
door, saw a man in the backyard of the Hawley place as he ran out
through the rear gate. Tom Cutler, who also had been awakened by the
shooting, saw the man run down the alley east on Morton and north on
Austin Avenue to the alley between Morton and Bond. Men on horseback and on foot began scouring and beating the alleys and streets in every part of town, but without avail.
The murderer had either hidden well or had escaped from town. The hunt went on. Terror
seized everyone and no one could conceive of a more horrible situation
in any community or city. Four women had been shot as though they were
targets for a sportsman’s practice. At that time, two were dead and the
other two were only clinging to life by a thread. Maud Kramer soon
died, and Rosa Stuart was the only shooting victim to survive. On
Wednesday morning in Denison, men gathered about over town in groups
and squads and with heads bowed in sorrow talked about the awful
situation. Back
at the home of Dr. Haynes, every motorcar brought friends and
sympathizers. As the day wore on, a burial service was being planned.
Florentine Hawley was dressed in a burial robe of black, and, as
hundreds of people filed in and out of the small, yet beautiful,
parlor, there was only one feeling in the minds of all attending:
Mystery! Who did it? Why did he do it? Or, was it the work of some
madman bent on destruction. Later in the day it was announced that the burial would take place from St. Patrick’s Catholic Church on Thursday morning. The
murder of Mrs. Haynes indicated that robbery was the motive, but no
attempt at robbery was made at the other places. Officers believed that
all the murders were the work of one man. A .45-caliber pistol was used
in every instance. Wednesday morning two men, Tom Crane and Tom Little,
were seen near the Exposition building, heading for Sherman. Constable
John Blain took them in but soon became satisfied that they knew
nothing about the killings. They were allowed to leave, according to
the Sunday Gazetteer story. Several others were subsequently brought in
and allowed to leave. It
was said that a gambler named Dick Edwards, who had dated Teen Hawley
at one time, had disposed of the Haynes’ jewelry in Dallas. He was
supposed to have taken the rings to Dallas and had given them to a
madam to sell or pawn for him. Sheriff McAfee believed that Edwards had
double-crossed the madam, who was sweet on him, and, instead of getting
rid of the jewelry, she went to the police. McAfee’s
term in office ended on Jan. 1, 1893, and a man named A. E. Hughes
succeeded him. Sheriff Hughes put out a pick up order on Edwards, and
they traced him all over the country, finally running him down in
Duluth, Minn. in February. He was brought back to Sherman and charged
with the Haynes murder. Evidence was so slim that they couldn’t hang
Edwards, but gave him a life sentence. He died of pneumonia in the
Sherman jail before he could be sent to prison or his lawyers could
arrange an appeal. Two
men were charged with the murders of Maude Kramer and Florentine
Hawley, but were not convicted and were released after their trials. Mrs.
Haynes was buried in her father’s cemetery lot in Fairview Cemetery.
The Hawley family left Denison soon after the funeral and was never
heard from again. Florentine was buried in Calvary Cemetery. Madam
Lester paid to bury Maude Kramer in Oakwood Cemetery, but an old
sweetheart from Ironton, Missouri, heard about her murder and paid to have
her remains disinterred and shipped back home for burial under her real
name, Alta McIntosh. Ike Lindsay, a local mortician, handled the
disinterment. He waited until it was dark, then dug up the grave by
lantern, and
during the job, he fell into the grave and broke several ribs. Tom,
a good looking man with a big flowing black mustache, finally went to
the penitentiary for burglary about two years after the murders. He
never returned to Denison. The
three murders officially remain unsolved although Sheriff McAfee was
certain that Tom, who was discussed in the third article in the series,
was guilty of being a participant in all three killings.
The Sunday Gazetteer
Denison, Texas
Sunday, January 8, 1893
pg 1
EDWARDS HABEAS CORPUS TRIAL
Friday evening the habeas corpus trail of Dick Edwards, charged with the
murder of Mrs. Haynes, of this city, was called for trail in the
district court at Sherman. The defense announced ready but the state
asked for further time on
account of the absence of a material witness. The court overruled the
motion for a continuation and the examination of witnesses began. Dr.
Haynes was the first witness on the stand. He was not acquainted with
the defendant and had no personal knowledge of the facts leading up to
the indictment of the grand jury. Henry Hackney, the second witness,
gave a detailed statement of the circumstances leading to the
indictment. Defendant was in the city about the time of the killing,
his actions were very suspicious and numerous letters had been
received, and from which no other conclusion could be reached but that
the writer was connected with the killing.
The state refused to produce the letters, pistol, shells, etc, in open
court and the judge passed the matter to Saturday, today, for further
consideration. The other witnesses Friday were: J. W. Lisson of the
Monarch saloon, Mayor Yocum, Sheriff Hughes, Policeman Skeen and Mr. J.
D. Garner, father of Mrs. Haynes. At five o'clock court adjourned to
8:30 the following morning. Capt. J. D. Wood, attorney for the defense
is positive that Edwards knows nothing whatever of the killing for
which he stands charged.
