The son of Emilie Collin Weber; married Emilie Gondran of Donaldsonville.
The Donaldsonville Chief.
March 10, 1877
Page 2; Column 1
A COWARDLY CRIME>
Assassination of D. A. Weber at St. Francisville - "No clue to the Perpetrators."
Another of those cold-blooded murders traceable only to political reasons, for which portions of Louisiana have become infamously conspicuous, occurred at the town of St. Francisville, parish of West Feliciana, on Wednesday last. D. A. Weber, a leading Republican and ex-Tax Collector of the parish, was shot down without a word of warning, as he was walking along the street about 3 o'clock in the afternoon on his way to dinner. He had just left the store of his brother-in-law Mr. Jules Gondran, and was passing a burying ground (Grace Episcopal) at a point opposite the Court House, when four or five shots were fired in rapid succession from an open window in the lower story of that building, and Mr. Weber fell forward on his face, into the gutter alongside the banquette, stone dead. Examination showed buckshot had lodged in his body, one passing through the heart, one entering the head directly between the eyes, one in the shoulder, one in the left wrist and four others in the left side. A number of balls were found in the vicinity flattened against the tombstones or railing of the iron fence around the cemetery.
A Coroner's inquest was held, but notwithstanding the time of day, the public character of the building from which the shots were fired, and the number of persons evidently participating in the fiendish assassination, the latest information which we have received is that no clue had yet been discovered by the Coroner or his jury which could lead to the detection of the perpetrators. It remains to be seen whether the offer of a reward of $5000 by each of our Governors, announced by proclamation in the city papers of yesterday, will sharpen the scent of the local authorities. We do not anticipate that it will, or that the murderers will ever be brought to punishment. There is too much precedent against such a contingency and absolutely none in its favor - for Mr. Weber was a leading Republican. The fear of meeting his fate would doubtless deter any witness of the deed from divulging the names of the assassins.
Those who have been intimate with Mr. Weber in West Feliciana assert their belief that, beyond the bounds of political prejudice, he had not an open enemy in the community. His genial and gentlemanly deportment towards all with whom he came in contact, his active interest in projects calculated to advance the welfare of the locality and its inhabitants, and his manifold acts of charity and benevolence, challenged the respect of all and won him the warm esteem of many whose political opinion differed from his own. In other places and under other conditions of society this circumstance would not be in anywise remarkable, but it is so in Feliciana.
We repeat that this dastardly assassination, which makes a widow of one of Donaldsonville's fairest daughters, and orphans of three innocent little babes, one of whom first saw the light scarcely three weeks ago, can only be ascribed to political reasons. In the first dispatch sent from Bayou Sara conveying information of the murder, it was stated that Mr. Weber had been going about with a gun threatening the lives of citizens. We have the most positive assurances of the utter falsity of this assertion. Weber had been robin hunting with a friend that morning; they had but one gun between them and brought home a dozen birds; in starting upon their hunt they did not even pass through town. But the best refutation of this transparent subterfuge by which it was essayed to palliate a deed which can find no grain of justification in the minds of brave or honorable men, is found in the fact that when the only articles found upon the body of the murdered man were two nickels, a bunch of keys and some private papers. It seems very likely, forsooth, that he was seeking any one's life when he ignored the most universal practice of wearing a revolver! The weak effort at palliation only serves to make the crime more hideous and glaring.
The body of Mr. Weber was brought to this place on the steamer Natchez Thursday evening, and taken to the residence of his father-in-law, Mr. Joseph Gondran, from whence the funeral cortege moved yesterday morning at 10 o'clock. Messrs. J. P. Newsham and Jules Gondran accompanied the remains here, while Senator E. L. Weber, brother of the deceased , and Senator John E. Breaux, an intimate friend, came up from New Orleans to attend the funeral. The pallbearers were Messrs. Gustave Dugas, Jos. C. Ayraud, R. P. Landry, B. Rybiski, Jos. Ferrier and Felix Reynaud. The remains were attended to the Catholic church and thence to the cemetery by a large group of friends and acquaintances of deceased, whose deep regret for the terrible taking off of an estimable young man in the pride of health and strength, and sincere sympathy with the bereaved relatives, was manifested in their sorrowful countenances.
