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BECKLEY, WEST VIRGINIA, THURSDAY MORNING JUNE 20 1Pur.'not,rent,poae*[rpe.VIIderilto •wun-idict*mlng:ouu*coh*riaonnext?ssedthea ai-tateJ ' the etter ,354. and use rand, ►tory told rforOF MURDERERSMOST FIENDISH IMPORTANTWas Cliarles Shafer of Rock wood, Ohio,DECISIOJr -SLAYS WITH SHOTOUNKeodered on tlie C. 0. I• •••*• ** * ^Liqaor Question.WEST VIRGINIA OPEA^ncioasly Murders His Wife. Year-Old Son, and Dangerously Wounds His Motber-m-Law~The*Takes His Own Life With Poison^ Cause of the Crime. £The Shpreme Court of Appeals Ham Down a Decision Practically Pe mitting Dealers in Other States’ Sell in West Virginia Wlthoi License. 'banduntjacedaackden,oan-rereyea-theffithrentmdandiirt, ssed 'the ? of ing-»-Con-Vir-be n. itea I all:ate4jrv*»ra*ler-: i«.3.caniaa-eryiMeti-thaaa-iUy.12,.paa900(itaieyes.aetird;entB,Ul-ro-ieya»nsib.hentv-itsheinbe*Ys.i.I.r*The most cold blooded, and atrocioiis• . ■ f ■ Mmurder ever recorded in the annals ; pi Lawrence county, and believed./ to b£ unparalieled in the history of 0hio; wbff; that committed yesterday afternoon by Charles Shafer when he shot his wife£ eight-year-o!dvson and roother»mdawi; killing the first two and aeridiisly wounding the third.The scene af the awful tragedy was the public road about a mile from Rock^ wood jiist across the river from Hmt*-iogton, • . • ..A simple recital of th©cxmtyffiitii surpasses belief. Hi* wife, his mo tori* in-law, Mrs. George; Thacker, ahd two children, one a boy eight yrs bid, and the other, a girl of a few month*/ were in a buggy driving from thehome of Mrs. Thacker toward*:Roclcwood. When about a mile .from that tillage and just opposite the home of Johi; Yates Mrs. Thacker and her: daughter saw Shafer coming in the opposite direction, and seemg that he carried a shotgun and around his watat wwstrtp^ ped a belt filled with ahplls* andr'emem-bering hia threats to kill them all they became alarmed and at once stopped me horse and got out of the buggy.Seeing what they were doing,’ Shafer quickened his pace and came up to them;just as, theyhadgdltoE'out of the Buggy.. He said not a word, but pointing the gun at his wife, pulled the lugger and discharged the contents of the shell, which was loaded with buckshot, full in the abdomen of his wife. She fell with a smothered groan to the road.Paying no more attention to her he ran after his mother-in-law and eight year old son, Hersehel, who, frightened almost to death, were trying to get to the house of John Yatoe where they could gain a refuge.Just a* Mrs. Thacker had reached* the house, Shafer overtook her and shot her. .Fortunately hia aim was poor and Mr*. Thacher wifl not hit in a vital spot. She fell to the ground and Shafer, believing that she waa dead, passed on and aoon overtook hia aon.Grabbing tum roughly by the arm he led the toy back, 00 frightened that he could not utter a word, and ao paraiteed from fright that he had to be liberally dragged along the road He calmly loaded hia shotgun.He paued where Mr*. Thacker was lying and aoon came to where his wife lay. With agony written in her every feature, ann with Herculean win power she raised herself up a* much as she could with her amop and with a look that would have melted a heart of flint, begged that he spare their boy. His only answer was to hold the boy tightly with one hand and with the other place the muzzle of the gun next to the wife's abdomen and fired. .Paying no heed to the dying moans hestarted acroaeed the road, pulling theboy after him. His.wife’s face was inhis direction and unable to utter a woadshe saw him drag their boy across ashallow ravine that rune along the roadand enter the woods, which is verydense. He was aoon lost from view. Inabout live minutes a ahot was heard,followed by a terrifying scream. Thenall was silent. In about two minutes,time for Shafer to load hi* gun, anothershot was heard, but there war no crythis time from the wood*. The cry wasfrom the mother dying in the road below.Hia daugnter's life had been spared by a quick act of her mother. When Mrs. Shafer started down the road to escape from her husband, she had the baby in her arms. When he shot her the baby was uninjured^ The dyingmother kept the baby fast in her rapidly weakening arm*, and when she law her husband returning up the road, pulling her son along with him, and with a mother’s intuition, inspecting bis pur-poee, *h«f with almost superhuman strength, raised up and threw the baby to the side of the road, where there i* a (Continued on Last Page)The supreme court of appeals in ee aion at Wheeling has handed down Tar reaching and important deebiba o the 0. 0. D. liquor question... The case in point waa that of th state, vs. J. J. Kenny and the com reversed the decision of Judge Dot little of the sixth circiit aiidideclare the defendant not guilty of illicit re;:v;Kenoy was agent for an express com pany at Hamlin, Lincoln county, and a Biich received packages of whisky am delivered them-, . : ;■ ■• In. the ewe upon which he was con yicted it was proven that he had reeeived such a package and delivered U i* man who had not ordered it, but wht was willing to receive it from the express office. (v _ •*.j:; He was convicted in Judge Doolittle^ :;eourt and was fined and sentenced to 6 .term in jail .;WThejsafle was appealed to theaupmm hourtahd the decision of the lowei cdult was reversed,......i • s . • 1j::'The syllabus of the opinion rendered ;by Judge Williain N. Miller, the othex ifudgeg concurring, is as follows: j/L Section . 1, chapter 40,- acta oi Y903, relating to shipment, and sale ol •intoxicating liquors contrary to law «nc providing a.remedy thereforria inapplf cable when applied to interstate shipments.2. Aq agent in this state of an express company engaged in the buaineaB of a common camer^f-puckagea.-whicb accepts spirituous liquors in another state for shipment and delivery to a consignee in this state collect on delivery, and which agent delivers the liquor to such consignee in tlfe usual course of the business of such common carrier, and collects from; the consignee the price of the liquor and the cost of carriage, is not guilty of selling intoxicating liquor without a state license for dealing therein, although at the time of Bticb delivery he knows the consignee had not ordered the liquor.The last part of paragraph 2 of the syllaboa, is taken by some attorneys to very sweeping,-throwing open 11 parts of .West Virginia to deaieri in intoxicating liquora in other statei permitting them to practically sell at will whenever they plsase without paying tbs state license on liquor dealers. Another effect would be the nullifying of the attempts of the citizens of various counties to prohibit the sale and tiae of intoxicants.SENATOR MORGAN DIESThirty Ye*M * Senator end Was Chairman of Inter-Oceanic Canals,Washington, -Tune 12.—United States Senator JJohn Tyler Morgan, of Alabama, for thirty years a member of the upper house of congress, chairman of the Senate committee on inter-oceanic canals, and prominent as a brigadier general in the Confederate army, died at his home here laBt night. Senator Morgan had been in bad health for a number of years, but had more or less regularly attended sessions of congress. Ho suffered from angina pectorias which waa the cause of his death.WEST VIRGINIA PATENTS,C. A. Snow and Company, patent attorneys, of Washington, D, C,, report the following: Charles W. Elliott,Northfork, Bottling machine; Henry Malick, Belmont, Ink-well; Rosa Martin, Fairmont, Safety Razor; Harry D, Shear and U. S. Rhodabarger, Manning, Cl Edmond F. Smith, Shinns* ton, Wrenchi‘ MAEBIAGE LICENSES,Marriage licensee have been issued to the following couple*: •?ames Barfield and Faunia Roles, N. C. Farley and Lu-da Meadows, Toby Hobson and Mary Jones, G, G. Daniels anc Pearl Cook, C. C, Lemon and W. A. Griffith, Eugene Maakfn and N. ,0. Jarrell.
Newspaper Details
Raleigh Herald
Beckley, West Virginia, US
Thu, Jun 20, 1907
Page 5
Full Page
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Anonymous
WV, USA 23 Jan 2020
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