Friday, August 29, 2014

August 29, 1890: Will Waters

Lawrence Daily Journal (Lawrence, Kansas) dated August 30, 1890:


TWO BAD MURDERS.

Lafayette County, Mo., Furnishes Two Tragedies.

A NEGRO KILLS A MERCHANT.

His Prompt Lynching—A Stable Jockey Kills an Aged and Respected Citizen of Higginsville—He Takes Flight.


ODESSA, Mo., Aug. 30.—A horrible murder took place at Mayview, a small town seven miles east of this city, early yesterday morning.  The facts are about as follows:

Will Waters, an eighteen-year-old colored boy, went to the store of Mr. J. W. Parker about four o'clock and he wanted to buy some goods.  Mr. Parker opened the front door.  Just at this instance another colored man passed the store and inquired of Will the cause of his early purchasing.  He answered that he was going to take in the Higginsville fair.

About 8 o'clock some one went into the store to ascertain why Mr. Parker did not show up and was horrified to find him cold in death, with his throat cut from ear to ear, besides a deep gash in the head and a broken collar bone.

When the report was given out a posse began a search and at this hour the murderer has not been arrested.  It is the general impression that when the rascal is found that he will be hanged to the nearest limb, as Mr. Parker was a quiet and much respected gentleman.

The murder was evidently committed with a view of robbery, but nothing was missed from the room.

In the pocket of a vest of Mr. Perkins which hung on the wall was $30 in currency and in a shot sack on a shelf was some $40 or $50 in silver.

If there was any money in the drawer the murderer took it, as the combination on the drawer was broken.

Later—The negro was found near Mayview late last night and lynched outright.

He acknowledged the murder and produced a corn knife with which the murder was committed.

MURDER AT HIGGINSVILLE. . . .


I have no idea who Mr. Perkins was or if it is a misprint and should be Mr. Parker.  An article covering the funeral for Will Waters was printed in The Kearney Daily Hub (Kearney, Nebraska) on September 3, 1890:


A Lynched Murderer's Funeral.


LEXINGTON, Mo., Sept. 3.—Down in the basement of a little one-story house on Main street, the rear end of the yard losing itself in a deep gulch, lives the family of Henry Waters.  Inside in a neat, tidy and yet poorly-furnished parlor, lay the body of Will Waters, who was  lynched Friday night for the murder of Parker at Mayview.  At 9 o'clock Rev. J. N. Triplet read the funeral services, offered prayer and the procession of mourners moved on to the graveyard.  It was a large funeral, and murmurs of indignation at the hanging of one of their number were freely expressed by those who followed the corpse to the cemetery. The negroes all over the county are murmuring considerable, and it will take some wise heads to quiet them. A race outbreak is liable to arise from the lynching. They claim that if it had been a white man the law would have been allowed to take its course.

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