 Fort Worth Daily Gazette
Fort Worth, Texas Saturday, April 28, 1888 A KILLING NEAR DENISON A Quarrel Over a Bar of Soap Results Fataliy. Special To the Gazette Denison, Tex., April 27. - At 1 o'clock to-day, A. H. Post, fifty-nine years old, and cook at Bush's quarry, shot and instantly killed a teamster by name of W. E. Powell, they having a quarrel over a bar of soap. Post dressed himself and awaited the arrival of the officers, claiming to have done the killing in self-defense and is now in jail. Powell had a pistol in his hand when he was killed. A double-barreled shotgun was used, the two loads entering the back of his head. Powell came to Denison about ten days ago and his family relations are not known. Post is unmarried and has been cooking for Mr. Bush for the last two years. Public sympathy seems to be with him.  The Sunday Gazetteer Sunday, April 29, 1888 INTO THE DARK W.E. Powell Passes Over the Shot Gun Route Into the Land of Shadows Killed at Noon-day with no Eye to See, no Hand to Prevent - The Fatal Chain of Damaging Evidence That Fastens Upon an Old Man (The Certain Guilt of Fearful Crime) About 1 o'clock Friday afternoon there occurred in the northwest portion of this city one of those tragedies which in the early days were so common in their occurrence, but which, from their infrequency in this Platonic time, startle all hearts with their ghastly horror. Mr. .F. Bush, who owns a large 3-story stone house on a tract of land on the hill beyond Miller's Springs, has been running a stone quarry upon his place, employing a gang of men all of whom have been boarding at the stone house. Among these men has been one William E. Powell, who went to work in the quarry about 2 weeks ago. Powell, it seems, is something of a caterer, and when week before last "Old Harry," the cook took sick he took his place. Harry got well and resumed his place in the kitchen Saturday week, but since that time matters did not seem to have been altogether right between him and Powell and Friday this difference took deadly form in the enactment of a bloody tragedy. Dinner was over at the stone house. A number of the quarry hands had started down to the rock pit, others were smoking in the room on the 2nd floor, while others still were assembled in the general sleeping room in the 3rd story. Powell and "Old Harry" the cook alone remained in the kitchen. Fifteen minutes perhaps elapsed from the time of the hands leaving the table when suddenly the silence of the place was broken by the report of a gun - 2 shots followed each other so quickly that one seemed the echo of the other, and rushing to the windows the inmates of the house beheld the form of their late comrade, Powell, lying face downward in the back yard, about 12 feet from the kitchen door. Hastily they rushed out and turned him over, but he was already dead. A double charge of fine shot had grazed his right shoulder, passed through the brim of his soft felt hat and lodged in the back of the head at the extremity of the spinal column, making an irregular wound larger than a goose egg, from whose crimson, ragged lips the life tide flowed in torrents out upon the sand. "Old Harry" stood in the kitchen doorway busily engaged in reloading a double-barreled shot gun, and when asked what had happened he replied that the d--d s-- of b---- had threatened to carve him up and had made a play with his pistol, and he had shot him. He added that they could go for the officers, if they liked; he would be there when they returned. One of the gang, Mr. J.A. Tapsicott, acting upon this hint, came to the city and informed Constable Mixon of the tragedy. Meanwhile the news of the affair had reached the ears of officers Stoneman and Hackney and by the time the constable and deputy reached the scene of the killing, these vigilant officers already had the offender in custody and were bringing him to town. He was taken to the city jail and locked up to await a hearing on the charge of murder. Intelligence of the shooting quickly reached the ears of a Gazetteer reporter and, making all haste to the scene of the tragedy, he found himself the first newspaper representative upon the ground. Down near the quarry a group of men were standing, excitedly discussing the dread affair, and to the he applied for information. "How did it happen; was there a quarrel; was the....not?" e asked, but could get no satisfactory reply. "Nobody saw ii," he was told, and he continued his way up the hill, several of the group accompanying him. "We all heard the shots," said one of these men, "but none of us saw anything. Powell lies right where he fell, up there behind the house and you can see for yourself about all we know except that "Old Harry" confesses he shot him." On reaching the summit of the hill the reporter was conducted around to the north side of the house where a sight ghastly and revolting met his gaze. Stretched out upon the ground beneath a blood-stained sheet, with feet and a portion