June 26, 2014

Salesman Killed in Freak Accident at Saw Mill, 1909

Previously:

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[March 19, 1909] -

HORRIBLE DEATH:--

Manly C. Albright, of Brodhead, traveling salesman for Stratton & Terstegge, met with a most horrible and tragic death Tuesday.  He had gone to W. M. Bullock's place of business about four miles south of here to sell that gentleman a bill of hardware.  Mr. Bullock was at his saw mill and the deceased stopped at the mill to see him.  It was about dinner time and Mr. Bullock asked Manly to go over and take dinner with him.  Passing out of the mill shed, they had to pass over the saw shaft, which was running at full speed.  Mr. Bullock passed over in safety, but the long overcoat worn by young Albright, caught on a set screw as he was passing over and in the twinkle of an eye his body wrapped about the whizzing saw rig and his life instantly beaten out, against the heavy timbers as he was whirled through the air.  Messrs John Marler, W. M. Bullock and James Johnson witnessed the awful occurrence and as best they were able to tell, the shaft made between five hundred and a thousand revolutions, before they were able to stop the engine.  The body was badly cut and bruised and there was hardly an unbroken bone in the body.  Undertaker Granville Owens, came up from Brodhead and he with Mr. A. B. Furnish and others went to the eventful spot picked up the body, which had already been cared for as best it could, by Mr. and Mrs. Marler, and others, and brought it to Mt. Vernon when it was shipped to his home at Brodhead.  Mr. J. C. McClary, the Stanford undertaker met the body there and prepared it for burial, which took place yesterday, near McKinney, Lincoln county.

But few young men could claim a wider circle of admiring friends than he.  His polite and genial manners, honesty, integrity and faithfulness to every trust won him the esteem, confidence and admiration wherever he was known.

No bronze or marble shaft, no splendor of ancient or modern tombs and no play of immortal genius can adorn the memory of such manly men.  Their lives, their deeds, their influence, living or dead, and their pure aspirations are the monuments that will keep their names burning in the home and the hearts of kindred and brethren, while the flying moments are dimming with their dust and rust the inscription upon the brightest obelisk in the cemetery.

While the silence of death wraps and chills us at this moment, memories, sweet and precious, come crowding in.

The remains were laid to rest yesterday the I.O.O.F's of which order he was an honored member, officiating. [1] 

------------------------

[1] "Horrible Death." Mount Vernon Signal, Mt. Vernon, KY. March 19, 1909. Page 3. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86069561/1909-03-19/ed-1/seq-3/

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June 25, 2014

Grudge Ends in Deadly Road Shootout, Pulaski, 1904

Previously:

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[September 27, 1904] -

GRUDGE ENDS IN KILLING.

SOMERSET, Ky., Sept. 26. -- James Pearce and Simpson Burton met in the road near Nancy, Ky., this county, and engaged in a fight in which Burton was shot three times, dying instantly.  Burton had previously snapped his pistol on Pearce, but it failed to fire.  The fight was the result of an old grudge. [1]



June 24, 2014

Fatal Quarrel Over Fishing Trap, Pulaski, 1921

Previously:

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[April 15, 1921] -

Killing On Buck Creek Tuesday Night 
Over Fish Trap, It Is Said.   

A quarrel over a fish trap is thought to have been the cause of a killing on Buck Creek near Haynes post office Tuesday night.  Bradley Haynes surrendered to the Sheriff Wednesday and admitted that he had killed I. N. Young, a friend and neighbor.  Haynes exhibited to the sheriff a severe gash in his head which he said was inflicted by Young and which caused the shooting.  Haynes and Young are neighbors and they with another neighbor set a trap in the creek and were on the bank talking and having a good time.  No words had passed between them, it is said.  The young man who was with them dropped off to sleep and was awakened by the shots.  He found Young dead and Haynes bloody from a scalp wound.  There were no other witnesses.  Young and Haynes have been neighbors for some time and it is said have never had any trouble.  Haynes was put under guard. [1]


June 23, 2014

One Killed Three Wounded in Gunfight at Public Sale, Pulaski, 1921

Previously:

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[February 28, 1921] -


FREE-FOR-ALL FIGHT AT PULASKI SALE

(By Associated Press)
 
 Somerset, Ky., Feb. 28-- A telephone message from Burnetta, in the western part of the county, says in a fight at a public sale near that place Saturday between Virgil Wood and James Pierce, that Pierce was shot and killed.  Hugh Pierce was shot in the back of the neck as he was stooping over his brother James.  Grover Pierce, another brother, rushed into the scene and he was shot in an arm.  Wright Wood was shot through the nose.  The three wounded men will probably recover.  Ill feeling is said to have existed between Wood and Jas. Pierce for some time. [1] 






June 22, 2014

Mt. Victory Preacher Killed After Church Service, Pulaski, 1922

Previously:

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[August 12, 1922] -


2 DIE IN GUN BATTLE AFTER CHURCH RITES

Preacher, Armed By Friend in Flock, Meets Men Who Tried to Stop Service.

