The Galveston Daily News
Galveston, Texas
May 27, 1889 Monday
pg 2

DARK AND BLOODY DEED

ROBERT MAY, SHERIFF OF GRAYSON COUNTY, SHOT TO DEATH
While in the Discharge of His Official Duties - Officers
and Bloodhounds Round the Slayer up - Particulars
of the Crime

Sherman, Tex., May 29. - One of the most startling tragedies ever known in Grayson county took lace eight miles from the city this morning and a little over a mile west of the village of Howe on the Houston and Texas Central railway, in which Bob May, sheriff of Grayson county, a valued and efficient officer, lost his life under unexpected circumstances. Just a week ago to-day two young men arrive in Howe from Elliott county, Ky. They were the distant relatives of D. H. Hanna, John Hanna and John Eades, who live in Howe, and have been stopping with these people since their arrival.
The young men were fist cousins and had come out to Texas on a prospecting tour and had given it out that they intended
to visit both Oklahoma and Arkansas before returning home to Kentucky. Mandrew Isom is 21 years and Benjamin 21 years. They had been knocking about town a great deal, during which time they had been drinking more or less. Friday last, preparatory to the trip they were to take through Oklahoma and Arkansas, the two Isoms came to Sherman and purchased
a full supply of fire arms, including Winchester rifles, pistols, ammunition, etc. These they brought back and left at the house of John Eadus, in the caster part of the town of Howe, and at which house they were stopping for the last day or two.
Friday evening the Isoms got into a game of marking for the treats, in which they got a little vexed. Yesterday afternoon Ben
Isom and J. M. Culver were marking for the cigars in Simpson's saloon. Isom accused Culver of having swindled him. Culbert
remonstrated with him, but Isom became more and more abusive and finally drew his pistol with the evident intention of
using it on Culver. He was seized by Mr. Simpson and another gentleman and disarmed. As soon as the pistol was taken away from him he left with his cousin, Mandrew Isom, going directly toward the residence of John Eades.
At this place they secured their weapons and went east to a dense thicket on the Captain Marshall farm, east of Howe, a mile or two. Town Marshal Campbell of Howe summoned a posse and went in pursuit, but they could not be found, and the crowd
returned to Howe without their men.
A messenger came to Sherman this morning at an early hour and filed a complaint before state attorney, C. H. Smith, charging Ben Isom with carrying a deadly weapon. The warrant issued by virtue of the complaint was placed in the hands
of Sheriff May who left for the scene at an early hour this morning with Deputies Scott Creager and James May, brother of the sheriff. They reached Howe about 8 o'clock this morning and went at once to work gathering up data relative to the occurrence yesterday. After learning all necessary they rode over to the residence of Capt. Tom Barker half mile east of town, and on a prominence overlooking the thicket n the lowland into which the Isoms had gone when pursued by the posse, under the town Marshal of Howe.
About 9 o'clock two men were seen cutting across the fields in the direction of the thicket and were recognized to be David Hanna, son of John Hanna, and John Eades. Leaving their horses at Captain Burkes, the officers followed the men into the thicket where they surprised the two Isoms in conversation with young Hanna and John Eades. Before reaching the men, however, Sheriff May and his deputies had in a measure scattered. Deputy James May was at some distance from the sheriff while Deputy Creager was behind him, perhaps twenty-five feet.
Sheriff May commanded them to throw up their hands, but this they did not do, raising and firing as they came, both
discharging their winchesters. Sheriff May fired one shot with a pistol and sank down, and the two Isoms dashed off into
the thick undergrowth and brush, and were lost to view. Deputy Creager fired one shot, but it was inefficient. Hearing
the shots, James May dashed through the brush to find Deputy Creager bending over the dead body of the murdered sheriff.
James May went prostrate to the town and acquired the services of a doctor, who examined the body, which had been carried to the residence of Captain Burke, but life was extinct.
Deputy Creager states that he heard the shots, and as he ran by Sheriff May he was standing by a little tree, leaning against it.
And that when he (Creager) fired he turned around and the sheriff had sunk down to the ground. He hastened to his side and raised his  head, asking him if he was hurt very badly.
