Two News Accounts of the
Murder of John Wesley Thomas

"J. C. Lyons, a butcher, at 4:30 o'clock yesterday morning, while on his way to serve his customers in Whistler, discovered the body of Thomas lying with the head to the west in a small ravine, not six feet from the public road, and on the west side of the track, a quarter of a mile north of the railroad station. The exact location is almost in front of the Grace place.

"The matter was reported to Justice Pringle, who went to the place and there found the body. The news spread rapidly throughout the little village, and soon every man in the place was on the ground and all ready to lend a hand in searching out the perpetrators of the dark deed.

"The news was brought to Mobile early in the morning and Sheriff Dorlan was soon on the way to the scene with a deputy to lend his assistance. The Register's reporter left the city by the early morning train on the Mobile and Ohio road. A ride of six miles and the train drew up to the depot at the railroad shops. Further up the road could be seen a large crowd gathered about the tool house of the section hands, and there was found the dead body of Thomas, laid out, having been prepared and dressed for interment.

"An examination of the body showed that Thomas had received

in his body. The left side of the face was blackened with powder where a ball had entered the right cheek and passed out at the left side of the nose. Another ball had entered the right of the chest, three inches above the nipple and ranging downward in the direction of the heart and coming out in the rear on the left side between the ninth and tenth ribs. This shot, as afterwards proved by post mortem examination, penetrated the entire distance, passing through the heart in its passage down and out. There was another pistol wound in the right thigh that passed through, making only a flesh wound.

"An examination of the head showed that it had been beaten and lacerated by some blunt instrument. Two cuts, each an inch and a half in length, were found in the base of the brain. These wounds on the head, it was learned, must have been made with a large white bottle or decanter, particles of which lay about the body and in the hair when found.

"A visit was made to the spot, a hundred yards away, where the body had been discovered, and there were found blood-stained grass and numerous pieces of a white bottle with raised circular dots in it the size of a nickel. The grass about betrayed no sign of the terrible tragedy which took place upon it during the previous night.

"A spade was obtained and the grass cut from around the place, but this failed to bring to light any evidence of balls penetrating the earth, and yet with the exception of the supposed first shot in the face, the rest of the wounds had been evidently made while the body was in a recumbent position.

"Dr. R. Malay and Dr. R. C. Walker examined the body and traced the balls. In the opinion of Dr. Malay, a man receiving a wound like that one in Thomas' face would be unable to make any resistance afterwards and the victim must have become a easy prey to the murderer.

"The first supposition was that Thomas had been murdered in retaliation for the killing of Mike Fincher, but this idea was dissipated, upon an examination of the clues that were developed.

"Dr. Malay, Mr. Delabar, Postmaster Huey, and others in the locality, and still others even more distant from the scene, stated that they had heard six shots from a pistol Monday night about 10:30 o'clock, and each remembered distinctly that they were in the exact locality of the tragedy. Miss Wolfe, who lives fifty yards from the spot, stated that after six shots had been fired she went out on the gallery and saw three flashes more from a pistol about the spot where Thomas was found. Just after this, she saw two men pass her house going north.

"In explanation of the fact that the shots did not attract particular attention, it can be stated that the firing of pistols is a nightly amusement among the young men of Whistler. Not a cry was heard, or any other sound than that of the pistol shots.

"It was learned that Monday evening Wesley Thomas, in his capacity as deputy sheriff, had been given a warrant from Justice John Tardy, in Mobile, to arrest Gilbert J. Deace, an engineer, on the charge of malicious mischief for killing a lot of goats and cutting off the ears of others, and also for shooting across a public road.

"It was late at night, 10 o'clock, before Deace secured a bondsman. Deace was accompanied by his nephew, John Ryan, and together they parted from Thomas at Macarty's corner, the two going in the direction of their home up the track. It was learned that Thomas, on their departure, tried to borrow a pistol from Shelton, apparently for protection. His lack of a weapon was the evident cause of the attack as Thomas had no weapon, not even a knife on him when found. The bond made by Deace and a pair of handcuffs were the only things found on Thomas' body.

"James Shelton, a young man, was the last person who saw Thomas alive, and he stated he saw Thomas start for home and then go by Dr. Malay's office. His purpose Shelton imagined to be to borrow a weapon. While the man Deace was in custody only twenty minutes before the killing Shelton heard him say to Ryan,"I wish I had a pistol." Ryan replied, "I don't mind that."

"A search was made for the two men and it was found they had left Whistler some time during the night, it was supposed on the passenger train north for Meridian which leaves Whistler about 11 o'clock. This news soon gave color to the rumor that these two men were the murderers of Thomas...

