The Sunday Gazetteer
Sunday,
March 23, 1890
pg. 4
W.N. [sic] Heyward Meets Death Under Very
Mysterious Circumstances.
A fisherman, named John Hall, was rowing
up Red river Tuesday about 2
p.m., w hen, at the point near Blue
Bluff, he saw the body
of a man suspended from the limb of
a tree which overhung the
water on the Texas side, presenting all
possible evidences of having
been the subject of a lynching. The
hands were tied behind the
back, the feet tied together, and a
handkerchief bound over the eyes,
as it might have been at a rude but
formal execution. Hall
did not land to minutely inspect the body
but going back down the river
notified Messrs. J.H. Hoover, Robert
Derberry and Mark Lightfoot of his
find, and all 4 proceeded to the scene of
the supposed lynching. They
were surprised to find, on landing, that
there were but few tracks in
the vicinity, and no signs of a struggle,
and upon cutting down the
body and comparing, the tracks were found
to have all been made by the
victim himself.
One of the men, Mark Lightfoot, came on to
this city and informed
Coroner J.M. Cook of the tragedy, but that
gentleman being unable to
attend to it turned the case over to Judge
LaBeaume. The Judge,
accompanied by officers, proceeded to the
scene, and having viewed the
remains and received the testimony of the
parties who had arrived first
upon the spot, ordered the body brought to
town. Arriving here late
Tuesday night it was taken to the
undertaking establishment of Harriman
& Morris, where it was soon identified
as that of N.W. Heyward,
a young man who had moved in the
best society of this place and
who had been on intimate terms with many
of our best known and most
respectable, citizens. Mr.
Heyward was about 24 years of
age and unmarried. He came here from North
Carolina, along with Arthur
Henderson, of the First National Bank,
about 3 years ago, both he and
Henderson taking positions in the freight
offices of the M. K. &
T., under Freight Agent Gus
Zintgraff. After about a year he
left
here and went to California, and it is
only about 3 weeks since his
return, he having come direct to this city
from Sacramento. Mr.
Henderson states that he had some money on
his arrival here, that he
had his room at the Albany paid for up to
the 25th of this month, and
that, inasmuch as he knew his
(Henderson's) pocket book to be always at
his service, (they having been chums for
many years) no motive for
self-destruction on account of financial
straits could be thought
of. He had a position promised
in the office of Census
Supervisor Nevins as soon as that
institution should be opened up, but
was on the lookout for whatever might
happen to turn up before that
time. At 9 o'clock Monday morning he
stood at the side door of
the First National Bank for several
minutes talking to Mr.
Henderson. He seemed in the
most cheerful of moods, and as
he started off he remarked, "well, I must
get out and hustle for a
while and see what I can scare up,"
(meaning of course in the line of a
situation). That was about the last that
was seen of him in life.
Beneath, w here he was found hanging, his
watch was found in the
shallow water. It had been stopped by
being thrown there and the hands
indicated the hour of 12 o'clock. If the
young man suicided this hour
was undoubtedly 12 o'clock noon, and as
the undertaker was positive
that life must have been extinct at least
24 hours at the time the body
was discovered the tragic hour may be
definitely named as high noon,
Monday. As the spot was about 5
miles from Denison and about a
mile-and-a-half from any road, the body
might easily have hung there
that time with out being discovered. If it
was suicide (which was the
coroner's verdict) the young man must have
adjusted the noose of the
cotton rope, tied his feet together, then
blindfolded himself and then
having the short piece of rope prepared
with slip-knots in the ends,
placed them upon his hands behind his back
and, having drawn them tight
by spreading the arms, jumped from the
bank into the realms of mystery.
Mr. Henderson states that the deceased
came of one of the first
families of North Carolina, and that in
Savannah, Georgia, were his
brothers and sisters now reside, none
enjoy a higher degree of personal
and social distinction. After the
identification of the remains
Mr. Henderson telegraphed the brother of
the deceased at Savannah, for
instructions concerning the disposition
that should be made of them,
and received a wire at 3 p.m. Wednesday to
send on at once to Savannah.
The body was shipped Wednesday night, Mr.
Henderson accompanying it.
A noted Parisian chief of police, when
unable to discover a motive for
a murder or suicide, was wont to say
"cherc hez la femme." and it is
perhaps in the same direction that we
should look for the motive in
this instance. The woman, however, if such
there be in the case, is
certainly not a resident of this
community.
