Autograph letter, signed, describing a gun fight and murder of a man after he had attempted to sleep with a free mulatto woman in another man's house

Clarksville, Texas, 1854. 2 pages. On blue paper. 4to. 2 pages. On blue paper. 4to. The incident started when Charles H. Peabody, a wealthy jeweler, tried to bed a free mulatto in the house of Miles Husbands and was driven off by Albert Western [misidentified as Weston in the letter], his father-in-law. A few days later Peabody returned to confront him, and a fracas ensued. Shots were fired and missed, but Western succeeded after a brief hand fight with a second pistol. After describing the events, Whitaker writes "... some of the men think no more of killing a man here than you would of killing a hog."

For a detailed description of the murder, see page 2 of the July 8, 1854 issue of the Clarksville Standard, under the headline Awful Tragedy.