Lincoln
Waggoner
Outlaw
of Webster Parish
Lincoln
Waggoner was
born about 1866 in Claiborne
Parish, Minden Louisiana and
died there at the hands of some
of the citizens of Minden on
September 9, 1894. Lincoln was
the youngest son of John M and
Mary Cook Waggoner, well known
family of Minden. Lincoln's was
named in honor of Abraham
Lincoln, his father John fought
in the Civil War. According to
census records the Waggoner
family had ten children. They
were listed as Seth,
Matthew, Jesse, Pollock, Alconia
( A.L.), Etha M, Lincoln,
Anna ,John D, and Mary A
G.; By 1900 only
5 children were still living; a
daughter widowed and residing
with her parents, and two sons,
Seth and Alconia and their
families nearby. Matthew, Link,
and Spank all had met their
fates years before. The location
of the other siblings at this
time is unknown, if you would
like to add to this please email me with your additons.
The
following is a report by the
Associated Press a week after
the murder of Lincoln Waggoner
at the hands of a mob in Minden,
Louisiana.
WAGGONER'S
CAREER
Sketch
of a Man Who Might Have Led A
Better Life
He
Meets Death Defiantly Cursing
And Abusing His Slayers -A
Daring Man Well Known In Eastern
Texas
Sept
16, 1894 "Associated
Press dispatches several days
ago gave an account of the
shooting to death Link
Waggoner, who was killed
by a mob in the parish jail at
Minden, La. The particulars of
the taken off of Waggoner are
familiar to most readers of the
news. He was charged with
various killings, and the
country in and around his
home got to hot to hold him. He
was finally located in Texas
where Sheriff Spradley of
Nacogdoches, and after a long
palaver was induced to surrender
peaceably. The Waggoner family
are well known throughout East
Texas, and the following sketch
of Link Waggoner, taken from the
Shreveport Caucasian, will prove
of interest: About
1'oclock on the morning of
the 9th the citizens who reside
in the vicinity of the jail were
aroused by prisoners who were
screaming at the top of their
voices. A mob had been organized
and had succeeded in killing
their man and leaving their town
in the short time of thirty
minutes. The cries of the
prisoners were terrible to hear
and added to the confusion
matters. Three white men were in
the cell with Waggoner , and
were compelled to hold him while
he was shot to death. Waggoner
defied his enemies to the last.
In his dying agony he cursed
them and told them to shoot. He
said that if he had a pistol he
could whip the whole crowd. He
was shot twelve times and died
within a few minutes. The mob is
supposed to have contained about
forty men. The citizens greatly
deplore this evidence against
mob law in the parish.
"
There lived in Webster Parish
before and during the late war a
respectable and hard working
farmer , by the name of John
Waggoner, who was a union man
all through those terrible four
years of grim-visaged
carnage. About the close
of the war another rosy cheeked
chubby fisted baby was
added to the Waggoner family and
named Lincoln, in honor the
president Abraham Lincoln.
Waggoner's sturdy brood of boys
were raised up on the farm, and
in early years were no better
and no worse than any other
boys. ""
Tud Gryder, also a resident of
Webster, married a cousin of the
Waggoner boys, and as a
consequence became very intimate
with them. In a difficulty one
day several years ago with
Matt Waggoner he inflicted
injuries on him which Matt
died. Gryder was arrested,
and on preliminary examination
was discharged on grounds of
self defense. This fact seemed
to rankle in the bosom of the
younger Waggoner boys, who were
determined to be avenged.
Gryder moved to Bossier Parish
in 1888, where he followed his
occupation of farming. The
Waggoner's kept up apparent
friendship with him, however,
and the five brothers of the
victim paid him a visit, and for
several days passed the time
pleasantly in hunting and
fishing. During their visit
Gryder was on one occasion
plowing in his field. The only
person with him being his six
year old son. Without a word and
never dreaming of danger, Gryder
was shot down and killed.
