You are picked up and questioned along with another man traveling

Vigilantes seized you and another man, whose name is J. M. Peers, an itinerant cabinet maker. Both of you were immediately jailed. You provided identification but Peers was beaten, robbed, and threatened several times with death by hanging. The vigilantes in Sulphur Springs seem to think that he may have started the fire in Henderson but they did not have sufficient evidence and ended up releasing him. You both make your way to Marshall but en route, two of the men who had previously “examined” Peers overtake you, pull out a rope, and threaten to hang Peers. You watch helplessly and these two men settle for Peers’s money ($67.50) and leave him to continue his journey. When you arrive at Marshall, you discover that Peers was a well-known man who was a pro-slavery zealot, and who had recently helped route “Abolitionists” out of East Texas.¹

1. You leave Marshall quickly and head South toward Waxahachie to investigate the fire there.