Deceased was about 32 years of age and leaves, as above stated, a young widow who but three weeks ago presented her kind and loving husband with the third infant girl that had blessed their happy union of four brief years. All hearts with a spark of humanity will ache for the bereaved young wife and her fatherless babes, and for the fearful desolation of a happy home wrought in the twinkling of an eye by the dastard hands of assassins whose craven souls shrank from a meeting with their victim upon honorable or equal grounds.
Poor Don! It seems but a few weeks we saw you in the flush of manly strength kneeling at the altar with your fair bride, and pictured for you a long and happy life; and now your well remembered form lies in the cold embrace of the silent tomb, while your heart's blood, spilled upon the spot where you fell by the murderer's hand, cries to Heaven for the vengeance which Almighty God will visit in his own good time. Terrible as was thy fate, dear boy, it were far better to occupy thy place than that of the wretches with the brand of Cain on their brows who cut down thy young life in its prime, and whose fearful doom is written in the Book of Books.
Peace to thy ashes, Don, and may healing balm be sent from Heaven to sooth the sore and bleeding hearts of those who were near and dear to thee on earth.
The Donaldsonville Chief.
March 10, 1877
Page 2; Column 1
A COWARDLY CRIME>
Assassination of D. A. Weber at St. Francisville - "No clue to the Perpetrators."
Another of those cold-blooded murders traceable only to political reasons, for which portions of Louisiana have become infamously conspicuous, occurred at the town of St. Francisville, parish of West Feliciana, on Wednesday last. D. A. Weber, a leading Republican and ex-Tax Collector of the parish, was shot down without a word of warning, as he was walking along the street about 3 o'clock in the afternoon on his way to dinner. He had just left the store of his brother-in-law Mr. Jules Gondran, and was passing a burying ground (Grace Episcopal) at a point opposite the Court House, when four or five shots were fired in rapid succession from an open window in the lower story of that building, and Mr. Weber fell forward on his face, into the gutter alongside the banquette, stone dead. Examination showed buckshot had lodged in his body, one passing through the heart, one entering the head directly between the eyes, one in the shoulder, one in the left wrist and four others in the left side. A number of balls were found in the vicinity flattened against the tombstones or railing of the iron fence around the cemetery.
A Coroner's inquest was held, but notwithstanding the time of day, the public character of the building from which the shots were fired, and the number of persons evidently participating in the fiendish assassination, the latest information which we have received is that no clue had yet been discovered by the Coroner or his jury which could lead to the detection of the perpetrators. It remains to be seen whether the offer of a reward of $5000 by each of our Governors, announced by proclamation in the city papers of yesterday, will sharpen the scent of the local authorities. We do not anticipate that it will, or that the murderers will ever be brought to punishment. There is too much precedent against such a contingency and absolutely none in its favor - for Mr. Weber was a leading Republican. The fear of meeting his fate would doubtless deter any witness of the deed from divulging the names of the assassins.
Those who have been intimate with Mr. Weber in West Feliciana assert their belief that, beyond the bounds of political prejudice, he had not an open enemy in the community. His genial and gentlemanly deportment towards all with whom he came in contact, his active interest in projects calculated to advance the welfare of the locality and its inhabitants, and his manifold acts of charity and benevolence, challenged the respect of all and won him the warm esteem of many whose political opinion differed from his own. In other places and under other conditions of society this circumstance would not be in anywise remarkable, but it is so in Feliciana.
We repeat that this dastardly assassination, which makes a widow of one of Donaldsonville's fairest daughters, and orphans of three innocent little babes, one of whom first saw the light scarcely three weeks ago, can only be ascribed to political reasons. In the first dispatch sent from Bayou Sara conveying information of the murder, it was stated that Mr. Weber had been going about with a gun threatening the lives of citizens. We have the most positive assurances of the utter falsity of this assertion. Weber had been robin hunting with a friend that morning; they had but one gun between them and brought home a dozen birds; in starting upon their hunt they did not even pass through town. But the best refutation of this transparent subterfuge by which it was essayed to palliate a deed which can find no grain of justification in the minds of brave or honorable men, is found in the fact that when the only articles found upon the body of the murdered man were two nickels, a bunch of keys and some private papers. It seems very likely, forsooth, that he was seeking any one's life when he ignored the most universal practice of wearing a revolver! The weak effort at palliation only serves to make the crime more hideous and glaring.
