"That is the meanest man in Birmingham," overheard an elderly woman say to a young lady as she pointed, me out the other evening, and, the girl turned her gazelle like eyes toward me and gazed as though I were some rare bird only to be seen once in life time. : I don't know what grievance the woman had and care less the amusing. part of the- transaction was the gaze of the young lady. She looked at me from head to foot. quizically, and I imagine with fear mingled with veneration.
i A mean man is very hard to find in this day of loafers, dead beats, wife whippers, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., and when the fair creature heard from the lips, of the companion she trusted implicitly that I was the E pluribus unum of Birmingham's mean men, no wonder her eyes popped out like locomotive headlights and she felt a sensation as if ice cold buck shot were rolling down her spinal column. *.
A TERRIBLE TRAGEDY Birmingham Ala the Scene of an Unprovoked Murder — - AN EDITOR KILLS HIS MISTRESS Thomas W Ellin the Slayer of Clara Koss-Her Body is Found Fuller a Bed-Jealousy the Cause— The Murderer Attempts Suicide— He Surrenders to the Au- thorlties A terrible tragedy occurred at Birmingham Ala about midnight Wednesday night Thomas V Ellis a young man well known in newspaper circles as the editor of the Birmingham Hornet shot and instantly killed his mistress Clara Ross After the tragedy Ellis went at once to the Florence hotel and asked for a policeman then placing a revolver to his head attempted to commit suicide This being prevented he was taken in charge and locked in a strong cell A visit to the place revealed a sickening sight The woman lay in a pool of blood under the bed with her cloihes thrown over her head as if to ward off the terrible results of her lovers jealousy Her long tresses were flowing loose clotted with blood her rigid features drawn with pain her eyes open with glassy wildness Around her were gathered her companions weeping bitterly The ball had entered tier head behind the right ear The unfortunate woman was about 25 years of age and originally from McMinnville Tennessee and had been in Birmingham but a few months having gone to that city from Chattanooga where she lived with her husband Reese Perrin although they were subsequently divorced Clara Ross was a beautiful woman and those who knew her in the past loved her for her sweet happy amiable disposition and graceful winning manner But it was the old story of a woman’s trust and man’s perfidy and she left her once happy home and became a “woman of the town” She had been living for the past few months as Ellis’ mistress occupying a house with another wo man of her class Jennie Dikes who gave a reporter the following information regarding the terrible tragedy : “Ellis has been in this room for nearly three months He was here last week He was not sick The reason he did not publish the Hornet Clara Ross was sick and he nursed her He was out to Avondale with her yesterday He was with her all day They have been quarreling all the time He left the house at 6 o'clock and did not return until 3 o’clock when he renewed the quarrel Clara called me several times in the night Ellis had locked her in and told me not to enter I tried to get in the door He said he would kill me if I did Soon afterward I heard two pistol shots and heard her say ‘Oh Lord’ I heard the back door open and Ellis slip out” Ellis is a young man unmarried and noted for his eccentric brilliancy He is highly educated and at one time opened a law office with the finest prospects of success but abandoned the law to entei the journalistic field The cause of the murder was jealousy which seems to have been without foundation and many think the murderer insane.
Tom Ellis, of the Birmingham " Hornet," is in jail again. This time for shooting a detective. Another term in the Insane Asylum..
Tom Ellis, the notorious editor of that dirty sheet, the Birmingham "Hornet," is again in trouble. This time he becomes involved in a difficulty in a back of a grocery and shoots, a man by the name of Scarbrough. About the best thing now to be done with Tom is to hang him, crazy or not crazy..
Tom Ellis, the editor of the wicked Birmingham Hornet, a Sunday paper, is being stung by the law. Last Sunday's number of the Hornet was more impudent and salacious than any previous number and Tom was hauled up before the Mayor, Monday, and fined $ 50 on the charge of indecent publication. A pistol being found on his person he was assessed 150 more. Tom is in the wrong city for his journalistic gymnastics ; Mayor Lane and his police force form one of the best and most active teams in the country..
