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Independence Man Filling on Whiskey, Then Has Things All His Own Way in iome Town. OLD GRUDGE CAUSES ROW. Holds Old Grudge Against Arcet McFerren and Wants to Settle it by Shooting Shot Joseph McFerren Six Times--- Wounds Will Prove Fatal. A very dangerous character was shown at Indepedence last Monday night in the person of Lewis Wilhite. Lew had gone to Attica in the after noon with Chas. Smith, who was tak ing a start of lumber and fell in com pany with Frank Weegerly, a close friend, and the two began drinking. About 8 o’clock they started to Inde pendence and started the racket, which was founded from a talk over a certain young woman and an old crudge which Wilhite held against Arnet McFerren. Joseph McFerren, the father of Arnet McFerren, owns a drus, grocery and hardware store combined at that place and he and his son were both present when Wil hite and Weaverly came in. They at once started the racket with Ar net, who was at the front of the room and he at once ordered them out, but they refused to go. McFer ren (Arnet) picked up a stick, but as they refused to go, he got a gun and aimed at Wilhite, but the gun did not fire, so he pushed them out of the door. Wilhite then went to a camp belonging to two fishermen and forc ed them to give him a gun. Wegger ly and Claude Kiger met him on his return with the weapon and tried to induce him to stop but he quickly told them if they interfered he would shoot their brains out and pas sed on to the McFerren store where he and Arnet McFerren began shoot ing. Withite kept on firing until Arnet MeFerren was forced to run through the back door into a barber shop, then he started out the front door at which time McFerren fired three shots at him inflicting severe wounds in his side, arm and hand, then ran to a nearby house to hide. Wilhite, who supposed Arnet Mc Ferren had gone home, started for the house and met Joseph McFerren and pointed the gun at him and told him he was going to kill him. Mc Ferren began running and begging him not to shoot, but he shot, the bullet striking him in the back of the head and knocking him down. Wilhite then walked up to him and stood over him while he emptied a full revolver into him, striking in 6 different places, some in the back, 1 in the temple and some in the arm. He then walked down the alley and met a man and told him not to go any further, that he had killed Mc Ferren and would kill him if he ven tured further. Having an anxiety for more guns Wilhite went to the outer part of town and compelled Frank May to get out of bed and produce his guns. May gave him a shot gun with one load which Wilhite immediately fired and demanded his revolver. He was given the required gun and went back to the Mcferren home and walked in, finding the doctor and McFerren’s mother attending to his wounds. Pointing the gun at the doctor and lady he marched them out of the house, then went to the bedside of MccFerren and asked, “‘Are you going to die Joe?’’ And Mc Ferren answered, “Yes.’’ Then he told him it was a good thing or he would finish him right there. He demanded of the grandmother of Arnet McFerren that she bring him down to the house with all the mon ey he had and started her out at the point of his gun to town, but she could not find him and was allowed to re turn to the house. Wilhite decided his wounds need ed attention and marched Dr. Mich aels to his office and compelled him to do the work and re-load one of his guns for which he had secured the cartridges from the hardware man, John Herschman, after marching 10 men out of the store. He then ask ed a Mr. Reynolds to drive him to Attica which he refused to do and was immediately punished by a bullet in the back of the neck. Deciding that he had done all the damage he could do with guns Wil hite secured a box of matches and said he was going to burn the town but did not succeed very well as the citizens were watching ,and would put out the fire as soon as started. Convinced that it was time to make his ‘get away’’ Wilhite went to the river and rowed a boat to At tica where, in the meantime, Sheriff Tague and Marshall Russell had tele phoned Marshall Beamer to be on the look-out, he was arrested, dis armed and brought to Williamsport in Lawrence Bowlus’ auto and lodged in jail at the hour of 2 o’clock a. m. Wilhite waive prelimnary hearing and was bound over to appear for trial at the September term of court. Lewis Wilhite is 32 years old and lived in Independence with his wid owed mother, who is almost frantic over the crime her son has commit ted. He has two sisters and one brother and has always been respect ed and it has been said of him that he was as good a farm hand, carpen ter or concrete worker as a man would want to work for him, except when whiskey was obtainable. Joseph Melerren, who was shot so many times is, at this writing, still alive but unconscious and his recov ery is hopeless. He is a brother of Wm. McFerren, of this place, janit or of the Courthouse and is a well respected merchant at Independence. As yet nothing has been done with Wilhite’s partner, Weggerly, who, after seeing what a scrape he had gotten into, left Wilhite to fight his own battle, Wilhite has often said that if he ever started to ‘‘clean up' the town of Independence he would do it up right and we guess he was doing his share.
Newspaper Details
Williamsport Warren Republican
Williamsport, Indiana, US
Thu, Aug 26, 1909
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 20 Feb 2026
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