His little son said his uncles
did the shooting, and they were
indicted for the murder and
tried at Bellvue. then the
parish seat of Bossier. They
were all acquitted save Spark,
who was convicted and sentenced
to the state penitentiary for
life. Spark was killed by
falling walls, when a tornado
struck the penitentiary about
two years ago and so badly
damaged.
A
few months later Link Waggoner
and a friend, Mr M S Newsom,
both of whom had been drinking,
were returning home from a
country store. With them was a
little boy who had a puppy.
Newsom took the puppy and cut
its throat, despite the
protestations of Link and
the boy's tearful
entreaties. Link and Newsom
quarreled about this act of
cruelty, and Link told Newsom he
wanted nothing more to do with
him. The next time they
met was at Wylie's mill in
Claiborne Parish. After a few
words they both drew their
pistols and fired. Newsom missed
, but Link Waggoner's bullet
found lodgment in Newsom's body,
who fell badly hurt. He got a
change of venue to Lincoln
Parish where he got turned loose
on his second trial. Cam
Bloomfield , a negro was a
witness against Link for the
shooting of Newsom, and before
Link's trial came off Bloomfield
was killed. This murder was laid
at Link's door and he was
indicted by the grand jury of
Webster Parish for the same.
Bloomfield out of the way is the
reason Link escaped punishment
for shooting Newsom. Arguing on
the same line, doubtless, Link
concluded that if Wortham,
another witness was out of the
way, he would be cleared
of killing
Bloomfield. And so Wortham
was killed. Who killed him
will never be known, positively
as Link is dead and he is likely
the only man who ever knew.
In
the course of time the case of
the state of Louisiana against
Link Waggoner, for the murder of
Cam Bloomfield was duly called
at Bellvue. There were no direct
witnesses, and J A W Lowry then
district attorney, entered a
nolle prosequi. Five years
ago W W S Holland settled
in Webster Parish, a short
distance from the Waggoner
homestead, He cultivated
two or three different pieces of
ground and in 1892 rented thirty
acres from old Mr Waggoner.
Holland was a frugal man and
reputed to have saved several
hundred dollars. He offered to
buy the place where he lived but
as Mr Waggoner wanted 800
dollars for it. Holland
considered it to much and the
negotiations, so far as he was
concerned were declared
off. Holland then contemplated
moving which aroused the ire of
his landlord, who it is alleged,
uttered threats against Holland.
Everything went on
peacefully and quietly for
a few months, but on the night
of November 12, 1892, a deed was
done that sent a thrill of
horror and indignation through
the people of Webster
Parish. On the night in
question, the industrious, hard
working farmer, Holland, was
sitting in front of the
fireplace holding his little
baby in his arms. The fire
burned merrily and brightly and
lit up the room, with a mellow
light. The front door of the
house was open, and the night
was not so very cold. The good
wife was in the back yard
feeding the pigs, and a little
dog that acted as a faithful
guardian was stretched out on
the front gallery. The lowing of
milk cows was heard now and then
a short distance
away, and the cooing and the
lisping of the little babe as it
looked into the cheerful fire
and dangled on it's father's
knee, formed a domestic pastoral
picture of contentment and
happiness. Suddenly the watchdog
barked and ran into the yard.
Holland looked around startled
and with his baby in his arms,
stepped to the front door to
shut it. As he did the loud
report of a shotgun rang out in
front and a load of buckshot
struck him in the right
shoulder, arm and back. The baby
was not hit.
Holland
turned and ran to a back room,
his wife hearing the report of
the gun, hurried into the house
and as she passed he whispered
to her to bring his Winchester
rifle, At the same time a
voice without called to bring
the rifle to the front gallery.
Going to the front room Mrs
Holland secured the weapon and
brought the rifle to her
husband. Taking the Winchester
in his left hand Holland kneeled
beside a bed with the rifle
resting on it and pointing it
toward the front door. His
clothes were saturated
with blood and his right arm
riddled with buckshot, hung limp
by his side. He suffered intense
pain. In such a position he
waited the entrance of his would
be murderer. In a few moments
the man on the outside
left. He then told his wife to
go for a doctor, and to take the
money which he had in a trunk
and their three children. This
she did. It was quite awhile
before the doctor and his
assistants arrived. At first it
was thought that the wounded man
had no show of life, but after
the long siege, he recovered but
suffered the amputation of his
arm. Link Waggoner had
been seen in the old
neighborhood of his home a few
days before the shooting
of Holland. He was promptly
indicted In the meantime he
returned to his new home in
Texas, He evaded arrest till
November when Deputy Sheriff of
Webster Parish went to
Nacogdoches County and laid the
matter out to the sheriff
Spradley. Sheriff Spradley
at once organized a posse and
proceeded to the Waggoner
homestead. Arriving the posse
surrounded the house when Link
saw them he appeared at the door
with a revolver in his
hand, but he saw that the jig
was up and surrendered after a
deal of parleying on the part of
himself and relatives. Deputy
Reagan passed through Shreveport
with his prisoner and took him
to Minden. Afterward the
prisoner was brought back to
Shreveport and placed in jail
for safe keeping. When the
Webster parish court met last
March Link was tried and
acquitted of trying to
assassinate Holland, and was
immediately rearrested for
stealing a mule. He then was
conveyed to the Monroe Jail for
security, as the prejudice
against him in Webster was very
great.
"Link Waggoner was a dare devil
handsome man. He was over six
feet in height, rode a horse
like a centaur, was one of the
best marksman in the
country with a Winchester or a
pistol, and was as graceful as a
woman. He had long black curly
hair and looked for all the
world as a typical early
day scout Some say that he
was not as black as he was
painted, and that his heart was
full of tenderness."Link Waggoner was a dare devil
handsome man. He was over six
feet in height, rode a horse
like a centaur, was one of the
best marksman in the
country with a Winchester or a
pistol, and was as graceful as a
woman. He had long black curly
hair and looked for all the
world as a typical early
day scout Some say that he
was not as black as he was
painted, and that his heart was
full of tenderness."
His
deeds of daring and half
breadth, escapes quite equal
those of late Jesse James and
furnish a rich and wonderful
mine for at least twenty
half dime novels. Before long
some imaginative novelist may
arise that will do his memory
justice by preserving in such
literature of edification of the
youth of the land. Luke
Waggoner and the late Tom Kinder
hated one another like poison.
The reason for this hatred grew
out of the fact that Kinder had
been connected to the posse that
had pursued Link. One one
occasion Kinder and a posse were
pursing Link and Kinder fired on
him wounding him in one arm and
also striking a fine stallion
that Link was riding, This did
not stop the fleeing horseman
and his steed however Link soon
left his poorly mounted chasers
behind, waving them polite
adieux as the distance between
them increased. Link rode a
piece further and
dismounted and tied a note
addressed to his family, to the
saddle and let the horse loose
to go home while he sought the
sylvan quietude of the Arkansas
wilds."
While
in Arkansas a posse surrounded
him and arrested him in
Murfesboro He was taken to the
Claiborne Parish jail and one
night a mob stormed the jail for
the purpose of lynching him.
With a six shooter in each hand
, which had been furnished him
he stood them off, and after
several shots had been
exchanged the mob
dissolved and went home
disgusted. Link succeeded in
wounding two of his inhospitable
visitors,. On another occasion
Link had a fine mare shot, that
he was riding while out running
a posse, He employed the same
tactics of escaping as he did in
the first instance.While
in Arkansas a posse surrounded
him and arrested him in
Murfesboro He was taken to the
Claiborne Parish jail and one
night a mob stormed the jail for
the purpose of lynching him.
With a six shooter in each hand
, which had been furnished him
he stood them off, and after
several shots had been
exchanged the mob
dissolved and went home
disgusted. Link succeeded in
wounding two of his inhospitable
visitors,. On another occasion
Link had a fine mare shot, that
he was riding while out running
a posse, He employed the same
tactics of escaping as he did in
the first instance.
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