"Two privates from the Eightieth United States Colored Infantry had gone for a drink of water near Jefferson. Along the path they met the deputy town marshal, Jack Phillips. As they passed, Phillips swung his double-barreled shotgun into position and blasted the two soldiers at point-blank range. He then drew his revolver and, as the dying black infantrymen writhed in pain on the now bloody ground, calmly blew their brains out 
     Unbelievably, Marshal Phillips was still in office months after the murders, although it is doubtful whether his arrest and removal would have had any positive result. "My own opinion is that the trial of a white man for the murder of a freedman in Texas would be a farce," wrote Sheridan."

The Army in Texas during Reconstruction, 1865-1870. 
  William Richter Texas A&M University Press. 
College Station, TX.1987
 P.33

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