 The Sunday Gazetteer Sunday, August 7, 1898 pg.4 A NEGRO KILLED Thursday night about 12 o'clock G.S. Lewine [sic] shot and killed Ben Livingston, a Negro. The Negro had stolen Lewine's buggy and horse for the purpose of taking a drive. Lewine came home about 11 o'clock, and missing the buggy, armed himself with a shotgun and started out in search of it. He found the Negro on North Houston avenue, and upon commanding him to halt the Negro leaped from the buggy and rushed upon Lewine. Lewine fired one barrel of the gun and the complete charge disemboweled the man. The Negro lived until about 1 o'clock. While driving he repeatedly said that he had borrowed the horse and buggy. It is supposed that the Negro had taken the buggy out several times before, as Mrs. Lewine had often found it muddy in the morning and thought it had been used the previous night. It is alleged that the Negro had been out to steal watermelons, as the buggy contained a number of them, but his wife claims that he borrowed it for the purpose of taking a Negress named Phoebe Colbert driving. Mr. Lewine is a freight conductor on the Katy. At the coroner's inquest held by Justice Pearson, Conductor Lewine was bound over in the sum of $1,000. The bond was immediately furnished. The officers inform the Gazetteer that Ben Livingston was one of the most desperate characters that have ever resided in this community. His misdeeds sent him to the chain gang a number of times. He was a chronic law breaker and has on one or two occasions just escaped going to the pen. His body, which was taken to Undertaker Lindsey's, was viewed by at least 500 Negores, men, women and children. Conductor Lewine has been here for some time and is held in high esteem. There is some dissatisfaction at the high bond. It was kill or get killed, and in the struggle for the gun Conductor Lewine to avoid being overpowered, pulled the trigger, which sent Livingston to his doom. Editor's Note: Although the above news aritcle described Ben Livingston as "one of the most desperate characters...", his name does not appear in any newspaper stories online at Portal to Texas History before he was killed. Nor is he listed in the city directories for 1896-1898. Ancestry.com records show that Ben Livingston married Easter (Ester) Fate in 1898. The 1900 census shows that Ester Livingston gave birth to a baby boy two months after her husband was killed; the baby's name was also Ben Livingston. Mr. Livingston is buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Denison, Grayson Co., Texas in, apparently, an unmarked grave. The man who shot Livingston had his name misspelled in the above news article; he was G.S. LEWIE, not G.S. Lewine. His last name appeared in the 1901 city directory for Denison. By 1903 he had moved to Sherman and by 1907 he was living in Gainesville, Texas, where he lived until his death in 1934. He is buried in Gainesville, Cooke Co., Texas; his FAG memorial gives his full name as George Sidney "Sid" Lewie.  The Dallas (TX) Morning News Saturday, August 6, 1898 pg. 5 BEN LIVINGSTON KILLED Conductor Lewie Surrenders and Tells the Story of the Tragedy HORSE AND BUGGY WERE MISSING Say That When Found Livingston Showed Fight and the Killing Was the Result Denison, Tex., Aug. 5 - Ben Livingston, a colored man, was killed last night at the corner of Bond street and Houston avenue by a gunshot wound in the abdomen. Soon after the killing G.S. Lewie, a well-known conductor on the Katy, running from Whitesboro to Gainesville on the local, surrendered to officers. He was given a preliminary hearing this morning and the following evidence elicited at the time tells the story of the killing: G.S. Lewie, being sworn, testified substantially as follows: "My home is at 113 West Sears street. I am a conductor in the employ of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas railway and have been on the local run between Whitesboro and Gainesville for some time. I was at home last night. I keep a horse and buggy in the barn back of my house on the alley between Sears and Morton streets. I was down town till 10 o'clock last night, when I came home and went to the barn to see that the stable doors were closed. When I went to the barn I found my horse and buggy gone and as I sometimes lend it to Conductor W.T. Lockhart, I though perhaps he might have taken it, but I did not think he was in town, so to satisfy myself on that score I went to the Katy office and found that Mr. Lockhart was out on his run. I knew then that my buggy and horse had been taken by some one