Assassination of Mason Shoemaker, Gentry County, Missouri >From "History of Gentry and Worth Counties", Crimes & Incidents, St. Joseph, Mo.: National Historical Company, 1882. ********************************************************************** One of the coldest blooded and most unprovoked murders that was ever perpetrated in this western country was the killing of a negro, named Mason Shoemaker, which occurred within a few miles of Albany, on the afternoon of the 21st of February, 1868. Shoemaker had been a slave previous to the war, and belonged to a Mr. Fox, who resided between Albany and St. Joseph. He was known to be a harmless and industrious man, and was well thought of, as a colored man, by his neighbors. There lived in the same vicinity one, Godfrey Jones, a white man, who had sold to Shoemaker a horse a few days previously to the occurrence of the unfortunate circumstance. The price of the horse had been paid by Shoemaker, excepting a balance of four dollars and fifty cents which sum was to have been left by Shoemaker at a blacksmith shop for Jones. On the afternoon of Friday, the 21st day of February, 1868, as before stated, and about six o'clock, two reports of firearms were heard in the direction of Colonel Cranor's timber land, where Mason Shoemaker had been making rails. Shoemaker's body was found next day some sixty or seventy yards from the place where he had been at work, his head lying in the direction of the timber, showing that he was go- ing that way. Two bullet holes were discovered, one in his head and the other in the back of his neck, and Shoemaker was lying on his face. A small dog, which had been in the habit of following him, was lying by Shoemaker, when his body was found. Godfrey Jones and a companion of his were arrested, charged with the murder; his companion was discharg- ed, but Jones was tried and acquitted, because of the failure as it is said, of permitting the testimony of Shoemaker's son, through some technical informality, to come before the jury. ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Joe Miller Penny Harrell ====================================================================