of the head protruding from under either end of the covering, was the stark and rigid figure of a man. The body lay upon its back with the head turned to the west, the bloody sand mixed with the close-cropped hair - the coagulated blood surrounding it in pools adding its quota to the spectacle of horror. The sheet was removed from the livid face, revealing features that were probably quite handsome in life, but which, with that look of distortion and agony upon them, were little less than hideous in their repulsiveness. The mouth was open and the teeth and tongue exposed, the clotted blood filled the cavities of the ears and clung in matted masses to the light mustache, the eyes, wide open and glassy, stared in sightless fixity into space, the stony dullness of their gaze blending in hideous sympathy with the awful spectacle. The corpse was clothes in a checked shirt, gray colored pants and vest, and a cardigan jacket. The hands were down at the sides of the body, and the one on the right side had the thumb thrust into the pants pocket. The wound which had produced death was in the back of the head, and the victim was probably running when he received it, as he had apparently slipped forward when he fell. Judge Cook arrived upon the scene soon after the Gazetteer reporter, and at once entered into the formalities of a coroner's inquest. J.A. Tapiscott and W.C. Flippen, the 2 men who first appeared upon the scene after the shooting were examined as was also Mr. E.F. Bush, the owner of the place. Tapiscott and Flippen testified in substance about alike to the effect that they were seated in the general sleeping room upon the 3rd floor when they heard the shots, that they ran to the window and looking out saw the deceased lying face downward in the yard, that they ran out quickly and turned him over only to find that he was dead and that when they looked around to see what had killed him, Old Harry Post, the cook, was standing in the kitchen door, loading his gun, and said the deceased had made a play at him with his pistol, and he had shot him. They also added that there was no weapon of any kind upon the person of or near the deceased when they came upon the scene, and though they ran to the window immediately after the shots were fired they saw no pistol either in his hand or lying near him. The evidence of Mr. Busch had reference merely to his business relations with the prisoner and his victim, and to what he had been told concerning the tragedy by the former. He stated that the deceased had been working for him about 10 days, but that the stone business getting dull, he had discharged him along with several others that morning. He arrived at the house, he stated, about 2 minutes after the shooting occurred, and found the deceased dead in his yard. He inquired of Harry Post, the cook who killed him, and he replied that he did it in self defense. Post also told him that Powell came into the kitchen and went to take a piece of soap which he ordered him to leave along, stating that he had charge of the commissaries and that the men were expected to buy their soap; that Powell first made a flourish at him with his (Post's) butcher knife and then with a pistol, when he drew his shot gun and killed him. He (Post) went to his bed and brought from under the pillow a pistol which was the one that Powell had drawn on him, and which he said he picked up off the ground after shooting Powell, fearing that his (Powell's) brother, who was up stairs, would pick it up and use it on him. He gave the pistol to Mr. Bush, who, in turn, handed it over to Officer Stoneman. Upon this evidence Judge Cook returned a verdict that the deceased came to his death by being shot with a gun in the hands of A.H. Post. The remains were taken in charge by Harriman & Morris, undertakers, and brought to the city to be prepared for burial. The Gazetteer scribe interviewed J.E. Powell, brother of the deceased, a man about 18 years of age, from whom he learned that the victim of the tragedy was born in Alabama, and was 28 years old. He said that his brother and he had lived in Texas about 4 years, and that they had recently lived at Reynolds City, Reynolds County, but that their parents were living at Cilo, Brown county. They had taken employment with Mr. Bush about 2 weeks ago, and had been working on the derrick, but while Harry (the cook) was sick his brother had taken his place in the kitchen. His brother had a pistol, a 44-caliber American bull-dog, but he never carried it about him. He had generally kept it under the pillow of his bed but when he went down to work in the kitchen he took it down there and he had not seen it since. He had heard of no ill feeling existing between his brother and Post, and was certain that if any had existed the former would have mentioned it to him. A Gazetteer reporter visited the prisoner in his cell and received a statement from his lips which, in substance, was as follows: My name is A.H. Post; I