"The verdict of the coroner's jury agreed with the public opinion in the town, the theory being that Deace and Ryan, after leaving Thomas, returned to their homes and armed themselves and returned to meet their victim, who was on his way home and who must pass them in so doing. A 38-calibre cartridge found near the body was a clue that there were at least two parties to the shooting, as it was known that Deace, who had been running an engine on a road in Mexico on his return ten days ago, brought back a frontier pattern Smith & Wesson pistol of a 45 calibre. The wound, which reached diagonally through the body, could, it was said, only be made by such a terrible weapon.

"Deace's mother and sister reside in Whistler, while Ryan, his nephew, has his home with his father in Ellisville, Miss., on the Northeastern road. Deace is 30 years of age, a blonde, and weighs 180 pounds. He is six feet tall. Ryan is 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighs 170 pounds or more, and is of dark complexion. Deace is a railroad engineer and is well known, while Ryan is also known as a fireman and former brakeman on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad.

"Justice Pringle refused to divulge the testimony before the coroner, but stated that it was a strong sting of circumstantial evidence. Witnesses before the jury had testified that they saw Thomas and the other men fifty feet in advance of him a few minutes before the shooting. Another circumstance was the absence of the two men from Whistler, their sudden disappearance.

"Sheriff Dorlan lost no time in taking steps to apprehend the men. Sending telegrams to Vicksburg, Memphis Meridian, Shubuta, Fort Worth, Selma, Birmingham, Hickory, Forest and Newton, Miss.

"The chief of police of Vicksburg was the first to reply stating that the two men had been put off the Vicksburg and Meridian train at Hickory, a station twenty-three miles from Meridian yesterday morning. Sheriff Dorlan telegraphed Hickory, offering a reward of $100 for their arrest. Nothing more was learned of them up to last night.

"The funeral of Thomas took place yesterday afternoon and was one of the largest ever seen in the neighborhood. It was attended by people of all sections of the county, the cortege numbering fully two thousand persons. Raphael Semmes Camp No. 11 United Confederate Veterans sent a delegation of about sixty members, commanded by H. H. Slattery. The interment was at his home near the eight mile post on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. The Reverend Mr. Cornelle of the Whistler Methodist Episcopal Church conducted the religious services to which the terrible death of the subject, the incidents of the day, and the large crowd added more than the usual solemnity. The pall bearers were Messrs. Cleveland Prichard, Ed Delabarre and Thomas Alvarez, representing the veterans: Messrs. Thomas Neely, C. C. Mitternight, John Shelton and Frank Newell.

"Thomas leaves a noble little widow, two sons and two daughters. Mrs. Thomas was formerly Miss Myers.

"The people of Whistler are much incensed over the deed and hope for a quick retribution to the murderers. In referring to Mr. Thomas the citizens generally had a good word for the deceased, who had been a good officer and made a good record as a soldier in the Twelfth Alabama Regiment."

Last Sunday evening at 8 o'clock, there were lodged in the county jail, Gilbert J. Deace and John Ryan, charged with the murder, and the former man openly confessing to the killing of John Wesley Thomas, at Whistler on the night of July 10...

The two men were captured Saturday morning at 11 o'clock, seventeen miles southeast of Waynesboro, Miss., on the old Paulding road, and over forty miles from Escatawpa, Ala., which place they left last Thursday about noon.

Sheriff Dorlan was asked yesterday to give the readers of THE REGISTER his story of the pursuit and capture of the men. Said he:

"Well, the search for and chase after Deace and Ryan was begun as soon as the verdict of the jury of inquest was made known to me last Tuesday. The verdict recommended that Deace and Ryan be apprehended and held; the time and circumstances of the killing made it possible, and the fact that Deace and Ryan were railroad men, made it probable that they had left Whistler on the northbound passenger rain which passed the village a few minutes after the killing.

"I caused telegrams to be sent to the conductor and engineer in charge of train No. 6 Monday night, inquiring if Deace and Ryan were on their train, and if they had left Whistler that night by the passenger train they could have debarked at Meridian and there taken a choice of several routes. I also sent telegraphic requests for their arrest, with a description and a statement of the crime charged against Deace and Ryan, to the police authorities at Meridian, Jackson, Vicksburg, Ellisville, Hattiesburg, West Point, Okalona, Corinth and other points in Mississippi; to New Orleans, La., Montgomery, Selma, Demopolis, Birmingham and towns on the route of all the railroads in Alabama; to Memphis, Jackson, Nashville, Chattanooga, Humboldt and other towns in Tennessee; to Dallas, Houston, Galveston, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Eagle Pass and El Paso, in Texas. I spent thirty-nine dollars for telegraphic tolls the day after the murder.

