1930 Stabbing Death of Paul Lincecum (Beyond the Bloodline)

Paul Lincecum was born 23 October 1907 in Washington County, Texas, son of Dinah Coleman (d. 1960) and Bowie Lisanders Lincecum. Paul died just eleven days before his 23rd birthday. According to his death certificate, Paul was "stabbed to death in an encounter with Burley Matson." And this finding was the conclusion of an inquest held 12 October 1930.

The informant on Paul's death certificate was his younger brother Charlie, who had to handle that blow at the age of just 20 years.

(Via Ancestry)

A local newspaper chronicled the broad strokes of what happened:

Brenham Banner-Press (Texas)

Tuesday, 14 October 1930

FOUR NEGROES ARE CHARGED MURDER IN DEATH BY STABBING

Sheriff H. L. Reese and County Attorney Albert Stone went to Burton Tuesday morning to attend the examining trials of Virlie Matson, Jesse Matson, Eddie Matson, and Ernest Thomas, who were charged jointly with murder in connection with the stabbing death of Paul Lincecum, another negro. Bond in each case was fixed at $1,000, which the negroes are expected to furnish, but at present they are being held in the county jail by Sheriff Reese until they make bond.

The cases of these negroes will come up for investigation by the grand jury when district court meets for the spring term in March. It is said that the killing resulted from a...[unreadable]...dice game.

 

Brenham Banner-Press (Texas)

Saturday, 25 October 1930

HABEAS CORPUS HEARING IS HELD IN MURDER CASE

A habeas corpus hearing was held before Judge J. B. Price of the district court Saturday morning in the cases of Eddie Matson, Virlie Matson, Jesse Matson and Ernest [T]homas, negroes of the [Burton?] community charged with murder in connection with the slaying of Paul Lincecum, another negro...

After some consideration the bond of Virlie Matson was fixed at $1,000, and that of the other three negroes at $500 each...

The case grew out of an affray in which Lincecum met his death from stab wounds, and the four negroes held in jail were charged with the stabbing.

Brenham Banner-Press (Texas)

Saturday, 3 October 1931

VIRLIE MATSON GIVEN FIVE YEARS IN MURDER CASE

Virlie Matson, negro, charged with murder in connection with the death of Paul Lincecum, another negro, was given a sentence of five years in the penitentiary by a jury in district court Friday afternoon.

Jesse Matson, another negro, was recently sentenced to two years in the penitentiary on a similar charge.

Testimony showed that Virlie Matson stabbed Lincecum with a knife and that Jesse Matson struck him with a stick.

---

📚 BOOK #AD -- The 1910 Slocum Massacre: An Act of Genocide in East Texas (True Crime) -- "In late July 1910, a shocking number of African Americans in Texas were slaughtered by white mobs in the Slocum area of Anderson County and the Percilla-Augusta region of neighboring Houston County. The number of dead surpassed the casualties of the Rosewood Massacre in Florida and rivaled those of the Tulsa Riots in Oklahoma, but the incident--one of the largest mass murders of blacks in American history--is now largely forgotten." (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualified purchases.)

---

Jessie (b. 1908) and Verlie (b. 1911) Matson were received at the Huntsville Unit (Walker County) of the Texas State Penitentiary on 6 October 1931. Four days later, they were sent to the Darrington Unit in Brazoria County. Jessie served about 17 months of his sentence, being discharged 2 March 1933.

Verlie served 2 years before receiving parole, granted by the first female governor of Texas, Miriam A. "Ma" Ferguson. He was finally discharged 12 August 1935.

Further research shows Eddie, Jessie, and Verlie Matson were brothers. All were possibly sons of Jim Matson and Lureda (nee Thomas?) Newsome. For the 1920 Washington County, Texas Federal census, the Matson brothers and Paul Lincecum resided on neighboring farms.

Jessie served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and both he and Verlie married and had children. Jessie died 6 August 1972 at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Houston, Harris County, Texas. Verlie was about two months shy of his 90th birthday when he died on 30 July 2001.

Upon his death, Jessie was laid to rest in the same cemetery -- Zion Hill -- as Paul had been some 40-plus years earlier.

The Dickey Clinic and Pearl Lee Punchard, Daughter of Eunice Lincecum (Beyond the Bloodline)

Pearl Lee Punchard was born 12 July 1884 in Texas to Eunice Lincecum and Paul Punchard. She died 7 March 1950 at the Dickey Clinic in Taylor, Williamson County, Texas. Burial was a few days later in St. Mary's Cemetery of Lee County, Texas.

