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Conditt Family
Joseph Fagan Conditt Married 1894 Hunt County, Texas CHILDREN |
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Hillsboro, Jan. 5. -- Funeral services for Joseph F. Conditt, 74, Hillsboro building contractor, who died Sunday, were held here Sunday. He had resided in Hill County since 1907. Fort Worth Star-Telegram, January 5, 1942 Wacoan’s Father Dies Joseph Faginn Conditt, who died in Hillsboro Saturday, was the father of Mrs. Lawrence Holstead, 1816 Fort avenue. Funeral services were held Sunday.
Waco News-Tribune,
January 7, 1942 |
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Edna, Texas, September 28.—One of the most horrible crimes in the history of Texas was committed today within a mile and a half of the court house of Jackson county. A woman and her four children were murdered by fiend or fiends, their heads beaten in and their throats cut. Tonight the whole county is aroused and every man is with one or another of the posses searching for the murderers. The county jail holds two Negroes who might have had something to do with the awful crime, and all Negroes are being watched, it being deemed the part of wisdom in this emergency to guard the movement of every suspicious person and investigated afterward. All roads are guarded and every train is closely watched to see that the fiend has no chance to escape. Bloodhounds arrived tonight and have been taken to the desolated home, but they failed to strike a trail, and tonight are within a mile of the house traveling in a widening circle. A. J. Conditt lived in a small house a mile and a half from town, the place being on the public road which was much traveled. He is away from home at work in the rice fields and his wife and five children were at home, it not being deemed at all unsafe for them. Today about 1 o’clock Mrs. Conditt, her daughter, aged 13; and her three sons, aged 6, 8, and 10, were foully murdered in broad daylight, the 2-year-old baby being the only survivor. The two women were assaulted, so physicians say. Absolutely nothing is known of the scene enacted. In a field a short distance away a Negro boy of 17 was at work. He has told conflicting stories and is now in jail awaiting developments. The first known of the crime was when this boy ran to a neighbor’s and said that he had seen a man chasing a woman around the Conditt house; that the children were screaming and that he feared to go to the house by himself. It is stated that there was blood on this boy’s clothing and that a piece of his shirt had been torn away. The neighbor at once went to the scene and on arriving found five dead and the little baby crying as if its heart would break. Mother and daughter lay in the house, the little boys about 100 yards away. All of the bodies bore similar wounds—the heads had been crushed with some blunt instrument, while the throats had been cut with a razor or sharp knife. It is believed that the incised wounds were inflicted after those delivered on the heads. About the house were signs of a struggle. Blood was fresh, showing that the crime had been but recently enacted, but there was no trace of the murderers. From the circumstances, it is believed there must have been more than one of them. The little boys had apparently been stricken down as they ran, yet the bodies were close together. The Negro boy said he did not know whether the man he had seen chasing the woman was black or white, but did say that he had on a black hat and blue overalls. He could give no sort of description. Alarm was immediately brought to town, the officers notified and the men of the town at once repaired to the scene to search for the murderers. No trace was found, but his could have been lost on the much traveled road. Wire was sent to the convict camp near Wharton for the State dogs, and Sheriff Koehl and deputies brought them tonight. In the meantime it had been decided to arrest Negroes who could not at once give account of themselves and prove their assertions. This has been done. One Negro under arrest was taken from a train, and it has developed that he threw away his shoes. He has on overalls also. There is no doubt about the fate of the perpetrator of the deed, he be white or black, as quickly as the crime can be fastened beyond the shadow of a doubt. From the nature of the crime it is deemed certain that it was committed by Negroes, hence the arrest of the blacks. The people….county have never before, and it will be short shrift men and women of the county being too excited to sleep. The men are in the field and the women at home, but they await the bringing of news of the capture and no one believes it possible for the men to escape with all the precautions which have been taken to prevent. It is deemed morally certain that one of the men is in jail. It is also held that there must have been two or more. The search is for the other. An effort may be made to take the suspect to Victoria, but this is being watched.
