Elizabeth Baker of Evesham attacked, 1864

from the New Jersey Mirror 30 Jun 1864

A colored man John Henry, living in the Township of Evesham, committed a murderous assault upon a German woman named Elizabeth Baker, on Wednesday last, by shooting her with a double-barreled shot-gun and afterwards beating and stamping upon her. It appears that an unfriendly feeling had long existed between the parties, who were near neighbors: the woman who is represented to be of a very contentious, quarrelsome disposition, having for a long time, resorted to various petty devices to annoy and irritate the negro. On Wednesday, the latter was on his way to a neighbor's house, having in his hand a double-barreled gun, for the purpose, as he alleges, of defending himself from a vicious dog--when he encountered the woman on the road. An altercation took place between them, when Henry turned and shot the woman in the back, inflicting a dangerous wound, and then stamped upon the body. One of the woman's arms was broken and she lies in critical condition.--Henry made no attempt to escape, but went back to his house where he was afterwards arrested and committed to Jail. The prisoner is a stout negro, about sixty years of age, and resides on the road from Jenning's Mill to Union Saw Mill, where he owns a house and some twelve or fifteen acres of land, which he employs his time in cultivating. He has lived in Evesham since his early manhood, and has always sustained the character of an industrious and peaceable man.