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Henry Lewis

Henry Lewis, born about 1872, was a Negro league baseball player with the Hot Springs Arlingtons.

Biography

Lewis was shot and killed on September 27th, 1899 near Malvern, AR.1 While attempting to ride a freight train on the Iron Mountain railroad, Lewis was confronted by a brakeman, who proceeded to shoot and kill him.2

Excerpts

"Malvern, Ark., September 28. --(Special.)-- The dead body of Henry Lewis, colored, of Hot Springs, was found on the line of the Iron Mountain railroad, two miles south of Malvern, yesterday. He had been shot in the right breast, the ball ranging downward and lodging in the lower part of the back. The indications are that he was shot while attempting to board a southbound train. He was well dressed, wore a gold chain, ring, and had $3.05 in his pocket. He was 25 years of age, a member of the Arlington baseball club, and a prominent member of lodged and colored social circles in Hot Springs. The coroner's inquest elicited the above facts."3

"As noted in "The Democrat" yesterday, the dead body of Henry Lewis, colored, of Hot Springs, was found on the line of the Iron Mountain railroad, two miles south of Malvern, yesterday. He had been shot in the right breast, the ball ranging downward and lodging in the lower part of the back, the shot apparently having been fired from above. Last night about 9 o'clock Charles Mahon, a young white man, formerly a street-car motorman in this city, and now a brakeman on the Iron Mountain, quietly told Deputy Constable Goddard at Glenwood Park that he had killed a negro near Malvern and wanted to surrender to him. Goddard knew him quite well and gave him permission to watch the performance, after which he accompanied him down town and kept him under surveillance all night. Deputy Sheriff G. F. Phillips, of Hot Springs, came up this morning, returning with Mahon for examination. He has employed Mehaffey & Murphy as his attorneys and feels confident of acquittal. He has positively discussed the affair with newspaper men. Mahon is well known in Little Rock and is one of the most popular brakemen on the road. His run is from Little Rock to Texarkana. He had held the position about a year. Lewis, the dead Negro, lived in Hot Springs and was a member of the Arlington baseball club and several lodges. He was shot while attempting to board a freight train."4

As noted Saturday, Chas. Mahon, the popular Iron Mountain switchman, was acquitted at Malvern on the charge of killing Henry lewis, a Hot Springs negro. The evidence showed that Lewis was fleeing from the officers at Hot Springs, and when found by Mahon and another brakeman was clinging to the car on the bumpers. When he saw the brakeman he drew his gun and then climbed up to the roof of the car and attempted to shoot Mahon, who was too quick for the desperate fugitive, and fired, killing him instantly. The negro's dead body fell to the ground, where it was found the next day, and Mahon came to the city and gave himself up. Lewis was wanted in Hot Springs on the charge of assault to kill a woman."5