Henry Clay Searcy

Henry Clay Searcy

• Henry Clay Searcy was born circa 1843 in Tennessee.
• He served as a sergeant major in Company D, 27th Texas Cavalry Regiment (Whitfield's Legion/1st Texas Legion), CSA.
• He married Zenobia H. Barnes, daughter of James W. Barnes and Caroline Alice Greene, on 27 June 1866 in Grimes County, Texas.
• Henry Clay Searcy died circa 13 February 1868 in Grimes County, Texas.
• His wife Zenobia H. Barnes became a widow at his death.
• He was interred at the Barnes family cemetery, Grimes County, Texas, near Anderson.
• The following appeared on 19 February 1868 in Flake's Bulletin: (from the Navasota Ranger) Our entire community was shocked last Tuesday by one of those horrible tragedies which too often blacken the escutcheon of our State. Mr. Clay Searcy, a lawyer from Anderson, was shot by a man named Dan McKinney, lately from Austin. He had a few moments before endeavored to engage Searcy in a quarrel, by entering the barber's shop where Searcy was being shaved. He abused Searcy in an outrageous manner, making serious threats, with his pistol concealed under his blanket. Searcy went off and returned with a double-barrel shot gun, and as he entered the door of the barber shop McKinney fired his pistol, and the ball took effect in Searcy's head. It was thought he was killed as he fell to the pavement, but he recovered and was taken to a room. Medical aid was called in, and it was found that the ball had penetrated the brain. His wife and friends were telegraphed for from Anderson, and they soon came to sooth his suffering.
       McKinney is reported to us as being a desperado, and left Austin on account of some unlawful act. He is reported to be a married man, his wife living in Goliad county. During the preceding part of the day he had drawn his pistol on several barkeepers and forced them to furnish him liquor without pay. He is now in the jail in Anderson, securely chained. He has no partisans or friends here. He had some horses in the wagon yard, which he brought from the West.
       Major Jones sent a party from Anderson to bring down McKinney for trial. On the way back with the prisoner, in a strip of woods, the guard was halted by a crowd of sixty armed men. They were ordered to lay down their arms and give up the prisoner. When the guard protested and remonstrated, they were ordered peremptorily to hush up. The men were disguised and blackened, and all spoke in broken English and Dutch. McKinney was hung to a limb, and the rope or limb broke and he fell down. He was then tied securely and hung over ten feet high, and left hanging. . . .

• Last Edited: 22 Dec 2012