Deputy Collector John F. Lanier

John F. Lanier

Deputy Collector John Lanier succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained two weeks earlier as he and three federal officers engaged in a gunfight with two men driving a wagon on a road to Huntsville.

The fight resulted from a mistake of both parties concerning the intentions of the other. In the darkness the officers thought the two men in the wagon were hauling whiskey. When ordered to halt, the two men in the wagon opened fire, thinking the officers were highway robbers. The officers returned fire wounding both men. Deputy Collector Lanier was mortally wounded. The incident was called a horrible mistake. No charges were filed.

Deputy Lanier was survived by his wife and six children.