THE HEMPSTEAD TROUBLES.
A Reign of Terror Produced by Murderers and Assassins.
Special Telegram to the Statesman.
HEMPSTEAD, May 22. — There is a chance for serious trouble in this murder-cursed town. The history of the trouble can be briefly told. A citizen named Steve Allchin a short time ago wrote an article in the local paper reflecting on the official acts of Sheriff McDade. The latter's son-in-law, a man named Chambers, and a deputy, undertook to resent the article, and attacked Allchin on the streets of the town. Allchin, with a Winchester, shot him dead, but was himself wounded. The trouble was supposed to be over. On last Saturday, however, two friends of the sheriff attacked Allchin in the street, shot him in the back, and, after he fell, riddled the body with bullets. The murderers were placed under nominal arrest in the court house. Indignation was roused at this, the culmination of a long series of assassinations which have disgraced the town and terrorized its citizens.
The citizens held a meeting Monday and it was determined to hold a mass meeting Thursday to put an end to the reign of crimes in the county once and for all. The better class of citizens are evidently aroused, and the sheriff telegraphed Governor Ross for troops, and the Johnson Guards were ordered out. Adjutant-General King went to the scene of trouble. It is plain the object in asking troops was not so much the preservation of peace as the protection of the assassins. According to the resolutions passed by the citizens' meeting, strict business is meant. Lynch law is possible, as well as a general cleansing out of the cowardly criminal element. People are afraid to open their mouths, and a perfect reign of terror exists. The murderers and their friends are simply making use of the state troops to save their necks from lynching.
"THE HEMPSTEAD TROUBLES." The Austin American Statesman, Wednesday, May 23, 1888, p. 1, col. 5.