The body of Mr. Weber was brought to this place on the steamer Natchez Thursday evening, and taken to the residence of his father-in-law, Mr. Joseph Gondran, from whence the funeral cortege moved yesterday morning at 10 o'clock. Messrs. J. P. Newsham and Jules Gondran accompanied the remains here, while Senator E. L. Weber, brother of the deceased , and Senator John E. Breaux, an intimate friend, came up from New Orleans to attend the funeral. The pallbearers were Messrs. Gustave Dugas, Jos. C. Ayraud, R. P. Landry, B. Rybiski, Jos. Ferrier and Felix Reynaud. The remains were attended to the Catholic church and thence to the cemetery by a large group of friends and acquaintances of deceased, whose deep regret for the terrible taking off of an estimable young man in the pride of health and strength, and sincere sympathy with the bereaved relatives, was manifested in their sorrowful countenances.
Deceased was about 32 years of age and leaves, as above stated, a young widow who but three weeks ago presented her kind and loving husband with the third infant girl that had blessed their happy union of four brief years. All hearts with a spark of humanity will ache for the bereaved young wife and her fatherless babes, and for the fearful desolation of a happy home wrought in the twinkling of an eye by the dastard hands of assassins whose craven souls shrank from a meeting with their victim upon honorable or equal grounds.
Poor Don! It seems but a few weeks we saw you in the flush of manly strength kneeling at the altar with your fair bride, and pictured for you a long and happy life; and now your well remembered form lies in the cold embrace of the silent tomb, while your heart's blood, spilled upon the spot where you fell by the murderer's hand, cries to Heaven for the vengeance which Almighty God will visit in his own good time. Terrible as was thy fate, dear boy, it were far better to occupy thy place than that of the wretches with the brand of Cain on their brows who cut down thy young life in its prime, and whose fearful doom is written in the Book of Books.
Peace to thy ashes, Don, and may healing balm be sent from Heaven to sooth the sore and bleeding hearts of those who were near and dear to thee on earth.
The son of Emilie Collin Weber; married Emilie Gondran of Donaldsonville.
The Donaldsonville Chief.
March 10, 1877
Page 2; Column 1
A COWARDLY CRIME>
Assassination of D. A. Weber at St. Francisville - "No clue to the Perpetrators."
Another of those cold-blooded murders traceable only to political reasons, for which portions of Louisiana have become infamously conspicuous, occurred at the town of St. Francisville, parish of West Feliciana, on Wednesday last. D. A. Weber, a leading Republican and ex-Tax Collector of the parish, was shot down without a word of warning, as he was walking along the street about 3 o'clock in the afternoon on his way to dinner. He had just left the store of his brother-in-law Mr. Jules Gondran, and was passing a burying ground (Grace Episcopal) at a point opposite the Court House, when four or five shots were fired in rapid succession from an open window in the lower story of that building, and Mr. Weber fell forward on his face, into the gutter alongside the banquette, stone dead. Examination showed buckshot had lodged in his body, one passing through the heart, one entering the head directly between the eyes, one in the shoulder, one in the left wrist and four others in the left side. A number of balls were found in the vicinity flattened against the tombstones or railing of the iron fence around the cemetery.
A Coroner's inquest was held, but notwithstanding the time of day, the public character of the building from which the shots were fired, and the number of persons evidently participating in the fiendish assassination, the latest information which we have received is that no clue had yet been discovered by the Coroner or his jury which could lead to the detection of the perpetrators. It remains to be seen whether the offer of a reward of $5000 by each of our Governors, announced by proclamation in the city papers of yesterday, will sharpen the scent of the local authorities. We do not anticipate that it will, or that the murderers will ever be brought to punishment. There is too much precedent against such a contingency and absolutely none in its favor - for Mr. Weber was a leading Republican. The fear of meeting his fate would doubtless deter any witness of the deed from divulging the names of the assassins.