The Sunday Gazetteer
Denison, Texas
Sunday, November 26, 1893
pg 1
FOR THE MURDER OF MRS. HAYNES
The case of Dick Edwards, charged with the murder o Mrs. W. F. Haynes in this city on the night of May 18, 1892,
was called in the district court at Sherman Wednesday a nd both sides
announced ready. The work of selecting a jury began immediately, and by
night eleven jurors had been accepted. The twelfth man was secured
early on the following morning. J. D. Garner, father of the murdered
lady, was the first witness. His testimony related to facts and
incidents immediately surrounding the murder. The story a familiar to
the Denison public and its republication is not now necessary. During
the day Thursday Mrs. Garner, Dr. Haynes, A. R. Williams, Joseph
Jewell, Henry Hackney and one or two others gave in their testimony Mr.
Hackney related his experience in the pursuit and capture of Edwards at
West Superior. Mr. Williams testified that he saw Edwards in Denison
during the latter part of May of last year. Dr. Haynes stated that his
wife and her brother, George Garner, were kind to one another and were
affectionate. Mrs. Garner stated that she did not know that her son,
George, was in the city until the day following the murder. Mr. John
Freels stated that he carried Mr. Tom Spears, Dick Edwards and another
party or two from Denison to Colbert in a wagon a few days after the
night of horrors. Mrs. Edwards, wife of defendant, is attending the
trial. The case is attracting much attention, not only in Sherman and
Denison but throughout the country generally.
The Times (Philadelphia, PA) Sunday, November 26, 1892 pg. 11
HE MURDERED MRS. HAYNES A Texan Who Would as Soon Kill as Woman as a Dog Denison,
November 25 - The testimony i the case against Dick Edwards, on trial
at Sherman for the murder of Mrs. Hattie G. Haynes, and who is supposed
to have killed 2 other women in this city the same night, was of a most
damaging character. He was identified by a scar on his foot as
Edward Spears, a farm hand, despite the fact that he has denied ever
living in this State. Mrs. Annie Edwards testified that Edwards
was at her house several times in the week of the murder. He
wanted her to go to Kansas City with him, and she consented.
Edwards returned the next day and broke the engagement, saying he
had not succeeded in getting enough money from the safe in the Haynes
house. The witness asked him if he had killed Mrs. Haynes. Edwards replied: "Yes, I did. I don't care any more about killing a woman than a dog.
Chanute Daily Tribune Chanute, Kansas Saturday, December 2, 1892 pg. 1
DICK EDWARDS GUILTY He Gets a Life Sentence - Said to Have Murdered Three Women
Denison,
Texas, December 2 - The jury in the case of Dick Edwards, charged with
the murder of 3 women at Denison, Texas, on the night of May 17, 1892,
returned a verdict of guilty in the case of Mrs. Hattie G. Haynes, and
fixed his punishment at life imprisonment. The prisoner was
brought into court when the verdict was read. He was weak, pale
and trembled perceptibly. He evidently expected the verdict
would be death, and brightened greatly when he heard it.
Immediately upon arriving at the jail he began to sing and dance,
and was more talkative than usual. He still protests his
innocence. Edwards' attorneys filed a motion for a new trial. The Bryan Eagle Bryan, Texas Thursday, January 31, 1895 pg. 1
The sentence of Dick Edwards to life imprisonment for the murder of Mrs. Hattie Haynes at Denison has been confirmed.
The sketch is from a Chicago newspaper reporting on the trial of George Painter, accused
slayer of Alice Martin. Painter's defense attorney seized on 1) the fact
that Alice was murdered exactly one year before the women in Denison and
2)
the reported resemblance of Dick Edwards to his client. He hoped to
convince the court, which had already convicted Painter, to reopen the
case in light of the new evidence pointing towards Edwards as the
perpetrator. The newspaper published the sketch of Edwards next to one
of Painter; suffice it to say that the two men did not look enough
alike to convince the judge. Painter was later hanged for the Martin
murder. Some believed him innocent, as is often the case when all the
evidence is circumstantial. Note that this source calls Edwards "Coyote
Dick"-- not "Texas Jack" as in some other accounts. Not to say that he
couldn't have had more than one alias, but there were other men who
were also known as "Texas Jack." Convict Record, Texas State Penitentiary
at Huntsville, Walker County, Texas
Registered No.
|
11834
|
Name
|
Dick Edwards
|
Age
|
35
|
Height
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5' 7 1/2"
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Weight |
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Complexion
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Dark
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Eyes
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Grey
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Hair
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Dark
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Marks on Person
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Boil Scar L. hip 1" dia.
Mole L shoulder 1/4" dia.