"One result of those messages has been," continued the sheriff, "to put a number of couples of unknown men, one of whom was above and the other beneath medium height, to some trouble. As your readers know two suspects were traced to Hickory, Miss., last Wednedsay; two others were arrested at Demopolis, and here is a dispatch from Eagle Pass, Texas, stating that the men I want were arrested there last Friday.

"I returned to the city at noon Thursday, and found a dispatch awaiting me (which THE REGISTER has already printed) stating that Deace and Ryan were seen at Vinegar Bend and Escatawpa that morning early. Securing the use of the engine and a coach of the Citronelle accommodation train from Citronelle to the state line. I, with my five deputies, Cazalas and Murphy, Morris, Townsend and Young, took the Citronelle train and went up; the train carried my party along and the deputies were put off along the track at intervals from this side of Escatawpa tank to Yellow Pine. We then searched the track back and forth, made inquiries of track-walkers and residents along the line but heard no trace of our men.

"Friday morning early the posse learned at Escatawpa, from a gentleman named Garrison, that Deace and Ryan (the latter of whom had been at his store Thursday morning and bought some canned corned beef) had left that station Thursday morning, riding in an ox wagon, and going toward Leaksville, Miss., on the Leaksville road; Leaksville is sixteen miles due west from Escatawpa station.

"I tried without success to procure vehicles or saddle horses at Escatawpa to follow the men, and after losing about two hours' time in the effort, the posse started after them on foot, leaving the station about 8 o'clock in the morning. We walked five miles during the first hour and arrived at the house of Squire Edwards, who told me the wagon had passed his house in the early afternoon of the previous day. Here I wrote a note to Sheriff McIntosh, of Greene county, Miss., which a young son of Edwards riding horseback, carried to Leaksville; I informed the sheriff of the charge against Deace and Ryan and of their presence in the county, asked his aid in the arrest of the men, and requested him to send guards to each of the ferries crossing the Chickasahay on the roads leading from the east to Leaksville. We passed on and again heard of the men we were pursuing at Mills' store, fourteen miles from Escatawpa. They had passed that point at 3:30 o'clock the previous evening, walking; the ox wagon, which belonged to Mills having carried them to near the store, however, we met the ox team coming back on the road; the driver, a negro, described Deace and Ryan perfectly; he said that they had ridden fourteen miles with him the day before, and were inquiring the road to Ellisville and Leaksville.

"The road we were pursuing is not much traveled and by no one on foot, so we had no difficulty in keeping the trail of the two men, till we reached the grist mill of Patterson & Catoo. The task had, however, begun to tell upon my men. The heat of the day was intense; each of the posse was carrying a gun. We crossed the Chickasahay at the mill, our ferryman a negro boy and the boat a leaky and cranky canoe, for which the ferryman and a single passenger was too much cargo.

"After crossing we had to make our way through the swamps, a distance of three miles. The foliage was dense and dark; not a breath of wind could penetrate the thick foliage which arched over the path just above our heads; the sun was broiling hot, and the vapor raised by its rays from the shallow waters made the journey a very heavy task. After three miles of a terrible march the swamps opened up into a glade; and the tracks made by Deace and Ryan were again made our guides. They debouched from the road to a pathway and following them took us to the house of Mr. S. T. Churchwell. Here we learned that the two men, who gave fictitious names, had eaten supper and slept all night on the gallery. In the morning the two men asked their host to direct them how to get into the old Paulding road; and Mr. Churchwell went with them and showed them where the road was.

"I told Mr. Churchwell our business in Mississippi, and he agreed to summon his brother and brother-in-law, Mr. Coaker, and join us at the house of Mr. James, on the Paulding road, some ten miles distant. We reached James' house at 10 o'clock.

"Thinking it possible that the two men, between whom and ourselves we had been lessening the distance all day, might have stopped to rest again with James, I sent Mr. Cazalas, who is not known either by Ryan or Deace, forward to the house to make inquiries.

"Here a serious difficulty was narrowly averted. It seems that James had had some difficulty with a family across the river, and threats of a visit from white caps having come to his ears, he had assembled his neighbors and kinsmen, and was waiting for a raid. As soon as Cazalas called at the gate, to arouse the inmates of the house, he was ordered to leave. The demand was made in a tone that left no alternative, and as Cazalas retired he shouted to the posse to come up.

"As I with the rest of the posse went up to the gate I could see four or five men, armed with guns, leave the house and secrete themselves in the grass and close to the fence. Seeing a man on the gallery, I shouted to them that we were friends, and meant no harm. Handing my gun to one of the deputies, I went inside the gate and, again speaking to the man on the gallery, said the party was composed of the sheriff of Mobile county, and a posse, who were searching for two alleged murderers, who were on the road and had passed his house.