Those who have been intimate with Mr. Weber in West Feliciana assert their belief that, beyond the bounds of political prejudice, he had not an open enemy in the community. His genial and gentlemanly deportment towards all with whom he came in contact, his active interest in projects calculated to advance the welfare of the locality and its inhabitants, and his manifold acts of charity and benevolence, challenged the respect of all and won him the warm esteem of many whose political opinion differed from his own. In other places and under other conditions of society this circumstance would not be in anywise remarkable, but it is so in Feliciana.
We repeat that this dastardly assassination, which makes a widow of one of Donaldsonville's fairest daughters, and orphans of three innocent little babes, one of whom first saw the light scarcely three weeks ago, can only be ascribed to political reasons. In the first dispatch sent from Bayou Sara conveying information of the murder, it was stated that Mr. Weber had been going about with a gun threatening the lives of citizens. We have the most positive assurances of the utter falsity of this assertion. Weber had been robin hunting with a friend that morning; they had but one gun between them and brought home a dozen birds; in starting upon their hunt they did not even pass through town. But the best refutation of this transparent subterfuge by which it was essayed to palliate a deed which can find no grain of justification in the minds of brave or honorable men, is found in the fact that when the only articles found upon the body of the murdered man were two nickels, a bunch of keys and some private papers. It seems very likely, forsooth, that he was seeking any one's life when he ignored the most universal practice of wearing a revolver! The weak effort at palliation only serves to make the crime more hideous and glaring.
The body of Mr. Weber was brought to this place on the steamer Natchez Thursday evening, and taken to the residence of his father-in-law, Mr. Joseph Gondran, from whence the funeral cortege moved yesterday morning at 10 o'clock. Messrs. J. P. Newsham and Jules Gondran accompanied the remains here, while Senator E. L. Weber, brother of the deceased , and Senator John E. Breaux, an intimate friend, came up from New Orleans to attend the funeral. The pallbearers were Messrs. Gustave Dugas, Jos. C. Ayraud, R. P. Landry, B. Rybiski, Jos. Ferrier and Felix Reynaud. The remains were attended to the Catholic church and thence to the cemetery by a large group of friends and acquaintances of deceased, whose deep regret for the terrible taking off of an estimable young man in the pride of health and strength, and sincere sympathy with the bereaved relatives, was manifested in their sorrowful countenances.
Deceased was about 32 years of age and leaves, as above stated, a young widow who but three weeks ago presented her kind and loving husband with the third infant girl that had blessed their happy union of four brief years. All hearts with a spark of humanity will ache for the bereaved young wife and her fatherless babes, and for the fearful desolation of a happy home wrought in the twinkling of an eye by the dastard hands of assassins whose craven souls shrank from a meeting with their victim upon honorable or equal grounds.
Poor Don! It seems but a few weeks we saw you in the flush of manly strength kneeling at the altar with your fair bride, and pictured for you a long and happy life; and now your well remembered form lies in the cold embrace of the silent tomb, while your heart's blood, spilled upon the spot where you fell by the murderer's hand, cries to Heaven for the vengeance which Almighty God will visit in his own good time. Terrible as was thy fate, dear boy, it were far better to occupy thy place than that of the wretches with the brand of Cain on their brows who cut down thy young life in its prime, and whose fearful doom is written in the Book of Books.
Peace to thy ashes, Don, and may healing balm be sent from Heaven to sooth the sore and bleeding hearts of those who were near and dear to thee on earth.
The Donaldsonville Chief.
March 10, 1877
Page 2; Column 1
A COWARDLY CRIME>
Assassination of D. A. Weber at St. Francisville - "No clue to the Perpetrators."
Another of those cold-blooded murders traceable only to political reasons, for which portions of Louisiana have become infamously conspicuous, occurred at the town of St. Francisville, parish of West Feliciana, on Wednesday last. D. A. Weber, a leading Republican and ex-Tax Collector of the parish, was shot down without a word of warning, as he was walking along the street about 3 o'clock in the afternoon on his way to dinner. He had just left the store of his brother-in-law Mr. Jules Gondran, and was passing a burying ground (Grace Episcopal) at a point opposite the Court House, when four or five shots were fired in rapid succession from an open window in the lower story of that building, and Mr. Weber fell forward on his face, into the gutter alongside the banquette, stone dead. Examination showed buckshot had lodged in his body, one passing through the heart, one entering the head directly between the eyes, one in the shoulder, one in the left wrist and four others in the left side. A number of balls were found in the vicinity flattened against the tombstones or railing of the iron fence around the cemetery.