The Houston Post, September 29, 1905 |
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Conflicting Statements
He Gave the Names of Two Negro Men as
Guilty Parties, Edna, Tex., Sept. 29.—Not since the days when the blood of the pioneers dripped afresh from the tomahawks and scalping knives of the cruel and heartless red savages, has a more atrocious crime been committed than that of the murder of Mrs. J. F. Conditt and her four children, which occurred near Edna yesterday about 1 o’clock. Mr. Conditt was absent from home when the tragedy was enacted. A Negro boy about 16 years old, reported the awful crime, and it seems that this boy who is incarcerated in jail upon whom the gravest but well founded suspicion rests. He is reported as being perfectly cool and indifferent to the fate awaiting him in the event that evidence he secured establishing his guilt beyond doubt. The people, while deeply touched by the enormity of this crime, are cool and collected, but when the guilty parties are apprehended, and their guilt is proven beyond controversy the second scene of the tragedy will follow. There is no manifest demonstration on the part of citizens to act rashly, but there seems to be a fixed and determined purpose in the hearts of one and all to avenge this foul murder. They feel that not only society and the public welfare, but that the safety of the women and children, and their homes and firesides demand that extreme punishment of some sort should be inflicted upon the perpetrators of this sanguinary murder. It seems that the Negro, Hanks, alias Monk Gibson, now under arrest, is the only person, so far as known, who saw or knew anything about the tragedy, while it was being enacted, and he has already made conflicting statements which see to point to him and possibly others as those who committed the deed. The heads of Mrs. Conditt and the two oldest boys were crushed, while the throats of the little girl and the youngest boy were cut, their heads being almost severed from their bodies. An adze grubbing hoe was used upon Mrs. Conditt, while a crowbar was used upon the two boys, who were at work repairing the wire fence about 150 yards from the house. Bloodhounds were secured at 8:30 p. m., about seven hours after the murder, but the ground being so dry, and so many people having walked around the premises, it was impossible for them to follow the track successfully. Every effort is being made to locate, discover and capture the guilty parties. Since the above was written it is learned through County Attorney McCrory that Gibson had made another statement in which he described quite accurately the position of the dead woman, the girl and the little boy in the house. Nothing could be gotten from him concerning the dead boys in the field. He was plowing about two hundred yards from the house when, he says, two Negro men came to him and made him go with them to the house where the murder was perpetrated. He gave the names of two Negro men who were at work for white men miles distant all day yesterday, and they were evidently not guilty. He stated that after the murders at the house were finished the men ordered him to go back to his plowing. From there, the plow, he went to John Digg’s house and thence to the rice field to appraise Mr. Conditt of the awful fate of his family. The more he talks the stronger grows the suspicion and evidence that he is the solo perpetrator of the deed. He is beginning to become frightened, and it is believed that the true facts in the case will soon develop. The funeral of the dead family took place at 3 p. m. They were all interred in the same grave. A very large crowd attended the burial.
Scene of Butchery. Edna, Tex., Sept. 29.—The revolting and inhuman crime committed in this county yesterday about 1 o’clock p. m., is without a parallel in South Texas. The shocking deed was perpetrated on the farm of Mr. L. E. Ward, about two or two and a half miles northeast of Edna, the county seat. The innocent victims of this sanguinary murder are: Mrs. J. F. Conditt, aged 34, and children, Mildred Lee, aged 12; Herschel, aged 10; Jesse, aged 8 and Joseph 3 years old. The infant was spared. The grief stricken husband and father was at work on a rice farm about seven miles distant, while the fearful tragedy was being enacted, the news of which reached town about 2:30 p. m. Parties immediately went to the scene of the murder and a sickening heartrending sight met their entrance into the humble house of this poor but deservingly respectable white tenant’s family. In the southeast room just behind the door the mother was found upon the floor with her head crushed, where she had weltered in her own blood, with her baby garments scattered around her. A rocking chair was lying across her body. Evidently she had been sitting there darning the clothing of her children when the fatal blow, which came without a moment’s warning, laid her cold in death. In an adjoining room the outraged body of the daughter, Mildred Lee, was found. Her throat was cut, her head being almost severed from her body. The body of Joseph, the youngest boy, was found in the yard in the corner made by the L of the house. His throat, like his sister’s was cut. Distant from the house about 150 yards the bodies of Herschel and Jesse were found. Their heads were crushed and their bodies were lying about fifty yards apart. Indications point to the fact that the fiend had had a chase and a slight struggle with John before he fell under the death blow of the murderer. The last named victims were repairing the wire fence when they were murdered. The body of John was found on the outside of the fence and around it the grass was trampled and mashed, indicating a struggle. The nearest house to this scene of crime and death was that occupied by John Diggs and family, all Negroes, about 275 or 300 yards away. Hanks, alias Monk Gibson, a Negro boy 16 years old, and now under arrest, is the party who first reported the murder. The crimson hand of murder, marked with the diabolical crime of outrage points to this boy as the perpetrator of the foul and bloodcurdling deed. This boy rode to the rice field where the husband and father was laboring to make an honest living for his beloved family, and revealed unto him the terrible fate of his wife and children. The boy told Mr. Conditt that he saw two men chasing Mrs. Conditt around the house and that she was screaming and in distress. Since then he has made contradictory statements. On his breast a trace of blood was found. On his feet and other parts of his body stains were found, but Dr. Richmond, who, with Dr. Radkey, made the examination of the person of and the stains on the boy, says that it was impossible without a microscopic examination to say whether or not these stains were made by blood. The bloodhounds brought by Mr. A. Lincoln from Wharton County arrived at 8:30 p. m., but so many people had walked over the grounds and around the premises, and it being so dry, it was impossible for the dogs to follow the trail to a successful examination. The trail was followed from John’s body to within 150 yards of John Diggs’ house. Suspicions are resting upon other parties supposed to be implicated with this boy in the perpetration of this crime. The citizens are cool but determined, as far as they are able, in avenge [avenging] this crime whenever the guilty parties shall have been apprehended. The discovery of a bloody ax with which the crime was committed and a bundle of discarded clothing found by bloodhounds, a short distance from the scene of the tragedy, are the only clews left by the murderer. However, as a result of suspicion against Monk Gibson, his home was searched and a tablecloth with a bundle of bloody clothing was found concealed between the corners of a bed. If Mr. Conditt, the husband, be able to identify the articles, the Negro will probably be lynched.
