Description
Man Murdered by Negro! - Great Excitement! - The Negro To Be Burned! - Full Particulars! - - This morning our citizens were shocked by the announcement that Mr. F. M. Wright, for 10 years a prominent citizen of St. Joseph, had been murdered on the evening previous on the Gentryville road, 4 miles from town. The circumstances are briefly, as we gathered them, about as follows:
A negro in Gentry county was bringing him to this city in a buggy. When he had reached a point near the farm of Mr. Thomas Hubbard about four miles North-East of this city, it appears the negro, taking advantage of a moment of inadvertence with a pistol in his own possession, or one taken from the person of Mr. Wright, shot him through the heart, inflicting a wound which proved fatal almost instantly.
The negro then made his escape, and the horse attached to the baggy proceeded a few hundred yards to the premises of Mr. Hubbard, where the condition of the murdered man was discovered. The report of the pistol was distinctly heard by persons at Mr. Hubbard’s.
The evidence that the negro committed the crime is his flight, and the fact that Mr. Wright’s watch and a large sum of money was found upon his person, nothing having been taken but some papers, among which is supposed to be the bill of sale of the negro.
Parties were dispatched in pursuit of the murderer, and a reward of $500 has been offered by W. H. Wash and Wm. M. Carter for his arrest. It is hoped he may be brought to speedy justice. A special messenger has been dispatched to St. Louis for Mrs. Wright, who is at present in that city, and until her arrival the remains will probably be preserved. - St. Joseph Gazette, 13th.
P.S. Since the above was type, the telegraph informs us that the negro has been arrested, and that the citizens of St. Joseph were making preparations to burn him. Considerable excitement existed.
(Researcher's note: Francis Marion Wright was a slave trader who operated out of St. Joseph, Missouri, for 10 years and was known to come into Platte County, Missouri. He was frequently mentioned in The Kansas Narrative of John Doy.)Date(s) of Creation
7/14/1859
