Silas Lee and Hickman Freeman, Black men who lived in the Indian Territory near Goodland, killed Ed Canady, Paul Applegate, Jeff Maddox, and an unidentified man on November 14, 1895. The four men were on a boat in the Red River near Arthur City. The motive was robbery.
Lee and Freeman were arrested two weeks later. Property belonging to the dead men was found in their possession.
Transported to Paris, Texas, the men were tried in the newly established federal court for the Eastern District of Texas. Only a modest defense was offered. After being convicted on May 19, 1896, the two men were sentenced to death on June 27, 1896.
Silas Lee and Hickman Freeman were hanged at Paris, Texas, on September 4, 1896.
The Federal Death Penalty Project 