According to Pearl's death certificate, she was divorced at the time of her death. Her gravestone at St. Mary's Cemetery indicates she was a mother.

The cause of Pearl's death was "Peritonitis (due to) intestinal strangulation." A little less than six weeks before her death, Pearl underwent an operation in which a significant finding was "twisted intestines -- gangrene."

As mentioned at the top, Pearl passed away at the Dickey Clinic in Taylor, Texas. It was run by Dr. James Lee Dickey (1893-1959), one of the only practicing Black physicians in Williamson County, Texas, in the 20th century. He settled in Taylor after graduating from medical school in 1921. The following is from a blog post by Preservation Scholar Jae'la Solomon, hosted by the Friends of the Texas Historical Commission:

"One of Dickey’s goals was to combat the disparate rates of disease amongst Black Americans in Taylor. Ailments like tuberculosis, typhoid, and infant diarrhea all plagued the rural Black community in the area. Dickey acted and showed results. For instance, in 1933, rates of typhoid fever, a potentially fatal bacterial infection, rapidly increased in rural Taylor. Many African Americans worked as sharecroppers and were unable to afford the cost for clean city water, so they borrowed from a local ranch. This water, unsafe for consumption, spread the sickness and many were left without proper treatment. Dr. Dickey noticed a spike in typhoid and talked with city officials, explaining to them the link between typhoid and the ranch water. His advocacy made a great difference, and officials authorized the opening of fire hydrants. Families came out with buckets, filled them with water from the hydrants, and took them home. Dickey also began to treat willing patients of the infection, making house calls and walking through the mud to get to those in need.

Eventually Dickey realized that he needed a space to treat more patients, so he bought an empty rooming house at 401 Bland Street and renovated the space into what would become the Dickey Clinic. Dr. Dickey did remarkable work at the clinic. He and a staff of predominantly Black nurses offered critical care to the Black folks of Williamson County. Dickey treated patients with venereal diseases, offered free prenatal care, and helped to nearly eliminate tuberculosis and cases of infant diarrhea amongst African Americans in Taylor. In 1952, his service to the community granted him Taylor’s Citizen of the Year, a very rare feat for a Black man in the Jim Crow South."

 

Photograph of the Dickey Clinic at 401 Bland Street, Taylor. The clinic opened in 1936; this
picture was taken in 1955. Dr. Dickey was the African American doctor in Taylor who worked
with city leaders to stop a typhoid epidemic in Taylor's poor districts.
- The Portal to Texas History

---

📚 BOOK #AD -- An American Health Dilemma: A Medical History of African Americans and the Problem of Race -- "At times mirroring and at times shockingly disparate to the rise of traditional white American medicine, the history of African-American health care is a story of traditional healers; root doctors; granny midwives; underappreciated and overworked African-American physicians; scrupulous and unscrupulous white doctors and scientists; governmental support and neglect; epidemics; and poverty. Virtually every part of this story revolves around race...An American Health Dilemma presents a comprehensive and groundbreaking history and social analysis of race, race relations and the African-American medical and public health experience." (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualified purchases.)

---

Marie Louise Durham, Granddaughter of Cassandra Lincecum

Image accompanying wedding
announcement in 2 September
1917 Austin American-
Statesman (Texas).

Marie Louise Durham was born 8 March 1893 in Austin, Travis County, Texas. She was a daughter of Marie Augusta Packenius (1868-1947) and Walter Winn Durham (1855-1929), and a granddaughter of Cassandra Lincecum (d. 1877) and George John Durham (1820-1869).

The Durhams were among the first settlers of Austin, and Marie's grandfather, George John Durham, was once Austin's mayor. 

Marie Durham married Alexander James Gouldie (1891-1938) of New York, son of Eliza Fife and James Gouldie, on 1 September 1917 in Cameron County, Texas. In a wedding announcement published in the Austin American-Statesman (Texas), Maried was described as "a brunette of the blue-eyed type."

I believe the young couple had five children, though I can only name four: George Alexander (1918-1920), Marie Louise (1919-2000), Hubert David (1922-1982), and Charles Durham (1927-1987).

Marie became a widow in 1938 when her husband died mere hours after having surgery to extract five abscessed teeth. His son from a previous marriage, Alexander James Gouldie Jr., remained close to stepmother Marie after his father's death.