The wounded man tried to peak, gave his deputy just one look, the the chin dropped and with a sign the spirit of one of the
bravest and finest men and officers Grayson county or the state of Texas has ever known winged its flight to the reward
which such  manhood and steadfastness merits.
Announcement of the affair in Sherman was like the bursting of a bomb. The streets were crowded with people going to and from the churches, and all was bright and pleasant, but like a pall of gloom the news settled down on the entire community.
Hundreds of men volunteered, hundreds of willing hands grasped winchesters, shotguns and pistols and begged for the privilege of assisting in the capture of the slayers.
Deputy Sheriff Cam Whitesides and Policeman Geno Andrews left at once for Howe, reaching there in thirty-five minutes from the time the telephone message announcing the killing reached Sherman. Other officers followed.
At 10 o'clock Mandrew Isom came up to the depot at Howe and surrendered to Deputy sheriff Creager, who at once search him but found nothing. A subsequent search in the thicket where the tragedy occurred developed the fact that Isom had left his winchester and pistol there. John Eades was arrested at the home of D. H. Hanna by Officers Spencer and McKinney. Eades is a young man about 24 years of age who came to Howe from Dell county about the 1st of March. He has been working at intervals, having been in bad health most of the time. About the same time David Hanna, son of John Hanna, was arrested at the residence of his brother, F. H. Hanna, by J. M. Culver.
Eades and Hanna said, when they were arrested, that they had gone out to tell the Isoms to either leave the country or to come in and surrender and settle the matter. Another report hat it that they had gone out to carry the concealed Isoms their breakfast.
Mandrew Isom, who came in and surrendered to Creager, said: "We had made arrangements, I and Be, to shoot up in the air if we were surprised, and then if the officers did not weaken, we were to run off through the woods. I shot in the air as I had agreed, but Ben fired at the sheriff, and I suppose that is the shot which killed him."
At 12 o'clock orders were received at the armory of the Grayson Rifles to hold themselves in readiness to leave at once for
the scene, and Captain J. F. Mahoney was appointed by the county judge as sheriff pro-tem, with instructions to appoint all necessary forces to maintain order.
At about 1 o'clock Captain Mahoney with the rifles left on a special train accompanied by Assistant State Attorney Zol Woods. The body of Sheriff May was removed to the waiting room of the depot where it was viewed by a large constant flow of people.
it was placed on the north bound train and brought to Sherman. A hearse was in readiness at the depot.
The three prisoners were taken off the train by a detachment of policemen and placed in an ___bus and hurried to the Houston street prison, before the crowd had time to realize just what was taking place. The hearse containing the dead sheriff moved slowly up the streets, which were literally jammed full of people.
When the body was carried into the lavatory of the jail and Mrs. May entered with the fatherless children, the scene was too
sad and affecting for pen to describe.
In answer to a telegram Sheriff Chaney of Fannin county arrived in Sherman at 1:37 p.m. with a pack of trained dogs, and a
special train was sent with the Fannin officers and dogs about 5 o'clock.
The dogs struck the trail directly, and the deep baying echoed and resounded through the low lands. A party of three, consisting of Joe Simpson, William Holt and J. M. Tacket were standing at the head of the thicket watching for him to come out of a ravine, the dogs being on the opposite side of the thicket, when a man was seen to creep out of the brush and go in the direction of a cornfield.
The three above mentioned rode up toward him, and when they reached a point about 200 yards from him he rose and surrendered.
He was perfectly cool and said, while Tackett was searching him: "I thought I would give up, as I did not care to die." He was
turned over to Captain Mahoney and placed on a special train and brought in at 6 o'clock and placed in jail.
The dead body of the sheriff is lying in the reception room at the Houston street prison which is heavily guarded by
a detachment of military under Sergeant Whitman.
The single wound which cost Sheriff May his life, entered near the waist band of his pants on the left side, passed entirely
through the body, coming out near the spine.


Dallas Morning News
May 29, 1889

DISASTROUS RUNAWAY
Alleged Horse Thief Arrested - Another Charged with Horse Theft Jailed.
Gainesville, Tex. - May 28 - The city was thrown into a furor of excitement yesterday when the sad news reached here of
the killing of Sheriff Bob May of Grayson county.  Mr. May had a broad acquaintance here and hosts of warm friends. He
bore the reputation in Cooke county, as he did wherever he was known, as being a gentleman of enviable reputation and
one of the most efficient sheriffs in the state.


Abilene Semi Weekly Reporter
Abilene, Texas
Friday May 31, 1889
pg 4

Sheriff R. L. May of Grayson county was murdered last Sunday while arresting a man by the name of Isom for carrying a pistol.
The deed was unprovoked and the people are very indignant at the taking off of one of the most efficient officers and estimable citizens that the county every had. Isom was immediately arrested.


The Sunday Gazetteer
Denison, Texas
Sunday, June 2, 1889

SHERIFF MAY KILLED

WHILE IN THE DISCHARGE OF HIS DUTY

The Assassin a Young Man from Kentucky -
Full Particulars of the Heart-Rending Tragedy.

One of the most heart-rending tragedies ever enacted in Grayson county took place last Sunday near the village of Howe,
on the line of the Houston and Texas Central railway. Bob May, twice elected sheriff of Grayson county, a valued and fearless officer, was shot down in cold blood while in the discharge of his duties. The assassin was a Kentuckian, who had arrived in the state only a few days previous. It is opportune to remark here that the most blood-thirsty villains who have brought reproach upon the fair name of Texas came from other states. The most famous outlaw of them all was Sam Bass, an Indianian, and a number of others, equally as notorious as Bass, have come to Texas as a field of operation.
The following account of the killing of Sheriff May is compiled from the Sherman correspondence of the Dallas News:
Just one week ago to-day two young men arrived in Howe from Elliott county, Kentucky, and were visiting at the homes of
D. H. Hanna, John Hanna and John Eads, distant relatives of theirs, preparatory to starting on a prospecting tour through Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. The young men were first cousins, named Isom - the eldest, Mandrew Isom, aged 24 years; the younger, Benjamin Isom, aged 21 years.
On Friday of last week, preparatory to the trip they were intending to take, the two Isoms went to Sherman and purchased a full supply of fire-arms,  pistols,Winchesters, ammunition, etc. These they took to Howe and left at the house of John Eads. That evening the Isoms, who had spent much of their time since their arrival drinking about town, got into a game of marking for the treats, which ended in a slight row. The following afternoon they were "marking" for cigars at Simpson's saloon, when Ben Isom and J. M. Culver got into a difficulty, Isom accusing Culver of having swindled him, which ended in Isom drawing his pistol, with the evident intention of using it on Culver. He was disarmed by Mr. Simpson and another man. Soon after, he in company with is cousin, Mandrew Isom, left the saloon, went to the house of John Eads, secured their weapons and went east to a dense thicket a mile or so from Howe.
After an ineffectual attempt to capture them by the town marshal, of Howe, a messenger went to Sherman early Sunday morning and filed a complaint before State's Attorney C. H. Smith, charging Ben. Isom with carrying a pistol.
A warrant was issued and placed in the hands of Sheriff May for execution. Summoning to his aid deputies Scott Creager
and James May, the Sheriff left for the scene of action at an early  hour of the morning arriving at Howe about 8a.m.
After learning all necessary particulars, the Sheriff and posse set out for the hiding place of the Isoms. Having reached an eminence overlooking the thicket in which the fugitives were supposed to be concealed, the Sheriff and his party stopped
to reconnoitre.
Seeing two men skulking across a field in the direction of the thicket, w ho were recognized as John Hanna and John Eads, the officers dis-mounted, leaving their horses at Capt. Burke's and followed the men into the thicket, where they cam upon them in conversation with the Isoms. Before reaching the men, however, the Sheriff and his deputies had separated. James May being some distance off, while Scott Creager was behind the Sheriff, perhaps, twenty-five steps. Sheriff May commanded the Isoms to throw up their hands, but instead of doing so, they rose, advanced on the officer, both discharging their Winchesters as they came.
Sheriff May fired one shot with his pistol, then sank down in the path, and the Isoms fled into the thick undergrowth and
were lost to view. Creager sent an ineffectual shot after the fugitives. Hearing the shots, James May dashed through the thicket, to find Creager bending over the dead body of the murdered Sheriff, who expired almost immediately after Creager reached him. Thus died a brave, true man in the discharge of his duty.
As soon as news of the tragedy reached Sherman hundreds of brave men tendered their services to aid in the capture of
the murderers, and the wildest excitement prevailed. A delegation of officers and others left immediately for Howe.
At 10 o'clock Mandrew Isom came up to the depot at Howe and surrendered to deputy Creager. John Eads was arrested at the home of D. H. Hanna by Officers Spencer and McKinney. About the same time David Hanna, son of John Hanna, was arrested at the residence of his brother, by J. H. Culver.
All of these, connected with the Isoms, are new-comers to Howe, except D. H. Hanna, who is an old resident of Texas, and who tried to prevent the lawlessness of his visiting relatives, by taking away from them their weapons, but it seems without
much effect.
The capture of Ben. Isom was effected later in the day, by means of a picked posse under the charge of Sheriff Chaney, of Bonham, and a pack of blood hounds. After a considerable chase Ben. Isom, was driven from a thicket, where he had taken refuge, into a corn field, where he was overtaken, and taken in charge by Messrs. Simpson, Holt and Tackett. He was turned over to Officer Mahoney, placed on a special train, and taken to Sherman jail. He was perfectly cool and collected, not seeming to realize the gravity of his crime.
The body of Sheriff May was also placed on a special train, and brought to  Sherman, and taken at once to his home on Houston street. Thus ended the lite-tragedy of one more brave man.
The funeral took place Monday from his residence, the remains being taken to Whitesboro by train and from there to Gordonville and laid to rest by the side of loved ones in the family burying ground, a large crowd attending the funeral. The Gazetteer extends its heartfelt sympathy to the heart-broken widow and orphans in this, their saddest of all bereavements.

THE VERDICT
The wound, which caused the death of Sheriff May almost instantly, is fully described in the verdict below, and which is
as follows:
I, J. C. Campbell, justice of the peace in and for precinct No. 1, county of Grayson and state of Texas, sitting as a
court of inquest upon the dead body of R. L. May having examined into the cause, time, manner and place of the death
of the deceased, do find as follows, to wit: That the said deceased came to his death about one and a half miles northeast
of Howe, on or about the hour of 10 o'clock a.m. on the 26th day of May, A. D., 1889. That the death of the said deceased
was caused as follows and in the following manner to wit: That on the 26th day of May,1889, Ben Isom and Mandrew Isom,
of their malice aforethought, in said county and state, did shoot the deceased with guns, inflicting upon the body the
following wounds, caused by the ball from the guns, entering the abdomen in the right iliac region, close to the ilium,
ranging diagonally through and passing out on the left side of the pelvis, n ear the junction of the sacrum and ilium,
probably severing one of the iliac arteries, from the effects of which wounds the said deceased died at the time
and place heretofore stated.

Fort Worth Daily Gazette
Fort Worth, Texas
Sept 15, 1889 Sunday
pg 11

SHERMAN
Work of the Grand Jury  - Talk Regarding
the Coming Race for Congress

Special to the Gazette
Sherman, Tex., Sept 14 - The grand jury which has been in session here for the past week  made its report this morning. They returned forty-three true bills, twenty-eight of which were for felonies and fifteen for misdemeanors. All four of the parties arrested for killing Sheriff Bob May were indicted for murder.


The Sunday Gazetteer
Denison, Texas
Sunday, December 15, 1889
pg 1

The case of the State vs. Ben Isom, charged with the murder of Sheriff May, was decided Wednesday afternoon, the jury
bringing in a verdict of murder in the first degree and assessing the punishment at imprisonment in the penitentiary
for life. The trial of Mandrew Isom, his brother, on the same charge, will be tried in Bonham next March.

FELONY
Susan Hawkins
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