Tragedy in Alabama--Officer killed.
--The
Livingston (Ala.) Messenger, of the 1st inst., has the following account of a tragedy which took place in that place on the 29th ult., resulting in the death of a Confederate officer:
‘
The people of our town were startled from their "
Rip Van Winkle" slumbers on Friday morning by the announcement that a fearful tragedy had been acted the night previous.
Major George A. Turner, who has for some time been stationed here in charge of a lot of Government stock, had been shot during Thursday, the 29th ult., by
Mr. C. B. Anderson, a citizen of the town
Mr. Anderson having been led to suspect the fidelity of his wife, left town on the afternoon of Thursday, saying he would be absent that night; but returning to town after dark he placed himself in a position from which he could observe all that passed in his house.
From this position he saw
Major Turner enter the house in such a manner as to indicate his purpose.
Mr. Anderson thereupon went to the houses of several of our citizens, aroused them from their slumbers, informed them that
Major Turner was then in his house, and asked them to go with him to witness what passed, but they all declined.
Mr. Anderson then returned, noiselessly entered the house, and discovering the deceased in bed with his wife, he fired upon him twice with a navy repeater, killing him instantly.
It is a wonder how
Mrs. Anderson herself escaped being shot.
Mr. Anderson immediately gave himself up to the
Sheriff, and has since been bound over to Court in a bond of $2,500.
Mr. Anderson is a quiet, peaceable, and respectable citizen, and enjoys the sympathy of the whole community.
All approve his conduct.
’
Major Turner was a native of
Virginia, but resided in
Missouri at the breaking out of the war. We learn that he has a wife and one child in
Missouri.
He was a man of excellent business habits, insinuating address, and fair intelligence, and he had made quite a favorable impression on our citizens.
All feel that he deserved his fate.
Mrs. Anderson is about 18 years of age; is handsome, showy, and fond of dress.
Take all the circumstances — the undoubted criminal connection of the parties, the time, the dead hour of the night; the seducer dead, the bed drenched in blood, the one hurried into eternity in the twinkling of an eye, the other doomed to drag out her life with a blasted reputation, the husband surveying the ruin of his domestic happiness.
It is a fearful tragedy, and one which we killed will set people to thinking.
This tragedy should teach married women the danger they run in attempting to dress beyond their means and to attract the admiration of men; it should teach all the danger of admitting to terms of intimacy men of whose history and principles they know nothing; it should teach officers and soldiers that seduction cannot escape punishment.
