AN ECHO OF A TRAGEDY.

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Tucker Pinckney Assaults Judge Haney in Houston.

Houston, Texas, June 21. — Judge R. E. Hanney of Hempstead of counsel defending Abe Smith, Aaron Washington and Jim Williams, colored charged with the murder of Tucker Pinckney, was the object of an assault this morning at the criminal district court house.  Thereafter Tucker Pinckney, the son of Dick Pinckney, nephew and namesake of the man who met death not long ago in Waller county, was taken to the court of Justice of the Peace McDonald pleaded guilty and paid a fine amounting to $20 for assault.

The assault was the outgrowth of the Waller county trouble that had its inception so long ago.  More than a year ago Congressman Pinckney, Tom Pinckney, Col. Brown and Mr. Mills were killed in a pitched battle between factions which occurred in the Waller county court house.  The killing of Tucker Pinckney antedated the court house tragedy by several months.

Judge Hanney and Judge Abner Lipscomb were retained by the negroes for the defense.  They came to Houston this morning along with the hundred or more witnesses summoned upon either side.  The cases were called and continued.  Judge Hanney for the defense and J. H. Brockman for the prosecution were standing together in the hallway consulting over the matter of witnesses' fees for various citizens brought to Houston by the change of venue.

It was then that Judge Hanney was assaulted.  Two blows were struck.  The first fell upon the man standing beside the attorney, and when Judge Hanney turned a second blow fell across his forehead.

For a moment the confusion was intense.  Sheriff Anderson and Deputy Sheriff Duff Voss rushed downstairs at the first alarm, and while Sheriff Anderson seized Dick Pinckney, his assistant took into custody Tucker Pinckney, the assailant.  Both were escorted to the county jail where they remained until the crowd departed.  Thereafter they proceeded to the court of Justice McDonald where the fine was paid.

During the melee no arms were in evidence.  The members of the party who repaired to the court room were not encountered with shooting irons.

After the event participants upon both sides discussed the situation.  Judge Lipscomb and Judge Hanney explained the circumstances of the assault, as did both Dick Pinckney and Tucker Pinckney.  From the original sources the facts of the affair were secured.

Judge Lipscomb testified that the negroes had succeeded in raising a fee of $2,000 to employ counsel for the defense and that he, associated with Judge Hanney, had been retained.  He stated that he proposed to defend his clients to the best of his ability under the circumstances, and regretted the occurrence in its significance.

Judge Hanney explained that Judge Lipscomb would speak for him, but proceeded to explain that he had been struck at a time when with Mr. Brockman he was looking over a legal document.

Dick Pinckney, father of the young man who pleaded guilty to the assault, was equally as regretful of the circumstances of the assault, but of course stood by his son and maintains that his brother was shot down without warrant by the negroes charged with the killing.

Tucker Pinckney did not deny making the assault and spoke of the event readily.  Like his father and the other members of the Pinckney family, he seems to be convinced that his relatives have been wronged.

Judge Hanney was the law partner of Col. Brown, who met death in the battle in the Hempstead court house.  He was at one time Republican nominee for governor and served years as United States attorney.  He is widely known over the entire state.  Roland Brown, who was tried and found guilty of the murder of John M. and Tom Pinckney, was the son of Col. Brown.

Dick Pinckney and Miss Sue Pinckney are the surviving members of the family of Congressman John M. Pinckney.  Tucker Pinckney, the young man who pleaded guilty to the assault on Judge Hanney, is a young man of about 23 years.

Miss Sue Pinckney was present in the court room today, expecting the trial to come off.

"AN ECHO OF A TRAGEDY", The El Paso Daily Times (El Paso, TX), Monday, June 25, 1906, p. 1, col. 2-3.

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