Expected a Lynching. Edna, Tex., Sept. 29.—A crowd of twenty-five or thirty men came in tonight on the westbound train from Louise and other points east. Evidently they expected to see a lynching, but up to this hour, 9 p. m., everything is perfectly quiet. The impression among cool and conservative men seems to be that the Negro accused of the murder will make a full confession and tell all about it within a day or two. Sheriff Albert Egg is using his best efforts to keep the people cool and says if necessary he will defend him at all hazards, though he does not anticipate any immediate trouble. He is doing his full duty in the premises.
Evidence Points to Boy Wharton, Tex., Sept. 29—Judge Barbee, Sergeant Lincoln, Deputy Sheriff Wynne and L. R. McFarlane went to Edna last night with the bloodhounds to assist in searching for the murderers of the Conditt family. Mr. Wynne and McFarland returned this morning, but Judge Barbee and Sergeant Lincoln remained, with the hope of being able to render some assistance in unraveling one of the most horrible crimes over committed in this section of the country. Mr. McFarlane visited the scene of the murder, and states that the affair is too horrible and fiendish for the mind to fully realize the entire solution, and how a human being could commit such a deed is beyond conception. Nothing definite was demonstrated by the bloodhounds, as the crime had been committed several hours before dogs could be secured, and all tracks were cold. No convincing evidence had been obtained this morning, though all the surrounding circumstances point to, and most everybody is thoroughly convinced that the 17-year-old Negro boy who first reported the murder is at least one of the guilty parties.
Picked Up Bloody Negro Victoria, Tex., Sept. 29.—Victorians were much excited over the Edna horror of yesterday—the murder of Mrs. Conditt and four of her children. Hearing of the horror Sheriff Geo. Heck immediately drove to Edna by private conveyance. On his way, at Inez, he arrested a colored man who had blood on his clothes and took him to Edna and jailed him. Several Victorians went to Edna this morning.
Governor Offers Reward Austin, Tex,. Sept. 29—The Governor today offered a reward of $300 for the arrest and conviction of the party or parties guilty of the outrage, near Edna, where Mrs. Condit and four children were brutally murdered. The reward was offered at the insistence of the County Judge of Jackson County.
The Galveston Daily News,
September 30, 1905 |
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Edna, Tex., Sept. 30—6 p. m.—The fact that the prisoner, Monk Gibson, implicated in the murder of the Conditt family, made his escape from Deputy Sheriffs Power and Hayes last night is now no longer questioned or doubted. He was being carried to Hallettsville for safekeeping when the escape occurred near the Watkins crossing on the Navidad River, about four miles from town. The deputies, with their prisoner, were traveling on horseback through fields and pastures. In passing over a wife fence the prisoner, being mounted on the best horse, unbound and with this hands and feet loose, made a successful dash for liberty. This fact did not become known to the people until this morning. Their anger and humiliation over the escape of the supposed dangerous criminal, whom they thought was safely incarcerated in the county jail, can be better imagined than described. All day officers and posses of men have been making a diligent search for the escaped Negro, and for whom capture Sheriff Egg is making every effort. He had secured bloodhounds from Wharton. They came on the 3 p. m. westbound train, and were immediately taken to a track found and supposed to be that of Gibson. So far no tidings have been received from the party with the dogs. It is confidently believed, however, that it will only be a few days at most until Gibson will be recaptured. Negro houses are being systematically searched by the posses and a search of the jails in this section has failed to reveal Monk. The fact that none of the horses ridden by the officers has been returned is the only point not confirmatory of the officers’ story of the escape. The officers are being criticized with much feeling for permitting the Negro to get away, and some pointed talked are being made.
