The Galveston Daily News
Monday, May 27, 1889
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 -perlienlars of the crime.
Sherman, Tex., May 26- One of the most
startling tragedies ever known in Grayson
county took place 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 arrived in Howe from Elliott county,
Ky,. They were distant relatives of D H Hanna,
John Hanna and John Eades, who live at Howe,
and have been stopping with these people since
their arrival.
The young men were first cousins and had come
out to Texas on a prospecting tour and had
given it out they intended to visit both
Oklahoma and Arkansas before returning home to
Kentucky. Mandrew Isom is 24 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 Eades, in the
eastern 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 trents, to 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. Culver 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 Marshall Cambell 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 from Sherman this morning at
an early hour and filed a complaint before the
state's 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 Granger, 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 Burkes
half mile east of town, and on to a prominence
overlooking the thicket in the lowland into
which the Isoms had gone when pursued by the
posse, under the town marshall 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 horse sat 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.
Sherman 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 posthaste to the town and
secured 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 head 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 this side and raised his head,
asking him if he was hurt very badly.
The wounded man tried to speak, gave his
deputy just one look, and then the chin
dropped and with a sigh 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 the pall of gloom the news settled down
on the entire community.
Hundreds of men volunteered, hundreds of
willing hands grasped Winchesters, shot guns
and pistols and begged for his privilege of
assisting in the capture of the slayers.
Deputy Sheriff Cam Whitesides and Policeman
Gene Andrews left a 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 in Howe and surrendered to Deputy
Sheriff Creager, who at once searched 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
tome of D H Hanna by officers Spencer and
McKinney. Eades is a young man about 24 years
of age who came to Howe from Bell County abut
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 B 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 an
surrender and settle the matter. Another
report has 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
Ben 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 supposed that is
the shot, which killed him.
At 12 o'clock order were received at the
armory of the Grayson Rifles to hold
themselves in readiness to leave at once for
the scene, and Captain J R Mahoney was
appointed by the county judge as sheriff
protem, with instructions to appoint all
necessary forces to maintain order. At about1
o'clock Captain Mahoney with all the ...? left
on a special train accompanied by Assistant
States 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 place in an
omnibus and hurried to the Houston street
prison before the crowd had rime 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 the telegram Sheriff Cheney of
Fannin county arrived in Sherman at 1:37pm
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 Wm 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 had reached a point about 200
yards from him he rose and surrendered.
He was perfectly cool , and said while Tackett
was searching for 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 trail and brought in at 5
o'clock and placed in jail.
The dead body of the sheriff is lying in the
reception room at the Houston Street prison
which was heavily guarded by a detachment of
military under Sergeant Whitman.
The single wound around which cost Sheriff May
his life, entered near the waistband of his
pants on the left side, passed entirely
through his body, coming out near the spine.
Dallas (TX)
Morning News
Sunday, June 2, 1889
Sherman,
Tex., June 1. - A paper has been
received from Bell county, Texas, the
former home of John Eads, certifying
that from the time Eads came to Bell
county in 1883 to the time he left in
1889, he as a quiet peaceable citizen.
Eads is one of the men who are charged
with complicity in the murder of Sheriff
May at Howe, last Sunday...
Stockton Journal
(Missouri)
Thur. Aug 1, 1889
More about the murder of Sheriff May.
Ed Journal;-While in Sherman, Texas, we
gathered some important facts from reliable
citizens of that city, relating to the murder
of Sheriff May, that will doubtless be of much
interest to his relatives and many friends in
Cedar county.
It seems from what we were able to ascertain
that there were three young men sojourning in
Sherman who were from Kentucky, and who were
evidently out for a good time. During their
stay in that city they would not unfrequently
join in games of pass-time with the citizens
and others. It was wile engaged in one of
these pastime games, dominoes, we believe,
that the trouble started that ended so
tragically and sadly for Sheriff May. One of
the Kentucky boys was playing dominoes with
the mayor of the city, and during the progress
of the game the Kentucky boy made bold to
accuse the mayor of cheating and foul play,
whereupon the mayor called the Kentucky boy a
liar. The Kentucky boy then returned the
compliment, whereupon the infuriated mayor
drew is knife in a savage and vicious way made
for the Kentuckian. The the undaunted
Kentuckian drew his six shooter, and stood the
mayor at bay. After some vile threats from the
mayor, one among them being that he would have
the Kentuckian mobbed, the melee ended for
that time. But things began getting warm for
the Kentuckian, and he being joined by his
companions, a brother and a cousin, retired to
a thicket near by. That thicket was surrounded
by men, headed by the mayor. Sheriff May was
sent for and on arriving on the scene rushed
to the thicket and demanded the surrender of
the men.
The one who had quarreled with the mayor,
thinking he was to be mobbed, fired and killed
the sheriff. They soon after gave themselves
up and one of them not being allowed bail is
in jail awaiting trial. The trial will come
off in September. It is thought by many that
the prisoner will be acquitted.
Lawyer Woods, one of the finest lawyers in the
South, has agreed to clear him for one
thousand dollars. The boys are of highly
respected and wealthy families of Kentucky.
the father of the one now in jail was over not
long since and has entered into the work of
defending his son with much zeal and money.
The citizens of the city of Sherman and county
of Grayson speak in high and favorable terms
of Sheriff Mays bravery and official conduct.
He stood well in the estimation of the people
and his untimely death is sadly mourned and
deeply regretted by all.
They say that too much bravery caused his
death, and the only mistake he made was on
entering the thicket under the then existing
circumstances.
Let these fact be as they may, it was a
deplorable event and is doubtless as deeply
felt and mourned by man of the citizens of
Cedar as it is by those in grayson
County.
Signed Dan DeWitt, Temple, Texas July
28, 1889
Fort Worth Daily
Gazette
Sunday, Sept 15, 1889
SHERMAN -Work of
the Grand Jury
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.
St Louis Globe-Democrat
Tues Nov 26, 1889
The Murder of Sheriff May
Special dispatch to the Globe-Democrat
Sherman, Tex., November 25- Ben Isom, Andrew
Isom, John Eads(Eades) and David Hanna charged
with the murder of Sheriff R L May int his
county on the 26th of May last, were called
for the trail in the District Court here
today. The County Attorney entered a nolle
prosequi in the case of David Hanna in order
to use him as a witness against the other
defendants. The cases against Ben and Andrew
Isom were passed for a time and the Eads case
taken up. the afternoon has been passed in
attempting to secure a jury, and it is feared
that a jury can not be secured in this county.
The crime for which the parties are arraigned
was a most dastardly one, and by it this
county lost an officer of unflinching
integrity and undoubted bravery. Sunday
Morning, May 26, Sheriff May with his two
deputies, went to howe, a station near this
city, to arrest Ben and Andrew Isom (Mandrew)
for raising a disturbance at that place on the
previous night. The offenders had spent the
night in the brush, near the station, and when
the officers neared the place they separated
to prevent their game from escaping. No fear
of resistance was felt, as the offense was so
slight. Sheriff May soon spied the Isoms and
their companions a short distance in the brush
and called on them to surrender. They
immediately opened fire on him with their
Winchesters. May was armed with a pistol,
which he emptied at them, inflicting a slight
wound on Ben Isom's hand. The sheriff then
fell to the ground a corpse. Eads, Hanna and
Andrew Isom surrendered to the officers and
Ben Isom was capture late in the day. The dead
Sheriff had been extremely popular and
indignation ran high.
The Sunday Gazetteer
Denison, Texas
Sunday, December 15, 1889
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.
Mandrew Isom -
Fannin Prisoner -Pardoned
