Thompson, William Jr.

William Thompson Jr. lived adjacent to the Donnelly homestead. Will Donnelly and friends went to the home of William Thompson Jr. on the night of January 9, 1874 in search of Margaret, William Thompson’s sister. Unable to find her, the group left. However, quarrels between the Donnelly boys and William Thompson followed. When William Thompson Jr. married Mary Carroll in 1874, the Donnelly boys held a shivaree for them at which some of Thompson’s property was deliberately destroyed. In 1879 William Thompson claimed to have lost a cow. The Vigilance Committee searched the Donnelly homestead for the animal, but it was found at home. William Thompson Jr. was allegedly part of the mob that murdered the Donnelly family in 1880. Thompson testified that James Carroll spent the entire night from February 3 to the early morning of February 4, 1880 at their home. He claimed Carroll never left the Thompson household, so he would not have been able to participate in the murders.