Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 May 1886 — LAID LOW BY LEADEN BULLETS. [ARTICLE]

LAID LOW BY LEADEN BULLETS.

Martinsville, Va., the Scene of a Bloody and Fatal Combat Between Angry Citizens. [Martinsville (Va.) telegrana.J No greater tragedy has occured in Virginia in a decade than that which fills thia town with gloom and excitement. In a fight on a crowded street many shots were fired, and as a result Jacob Terry, a young farmer, is dead, and the life-blood of his two brothers, J. K. Terry and Benjamin Terry, is fast ebbing away. Colonel P. D. Spencer, a prominent business man and manufacturer; Tarlton Brown, proprietor of Brown’s tobacco warehouse; B. L. Jones, a saloon-keeper; R. L. Gregory, a hotelclerk, and Sandy Martin, a negro, are all dangerously wounded. All the parties are prominent in the business life of this place and well known in Southern Virginia. The affair was due to the posting of an . anonymous circular seriously reflecting on W. K. Terry, a young business man, and his father, the late William Terry, a prominent citizen. Yesterday morning Terry telegraphed for his two brothers, J. K. and Benjamin, living at Aiken Station, twenty miles away. They arrived at 1 p. m., and alter a brief consultation went to the printing office and demanded the author of the card. The printer told them it was Col. P. D. Spencer, a member of the town board, and one of the leading business men. Last evening, soon after the tobacco factory had closed for the day and the streets were filled with operatives returning from their work, the Terry brothers started in the d rection of Spencer’s factory. When about half way they were met by Spencer, with his brother and several friends. W. K. Terry addressed a few words to Spencer; whp told him not to shoot. Just then some one fired a pistol and precipitated the fight. Forty shots were fired. W. K. Terry was shot from the rear, the-ball entering near his spine and lodging in his right breast. Jacob Terry was shot through the abdomen and fell dead. Benjamin Terry was shot through the neck and in the body. Spencer was shot in the hip, and his business partner, Tarlton Brown, received two balls in the groin. Gregory and Martin were hit by stray balls. The Terrys are well known, and occupy a high social position. None of them is married. All the business houses in Martinsville are closed to day. Gen. Sheridan says the malaria he caught when he accompanied President Arthur to the Yellowstone, three years ago, still hangs on and returns to give him a shake every seventh and twenty-first day as regular as clock-work-