Few people regret to know that the notorious Tom Ellis, of the Birmingham Hornet, who has been a blot upon the fair name of Alabama, was tatally wounded Saturday night in an encounter with detective Sullivan in a saloon in that city. He has been a festering sore for a long time and every one expected him to meet a violent death..
WE learn that the Birmingham Hornet, founded by Tom Ellis and so conducted that his death by violence resulted, has been moved to Atlanta. It is to be edited by J. C. Campbell of the defunct Atlanta Avalanche, an organ of the saloons. The revived Hornet will probably not be as handy with its sting as its Birmingham progenitor was.
If it is not better behaved. in its resurrected estate than before its lapse a year ago, there will be some business for an Atlanta undertaker..
A TERRBLE ENDING. Thomas Ellis, the editor of the Birmingham Hornet, was fatally shot by Detective A. J. Sullivan, in a personal rencounter in Hewlett's billiard parlors, Birmingham last Saturday night. He lingered in intense agony until Tuesday morning, when death put an end to his sufferings.
In his dying declaration he asseverates that Sullivan was the aggressor. Sullivan is now a prisoner, and will be dealt with as the law directs The following personal notice of Sullivan appeared, a few days ago in The Hornet, and caused the **Can anyone be surprised now at the lies that have been circulated and printed regarding the shooting affray between Tom Ellis and Detective Scarborough since it has been announced that 'Sullivan is working up the case.' He has certainly succeeded in 'working up! several contradictory lies. Such a man is a disgrace to the profession he claims to represent. He is a social outlaw; he is n parasite on the body politic; he is a lazy loafer and, should be forced to earn an honest living, even tho' it be in the chain gang. For a few paltry dollars he would swear away the life and the character of the best in the community, or persuade other disreputable men to do it.
That such a man should succeed in playing the role of a detective in Birmingham is a disgrace to the city. The very disgusting and repulsive appearance of the corpulent swine is enough to convince a person of ordinary intelligence of his true character. In fact, be is a veritable octopus, an ulcer fungus on humanity, an itinerant Chinese stink ball. The best interests of humanity demand the suppression of such quacks. The vile knave who will thus prostitute an honorable calling is worse than the most red-handed murderer Lot ever dangled from the scaffold."
DEATH OF TOM ELLIS. The Editor of the Birmingham "Hornet" Succumbs to His Injuries. BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Feb. 8.,1888
Tom Ellis, proprietor of the Hornet, who was shot Saturday night by Detective Sullivan, died yesterday. How he lived so long after being shot is a mystery even to physicians.
His pulse ceased to beat thirteen hours before he died, and three hours before he stopped breathing his limbs were cold and rigid. The preliminary trial of Sullivan will be held Thursday. Last night W. W. Moore, business manager of the Hornet, announced his intention of shooting Sullivan on sight, He was locked up by the police, but was released on bail today.
About two years ago Ellis shot and killed a woman, for which he was sent to the insane asylum. Subsequently he swore out a writ of habeas corpus for himself, and made a brilliant speech before the Judge. He was adjudged not insane, and was soon back in Birmingham, again publishing the Hornet. He said he had reformed, and his paper was tolerably decent for awhile. It gradually grew worse, however.
Ellis' next move was to shoot Detective Scarborough, formerly of the Atlanta police. This was about three weeks ago. Scarborough was employed by Detective Sullivan, and after this shooting Sullivan began to talk about Ellis in Powdery complimentary way. Saturday ago the Hornet contained an attack Sullivan, in which the detective was likened to a pet monkey that is a thousand miles away from home and has lost its bearings," and denounced as "a veritable octopus, an ulcer fungus on humanity, an itinerant Chinese This resulted in the shooting.
EDITOR SHOT. Tom Ellis, of the Birmingham Hornet, Punctured. Mortally Wounded by a Detective Whom He Had Vilified, and Whom He Tried to Kill. SPECIAL DISPATCH TO THE ENQUIRER. BIRMINGHAM, ALA., February 4.-The climax in the carnival of crime which has blackened the character of the magic city of the South for the last few weeks was reached this afternoon when Detective R.