A Coroner's inquest was held, but notwithstanding the time of day, the public character of the building from which the shots were fired, and the number of persons evidently participating in the fiendish assassination, the latest information which we have received is that no clue had yet been discovered by the Coroner or his jury which could lead to the detection of the perpetrators. It remains to be seen whether the offer of a reward of $5000 by each of our Governors, announced by proclamation in the city papers of yesterday, will sharpen the scent of the local authorities. We do not anticipate that it will, or that the murderers will ever be brought to punishment. There is too much precedent against such a contingency and absolutely none in its favor - for Mr. Weber was a leading Republican. The fear of meeting his fate would doubtless deter any witness of the deed from divulging the names of the assassins.
Those who have been intimate with Mr. Weber in West Feliciana assert their belief that, beyond the bounds of political prejudice, he had not an open enemy in the community. His genial and gentlemanly deportment towards all with whom he came in contact, his active interest in projects calculated to advance the welfare of the locality and its inhabitants, and his manifold acts of charity and benevolence, challenged the respect of all and won him the warm esteem of many whose political opinion differed from his own. In other places and under other conditions of society this circumstance would not be in anywise remarkable, but it is so in Feliciana.
We repeat that this dastardly assassination, which makes a widow of one of Donaldsonville's fairest daughters, and orphans of three innocent little babes, one of whom first saw the light scarcely three weeks ago, can only be ascribed to political reasons. In the first dispatch sent from Bayou Sara conveying information of the murder, it was stated that Mr. Weber had been going about with a gun threatening the lives of citizens. We have the most positive assurances of the utter falsity of this assertion. Weber had been robin hunting with a friend that morning; they had but one gun between them and brought home a dozen birds; in starting upon their hunt they did not even pass through town. But the best refutation of this transparent subterfuge by which it was essayed to palliate a deed which can find no grain of justification in the minds of brave or honorable men, is found in the fact that when the only articles found upon the body of the murdered man were two nickels, a bunch of keys and some private papers. It seems very likely, forsooth, that he was seeking any one's life when he ignored the most universal practice of wearing a revolver! The weak effort at palliation only serves to make the crime more hideous and glaring.
The body of Mr. Weber was brought to this place on the steamer Natchez Thursday evening, and taken to the residence of his father-in-law, Mr. Joseph Gondran, from whence the funeral cortege moved yesterday morning at 10 o'clock. Messrs. J. P. Newsham and Jules Gondran accompanied the remains here, while Senator E. L. Weber, brother of the deceased , and Senator John E. Breaux, an intimate friend, came up from New Orleans to attend the funeral. The pallbearers were Messrs. Gustave Dugas, Jos. C. Ayraud, R. P. Landry, B. Rybiski, Jos. Ferrier and Felix Reynaud. The remains were attended to the Catholic church and thence to the cemetery by a large group of friends and acquaintances of deceased, whose deep regret for the terrible taking off of an estimable young man in the pride of health and strength, and sincere sympathy with the bereaved relatives, was manifested in their sorrowful countenances.
Deceased was about 32 years of age and leaves, as above stated, a young widow who but three weeks ago presented her kind and loving husband with the third infant girl that had blessed their happy union of four brief years. All hearts with a spark of humanity will ache for the bereaved young wife and her fatherless babes, and for the fearful desolation of a happy home wrought in the twinkling of an eye by the dastard hands of assassins whose craven souls shrank from a meeting with their victim upon honorable or equal grounds.
Poor Don! It seems but a few weeks we saw you in the flush of manly strength kneeling at the altar with your fair bride, and pictured for you a long and happy life; and now your well remembered form lies in the cold embrace of the silent tomb, while your heart's blood, spilled upon the spot where you fell by the murderer's hand, cries to Heaven for the vengeance which Almighty God will visit in his own good time. Terrible as was thy fate, dear boy, it were far better to occupy thy place than that of the wretches with the brand of Cain on their brows who cut down thy young life in its prime, and whose fearful doom is written in the Book of Books.
Peace to thy ashes, Don, and may healing balm be sent from Heaven to sooth the sore and bleeding hearts of those who were near and dear to thee on earth.
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