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The Sunday Gazetteer
Sunday, September 10,1893
pg 4

FRIDAY NIGHT'S RECORD
The Fannie Williams Bagnio the Scene of a Deadly Feud.

Soon after the burning of the old frame residence on East Crawford street, occupied by Fannie Williams as a bagnio, the two-story business house at 113 East Chestnut street was rented and fitted up for the occasion and the Williams outfit
moved in. Since that time the house has been very orderly, but things took a decided turn Friday night. Some time after midnight a number of pistol shots were heard in that direction and Policeman John James and Bud East, who were on lower Main street, were in the building within one minute after the shooting. Just as Mr. James entered the front door the body of George Secoy came tumbling down the stairs.
Mr. James took charge of Secoy and Mr. East went on upstairs, where he found Deputy United States Marshal Frank Fore sitting on a box and bleeding profusely from both arms. Secoy was removed to a room on the lower floor and placed on a bed. A physician was summoned, and an examination of the body showed two ugly wounds, either of which would prove fatal. One ball had passed through the lower left side from front to rear, and the other pierced the bowels just below the stomach. The man was given every attention possible but he breathed his last sometime before day Saturday morning. His home is up in the Choctaw nation in the neighborhood of Atoka, and it is common rumor that the shooting was the result of an old feud. The shooting created intense excitement, and many of the girls ran out screaming to the Lester place on the opposite side of the street.
At first it was supposed that Fore's wounds were fatal, and it was commonly understood about town this morning that he, too, was dead, but such is not the case. He is shot through the left forearm, where one bone is broken, and through the right hand. Two, and probably three, fingers will be lost, and this is the extent of his injuries. He has been on the marshal's
force in Denison, with jurisdiction along the line of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas in the Indian Territory, for some time, and, so far as the public knows, has conducted himself very well. He is now, Saturday morning, under the influence of opiates, and it is impossible to get an authentic statement concerning the origin of the difficulty, nor has it been possible, so far, to find an eye witness to the shooting. The battle occurred in the hall-way up-stairs, but whether Secoy fell of his own accord or whether he was shoved down by Fore is not known.
One of the girls at the bagnio made the following statement to the Gazetteer reporter:
"I, with two or three girls, were out in the hall with Alex Garner, Dave Bohannon and George Secoy. Frank Foreman was in the front room with one of our girls, laughing and talking. The girl came out and went down stairs. In a few minutes Foreman came out and raised a row with Secoy. That was between 11 and 12 o'clock. We got things quieted, and I thought the difficulty was over. Something over an hour passed, when Fore again came out of the room, carrying his pistol in his hand. Fore shot Secoy, and then the firing became general. I stooped over and darted like lightning into my room, and that's all I know about it."
The hallway shows evidence of a desperate battle. The carpet is literally saturated with blood. Frank Foreman's pistol shows only one empty chamber, that of Secoy two. Dave Bohannon was one among the first to get out of the building, and at this writing nothing has been seen or heard of his whereabouts.



The Sunday Gazetteer
Sunday, December 24, 1893
pg 4

LOCAL CONDENSATIONS
Tuesday, December 19 - Ed Bohannon, brother to Dave, came in at 1:30 from the north . . .



The Sunday Gazetteer
Sunday, December 24, 1893
pg. 4

HIS SECOND VICTIM
Dave Bohannon Again on the War-Path - Tom McCoy His Victim

Dave Bohannon, a constant visitor to Denison for a number of years and a deputy United States Marshal, shot and almost instantly killed Tom McCoy Saturday night, at a farm house about 10 miles in the country west of Durant.  As many as half a dozen different reports of the killing have reached Denison and so far no two agree.  McCoy was in Denison Saturday and at that time was in a drunken condition.  The first report that reached here concerning the killing was that Bohannon met McCoy in the road, when the former commanded the latter to dismount and dance a jig.  The command was obeyed and McCoy
danced until he was tired.  He was ordered to continue and on refusal was shot down.
Bohannon was seen by a reporter Sunday and his statement is substantially as follows:
"I and McCoy were friends and Saturday night we met at his home.  Tom was drinking and he wanted me to put my horse in with his and drive them in his buggy to a neighbor's.  I did not wish to do so and objected to going.  Tom continued his
request and finally, to avoid trouble, we hitched the horses to the buggy and started.
We had not gone far before he began trying to grab my Winchester, saying he could see Nick Kefer, a man with whom he
had a shooting scrape a short time ago.  He had been drinking for about 2 weeks and had snakes in his boots.  When we got to Tom Hankin's we got out of the buggy, and while I was not noticing him, he grabbed my pistol and stuck it under the band of his pants behind.  He then took a small pocket pistol out of his pocket and fired at me three times.  I kept out of his way,
knowing that he was crazy and thought I was Nick Kefer.  He then got hold of a hotgun, and as he raised it to fire at me I shot him down with my Winchester, the ball taking effect in the left side, killing him instantly.  I hated to do it, as he was my friend, but it was in self-defense."
Dave Bohannon, it will be remembered by Gazetteer readers, was in the shooting scrape in Denison a few months since when George Secoy was killed at a Chestnut street bagnio.
He is also the slayer of Sheriff Foreman, who was killed in his bed at a hotel in South McAlester.
Ed Bohannon, brother to Dave, was in Denison Tuesday.  He very much regrets the way his brother is acting and hopes that he will leave the country never to return.
He thinks that Dave was justifiable, probably, in both instances but that whiskey was at the bottom of the whole business.



The Sunday Gazetteer
Sunday, May 13, 1894
pg 5

The Last of Dave Bohannon
Dave Bohannon, the ex-Indian policeman and murderer, met death Friday morning of last week at Coalgate, I.T., under circumstances equally as tragic and as cruel as the ending to the lives of the men who had gone down before his murderous rifle. Dave Bohannon had been a rather frequent visitor to Denison for many years and his bearing and deportment here while not altogether free from ruffianism and rowdyism was not at all in accord with his record in the Indian country. Early last fall he shot and killed Ben Foreman in a hotel at South McAlester.
No one saw the shooting and only one side, that of Bohannon's, of the story ever reached the public ear. Dave claimed self-defense but he was very cautious not to get into the hands of the officers. Last December he shot and killed Tom McCoy, in the Chickasaw Nation some twenty-five miles northeast of Denison. Since the last killing Dave has been more vigilant than ever in eluding the officers. On Wednesday of last week he put in his appearance at a Choctaw beer joint near Coalgate and, as is usual under such circumstances, a row soon developed, and a fight followed. The joint was run by a white man by the name of Faudree. In the fight Faudree shot Bohannon twice but neither wound was of a serious nature. Bonhannon got away and went to a cabin near the Coalgate race tracks where he remained until Friday night when Coley Impson and Ike Burris, both of whom were in the fight Wednesday at the joint, called at the cabin and asked Bohannon
to come out and make friends. After much persuasion Bohannon opened the door and shook hands with Impson. As he did so Impson jerked him out and Burris, raising his gun, sent a ball through Bohannon's abdomen. Impson and Burris left the cabin but soon returned and, finding Bohannon still alive, made short work with him by sending another bullet through his body. Bohannon,  however, succeeded in getting a parting shot at Burris inflicting a dangerous flesh wound. Bohannon's
remains were brought down to Durant and interred Saturday evening in the old Bohannon grave yard. 

FELONY
Susan Hawkins

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