Stories conflict in Bloody Tangipahoa shooting

Sunday, October 8, 1899, the evening edition of the New Orleans Daily Picayune stacked multiple headlines per story, shouting “Tangipahoa wars start again,” followed by “Deputy Sheriff Draughon seriously wounded by 2 Gill boys,” “Shooting at victim’s home,” “Deputy boarding train for Kentwood when Gill pounced on him,” and “Three shots! Victim pulled gun as they searched him.”

As the newspaper explained it:

In Tangipahoa, Gage and Alonzo Gill fatally shot Avery R. Draughon between 12 and 1 that Sunday afternoon. After the shooting, the assassins climbed into their horse-drawn buggy and left town laughing. Witnesses sent word to the sheriff in Amite City, and Deputy Sheriffs W. J. Mullins, Charles Morgan, and K. W. Mullins left immediately for Tangipahoa, followed closely by the Picayune correspondent. They found Deputy Sheriff Draughon shot three times but still breathing.

The newspaper said Avery Draughon owned a drugstore here, in addition to being a sheriff’s deputy and the acting constable for the town. That morning he planned to serve legal papers in Kentwood and had tied his horse at the train station. Gage and Alonzo Gill sent a youngster inviting him to cross the street. The boy said the two brothers wanted to talk with him and make amends for an earlier disagreement.

Draughon told the messenger to tell them he had never fallen out with them and did not think it necessary to make amends. Draughon continued to the train, but as he climbed aboard, Gage and Alonzo Gill stopped him. They pointed pistols in his face and ordered him to raise both hands. Searching the deputy, Alonzo Gill said Avery Draughon had been “making his brags” and now they would have their day. They were going to curse him to their satisfaction before the entire town. The brothers walked the deputy across the street toward the door of H. T. Sanders’ store, cursing and kicking him, and striking him with their pistols.

Deputy Draughon continued to walk with his hands above his head. The Gills had not found the pistol hidden in his vest pocket. As the three stepped up from the street onto the porch in front of the store, Draughon pulled his pistol and fired. However, one or both Gill brothers did the same.

The first shot struck Draughon in the right arm, seemingly paralyzing it, as his pistol dropped to the ground. The Gills continued to fire. Witnesses counted eight or nine shots, but only three shots landed. One bullet sliced Draughon’s right arm near his wrist after passing through his left arm above the elbow. Another went through his right hip, traveling downward and exiting the body. The third bullet entered his left side, struck a rib, and exited in front. A fourth shot pierced Draughon’s hat.

Draughon, after dropping his pistol, started for his home. He walked 20 feet before Alonzo Gill loaded his Winchester and aimed for the deputy’s head. However, another Gill brother, Jim, had been waiting in the buggy. He prevented Alonzo from firing the rifle.

Draughon continued to walk towards his home. His wife met him in the yard and assisted him, with the help of friends, to reach his home. His wife also brought him another pistol, but the Gills had long gone.

The newspaper said Draughon had a large family and many friends. They wrote, “He was known parish-wide as a brave and fearless man. Had he a ghost of a show, he would have given an account of himself in no uncertain manner.”

“Draughon had been a deputy sheriff for twelve years, mayor of Tangipahoa six years, and had always taken a prominent and aggressive part in the Bloody Tangipahoa troubles, but always on the side of law and order.”

Gage and Alonzo Gill had a different reputation. They had been in and out of jail following multiple skirmishes with multiple people on the north end of Tangipahoa Parish.

Arriving at the crime scene, Deputy Sheriff W. J. Mullins promised townspeople the sheriff’s office would arrest both men. He said affidavits would be sworn and every effort would be made to locate the men.

Still alive but badly wounded, Draughon told Mullins the Gills laid their plans well. Most of the town was attending a church picnic. He said, “They came prepared for bad work. They had Winchesters in their buggy.”

Draughon told Mullins that Alonzo Gill said he intended to kill him and his “clique.” The newspaper correspondent wrote, “Whom they meant by the clique the parish knows too well,” but the writer did not explain further.

The following day, Deputy Sheriff W. J. Mullins caught up with all three Gill brothers. However, they had a very different story to tell.