"As soon as my manner and words assured the man on the gallery that a mistake had been made as to the character of the party, he called to the men in the yard, who came forward armed with Winchesters, and mutual explanations were made. Mr. James gave us a hearty supper which was thoroughly enjoyed by every man in the party. The men at James' house were mounted, but their neighborhood quarrel, and the fact that they intended the next morning to round up their stock, were given as the reasons which prevented their offering to mount a portion of my posse.

"We left James house and soon afterward were overtaken by the Churchwell brothers and Mr. D. R. Coaker, on horseback. The party then took turns, riding and marching till daylight. At daylight we stopped at the house of Thomas J. Jones. Here we again hoped to find the two men, but learned that they had stayed all night at the house of a Mr. Brewer, six miles further on.

"My men trudged on without a murmur or complaint, after a chase that began Thursday afternoon, and had continued without rest until then, Saturday morning, till we got to Brewer's house. Here we learned that Deace and Ryan had, after an early breakfast, started out at 5 o'clock in the morning. I came to the conclusion that my men must have rest. Mr. Thomas Jones had now joined our party and to S. T. Churchwell; G.W. Churchwell, Tom Jones and W. A. Coaker, I suggested that they continue the pursuit on horseback. I finally proposed to add $50 to the reward of $200 heretofore offered, assured the men that I would see it paid as soon as I arrived in Mobile; and the men mounted their horses and started in pursuit.

"I learned that since Friday morning my men and I had traversed forty-eight miles of the hardest country for pedestrian exercise I had ever experienced. We got breakfast and were asleep as soon as we lay down.

"From the three Greene county men who came down to Mobile the story of the capture was obtained. They knew every inch of the country, and kept on the trail of the men, starting at 4:30 o'clock and keeping to the Paulding road. After riding twenty-four miles on the trail of the two men, they saw them leaving the road, making toward the head of a dry branch. When within about one hundred yards, the four men dismounted, and presenting their Winchesters, ordered the fleeing men to halt and throw up their hands. Ryan complied with the request at once, while Deace slowly obeyed the order. One hand went up while the other was apparently put behind him and it only went up at a second command. All the deputies now advanced and handcuffed them. Only Deace had any arms, and this proved to be the pistol he was known to possess and which it is believed he used in the killing of Thomas. It is a 45-calibre double action Colt's frontier pattern, nickel plate and with pearl trimming. This was empty, and Deace asserted that if he had ammunition, he could have used it in an argument with his captors.

"Deace asked what he was taken for and when told that the sheriff of Mobile had been on his track for two days and would take him back to Mobile, he asked his captors to take him to Waynesboro. The two men appeared tired and jaded. Ryan said he was ready to go back to Mobile and stand trial; that he had done nothing to anybody. He was tired and worn out, and had got caught and was willing to stand his trial. All he asked was for a fair trial and asked that he be protected from a mob. He said he left only because of his fear of a mob. The two prisoners were then mounted on horses, tied together with the bridles. Upon an assurance being made them of protection by Sheriff Dorlan the men appeared relieved.

"To the Churchwell's, Jones and Coaker, as they rode back to Jones' house, Deace spoke very freely of the cause of his arrest. He admitted the killing and insisted that Ryan was not implicated.

was that Thomas had gone home with him on Monday night last at 10 o'clock and with Ryan the three took a drink; that they had taken several together that evening. Thomas asked him to go down to the depot and take another drink. Deace remarked that all the places were closed. The three started back down town. Thomas kept referring to the fact that some people said he couldn't take him (Deace), but he could take any d--d man; that he had killed Fincher, and as soon as his gun cooled off there were several more around Whistler he was going to get. Deace said he told Thomas he (Deace) was nothing to take or capture, and Thomas said, "You --, I'll do you like I done Fincher," and threw his hand behind him. Deace said that at this moment he began shooting and shot six times at Thomas. Thomas then ran into him and shoved him down and fell on him and as he thought Thomas was going to cut him he began to beat Thomas over the head with the pistol. John Ryan ran up to pull Thomas off of him. Thomas was on top, Deace stated. Ryan had a decanter of whiskey in his hand, and in striking at Thomas, he (Deace) struck the decanter of whiskey and broke it. Ryan dragged Thomas off him. He said he was afraid of a mob and arose and left, as he had no cartridges. In description of the flight given by Deace, he also stated he might have overshot Thomas at the first two shots. Deace spoke freely and often returned to the subject.

"He stated that he was on his way to Sandersville, Miss., while Ryan stated that he was going there and then to his parents at Ellisville, Miss., on the Northeastern road.

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