How Gibson Escaped. Edna, Tex., Sept. 30—Sheriff Egg gives this account of the escape of the prisoner and the reasons why he was removed from Edna. Late yesterday afternoon Sheriff Egg received information that he regarded as reliable that a mob of several hundred from Bay City was en route to Edna on a special to aid in the lynching of the prisoner. Acting on this information, he quietly got Gibson out of the back window of the jail and delivered him to his deputies, Power and Hayes, to be carried to the Hallettsville jail for safe keeping. The deputies with the prisoner left town, riding very rapidly under the impression that they would be followed by the mob. After going two miles or more they turned down the Grissom lane, leading in the direction of the bottom. They were going about half speed, intending to tie the prisoner on the horse when the bottom was reached. Suddenly Gibson wheeled his horse one side and ran over the wire fence, going over it clear. The deputies had to turn and cross the fence. This gave Gibson the start, in the pursuit that followed another wire fence was encountered and both the horses of Gibson and Hayes fell. In the dark Power followed Gibson’s horse, not knowing the animal was riderless. He (Power) was running to cut him off from the timber when he discovered that Gibson was not on the horse. As soon as they found out that Gibson had escaped Hayes came back to town and reported the fact to Sheriff Egg, who started out about twenty of his friends to hunt the prisoner, believing that they would recapture him. Failing in this, Egg made the fact known this morning in order that the citizens could all turn out and aid in making the search. Tonight crowds have gone out in various directions. About seventy-five men went to the Negro settlement known as Old Texans. About 4 p. m. Messrs. L. and A. P. Ward, while coming from their ranch on the bay, saw and chased a Negro boy whom they took for the escaped prisoner. This took place at the place of Dick Chinn. The boy was in a corn field back of Chinn’s house when these gentlemen first saw him. Sheriff Egg believes he is sure to recapture his prisoner within the next day or two.
Rumors And Rumors Edna, Tex., Sept. 30—There was an angry and exasperated crowd of white men in town this morning, when it became known that the officers had removed the prisoner Hanks, alias Monk Gibson, implicated in the murder of the Conditt family, from the jail into yesterday evening, and had started with him to the Hallettsville jail for safe keeping. The anger and exasperation of the populace only became intensified when the officers or some one else put in circulation that rumor that the prisoner had made his escape in the edge of the bottom about four miles from town. This report was sufficient to start a whirl of excitement, and rumors and rumors of rumors flew thick and fast. Some believed that the prisoner had escaped; others did not believe it. It is said that he prisoner had been removed from the jail about 7:30 o’clock last evening by James Power and Tom Hayes, two of Sheriff Albert Egg’s trusted deputies, and they were on their way to Hallettsville with the prisoner when the escape occurred. While various rumors concerning the matter are in circulation the following seems to be the most authentic report of the escape, though this report in its details seems to lack plausibility. As the account runs, Messrs. Power and Hayes took or let the prisoner down through one of the back windows of the jail, mounted the saddle horses awaiting them, the prisoner being placed on the best horse, and rode out of town very rapidly in the direction of the Watkins crossing on the Navidad River. They left the public road and were traveling through the pastures and fields to evade the mob. If the mob should be following them. They came to a wire fence. One deputy dismounted to pen the gap in the fence. At this juncture the prisoner, unbound, and being hand and foot loose, saw his opportunity and made a dash through the gap for liberty, his horse going clear why the horse of one of the deputies became entangled in the wire and fell. He was pursued by the other deputy, but soon the Negro’s horse ran into another wire fence and fell. The horse rose and went one way and the Negro another. In the dark the deputy, thinking the Negro was still mounted, followed 100 or 200 yards the riderless horse. By that time the Negro had reached the brush and made his escape. Another report says the negro crawled under the fence and ran straight in the direction of the house of Mr. J. C. Cooper, near by the place of the last fence encountered, and the deputy was afraid to shoot on account of the danger to the Cooper family. The negro was thereby enabled to reach the brush and make his escape in the darkness. At this hour, 11:30 a. m., both Powers and Hayes are out of town, as stated, searching for the prisoner, and it is impossible to get an accurate or reliable account of the reported escape. There are those who believe absolutely that the prisoner has gained his liberty, while others believe that these officers would not have undertaken to remove a prisoner accused with so revolting a crime in the darkness and through timber without having him bound so as to prevent the possibility of his escape, and that when he is wanted in court he