Johnston County, NC - Obituaries File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Elton Cooke The Smithfield Herald, Tuesday, February 27, 1917 SELMA HAS AWFUL TRAGEDY Everett Eason shot Harry Cook Saturday night. Cook died early Sunday morning in a Wilson Hospital. Eason gave himself up and is now in Smithfield jail. On Saturday night about 7:30 o'clock, in Selma, on a street corner near the Central Telephone Office, Everett Eason shot and killed Harry Cook, a son of James H. Cook. The shooting was done with a new Winchester shot gun. The whole load took effect in his right thigh and severed some of the main arteries of the leg. Physicians did what they could for him and later sent him to the Wilson Sanitorium where he died Sunday morning at three o'clock. Eason surrendered himself and was brought to Smithfield and placed in jail. Cook was a married man only nineteen years old and lived on the farm of Mr. N. E. Ward. Another Account Our Selma correspondent sends us the following account of the tragic affair, after narrating some of the work of Old Booze in Selma that day. The trouble began about three o'clock when, in a fist fight between the two young men, there was a black eye and a busted nose, besides various other bruises. Then about five o'clock another fight in which bruises were galore. Then about 7:30, one white man, Everett Eason, shot Harry Cook, also white. No one seems to know the cause of the shooting. Eason and Cook were standing on the Northwest corner of Railroad and Raiford Streets where they met, Cook coming from a visit to his wife in Smithfield where she was visiting a sister, Eason returning to his home at the Ethel Cotton Mills with a new automatic single barrel gun in his hand. No one can tell what the conversation was about. It is said that a colored man passed them a few minutes before the gun fired, with a small sack on his shoulder, when Eason cursed him. The colored man made no reply. Dr. Noble, who was passing about thirty feet from them, turned to look at them just as the gun fired and saw the flash, and heard Cook say "You have shot me", then saw Cook fall, saw someone help him up, when he started North calling for a Doctor. Dr. Noble followed him and when he fell saw at once that he was badly hurt. He then put his hand into the wound catching the artery, and holding it, stopped the flow of blood. Dr. Mayerberg and Dr. Vick were at his side in a few minutes, Dr. Mayerberg cutting his clothes and Dr. Vick going for a tourniquette. Dr. Noble held the artery till the tourniquette could be applied. The man was then taken to Dr. Noble's office where it was decided to take him to Wilson for treatment as there was no place to treat him in Selma. Dr. Noble and a Mr. Moore went with him. When he arrived in Wilson he was taken to the Moore-Herring Hospital where it was found that the femoral artery and vein were shot in two. After ligating the artery and vein he was well cared for, but the end came about 2:30 Sunday morning. The body was brought to Selma Sunday on No. 89 and was taken to the country for burial. This injury shows the need for a hospital here. We do not know that there would have been any other result but he would have had attention at least two and a half hours earlier. There was one and a half inches of the femoral artery shot away and, but for the prompt action of the doctors in stopping the blood, Mr. Cook would not have lived two minutes from the time he was shot. Mr. Harry Cook is a son of Mr. James Cook, and Mr. Everett Eason a son of Mr. LLoyd Eason. After shooting Cook, Eason ran off, but soon returned, giving up the gun to the parties who sold it to him and giving himself up to Mayor Richardson, who, after a preliminary examination, sent Mr. Eason to Smithfield jail where he is now. A preliminary hearing will be had on Wednesday, February 28, 1917. //Contributor's notes: Everett Eason was indicted on a charge of murder for the shooting death of Harry Cook. He was subsequently found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to three years at hard labor. _______________________________________________________________________________ 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. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. _________________________________________________________________________________