Marie Louise Durham Gouldie died 10 November 1956 at Hermann Hospital in Houston, Harris County, Texas. After Catholic funeral services, she was laid to rest in Mt. Olivet Cemetery of Dickinson, Galveston County, Texas.

Daisy Lee Lynch, Daughter of Ella Lincecum, Drowns (Virtual Graves)

---

Born	5 September 1908	Fort Worth, Tarrant, Texas, USA
Died	21 April 1929	West Columbia, Brazoria, Texas, USA
Buried	West Columbia Cemetery	West Columbia, Brazoria, Texas, USA

---

Daisy Lee was the daughter of Ella Lee Lincecum (1891-1953) and John Brown. As a young woman, she married Jeff Lynch, but the marriage didn't last long. They were parted by death before Daisy turned 21, as was reported on the front page of the 22 April 1929 edition of The Waxahachie Daily Light (Texas):

THREE DROWN IN TEXAS ON SUNDAY EVE

CAUGHT IN UNDERTOW OF RIVER NEAR WEST COLUMBIA.

WEST COLUMBIA, Tex., April 22. -- A joint funeral was to be held today for three West Columbia citizens who were caught in an undertow and drowned at the mouth of San Bernard River, twenty miles south of here, Sunday.

They are Gideon Lincecum, 30, his wife, about 28, and their niece, Mrs. Jack Lynch.

Two other West Columbia persons, Mrs. Lynch's husband and her mother, Mrs. Brown, managed to fight their way back to the shore, but Mrs. Brown still was in a serious condition today from the shock.

A large party of bathers, many of them relatives of the victims, stood on the shore helpless and witnessed the drowning. The bodies were washed ashore a short time later.

M is for Montie B. Lincecum Saulsbury. Was She Poisoned? (A-Z)

Montie – also called Montego, Monte, and Montia – was a daughter of Leander W. C. Lincecum (d. 1882) and Tennessee Levy / Levi.  Montie was born about 1867 in the state of Texas, and spent her entire life there.  She married Wiley Saulsbury at Bell County about a week before Christmas, 1885.  The couple had five daughters, including one who died from scarlet fever at the age of just four years.

After their marriage, Wiley and Montie remained at Temple in Bell County, TX for the next 20+ years.  Wiley was a livestock trader, and Montie kept house and raised the girls.  Wiley also served the town as constable for a number of years.  Some time after the taking of the April 1910 Federal census, Wiley died.  He was only in his mid to late fifties.

After Wiley's death, Montie moved to Waco in McLennan County, Texas.  Likely to be with a couple of her daughters that were living there:  Belle and Willa.

A "personal paragraph" in the social section of a 1921 Temple Daily Telegram newspaper, stated Mrs. Saulsbury was ill and had been so for some time.  She improved and life went on.

But not for too terribly long.  Mrs. Wiley Saulsbury died a few days before Thanksgiving just three years later in 1924.  Her last vital record provides a curious cause of death:  "Died suddenly, supposed to be accidental dose of Carbolic acid."

So who administered the dose? Did Montie do it herself? Well, there is a rumor Mrs. Saulsbury was poisoned by her son-in-law.  But which one? For the 1920 McLennan County, TX Federal census, Monte was living with two sons-in-law, Will Parker (husband of Belle) and John H. Hall (husband of Willa).

I haven't uncovered any more evidence, yet.  So I'm still wondering who did the deed.

---

BOOK #AD: Strange Ways to Die in History: the Heroic, Tragic and Funny

---

Are you wondering what's up with all the "letter" posts? I am participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge (links to official page). This challenge lasts through the month of April, with Sundays off.  Each day follows a different letter prompt, in order, from A to Z.  Click here to see all my letter posts on one page (in reverse order).  Though this is my second year in the challenge, it's my first with two blogs.  My theme here is "kinfolk direct." Versus any name from the one name study, these genealogy and history posts all involve someone to which I am related.  You may follow along with me by RSS feed and other social media platforms listed at the top of the sidebar.  I and other bloggers in the challenge on Twitter will also be using #atozchallenge.

I'm also participating with Southern Graves.  This blog as a whole is one of my themes – telling the tales of tombstones, primarily from those found in the Southern United States and usually the State of Georgia.

Are you participating in the challenge, too? Please leave a link to your blog in the comments, I'd love to pay you a visit.  Good luck to all involved!