will be forthcoming. But he this as it may, there are crowds of infuriated men searching the woods and country for the boy. If they should capture him the officers will never again be charged with his care and keeping. The people searching for him will take care of him this time. According to County Attorney McCrory, Col. G. Egg, the father of the Sheriff, and others, coupled with the fact that the Sheriff, his deputies and numbers of men are making diligent search, there is every reason to believe that the prisoner did make his escape. If he had been transported and had reached a place of safety, there would be no excuse for misleading the people and taxing them with such unnecessary duties and burdens. Throughout the whole affair, and considering the strain upon the feelings of the entire community, the cool, sober judgment which has characterized the action of the people is worthy of the highest commendation. While determined that the guilty party or parties should be punished according to the enormity of the crime committed, the people were perfectly willing to wit and in fact they preferred to wait until all the guilty parties could be apprehended before restoring to any extreme measures. There was no intention on the part of the citizens to make any demonstrations against the prisoner last night, and they felt that they had one and possibly the only guilty party secure in jail, hence they were willing to await developments. Now that the prisoner has, or is reported escaped, their feelings can better be imagined than described. Rewards have been offered for the capture of the prisoner as follows: Albert Egg, Sheriff, $100; James Power, $100, and the Governor offers $300 for the arrest and conviction of the guilty party. Rumors were in circulation last night, that the prisoner had been severely whipped in jail to make him confess and also name the other guilty parties, until he was so well nigh exhausted that he had to be fed with a spoon. That the prisoner had been whipped seems to be true, but his physical condition seems to have been greatly exaggerated. Drs. Radkey and LaBauve visited the prisoner late in the afternoon of yesterday and both stated that the negro, while he had marks upon his person showing that he had been punished, was nevertheless in good physical condition. Dr. Radkey stated that he was stiff and limped slightly as he walked out of his cell, but was in shape to do good running if an opportunity occurred. Since this tragedy occurred the absence of negroes upon the streets has been quite noticeable. There seems to be no bitterness manifested against the negroes as a race. The feeling is confined to the party who committed the deed. The boy, Gibson, is about 16 years old, and is about an average in intelligence. Those for whom he has worked say he is quite secretive, and usually answered questions in the affirmative and negative, and in monosyllable.
Gibson Family Arrested Edna, Tex., Sept. 30—Some new arrests were made today in connection with the murder of the Conditt family. Nine of the Gibsons, viz., Canks, Josephine, Lilly, Sylvia, and Josephine, father, mother, brothers and sisters of the negro boy; Monk Gibson, were lodged in jail about 2 p. m. The evidence upon which these parties were arrested is merely circumstantial, and without further developments would not be sufficient to warrant convictions.
Sheriff Showed Fight Houston, Tex,. Sept. 30—Monk Gibson, the negro arrested yesterday in connection with the wholesale murder of Mrs. A. J. Conditt and four children on Thursday afternoon at Edna, Tex., escaped fro the officers last night on the way to jail. It is declared that Gibson knows all about the murders, but after a good thrashing last night he would not talk. Today the father of Mrs. Conditt made an appeal to the people of the Edna community condemning the Sheriff for permitting the negro to escape, and said if retaken he would see that the fugitive “burned for a week.” The crowd shouted approval. Sheriff Egg took exception to the statement that he permitted the negro to escape, and with drawn revolver asked any one present to step into the street and settle the matter personally with him. A posse is hot on the trail of the fugitive, and it is believed he will be recaptured. It is almost certain a mob will attempt to lynch or burn Gibson, and should the officers interfere serious trouble may result. The people of Jackson County are in a high state of excitement.
The Galveston Daily News,
October 1, 1905 |
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Hallettsville, Tex., Oct. 2—A negro was arrested here yesterday on suspicion of having some connection with the killing of the Conditt family at Edna. He is unknown to the negroes here and was noticed washing his clothes on the banks of the Lavaca River. He was arrested by City Marshal O. T. East and upon being searched a six-shooter was examined by a physician here, who found spots which he believed to be blood stains, through the garment had been washed. The negro said he was from the Indian Territory, but made conflicting statements. He will be held to await further developments.
The Galveston Daily News,
October 3, 1905 |
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Victoria Advocate,
October 18, 1905 |
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