Sad Termination to a Frolic
A correspondent of the Richmond Dispatch, writes from Harrisonburg, Va., under the date of April 7th, as follows:
On Thursday night last there was a terrible tragedy enacted in this county. The circumstances, as near as I can learn them, are as follows: There was a wedding at the residence of Mr. Devier, on Briery Branch, in this county. Mr. D.’s daughter was married to a Mr. Sites. Some time in the evening, after the marriage was over, a party of young men, some eight or nine in number, went to Mr. D.’s house and commenced serenading the newly-married couple with tin pans, bells, &c. Mr. James Devier, a brother of the bride, went out to request the serenaders to leave, whereupon the serenaders took to their heels, and young Mr. D. and a friend who accompanied him, started in pursuit of the party. Devier, coming up near to one of them, a man by the name of Smallwood, the latter suddenly turned upon Mr. Devier and shot him–the slugs taking effect, one in Mr. Devier’s forehead, one below the eye, and one in the neck; either of which would have caused death. Mr. Devier was shot and died instantly. The parties in the affair, or at least a part of them are highly respectable. In any event it is a very sad termination to what was, perhaps, intended to be a frolic.
