 The Whitewright Sun
Thursday, July 12, 1923 pg. 1 HARVE ADAMS KILLED BY HIS SON-IN-LAW Harve Adams, a well known negro farmer of the White Rock community northwest of Whitewright, was shot five times and instantly killed Wednesday morning about 9 o'clock by his son-in-law, Virgil Moss. Moss used a .38-calibre Colt's revolver, shooting Adams three times in the abdomen, once through the shoulder and once through the head. The shooting took place about three hundred yards west of the Mill Creek bridge on the Whitewright-Sherman pike. It is said that Adams and Moss had some trouble several months ago over a fence between the farms of Adams and Moss' father. Moss is a son of Mike Moss, who owns a good farm in the White Rock community. Harve Adams owned about 300 acres of land and has several farms rented which he sub-rents to negroes. He had about 400 acres planted to cotton this year and had teams and tools sufficient to have the farms worked on the halves. He carried $7,500 life insurance. Adams is survived by his wife and nine children. Moss was arrested and taken to Sherman and placed in jail a short time after the shooting. As far as The Sun was able to learn, there was no witness to the shooting. Moss did not make any kind of statement about the shooting before he was taken to Sherman. His only reply to questions was, "I don't know."  The Whitewright Sun Thursday, July 19, 1923 pg. 1 VIRGIL MOSS GIVEN LIBERTY UNDER BOND Bond of $2,500 was allowed Virgil Moss, negro, of the White Rock community, charged with the murder of Harve Adams, following an examining trial before Justice of the Peace J. H. Pennell at Tom Bean Monday morning. Bond was arranged by Moss' attorneys immediately after the trial, approved by Sheriff Floyd Everheart, who was present, and Moss was released. It was signed by the defendant and his father, M. D. Moss, a well-to-do negro farmer; W. H. Brown of Tom Bean, and Lee Simmons of Sherman. The amount of the bail was agreed upon by attorneys for the State and the defense after the examining trial was concluded, the State admitting the case was bailable. The State, at the hearing, offered the testimony of Dr. Curlee of Tom Bean, who testified as to Adams' wounds and the fact that he is dead, and Olen Adams, Dick Guess and other negro residents of White Rock who were a short distance from the scene of the shooting, and all of whom testified they saw Moss walking away from the scene with a pistol in his hand after they had heard four rapid shots. Adams was dead when they reached him and made no statement. They saw no gun on him. Moss was bound over to the October grand jury in the Fifteenth District Court. The Whitewright Sun Thursday October 11, 1923 pg. 1 ALLEGED NEGRO MURDERER IS RELEASED ON BOND Sherman, Oct. - A habeas corpus proceedings hearing was held in the fifteenth district court here before Judge Silas Hare in the case against Virgil Moss, a negro, charged with the murder of his father-in-law, Harvey Adams, wealthy negro of near Whitewright, on July 11 of this year. Harve Adams and Moss had had trouble before the killing. Judge Hare allowed Moss a bond of $3,500, which he immediately made. M.D. Moss, father of the accused negro, and Lee Simmons of Sherman are his bondsmen. The Whitewright Sun Thursday, July 31, 1924 pg. 4 Virgil Moss, White Rock negro, charged with the murder of his father-in-law, Harve Adams, last summer, is under trial for the offense in the district court at Sherman this week. Several veniremen and witnesses from here have been summoned in the case. The Whitewright Sun Thursday January 15, 1925 pg. 1 CASE OF VIRGIL MOSS IS SET FOR JANUARY 29 Sherman, Jan. 13. - The case of Virgil Moss, negro, charged with the murder of Harve Adams, wealthy Grayson County negro farmer near Ida, has been set for trial for the third time in the 59th district court. The setting at this time is made for Jan. 29, and a special venire of 60 men is being summoned from which to pick the jury. One other special venire case, that of Philip Bowen, negro, charged with murder of another negro near Whitewright, has been set for trial on Jan. 31, and a special venire of 36 men drawn from which to select the jury. Moss was the son-in-law of Adams. His case has been set twice but has never come to trial on account of illness of the defendant. The Whitewright Sun Thursday February 5, 1925 pg. 2 VIRGIL MOSS NOT GUILTY OF MURDER Sherman, Jan. 30. - Virgil Moss, negro, charged with murder in connection with the fatal shooting of his father-in-law, Harve Adams, negro farmer of near Ida, July 11, 1923, was found not guilty by the jury in his case after fifteen minutes of deliberation Thursday night. Moss pleaded self-defense and threats against his life by his father-in-law. FELONY Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson CountyTXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |