Vermillion (Dakota Territory) Republican, July 17, 1873, p. 2.
HEFFREN, THE VICTIM OF THE SALEM, INDIANA, LYNCHIING AFFAIR
Delos Heffred was about 40 years of age, fine looking and powerfully built,
as are all of his family. He was a man of considerable talent, and had
those talents been employed in a different and more useful channel, he might
have risen to a high position in the state. In 1860 he was deputy secretary
of the state under his uncle, Judge Cyrus L. Dunham. When the war broke
out, he joined the Fiftieth Indiana Regiment and was second lieutenant of
Company I.
The mother of Heffren, two sisters and a brother, Col. Horace Heffren, are
living. His eldest sister is a beautiful and accomplished woman and the
wife of Capt. A. H. Miller of St. Louis, Mo. His youngest sister is at her
home in Salem, Indiana. A brother of the deceased dropped dead some years
ago near the place where the fearful scene was enacted yesterday morning.
Heffren was, beyond any question, a dangerous man of strong passions and
prejudices. When his passions were aroused, he was a perfect madman and was
feared by all who knew him. In 1866 or 1867 he became angry at his uncle,
Judge C. L. Dunham of Jeffersonville and, without a word of warning, pulled
out his knife and made a murderous assault upon that gentleman, cutting and
stabbing him severely.
De Halstead is the second man he has killed. Several years ago he got into
a quarrel with the Johnson family of Salem, and one night at a saloon he
pulled out his revolver and fired upon the father and two sons. His first
shot struck the elder Johnson, but only slightly injured him. The second
struck the eldest son, William R. Johnson, killing him instantly, and the
third shot, aimed at Esmond Johnson, missed its mark, and the latter,
drawing a Smith & Wesson revolver, fired at Heffren, the ball striking him
in the head, glancing, and only making a slight wound. Heffren was arrested
and tried for the murder of Johnson but was acquitted by a jury on some
ground that we never could learn. Singular as it may appear, only eight
months after Heffren killed Johnson, he was married to his victim's widow
who is still living. In the few last year Heffren has been keeping a
drinking house in Salem, and his habits have been very dissipated. He was
surrounded in Salem by a class of men who would swear and die by him, if
necessary, and they have on several occasions thrown the quiet people of the
Town of Salem into a panic by their unlawful acts and open defiance of law.
The jury that acquitted Heffren of the murder of Johnson, as soon as they
did so, advanced to the prisoner's box and carried him on their shoulders to
a saloon nearby and drank to his health and long life. The action of this
jury was commented upon at the time by the law abiding people of the county,
and,
after the second murder, they had reason to fear that his trial would result
as it did before-LOUISVILLE COURIER-JOURNAL.