Murder on a Steamboat; Bowie Knife Involved

From Vincent’s Semi-Annual Register, May 1860:

A TERRIBLE TRAGEDY. -- TWO MEN MURDERED. 

This day, a terrible tragedy occurred on board the steamer B. L. Hodge, while on her way to New Orleans, and near Shreveport, La., a man named B. L. Heath being the chief actor. His reasons for committing the atrocious deed are variously ascribed to insanity, the ill and morbid disposition of a deformed man who believes himself shunned by his fellow-men, and, lastly, to his being crossed in his love for a beautiful woman, whom he has haunted for years, and by whom he was peremptorily denied and rebuked some two months ago. While Mr. Charles M. Forb, of Robinson county, Tenn., and Mr. R. J. Lyle, of Nashville, were playing cards in the cabin, about midnight, Heath entered and seated himself by them, who paid him no attention. In a few minutes he rose deliberately from his seat, and, drawing a large bowie-knife, seized Forb by the hair of the head, and, before the others of the party were aware of his intentions, stabbed him to the heart, producing almost instant death. Lyle immediately grasped the murderer by the arm, but, freeing himself by a deadly effort, the latter plunged the deadly weapon into the former's neck, inflicting a wound from the effects of which he in a few moments expired. Another man, Mr. F. G. Jernigan, was also stabbed by the monster, but not fatally, when a bystander, getting a large iron chair, dealt Heath a blow on the head which felled him senseless to the floor, and, before he had recovered, he was securely bound and taken to New Orleans. The murderer had upon his person at the time of his arrest several other knives and a revolver. He is a deformed creature, small in stature, broken-backed [hunchbacked], and about twenty-eight years of age. He said he was a native of Weston, Lewis county, Va., and that he had been teaching school at a place called Knoxville, in Cherokee county, Texas. The reason given by him for committing the deed was, that they were the parties who were seeking his life, although they had never met before.

Bowie Knife Murder in Brooklyn

The following account of a vicious bowie knife murder in Brooklyn in 1872 is from Recollections of a New York Chief of Police (1887), by George Washington Walling. Contrary to popular opinion, use of the bowie knife was not restricted to the South and West.

I do not remember a bloodier assassination than that of Nicholas W. Duryea by John E. Simmons, outside Sutherland's restaurant on Liberty Street, on the 16th of December, 1872. Duryea represented a Brooklyn clique of policy players. Simmons was one of the Simmons Brothers -- "Eph," John E. and William C. -- who conducted a Kentucky lottery at No. 17 Liberty Street. There had been bad blood between Duryea and Simmons for some time. On the evening in question they were to have a business talk, and settle some important matters.

What really occurred at this interview will never fully be known. It was certainly not satisfactory to Simmons, for when the two men left the office they came to blows. In the struggle both men fell, Simmons being the "under dog." They rolled on the sidewalk for half a minute, when Duryea cried out: "G-d d--- you, fight fair! Let me up!"

Simmons's only response was to draw a huge, glittering bowie-knife, sharp as a razor on both edges. With a pumping motion, he thrust the shining weapon into Duryea's body as often as the nervous motion of the assassin's arm would permit.

"Golly! It was red hot!" said a little boot-black afterward, who was asked to describe the fight to the coroner's jury.

After the first lunge of the knife Duryea said little. When his opponent continued to stab, there was a muffled groan of "murder!" and Duryea offered no further resistance. Simmons tried to rise, but the stabbing had been so fierce and so promiscuous that nearly all the life-blood in Duryea's body had been let out, and the sidewalk was covered with the slippery crimson fluid. In rising, Simmons slipped in his foe's blood and fell and fractured one of his ankles. This did not prevent him from shrieking exultingly over his bleeding victim: "Now I've got the best of you!"

He was led to a chair in Sutherland's restaurant, sat down and calmly awaited arrest. The horrible tragedy and his own personal peril did not appear to affect him nearly as much as the condition of his ankle. He repeatedly asked when the surgeon would come, and when an officer walked into the restaurant and made him a prisoner, he asked whiningly when he could be attended to. He had to be carried to the Second Precinct station-house, where Captain Caffrey was in command. Duryea's body had been taken there, and was a hideous sight. Before the combat he had been splendidly attired in the finest linen, with diamonds in his shirt front, a $100 overcoat with a fur collar on his back and patent leather boots on his feet. Now he was one mass of gore. Blood flowed from sixteen wounds.

Dr. F. Le Roy Satterlee attended Simmons's foot, and sent him to the Park Hospital under guard. The knife with which the deed was committed was not found until lanterns were procured; and it was then discovered that Simmons's energy had been so great that the keen point of the weapon had been broken off in Duryea's body.

Simmons had many daring friends, and a plot was arranged to take him by force from the Park Hospital. This plan was frustrated by his being removed to Bellevue under a strong guard. By no means discouraged, his friends influenced Coroner Patsy Keenan to hold a mock inquest at the hospital. Simmons, however, was not smart enough to get out of town, possibly because the bones of his ankle were not entirely knitted. So District Attorney Samuel B. Garvin was able to override the coroner and get the murderer re-arrested. He was tried, convicted and served an inadequate term in the State prison. He is now a gambler in this city.