ANOTHER MAN WOUNDED

Pulaski Officers Believe Pastor's Fight on Moonshine Led to Attack.

Special to the Courier-Journal.

Somerset, Ky., Aug 11. -- Two men are dead and another is near death in the hospital here today as a result of a gun fight which occurred at the close of a religious service at Mt. Victory, about twenty-five miles east of this city.

The dead:
Ester Dykes, farmer, Pulaski County.
Abe Nolen, lay pastor of the Mt. Victory Church.

Wounded:
Ellis Richardson, Pulaski County farmer.

Pulaski County officials today were told that Dykes and Richardson, with a number of other young men, went to the church service, which was being conducted by Nolen, with the intention of breaking up the meeting. They were unsuccessful in their effort and departed, it was reported.

Preacher Given Shotgun.

One member of the congregation, fearing trouble, slipped out during the progress of the service and secured a shotgun, bringing ti back to Nolen.

On the way home after the service Nolen, according to the reports received here, encountered the young men who had created the disturbance at the church. The men are alleged to have opened fire and Nolen fired back. When the brief battle ended Dykes lay dead and Nolen was so badly wounded that he died a few minutes after arriving at the hospital here. He made no statement about the shooting, it is said. Richardson was shot several times and is not expected to live.

Nolen, according to residents of the Mt. Victory vicinity, only recently had organized the church and had been preaching regularly. He had been active in the fight on moonshining in Pulaski County, and the officers are of the opinion that this led to the attempt to break up the church services. [1]



June 21, 2014

Man Killed in Row At Republican Primary Election, 1909

Previously:

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[June 18, 1909] -

KILLED:--Lum Sowder, a son of Riley Sowder, shot and instantly killed Bill Bullock at Dallas Pulaski county last Saturday.  The trouble was the result of an election difficulty, this being the day on which Pulaski's Republican primary was being held.  We are told, that Bullock was advancing on Sowder with a knife when he fired the fatal shot, which took effect just under the chin.  Sowder was immediately arrested and placed under bond. [1]









June 20, 2014

Woman Kills Her Husband's Mistress, Rockcastle, 1915

Previously:

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[August 21, 1914] -


FATAL SHOT:

Mrs. Gather Filbeck, a daughter of the late T. J. Ballard, and a good woman, fired a shot Tuesday morning into the body of Lena Fields, producing almost instant death.  The shooting took place at the home of Alex Drew, who married a sister to the Fields woman.  Mr. and Mrs. Filbeck have not lived peacefully together for some time, on account of the deceased woman, who did not bear a good reputation and the facts as given to us at the immediate time of the trouble are as follows:  The Fields woman for some few months had been in Louisville, returning home last Monday.  Mr. Filbeck was at Mullins Station when she arrived there, he hauled her and her trunk out in his wagon, up to the home of Drew, which place is only a short distance from Filbeck's home.  The Fields woman had a gallon of whisky of which she and Filbeck imbibed freely and were considerably under the influence so the report goes.  Mrs. Filbeck heard the noise over at Drew's home; she recognized her husbands voice and from the disturbance, thought there was trouble.  Mrs. Filbeck did not know that the Fields woman was any where in the county, and leaving her five children went over to investigate.  She carried Mr. Filbeck's pistol with her.  When she entered the house, Mrs. Filbeck will swear before the grand jury herself, she found the Fields woman sitting in Mr. Filbeck's lap.  Mrs. Filbeck immediately fired one shot into the floor, the second shot passed thru the body of the Fields woman who ran out into the yard and fell dead.  Mrs. Filbeck came to town yesterday and surrendered.  Public sentiment is universal for Mrs. Filbeck and the "unwritten" law will and should govern in this case. [1]











June 15, 2014

Man Arrested for Burglary Killed in Escape Attempt, Laurel, 1894

Previously:

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[May 1, 1894] -


Saturday about 2 o'clock Eb Moran, son and deputy under Sheriff James W. Moran, arrested a negro named John Ely at a depot on the charge of burglary.  He was assisted by Deputy Sheriff S. W. Warnack, and they took from him a pistol and gold ring that he had stolen from the house of George Bendel, two miles south of London.  On the way to jail the negro attempted to get away and ran three squares, when Moran fired at him, the ball striking him in the back, paralyzing him and from the effects of which the negro will die.  He was taken to the court-house and searched and on his person was found a razor, a large barlow and a gold watch that belonged to Geo. Bendel.  At the depot where he was arrested was also a side of meat taken from Bendel's house.  Mr. Bendel was out in a field at work and the man had broken in at a window.  No arrests. [1]





June 14, 2014

Man Killed Resisting Arrest At Sunday School Picnic, Pulaski, 1889

Previously:

Click here for a list of my other Pulaski/Rockcastle/Laurel County KY articles

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[May 28, 1889] -


The Reporter says Constable Doolin and the man Cope, who told him to shoot Wm. Watson at a recent Sunday school convention in Pulaski, were held in $1,500 and $600 respectively to answer. [1]



---

[December 10, 1889] -


The Somerset Reporter says that Wm. Watson, the man who was shot near Woodstock last May for alleged disturbance of a Sunday School Convention, died last week after seven months' intense suffering. W. R. Doolin, who fired the shot, and the man Cope, who was accessory to the crime, were both placed in jail without bail Saturday morning and will await trial at Circuit Court. [2]







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[December 17, 1889] -


The men, Doolin and Cope, charged with the killing of William Watson, who was misbehaving at a Sunday school convention in Pulaski, were granted bail, says the Reporter, in $3,000 and $2,000 respectively. [3]



---

[October 17, 1890] -


The trial of Will Doolin and George Cope, for killing Will Watson, who misbehaved at a Pulaski church, is in progress at Somerset. [4]





---

[October 21, 1890] -

The Somerset court closed at midnight Saturday, after a busy session of 12 days, during which court was held till after 10 o'clock nine of the nights.  Six men were sent to the penitentiary, including A. M. Price, for the murder of Shiplett, seven years, and Thomas and Charles Jones, father and son, three years each for killing Bud Ping. There was a hung jury in the cases of Doolin and Cope for killing young Watson, who disturbed a church gathering. [5]





---

[October 9, 1891] -

The grand jury at Somerset is the first that Judge Morrow has had empanelled since the new constitution reduced the number to 12.  In his charge the judge impressed upon the jury the importance of investigating fully the sheriff's assassination and the mob that hanged the alleged assassins, saying that in the eyes of the law they are murderers.  The second trial of young Doolin and Cope, for killing Will Watson at a S. S. picnic was in progress at last accounts. [6]




---

[October 15, 1891] -


The Cope-Doolin Murder Case.


SOMERSET, Ky., Oct. 10.--The Cope-Doolin murder case is now before the circuit court, Judge Morrow presiding, with forty witnesses to be examined.  The case was tried a year ago, but the jury disagreed.  Doolin and Cope shot William Watson while trying to quell a disturbance at a picnic a year ago.  There is much interest in the trial. [7]



---

[October 16, 1891] -

The Cope-Doolin trial at Somerset resulted in a hung jury, after lasting a week and the jury being out 24 hours. [8]




---

[July 11, 1893] -

Four years ago Cope and Doolin killed young Watson, son of the sheriff, at a religious gathering in Pulaski, near the Lincoln county line.  Since then there have been three mistrials, but a jury was at last found that was willing to give them at least partial justice. They were tried again last week at Somerset and given 2 and 3 1/2 years respectively. [9]





---

[October 14, 1893] -

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

DOOLIN et al.
v.
COMMONWEALTH.


Oct. 14, 1893, Decided.

PRIOR HISTORY:  [**1]  APPEAL FROM PULASKI CIRCUIT COURT.

DISPOSITION: Reversed and remanded for a new trial.

COUNSEL: W. O. BRADLEY, G. W. SHADOAN, AND W. A. MORROW FOR APPELLANTS.

1. The alleged dying declaration was incompetent as evidence because it did not appear that it was made under a sense of impending death (Vaughn v. Commonwealth, 86 Ky., 434; Bales v. Commonwealth, 14 Ky. Law Rep., 178.)