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Marital Relations
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Yes
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Use of Tobacco
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No
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Habits
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Int
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Education
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Fair
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Able to Read
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Yes
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Able to Write
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Yes
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No. Years in School
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6
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Date of Birth
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1860
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Birthplace
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Col
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Birthplace of Father
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Unk
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Birthplace of Mother
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Mo
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Occupation
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Saloon Keeper
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Time of Conviction
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Sentenced Feb. 5th 1894
Affirmed Jan. 23, 1895
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Offense
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Murder in the 1st degree
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Term of Imprisonment
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Life
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County
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Grayson
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Residence
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Transient
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Plea
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Not Guilty
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When Received
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Feb 22
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Expiration of Sentence
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Death
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Remarks
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Died April 7th, 1895
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The Perry Bulletin Perry, Iowa Wednesday, April 17, 1895 pg.2
NOTED MURDERER DEAD Dick Edwards, Slayer of Four Women and One Man, Expires in Prison
Denison,
Texas, April 12 - Dick Edwards, alias Billy Leroy, convicted of the
murder of Mrs. Hattie Haynes, committed here on the night of May 17,
1892, and sentenced to life imprisonment, died Sunday night at
Huntsville prison. It
was believed that Edwards had killed 3 other women and wounded the
fourth on that eventful night. He mainlined his innocence to the
last, and when approached for a confession replied that he had nothing
to say and died with the secret locked in his heart. Consumption
was the cause of death, after 2 months' imprisonment.
The above news article states Edwards was the "slayer of four women and one man." But he was convicted of only
one murder. While it may be reasonable to infer that he also killed the two
other slain Denison women, it seems unfair to tack on the one in Chicago. George
Painter was executed for that one. As for the 1891 "murder of Callahan" in Salt
Lake City, the news article below shows that
Callahan's murder remained unsolved more than three years after Edwards' death.
So as far as I know, Edwards was never charged in that case.
The Salt Lake Herald Salt Lake City, Utah Saturday, December 24, 1898 pg. 8
CAL BEAN IS NO MORE Noted Character Dies of Alcoholism and Pneumonia
THE CALLAHAN MURDER He Figured Extensively in That Mysterious Affair Now
all the Characters Have Died Except Lottie Miner - Josie Hill,
Murdered; Larkin, Hung; Miner, Died; Coyote Dick, Expired In Jail;
Bartender, Fell Down Shaft
Cal Bean, who for many years was a
familiar figure on the streets of this city, is dead. He drew his
last breath a short time ago in Butte, alcoholism and pneumonia being
the cause of his death. Bean was a noted character. He was one
of the oldest hack men in this city, and acquired a rather unsavory
reputation by being detected in many questionable affairs. He was
arrested many times. He was the hero of a hundred fights,
although he never won any more than the ordinary man. He left this
city some months ago, believing that Butte would be a better place for
him. Being fleshy and a man of irregular habits, when his lungs
were attacked, he soon succumbed. With the death of Bean, the murder
of Ed Callahan, which occurred in 1891, is recalled, and with it the
recollection that of all the suspected c characters, but one remains
above the sod, Lottie Miner, who is running a dive in Mercury. Her
husband, "Coyote Dick" Edwards, Josie Hill, Sid Larkin and George, the
bartender at the saloon on Franklin avenue, opposite Lottie's house,
have all gone. Miner died soon after, and while Lottie was under
arrest, "Coyote Dick" died in Texas while awaiting sentence of death
for murder; Josie Hill was killed by her paramour, Sid Larkin, who was
hung for the offense, and the bartender met his death by falling down
an abandoned mining shaft in New Mexico, his remains being found some
days later by friends, who went out to look for him. Lottie is the only
one remaining. Ed Callahan came here fromSalida with about $1,000
in money, bent on having a good time in his own way. He stopped
at the Metropolitan, the under the management of Will Erb, who
afterwards committed suicide to avoid some karma he had accumulated
which he said was hampering him. Callahan then went to Lottie
Miner's at 54 Franklin Avenue. and proceeded to paint the place red.
He left $595 with Lottie, while he and Josie Hill went to the Hot
Springs in Cal Bean's hack. They came back, and Callahan after
drawing down $540 in cash, got Bean to go and hire a buggy at Foote's
livery, and the man and woman went to the road house, where they
caroused for at time. When Callahan left Lottie's that was the last time he was seen by anyone in the city. Josie
Hill came driving up Main street on the morning of June 5, 1891 and
breathlessly told her story to Office Saunders. How Callahan had
been dragged from the buggy by someone, and she had come on. That
was as near to getting the truth about the killing as the police ever
came. Instead of covering the country down there with men and
heading off stragglers, as might have been done by telephoning to the
sheriff, and the warden of the penitentiary, the head of the police
department spent most of the day theorizing, and they got away. One
by one the actors have passed away. Not one has ever made a
confession. Larkin killed Josie Hill in a fit of passion, and
although she survived for a time, she never confessed to a anything.
Larkin declined to say anything when on the scaffold. Miner
wanted to say something before he died but would tell it only to
his wife, and the police declined to permit her to go and see him.
"Coyote Dick" never revealed a word, and the bartender, if he
did, told his story to the flinty walls where he dashed out his life.
Bean, from all accounts, took his secret to the grave with him.
Only Lottie remains/ The years of her of her life are
drawing to a close. Whether she will yield up the secret ere she
passes off into the shadows, remains to be seen.
FELONY
Susan Hawkins
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