Chas. H. Koch
9 July 1871 - 8 July 1893
The Galveston Daily
News
Galveston, Texas
Tuesday, July 9, 1895
pg 2
KILLED AT SHERMAN
A Family Feud Leads to
a Terrible Tragedy
in the Shadow of the
Court House.
SISTER'S GRIEF AND
TEARS.
The Slayer Makes a
Statement of His case,
His Wife Calls on Him
in the Jail.
Sherman, Tex., July 8 -
Charles Koch was shot to death in court plaza
at 2:20 p.m. by Will R. Gaines.
About three years ago
Will Gaines
married Miss Lou Koch, sister of the deceased,
Charles Koch. Probably a
year later, in a difficulty in a saloon at Van
Alstyne, Koch shot Jim
Gaines, a brother of Will Gaines, from the
effects of which he died.
From that day to this a bitter feeling has
existed between Charles Koch
and Will Gaines. Koch was arraigned on the
charge of murder and
received acquittal at
the hands of the jury.
Koch was forbidden to
see his sister by Gaines. Driving up to the
residence of Gaines, Koch called for
his sister and Gaines opened fire on him, it
is alleged, shooting five times. Koch, for
some reason, did
not return the fire, as he subsequently
explained, for fear he might kill his sister.
Gaines was arrested
for this offense, indicted, and was here
to-day to answer to the
criminal district court for the offense. Koch
left the court room only
a few minutes before the shooting took place
and walked out the north
door of the court house. Gaines had been
talking to some friends on the north side of
the square and
said he would go over to the court house and
see if the case would be
called. The two men met just as Koch was
stepping to the sidewalk from
the crossing. Gaines fired at Koch, who
wheeled about and ran back
toward the court house. Gaines fired three
more shots at the fleeing
man who grew weaker with every step and sank
down just inside the court
yard and died in a few minutes. The first shot
fired
took effect, for a
great spurt of blood
came from Koch's mouth after he ran a few
feet. Patrolmen Patterson and
Etler ran to Gaines and disarmed him. The
officers rushed the prisoner
off to jail at once, while a great crown
thronged about the gasping,
bloodstained form in the court yard. A woman
with
tears streaming down her cheeks and agonizing
cries came across the
plaza unmindful of the mud and excitement,
calling out, "On, my
brother!"
The throng, which the
patrolmen could
not control and which filled every space from
which the body could be
located, fell back, and the distracted woman
came near to the body of
her brother.
The body of Koch was
carried to the undertakers and prepared for
burial, and later on Mrs. Gaines came back from the prison, where
she had gone to see her husband. and was
admitted to the undertaker's establishment.
She knelt by the casket
and kissed the silent lips, begging them to
speak to her once more.
She recalled aloud all
his tender brotherly love and care for her,
how he had always cheered her with
the assurance that he would always be bey her
side in trouble. The spectators gave way and
wept with her. Then they carried her away and closed
the casket, but tonight the sister hovered
near the box at
the depot and accompanied the body home to Van
Alstyne. At the prison a News reporter saw
Gaines, who said: "I don't care to say much about
the case, but I will show the press the
courtesy to make a
brief statement of what I think the public is
entitled to know of this affair. I have been
warned to-day, as
I have for some time past, of threats on the
part of Koch to take my
life. I did what occurred to-day because I did
not want to be killed
myself."
He then asked the
reporter to see his
wife and send her down to the prison. When
Sheriff Hughes and Chief of
Police Blain picked Koch's body up a
45-caliber Colt's was found stuck
down in the waistband
of his pants. It is an exact counterpart of
the one with which he was
slain. All eye-witnesses say that he never
attempted to use the pistol,
however.
Mrs. Gaines seems
determined to find
surcease from her troubles in
self-destruction. She made a futile
attempt this afternoon to jump into a well at
the Wheat house and was
restrained. To-night at the union depot when
The Dallas News train was
pulling in she tried to jump in front of the
engine, and it required
the strength of a gentleman who was within
arm's length of her to
prevent her from meeting a horrible death
under the wheels.
The Sunday
Gazetteer
Sunday, July 14, 1895
pg. 3
LOCAL CONDENSATIONS
Monday, July 8, 1895 - News of the Killing of
Charley Koch by his
brother-in-law, W.R. Jaines, in Sherman caused
considerable excitement,
as the deceased was a former resident of
Denison.
Tuesday, July 9, 1895 - The funeral of Charley
Koch, who was killed in
Sherman Monday afternoon, took place this
afternoon in Van Alstyne.
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