am 50 years of age and am originally from Wyoming County, New York; though I have lived in the South most of my life and served 4 years in the Civil War as a Confederate soldier under Gen. Lee. I have been in the employ of Mr. Bush about 2 years and came here with him from Paris, where I worked as cook for a gang on the Santa Fe. I am not a quarrelsome man and have never had any serious trouble with any one. I was sick with bilious colic last week and the deceased took my place in the kitchen, but did not give satisfaction; he did so badly that Mr. Bush asked me to try and get around as quick as I could, and though feeling still quite sick I got up last Saturday and went to work; Powell resuming his place on the stone derrick. He seemed envious of my resuming my place in the kitchen and talked as though he had expected to stay there permanently himself, and told a number of the boarders that he would maul me before he went away. He came into the kitchen just after dinner and picked up a bar of soap I was using; I asked him w hat he was going to do with it and he said he was going to wash some clothes. I told him that the other men bought their own soap, at which he fell to cursing me and picking up my butcher's knife cut the bar in two, saying, with an oath, that he had a notion to serve me the same way. I told him that I was too old a man to fight him and that an old gray-headed ---- ---- ---- was something he shouldn't call a man of my age. He replied, "G-d d--n you, you've got to take it. I tried to get him to leave the kitchen but he only became more furious and at last drew his pistol and said he had a notion to kill me anyway; I had loaded my double-barreled shot gun with squirrel shot the Saturday before to use on hawks that had been after the chickens, and as he drew his weapon I ran across the room and picked it out of the corner where it was standing. When he saw me do this he started to run, pistol in hand, and I fired both barrels at him; he fell dead about 10 feet from the door near which I was standing when I fired; his pistol was fell from his hand and I went out and picked it up, fearing that if the deceased's brother got hold of it he would use it on me; I gave the pistol to Mr. Bush a few minutes afterwards. I re-loaded my gun to be prepared for any trouble that the friends of the deceased might make, and not to stand off the officers. John Tapsicott came out of the house with a couple of others and turned Powell over: i told him that I had killed him and that he might go for the officers. I then went in and changed my clothes that I might be in shape to accompany them to jail. I did not intend to kill Powell when I fired, but while I regret what has happened, I believe if I had not killed him he would have killed me before he left the quarry and that it was only a justifiable act of self-defense. I have no relatives to...me in making a defense or in furnishing a bond, but Mr. Bush says he will do what he can for me, and I'[m sure that he will. It is but just to the prisoner to state that Mr. Bush, who has known him longest in these parts, gives him an excellent character and states that beyond his being a little quick tempered he has but few faults if any, and is a steady, honest and industrious man. Among the quarry hands a wide diversity of opinion respecting the justifiableness of the act exists, some declaring that Post was so cross-grained and ill humored as to be dangerous to approach, and others contending that thee deceased had been picking upon the old man for over a week with the intention of breeding a quarrel. It is strange that with a dozen men upon the premises, with half a score within as many feet of where it was enacted, this tragedy should have occurred with no eye to witness it, no ear to testify to what led up to the dire event. What passed between these men is known only to the...so that he cannot speak. The quarrel in the kitchen, if any occurred; the threats and demonstrations of Powell, if any were made; everything connected with the tragedy up to its enactment, lie solely wit the prisoner and the dead. How fatal was the fact that with so many people a dozen feet away these men should have been utterly alone, and how, 10 times more fatal, was the old man's act (if his statement be true) in picking up the pistol his adversary had been about to use. By that act (if he did it) he destroyed the last fragment of circumstantial evidence that could give color to his plea of self-defense and caused his wanton and reckless act to shine in the baleful light of cold-blooded and deliberate murder. This aspect of the case may be brightened by future developments, but just now it could scarcely look darker for Mr. A.H. Post. The Sunday Gazetteer
Sunday, May 6, 1888 A.H. Post, who did the killing out at the Bush place Friday, was taken to Sherman yesterday, where he will appear before the grand jury tomorrow.  FELONY Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |