Grayson County TXGenWeb

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 sot 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.