The New York Times, which gave ample coverage to the crime and subsequent trial, provided this interesting detail:

When the officer reached the scene of the tragedy, a search was made for the weapon, resulting in its being found in the front cellarway, having evidently been coolly dropped through the iron grating. It proved to be a bowie-knife made by Rodgers, of Birmingham, England, the blade of which was six inches long. Near the spot where Duryea's body had lain was a scabbard of scarlet Russian leather, fitting the knife exactly. The blade of the knife was covered with blood, and the point was broken off. . . . The brass tip of the scabbard was off when the sheath was found at the scene of the murder by Officer Webber. Simmons may have carried the knife for months before and never dreamed that the little brass tip of the scabbard would prove him a murderer. On returning to the Station-house with the knife and scabbard, Officer Webber handed them to Capt. Caffrey. Simmons, who was in the rear room of the Station-house, was at once searched. His watch and chain, and pocket-knife were taken from him. And just as the search was being given over, down in the pocket of his overcoat was found the little brass tip of the scabbard. It fitted the scabbard perfectly and completed the chain of evidence.

Hmm, what the Police Chief described as "a huge, glittering bowie-knife" had a blade six-inches long. I would regard six inches as the bare minimum length for a knife to be called a bowie. As far as I'm concerned,  huge bowies start at ten inches and above. An average person would describe a Cold Steel Natchez Bowie as huge.

The Cold Steel Natchez Bowie, top, is "huge." The Cold Steel Laredo Bowie, below, is "large."

Bowie Knife Double Murder Committed by Doctor

In 1860, a dispute between two doctors in the village of Warrenton, Mississippi, resulted in the deaths of two men. The following account draws from an article titled “Life in the South,” published in the Chicago Press and Tribune (June 6, 1860).

Dr. S. G. Bell (identified as Dr. Thomas Beall in another account) had been paying social calls on the sisters of Dr. Isaac N. Selser, but the sisters told their brother that his visits were no longer agreeable to them. Selser wrote Bell to request that he no longer drop by. Bell took great offense at this and wrote an insulting reply.

A concert was given in Warrenton on Monday night. Dr. Selser attended in company with his brother-in-law, Mr. Willam DeGriffin, a young planter, living opposite in Louisiana. On leaving the concert they fell in with, or overtook Dr. Bell. Dr. Selser approached him and asked him for an explanation of the note which had been sent to him. In a moment, as is stated by the witnesses, Dr. Bell drew a Bowie knife or dirk, and made a blow at Dr. Selser. The knife entered the neck to the depth of five inches, severing the carotid artery, and inflicting a ragged gash seven inches in length.

His left wrist was also nearly severed by another blow. M. DeGriffin steeped up and immediately caught Dr. Bell by the arm, in order to protect his brother-in-law, when he, too, received from Dr. Bell a stab in the left breast, which penetrated to a considerable depth entirely severing his left lung.

Dr. Selser died almost without a groan, and Mr. DeGriffin fell immediately. The friends who had gathered around, proceeded to remove the body of Dr. Selser, thinking both were dead. In about half an hour, or such a time, they went to remove the body of Mr. DeGriffin, when it was found that the vital spark was not yet extinct. His body was at once removed to the nearest house, where he remained for some time in an unconscious condition, and stimulants were administered to him by Dr. Pettis, but he soon died.

Such murders by a member of the social elite were by no means extraordinary in the Old South when honor was challenged.

Bowie Knife Killing in 1838

The following is a report of a bowie-knife killing published in the Daily National Intelligencer, December 20, 1838:

Cincinnati, Dec. 10. An atrocious murder was committed in this city on Friday night last, at a house of ill fame, by a man (retained in the establishment) by the name of Thomas Butler, who, with a Bowie knife, stabbed a young man by the name of James T. White, a clerk in a commission house on Broadway. Mr. White was married, but his wife is not residing in this city.
   
We understand that some disturbance took place in an upper room of the establishment, (but with which Mr. White had nothing to do,) which attracted the notice of Butler, who immediately started for the scene of riot. In going upstairs, he met Mr. White coming down, and instantly gave him two fatal stabs in the region of the heart, and so far as is known, without the slightest provocation. White died almost instantly. Butler made his escape, and has not yet been arrested. The Mayor offers a reward of $250 for his apprehension.
   
The unprovoked character of this murder, the place where it was committed, the domestic ties and character of the deceased, all contribute to render the occurrence exceedingly shocking to every virtuous and well-regulated mind. We trust that it will furnish a salutary lesson to the young men of this city, and will teach them to avoid all such detestable places of vice and rowdyism as they would the pestilential effluvia of the plagues of Egypt.

Nineteenth-century journalists did not hesitate to offer a moral at the end of a story!