 
Clarksville Standard
November 28, 1846 Grayson District Court - Mr. Charles A. Galloway, who was charged with the murder of Col. Coffee, has, we are informed, been acquitted by public sentiment. It seems there were several witnesses of the act, and it was so clearly a case of self defense in the last extremity, that the grand jury could not find a bill. We are told that Mr. Galloway is universally considered blameless for his conduct throughout the difficulty, and in the final act which terminated so fatally and unfortunately. We are gratified that the case bears this character. source: An Illustrated History of Grayson County, Texas by Graham Landram; 1960, pg 5 Charles
Ashton Galloway, 28 years old, was an
Indian agent at Fort Washita and had
recently married Holland Coffee's niece,
fourteen-year-old Eugenia. He had
accused Sophia, Coffee's wife, of having
an affair with Justice of the Peace
Thomas Murphy. Coffee overlooked
the insult but Sophia is said to have
said that she would rather be married to
a dead hero than a living coward.
There was an exchange of words between
Galloway and Coffee with Coffee saying
that he would horsewhip Galloway on
sight.
Learning that Galloway was at a local store on October 1, 1846, Coffee armed himself with a shotgun, a revolver, a single-barrel pistol, a knife and a club. Upon arriving at the store, Coffee called Galloway out. When Galloway came to the door, Coffee knocked him down and fell on top of him. A struggle ensued and Galloway managed to pull out his knife and struck Coffee three times with it. Murder charges were filed against Charles A. Galloway but the grand jury returned a no-bill finding. The presiding judge, Thomas Murphy, was soon indicted for misconduct because he knew that Holland Coffee had plans to attack Galloway but did nothing to stop the fight. He was acquitted of all charges. Quantrll in Texas The Forgotten Campaign pg 144-145 by Paul R. Peterson 2007 Grayson County Law Susan Hawkins ©2025 If you find any of Grayson CountyTXGenWeb links inoperable,please send me a message. |