Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 January 1889 — A TRAGIC STORY. [ARTICLE]

A TRAGIC STORY.

A Father Rescues Bis Eloping Daugh ters,' Ki Is Two Young Men and 0,.e oi His Children* The little town of Bolar, in Mercer county, Missouri, furnishes the following tragic story: Henry Thomas, an old farmer, has four grown daughters, named Hattie, Margaret, Nancy and Jane, aged sixteen, eighteen, twenty and twenty-two years, respectively. Last Wednesday night, Samuel and Charles Hasburn, brothers, procured a ladder and helped Margaret and Jane out of a second-story window o{ their father’s house, and as they were about to elope with the girls the old man appeared on the scene, but too late to prevent their escape. He at once procured the best horse he had and a shotgun and started in hot pursuit. When about t * elve miles from home he overtook the fleeing party He immediately opened fire on them, killing both theboys and seriously wounding Margaret. After gettiug nearly home with the girls he was told that the other two, Hattie and Nancy, had also eloped with Ned Greason and Thomas Allison. He at once left the girls he had with him in charge of seme neighbors, and started after the others. After securing the other two girls without any serious trouble, he started back, but when about two miles from home a mob took possession of him and strung him up to a tree. The old man was terribly strict with the girls. He would hardly let them out of is sight, hence the elopement. He always bragged that he would not be bothered with lazy sons-in-law. Public feeling is strongly in favor of the lynching. Margaret died Saturday night.