2. That portion of the declaration reciting matters not connected with the immediate circumstances attending the killing was clearly incompetent, even if the circumstances under which the declaration was made were such as to render the other parts of it competent. (Terrell v. Commonwealth, 13 Bush, 259.)

3. The court erred in giving and refusing instructions. (Criminal Code, sec. 394; Dilger v. Commonwealth, 88 Ky., 555.)

W. J. HENDRICK, ATTORNEY-GENERAL, FOR APPELLEE.

JUDGES: CHIEF JUSTICE BENNETT.

OPINION BY: BENNETT

OPINION

[*30] CHIEF JUSTICE BENNETT DELIVERED THE OPINION OF THE COURT.

As the case must go back for another trial, no facts will be noticed in the opinion further than is necessary to make it intelligible. There was a Sunday-school meeting held at Oak Grove meeting-house, and during the meeting [**2]  Watson and Gastineau fired their pistols within a short distance of the meeting-house, which created a disturbance. The minister requested the appellant Doolin, who was a constable in good standing, to arrest the persons creating the disturbance; and in obedience to the request he, together with Cope, who was summoned to assist, started out to make the arrest. Apprehending some trouble, they procured a rifle gun, and finally they overtook Watson and Gastineau, and ordered them under arrest. Gastineau obeyed, but Watson moved on, not obeying, and he finally began to run, and the appellants pursuing, Doolin being armed with the rifle gun and Cope with a stick. The witnesses for the Commonwealth say that Cope said to Doolin, "Shoot him, shoot him, I say, and don't let him get away," and immediately Doolin fired the gun, and Watson fell wounded, from which he died.

The evidence for the appellants is, that Cope did not say "shoot him," etc., but that while they were pursuing Watson in order to arrest him, and telling him that they did not wish to hurt him, but only to arrest him, he said that if they followed him any further he would shoot them, and threw his pistol over his shoulder in [**3]  the direction of them and snapped it at them; and that believing the pistol was loaded, and that Watson intended to kill them, Doolin fired in their necessary self-defense. The court instructed the jury that the appellants had the right to  [*31]  pursue and arrest Watson without a warrant, the offense having been committed in the hearing of Doolin; but the offense being only a breach of the peace, Doolin had no right to shoot Watson in order to compel him to stop his flight, and that if he, Doolin, did so shoot, they must find him guilty; but if Watson snapped his pistol at Doolin as if to shoot him in order to prevent the arrest, and that Doolin believed that his life was in immediate danger at the hands of Watson, then he had the right to shoot Watson in his own defense. But the court gave this other instruction: "If Doolin in pursuit of Watson gave him reasonable ground to believe, and he did believe, that it was the purpose of Doolin to take his, Watson's, life, or do him great bodily harm, then he had a right to protect himself from such danger, and take the life of Doolin; and in an attempt to protect himself from such danger he did endanger the life of Doolin, and Doolin [**4] shot to protect himself from danger brought on by his own conduct in endangering the life of Watson, he can not be excused on the grounds of self-defense."

It seems to us that this instruction is erroneous, for its meaning is that if Doolin in the pursuit of Watson gave him reasonable ground to believe that he, Doolin, intended to take his life or to do him great bodily harm, and he tried to shoot Doolin in order to prevent the apprehended danger to himself, which might not have existed in fact, then Doolin could not avail himself of Watson's threatening conduct toward him as a ground of self-defense. If Watson had shot Doolin, and was on trial for the shooting, the circumstances indicated in the instruction would avail him as self-defense. Under the plea of self-defense it is not necessary that the apprehended danger should exist  [*32]  in fact; but if the facts and circumstances are such as to give the party a reasonable ground to believe, and he does believe, in the existence of such danger, then he may act in his own defense, although the danger does not exist in fact. Hence it may sometimes occur that each party may be mistaken as to the existence of danger, and both be entitled [**5]  to the law of self-defense, as this case illustrates; for Watson might have been induced to believe from the fact that Doolin was armed and pursuing him, and the shouts, "shoot him," that Doolin's purpose was to shoot him, and therefore he would have acted in self-defense, and Doolin not intending to shoot Watson, but to pursue and arrest him, as he had the right to do, might have believed that Watson intended to shoot him to prevent being arrested, and shot to protect himself. So in such case each would be mistaken as to the purpose of the other, and each might be excusable on the ground of self-defense. No instruction should have been given on that subject.

For the error indicated the judgment is reversed and the case is remanded for a new trial. [10]


---

[October 17, 1893] -

The Court of Appeals has reversed the cases of W. R. Doolin and G. W. Cope, sent to the penitentiary from Pulaski for two and three years respectively for killing William Watson.  It will be remembered that the killing occurred near the Lincoln county line at a Sunday school convention.  Watson had fired his pistol into the crow and Doolin who was constable, and Cope, a member of the posse, shot him in the attempt to arrest him. [11]






---

[April 10, 1894] -

Col. W. O. Bradley telegraphed Hon. W. H. Miller Sunday to come to Somerset and help him select a jury from the Lincoln county men summoned for examination in the Cope and Doolin murder case, and he left on the noon train. [12]




---

[April 10, 1894] -

Fifty citizens of the West End were summoned to go to Somerset yesterday to serve as jurors in the case of Doolin and Cope for killing Deputy Sheriff Watson, a couple years ago. [13]




---

[April 13, 1894] -

The following are the names of the Lincoln county jurors, who got caught on the Cope and Doolin jury at Somerset: J. W. Givens, C. W. Wyatt, J. S. Mobley, Walter Huston, J. W. Bailey, J. B. Rout, J. S. Lee, G. A. Hughes, Cam Duncan, D. L. Trimble, J. B. Riffe and J. S. Murphy, Jr. Under date of the 11th Mr. Murphy writes that the Commonwealth has closed, but the case would take all the week. [14]




---

[April 17, 1894] -


The Lincoln county jury which heard the case of Cope and Doolin at Somerset gave the former two and the latter three years in the pen. They killed an officer at a religious gathering a few years ago, who was attempting to arrest them for disorderly conduct. [15]





---

[June 16, 1894] -

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

DOOLIN et al.
v.
COMMONWEALTH.

June 16, 1894.

Appeal from circuit court, Pulaski county.

“Not to be officially reported.”

W. R. Doolin and George Cope were convicted of manslaughter, and appeal. Affirmed.

*1 W. O. Bradley, for appellants.

W. J. Hendrick, for the Commonwealth.

BENNETT, C. J.

The appellants were convicted of the crime of manslaughter, for killing W. S. Watson. It seems that Doolin was a constable, and tried to arrest Watson for a misdemeanor, and summoned Cope to help him; that Watson ran, and, in the pursuit, Doolin shot him, from the effect of which the jury found that Watson died. The jury also found Cope guilty, as aider and abettor. The material facts of this case will be found in 23 S. W. 663, the case having been tried once before. Doolin claims that he shot Watson, in self-defense. He does not claim that he had the right to shoot him to prevent his escape. Upon the trial of the case the court permitted the dying declaration of Watson to go to the jury. The declaration, as written, reads, “Believing myself to be now on my deathbed,” etc. It is contended that this is but the expression of an opinion, etc., and is not certain enough to make it a dying declaration. But it seems to us that it does express the belief of “impending dissolution,” for it means that the deceased was then in bed, wounded, and that he believed he would die upon that bed, of that wound. Besides, he had, not long before, been told by his doctors that there was no hope for him. The declaration was properly allowed to go to the jury. The court gave the jury eight instructions, which covered the whole law of the case. The appellants objected to the fourth instruction only. We think that instruction is correct. The refused instructions were properly refused. The evidence authorized the verdict. We see no error in the record. The judgment is affirmed. [16]


---

[June 19, 1894] -

One of the last and best acts of the court of appeals before adjourning was to affirm the sentences of Cope and Doolan, convicted after many efforts in Pulaski for killing an officer, who went to arrest them for disturbing a religious assembly, and they will have to serve the too short sentences given them. [17]





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[1] Excerpt from "News Condensed." Semi-Weekly Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. May 28, 1889. Page 2. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85052020/1889-05-28/ed-1/seq-2/

[2] Excerpt from "City and Vicinity." Semi-Weekly Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. December 10, 1889. Page 3. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85052020/1889-12-10/ed-1/seq-3/

[3] Excerpt from "City and Vicinity." Semi-Weekly Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. December 17, 1889. Page 5. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85052020/1889-12-17/ed-1/seq-5/

[4] Excerpt from "News Condensed." Semi-Weekly Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. October 17, 1890. Page 2. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85052020/1890-10-17/ed-1/seq-2/

[5] Excerpt from "City and Vicinity." Semi-Weekly Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. October 21, 1890. Page 3. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85052020/1890-10-21/ed-1/seq-3/

[6] Excerpt from "City and Vicinity." Semi-Weekly Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. October 9, 1891. Page 3. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85052020/1891-10-09/ed-1/seq-3/

[7] "The Cope-Doolin Murder Case." Crittenden Press, Marion, KY. October 15, 1891. Page 4. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86069457/1891-10-15/ed-1/seq-4/

[8] Excerpt from "Newsy Notes." Semi-Weekly Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. October 16, 1891. Page 2. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85052020/1891-10-16/ed-1/seq-2/

[9] Excerpt from "City and Vicinity." Semi-Weekly Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. July 11, 1893. Page 3. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85052020/1893-07-11/ed-1/seq-3/

[10] Doolin v. Commonwealth, 23 S. W. 663 (1893). Retrieved from Google Books.

[11] Excerpt from "City and Vicinity." Semi-Weekly Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. October 17, 1893. Page 3. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85052020/1893-10-17/ed-1/seq-3/

[12] Excerpt from "Personal Points." Semi-Weekly Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. April 10, 1894. Page 3. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85052020/1894-04-10/ed-1/seq-3/

[13] Excerpt from "City and Vicinity." Semi-Weekly Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. April 10, 1894. Page 3. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85052020/1894-04-10/ed-1/seq-3/

[14] Excerpt from "Newsy Notes." Semi-Weekly Interior Journal, Stanford, KY.  April 13, 1894. Page 2. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85052020/1894-04-13/ed-1/seq-2/

[15] Excerpt from "City and Vicinity." Semi-Weekly Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. April 17, 1894. Page 4. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85052020/1894-04-17/ed-1/seq-4/

[16] Doolin v. Commonwealth, 16 Ky.L.Rptr. 189, 27 S.W. 1 (1894).

[17] Excerpt from "City and Vicinity." Semi-Weekly Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. June 19, 1894. Page 3. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85052020/1894-06-19/ed-1/seq-3/


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June 13, 2014

Neighbor Kills Another Over Corn Debt, Laurel, 1912

Previously:

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[January 19, 1912] -


Debt Leads to Murder.

London, Ky., Jan. 13.-- Reuben Arthur was shot and killed by Leonard Allen at the home of the former, near the Pulaski county line, fifteen miles west of here today.  The two men quarreled over a small amount of corn which Allen claimed Arthur owed him.  Allen claims self-defense.  He says that Arthur attached him with an ax and that he fired to save his own life.  Arthur received a bullet in the stomach and only lived a few hours.

The two men were neighbors and were married.  Allen has sent word to Sherif Scoville that he will be in London tomorrow to surrender. [1]






June 12, 2014

Bystander Killed in Gunfight Between Cousins, 1909

Previously:

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[September 28, 1909] -


John McKee killed trying to stop quarrel at Williams' Siding near Danville. [1]




---

[September 29, 1909] -

A shooting affray at Williams Siding, a few miles south of here, resulted in the death of John McKee and the serious wounding of George Roberts.

Reports concerning the facts of the case are conflicting.  From the most reliable information it seems that George Roberts and Oscar Roberts got into a difficulty when George Roberts drew a pistol and fired at Oscar Roberts.  The ball cut through the ear and grazed the neck of Oscar Roberts and then struck John McKee in the neck severing the jugular vein and breaking his neck.  McKee fell to the ground and died instantly. 

Then Oscar Roberts fired his pistol at George Roberts, striking him in the breast.  The bullet entered his body just over the heart inflicting a serious and probably fatal wound.

John McKee, the man who was killed outright, did not have any part in the fight.  He was a married man and leaves a wife and five children.

George Roberts is a married man having a wife and three children.  He is at the Somerset Sanitarium.  He is in a critical condition.  Oscar Roberts is unmarried.  The cause of the disturbance has not been learned.  No arrests have been made. [2]




June 11, 2014

The Pearl Bryan Murder: Woman Beheaded Alive by Seducer, 1896

The murder of Pearl Bryan received national attention due to the outrageous details of the crime and the surprising lack of remorse shown by the defendants during their trials.  The facts of the case according to the articles below are basically this:  Bryan became pregnant by one of the defendants. The father refused to marry her, and was adamant that Bryan secure an abortion.  Several botched abortion attempts, including force-feeding her cocaine, apparently failed to produce quick enough results for the father and his accomplice, who then disposed of her in a very gruesome way--by beheading her alive.

There are also a lot of articles claiming that Pearl Bryan's ghost haunts this or that building in the vicinity where she was murdered, and that her killers' ghosts haunt near where they were hanged, and other occult claims, but I have only gathered articles here on the murder investigation and trials details.

The Mary Cloyd murder in Laurel County, 1899, was referred to by papers as the "next Pearl Bryan case." You can read about that murder here


---

[February 3, 1896] -


MURDER MYSTERY

The Beheaded Woman Still Unidentified.

NUMEROUS THEORIES

Advanced As to the Cause.  The Head Cannot Be Found.

By Associated Press.

CINCINNATI, Feb. 2.-- A hundred different clues to the murder and beheading of a woman near Ft. Thomas, Ky., on Friday night are floating today.  Many of them have been traced to worthless origin.  The Sheriff of Campbell county, Ky., and all the detectives on both sides of the river are working on the case.

Not a single arrest on suspicion has been made, and not a single suspicion has been made, and not a single suspicion settled on any man as the perpetrator; nor has any thread been discovered likely to lead to lead to the identification of the woman.  All the ponds, as well as the Covington reservoir, have been dragged.  The water is going out of the reservoir, but it will be noon tomorrow before it will be empty.  Then search in the mud for the head can be made.

In the meantime rumor is busy on all the streets tonight.  One story generally circulated is that the head has been found, and that the murderer is a Ft. Thomas soldier, who committed suicide.  Ample investigation at hand has shown this to be wholly false.  There is one theory on which there is a general agreement, and that is that the woman was murdered in an attempt to take either money or papers from her person.  This inference is justified by the signs of a struggle and the torn condition of the clothes.

The latest and apparently the most plausible theory of the Ft. Thomas murder mystery is that the murderer was a jealous husband, and the victim a wife.  It is thought he suspected that she had letters from her guilty lover hidden under her corset.  The corset was found some distance from the body badly torn, as if forced violently from the body.

It is believed a butcherknife was drawn as a menace.  The woman's right hand was cut, showing she had grasped the blade desperately two or three times.  Then, according to the theory, the murder followed, and the search for letters failing the murder severed the head, and overcome by remorse, plunged into the reservoir or river and drowned with it. [1]


June 2, 2014

Shootout Victim's Brothers Retaliate With Dynamite, Whitley, 1901

Previously:

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[January 17, 1901] -


BUILDING BLOWN UP.

Rioters Terrorize the Town of Corbin -- One Dead, 
One Fatally Wounded and Others Missing.

Corbin, Ky., Jan. 17. -- Intense excitement prevailed in Corbin Wednesday night.  About 1 o'clock Wednesday afternoon James Shotwell and Rollie White met in front of Hagan's drug store and began quarreling.  Few words were spoken when White drew a pistol and fired three shots into the body of Shotwell.  Shotwell was carried to his room, and is not expected to survive more than a few hours.  White took refuge in his brother's grocery, and submitted to arrest.  A guard was placed over him, awaiting the arrival of the county sheriff.

John Shotwell, a son of the dying man, was in Williams burg attending circuit court.  A hasty summons brought him to Corbin at 4 o'clock.  He at once swore vengeance on his father's murderer.

A Terrific Explosion.

At 6:30 a terrific explosion occurred under the grocery of E. R. White, where his brother was being guarded.  So severe was the shock that it tore the building literally to pieces.

There were about a dozen persons in the building at the time.  Several escaped with slight injuries, while several remain in the debris. No one at this time can say how many are killed.

One old man in trying to extinguish the blaze, declares that he took hold of a corpse.  Susan Cox, a well-known character, was found dead between the wrecked building and William Harp's residence.  It is supposed she was taken refuge there, and was hit by a stray ball.

Rapid Firing Begun.

Immediately after the explosion rapid firing in the neighborhood began by unknown parties, who were concealed.  About 9 o'clock more shooting took place, the result of which can not be learned.

Citizens are afraid to visit the rioting districts.  It was thought that the morning will find three or four persons dead.

The trouble between Shotwell and White grew out of the fact that White had been paying attentions to Shotwell's daughter, much against the will of the entire Shotwell family.

Wednesday afternoon when the two met Shotwell told White he must not visit his house again, as he did not wish such a man in his family.  From this the quarrel began.  Shotwell is about 50 years of age and a well respected citizen.  White is a young man about 22 years old. [1]