D. Sullivan shot and mortally wounded Tom Ellis, editor of the Weekly Hornet, in a billiard saloon on First avenue. Sullivan, who is one of the best detective officers in the South, returned to the city late last night from a chase after an escaped convict in Lamar County. On his arrival he was shown a copy of last Saturday's Hornet, containing a bitterly denunciatory article about him, accusing him of the highest crimes and threatening his life. This evening Sullivan was sitting in a billiard parlor reading the paper, when Ellis came in to get a cigar.
Sullivan looked up, and, as he did so, dropped the paper. Quick as a flash both men drew their revolvers and began to fire. After shooting five or six times, Ellis got behind a doorway and fired at Sullivan again. By this time the latter's pistol was empty, and he ran back in the billiard-room. Ellis walked out in the street and began reloading his pistol.
He began to stagger, and a bystander caught him. He was carried into a doctor's office, and, on examination, was found to be shot three times, once in the stomach and twice in the face. Although Ellis fired at least seven times Sullivan was untouched. He gave himself up. To-day's tragedy grows out of the fact that a few weeks ago Ellis shot and seriously wounded Detective Hawk Scarborough, Sullivan's partner, and the Hornet article was written because of Sullivan's activity in securing witnesses to testify in his partner's favor.
The career of Tom Ellis is one having no parallel in the history of desperate deeds in this city or State. He was a man of undoubted courage, and held human life as if of no more value than a hog's. A few years ago he shot and killed his mistress in a house of ill-fame here. For this brutal murder he escaped after a heated trial on the plea of insanity, and after a brief stay in the asylum. His paper, the Hornet, as the name implies, was a vile sheet, taking an especial delight in raking up the wayward acts of married men, married women, prostitutes and others around town.
He was under bond for the shooting of Scarborough and for criminal libel at the time of the killing. Ellis comes of a good family, and was one of the best known men in Alabama. He was about thirty. Sullivan came here a year or two ago from Nashville, where he was at one time spoken of for Chief of City Detectives, and was considered a courageous officer..
PERSONAL JOURNALISM AGAIN. Again the country is called on to witness a tragedy growing out of the use of the public prints to vent private spleen and animosity. Tom Ellis, the editor of the Birmingham Hornet, which has been disgrace to the fair name of journalism since its initial number made its appearance was shot and fatally wounded whom by Andrew J. Sullivan, a detective he bad brutally assaulted in the columns of his paper. Ellis' career in journalism has been most violent and scandalous, and the end that has overtaken him has been expected by his acquaintances from the day that he published the first number of his paper. He would doubtless have been killed long | before this but his victims heretofore, whose characters he has attempted to blacken, have been men who preferred to disregard his venomous as• saults rather than spill human blood; but at last, he assaulted the wrong man. The provocation in the casa of Ellis is briefly summed up as follows by the Birmingham Age: "The Hornet, of which Ellis is the editor, contained in its issue of January 28, a most libelous article directed against Sullivan.
He was accused of every vile thing a man could be, and branded as a thief, a liar, and a disgrace to the profession which he represented. Among other things, it stated that Sullivan once, in order to establish a case of larceny of meat from a railroad car against a certain man, took some of the stolen meat, which had been recovered, and in company with a negro secreted it in the man's house, and next day arrested him and proffered the meat as evidence. The language of the article was so vituperative as to be unfit for these columns." This incident illustrates again the truth of what the TIMES has always contended for: that the day of personal journalism, vituperative abuse of private character in the public prints, has gone; and it were well if the lesson were thoroughly learned by those inclined that way before there is any further shedding of blood. The public acts of public men are legitimate subjects of newspaper investigation and criticism, but men who have access to the public prints must not complain if the victims of their personal abuse and assault repay them with the only weapons of which they may have control--the pistol or the horsewhip. The sooner this kind of journalism is put down, the better it will be for the country; and at the rate of mortality now attained, it may be reasonably expected that it will be killed out by reason of its own violence before very long.
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