else unauthorized to take it. I went into the house and got my double-barreled shotgun, intending to find the thief and hold him up till I could get an officer. I went out to the alley near the barn and found a darkey who lived in the alley close to the barn. I asked him if he had seen any one get my buggy and he said he had not, but a colored woman inside spoke up and said that she knew where it was and that Ben Livingston had it. I went to his house, the darkey showing me the way, and when I got there I did not see the horse at once and started off when a woman said, "Here is your buggy." I looked and saw it then and turned and started to the buggy when a Negro man started to get into it. I commanded him to stop and asked him what he was doing with my horse and buggy. He did not say a word, but jumped at me and grabbed me by the arm and caught hold of the barrel of the gun. He jerked me hard and I was carried almost to the fence at the house in front of which the buggy was standing. The Negro I had never seen before to my knowledge. He jerked me across the walk and stepped inside the gate, holding on to the gun. I thought he would wrest it from me and told him that if he did not let go I would shoot. He gave a jerk and I pulled the trigger, being excited and not really knowing where the gun was pointing. When I fired he let loose of the gun and fell to the ground and I turned and started to town. A little way from the place I met 3 men and they asked what the trouble was. I told them that a Negro had tried to take my buggy and I had shot him and for them to get an office and a doctor. They turned back to town and I went back to the buggy and waited for them to come. "My wife has complained to me that during my absence the buggy, which was put away clean in the evening, would be covered with mud the next morning and the horse would have the appearance of being driven hard and she thought some one was taking him out and driving him of nights. When I found he was gone I suspected that some one had taken him without permission or right to. When I found the horse he was hitched to a post on the west side of Houston avenue." Faby Carr, the colored woman with whom Livingston had been driving, testified: "My husband's name is Louis Carr. I saw Ben Livingston in the afternoon and he asked me to go driving. About 7:30 he came to my house, 112 Bond street, and told me that he would be around directly with a buggy. He came about 8:30. We went driving across the viatduct and stopped at a small grocery store and Livingston got some watermelons. We went to his room, corner of Houston avenue and Bond street, and went in the house. He took the melons out and rolled them on the floor. I told him I did not like small melons and he took one of them and started to the buggy with it. Pretty soon I heard the shot and heard Ben exclaim: "Oh, Lordy, I'm shot!" Eliza Malone, colored, testified: "I live at 510 North Houston avenue. The shooting took place within 10 feet of my door. The shot sounded like the gun had been fired in the ground. I heard a man say: "Halt! Throw up your hands! I"ll get you for driving my horse to death." I heard another voice say: "Lordy, where is the man I got that horse from?" I saw the man with a gun start to go away and as he passed I heard him tell some one to watch the horse till he returned." At the conclusion of the above evidence Justice Pearson fixed the bond of Lewie at $1000, which was readily given by several of his friends who were present, and he was released from custody. Livingston's body will be interred at the expense of the county. "The load of shot from the gun fired at very close range, the muzzle of the gun being against Livingston's abdomen, tore a portion of the right hand off and a great hole in his right side. The Denison Press Monday, November 19, 1934 pg. 1 SERVICES FOR LEFWIE [sic] HELD AT GAINESVILLE Funeral services for G.S. Lewie, retired Katy passenger conductor, who died Friday, were held Sunday at his home in Gainesville with a number of Denisonians attending. Mr. Lewie, who had been in the Katy service since 1893 until his retirement 3 years ago, had been ill for some time previous his death. He formerly lived here. Pallbearers included R.T. Arthur, W.R. Phillips and W.T. Hulen, all of Denison and 3 of Mr. Lewie's sons. Others from Denison who attended the services were A.A. Malone, J.W. Sales, W.L. Beamer, L.H. Harwell and Mr. Russell.  FELONY Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson CountyTXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |