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Mrs. Jessie Kahnfeld Dead and Her Husband, Frank Kahnfeld, Critically Wounded; T. B. Fountain, Neighbor, Held in Case; Mrs. Fountain Named By Eyewitnesses At 2 o'clock this afternoon Frank Kahnfield, 45, was reported dying at Mary Gates hospital as the result of wounds sustained earlier in the day at Port Acres. No charges had been filed in connection with the arrest of T. B. Fountain, who was placed in the city jail by John Foote, deputy sheriff and who is held following the Port Acres altercation. Mrs. Fountain's hysterical condition forced physicians to transfer her to Mary Gates hospital. Tragedy stalked the Port Acres highway about 8:30 o’clock Friday morning and left in its grim wake a young mother shot to death, a father critically wounded, a husband in a cell at the city jail, and a wife, said by eyewitnesses to have fired the shots, in a dazed and hysterical condition. Those involved in the shooting were next door neighbors and the men, fellow employes of the Gulf Refining company here. While two young sons looked on, Mrs. Jessie Kahnfeld, 26, was killed by a bullet fired into her stomach and her hus band, Frank Kahnfeld, 36, sustained head wounds from which he is thought to be dying at Mary Gates hospital. The shoot ing occurred in the road immediately in front of the T. B. Fountain home, and the two children who saw their parents shot say Mrs. Fountain fired the pistol. A short while after the shooting Constable Dick Parsley arrested Fountain and Deputy, Sheris.. John Foote removed the man to the city jail. Mrs. Fountain’s hysterical condition since the shooting has precluded her removal from her home, where neighbors are attending at her bedside. Fountain Names Wife Officers say that Fountain refuses to make a detailed state ment in connection with the shooting. Reporters who ventured to the bedside of his wife found her practically insensible and unable to give a coherent account of the shooting. Deputy Sheriff John M. Foote quoted Fountain as telling him that his wife had fired the shots. According to statements by the two little boys who witt nessed the affair, the shooting today climaxed trouble of sev eral weeks standing between the families who have been next door neighbors for three months. The boys, Thurman, 11, and Vernon, 8, say their parents had protested to the Fountains when the latter family allowed chickens to stray into the Kahn feld pea patch. According to the facts, Fountain and his wife had objected to these protests and had dele tpele chickena were to blame. ..dag, belonging to the»k'oun ad also eaten eggeshnd ¢d by Ke say. If feeling betw the lHiew hm cording to the boys, who socasionall threate said to have made against Mr. and Mrs. Kahnfeld. The boys said, hows et their mother and father had not expected so trouble. Employe At Refinery Kahnfeld has worked for several years here as a Gulf Re fining company boilermaker but several weeks ago his leg was injured at the plant and he has been off duty since then. Foun tain, neighbors said today, is a fireman for the Gulf company. How they watched their mother shut down and die and how they saw their father wounded was graphically told soon after the shooting by Thurman and Vernon Kahnfeld who may be left orphans by the double tragedy. When aid for the stricken couple arrived the dead woman was lying on a bloodsoaked pillow and the husband unconscious on a blanket a few feet away. “We had just taken our two cows to water at Gus Johnson's place and were driving them back to the pasture when the shooting happened,” Thure man said between sobs. “There was mama and papa and Vernon and I. In driving the cows back to the pasture we had to pass along the road in front of the Fountain home. The Fountains live between us and the Johnsons, Mr. Fountain was digging with a shovel in his front yard. Mrs. Fountain was standing close by. There was a pistol on the post.” Thurman went on and described how he says Mrs. Fountain picked up the pistol as the four members of the Kahnfeld family passed in front of the Fountain home, the cows ambling on ahead. They Accuse Fountain “As we started to pass, Fountain threw down his shovel,” Thurman said. “Then Fountain grabbed an old automobile pump and Mrs. Fountain picked up the pistol, Fountain ran out his gate to the road and hit papa with the pump. They grappled, and papa tried to push Fountain away.” “Then, the boy's story continues, Fountain yelled to his wife. “Shoot? Shoot! Thurman says he can Mrs. Fountain raise the pistol and fire one shot at his mother, Mrs. Kalenfield staggered and collapsed on the shell road. Next, so Thurman declared, the woman turned the pistol on his father. “Fountain finally threw papa to the ground,” the lad says and tears fill his eyes as he tells above it. “While papa lay up the ground Mrs. Foun tain shot again. I only heard two shots fired,” Thurman and Vernon, who claim they were just a few feet away when the fatal bullets were fired, say they rushed to their mother after she had fallen in the road. Mother Gasps “Goodby” “Goodby, sons, she gasped and after gently patting them she died. Only one shot took effect in Mra. Kahnfeld’s body. It entered at the seventh rib and exited just below the breast bone. Nurses at the hospital said the injured man has three challet wounds in his head, and is bruised on the body. Witnesses said only two shots were fired. “Papa was hurt in an accident at the Gulf Refining company about two months ago,” Vernon said. “He was a boilermaker for the Gulf—But he got his leg hurt when it was bit by?— a piece of steel and he hasn't been able to work lately. So this morn ing when he'd been shot, he tried to rise and couldn't, Mama and he just lay there in the road. It must have been 25 minutes before they were moved. Gua Johnson, at whose well the cows had been watered, and his con, Heith, heard the shots and rushed toward the scene, they said today. They found Mrs. Kahnfeld dying in the road and her husband, blood streaming from his head, lying close by. The Fountains turned and went back into their home after the shoot ing, the boys said. According to the two Kahnfeld lads they were the sole eyewitnesses to the shooting ex cept the participants. In addition to the two Johnsons a boy named Mc Bride also came up later, the boys said today, Bob Chapman, another neighbor, came by in his automobile, and after learning of the shooting hurried to Port Arthur for an ambulance, and such a car from Grawmier-Dismukes rushed the injured map to the hospi tal here. The body of Mrs. Kahn feld was taken to the morgue, ‘formerly Lived Here The Kahnfelds until three years ago resided at 919 Atlanta avenue, this city. They have since lived at Port Acres. Mrs. Kahnfeld is sur vived by a tired, Lone Se aes her mother, Mrs. M. A. Dallas, and segera eet ‘ae (Turn to Page 7, Column 3.)
Newspaper Details
Port Arthur News
Port Arthur, Texas, US
Tue, May 18, 1926
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
NA, 13 Jul 2026
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