Henry Long murder 1880 - The White Caps - Blue River, Harrison County, IN
Would some kind soul be able to look-up these 2 newspaper articles from April/May 1880 for me ?
New Albany Daily Ledger Standard 28 Apr 1880 p4 c2:
The Terrible Tragedy! The Fearful Work of a Masked Vigilance Committee and Their Leader, Louis Henriotte, Shot. Harrrison County Horror. Henry Long, a Native of This City, Shot, but He Still Lives and is Game to the Last. Remarkable Resistance. Of Long and His Desperate Daring Under Dangerous Circumstances. Long’s Family Warned to Leave. And Some of the Neighbors Notifed Likewise Under Penalty of Hanging and Houseburning.. . . .
New Albany Daily Ledger Standard 1 May 1880 p4 c4:
Harrison County’s Horror! Henry Long Died this Forenoon, and He Made a Dying Statement; Trouble Threatened. And another Mob will More than Likely Enact Other Devilish Deeds. . .
I am trying to find out more details about the involvement in this murder by a certain Chris Dinklocker, also known as
J. C. Dinkelaker, his name at birth was Johann Christian Dinkelacker.
Here is some more background to this case:
Beginning in 1880, the epoch of white capping took a fateful turn in the county. Until this period, chastisements had taken the form of warnings and whippings but with the arrest of Henry Long in April 1880, a sensational incident in Harrison County history began.
The case against Long began when Long, a distrusted, self made lawyer, was jailed for the murder of Chris Dinklocker who had disappeared. It was a known fact that Long and Dinklocker were rivals. The trial began on April 27, 1880 and was a county wide spectacle involving many witnesses to the alleged murder and many spectators. Long decided to represent himself, feeling that the entire episode was staged to arrest and disarm him. He arranged for his wife to smuggle a pistol to him in jail. During the trial one hundred hooded men rode up and rushed the courtroom in an attempt to seize Long. He grabbed the smuggled pistol and killed one of the white caps and escaped in a hail of gunfire. He was later found dead of a head wound. Several men were indicted for Long's murder but only one was jailed for non-payment of a sixty dollar fine. After the murder of Long the supposedly murdered Chris Dinklocker surfaced. He reported that he had "been out of the county." The first death in the county attributed to the white caps had occurred.
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THE "WHITE CAPS"
In 1873 there came into existence a secret organization known as the "Harrison County Regulators", a society which had signs, grips, passwords and binding obligations. The name "White CAPS" was suggested by the white hoods worn by them as a disguise. Each council had two officers a captain and a lieutenant, and their place of meeting was in some sequested spot at midnight. At these meetings they heard reports from committees of investigation and decided on the punishment for alleged misdemeanors. The members were then provided with strong hickory switches, and upon command of the captain the company galloped away on its mission of vindicating the offended law.
Within the next few years over twenty cases of White Capping occured. The number of lashed given was usually fifty but sometimes as many as seventy-five were given. It was useless to appeal to the courts for nothing could ever be proved against the accused Regulators.
The first sacrifice of life in these hazardous White Cap operations was in Blue River township on the night of April twenty-sixth, 1880. Henry Long was termed a "jack leg lawyer" and accused of stirring up strife in the neighborhood. He was a man of well known courage and they resorted to a ruse to avert danger to themselves. They had him arrested on a trumped up charge and the trial set at night with a long array of witnesses to prolong it until a late hour.
The trial was proceeding before Squire Archibald Boston when the Regulators appeared. Long had been disarmed but a friend had managed to slip him a revolver. He sprang to the door and shot the first masked man who entered. He lived but a short time and proved to be Louis Henriott, a leading citizen in the township. After the first shot the revolver failed to work or he would no doubt have succeeded in selling his life more dearly. Almost miraculously he escaped the mob, not however, before receiving a shot in the head that resulted in his death a few days later.
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J.C. Dinkelaker is buried at Mount Tabor cemetery, Depauw, he served in Company E, Indiana 13th Cavalry Regiment in the Civil War. He was born in 1833 in Sindelfingen, Germany,
he probably died on or before 26 March 1900 in Blue River.
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Karl L Held
Liverpool, UK