Beckham County, OK - Obits: John Castillo, 1917
17 Nov 2007
Submitted by: delma25@pldi.net (Delma Tindell)

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CASTILLO, JOHN
(29 Jun 1917, The Carter Express, Carter, Beckham Co, OK):
The people of Carter and the country around were shocked Saturday morning
when the news flashed around that Mr. John Castillo, one of our most
prominent farmer citizens, had been badly gored by an enraged bull.
Then in a short while the sad announcement came in that Mr. Castillo was
dead as a result of the infuriated animal's vicious attack.  He was in
fact dead when found but the first news that came in calling for both
doctors did not give the information that he was dead.
Mr. Castillo had gone to his son-in-law's to get the animal and was
returning through the pasture when he was attacked, and killed.  His wife
thinking that he had had time to return started out to hunt for him,
finding him in a ravine not a great way from the house where the bull had
butted and trampled him to death.  His body was crushed and bruised from
head to foot.  The bull had been dehorned but his horns had grown out
again about two inches long and these stub horns were used in goring the
body even after death, it is believed.  It is thought that he must have
been dead an hour or more when found by his wife.  The bull had then left
the body, which probably saved the life of Mrs. Castillo for if it had
still been there it would have been almost sure to have attacked her.
The burial took place at the Carter cemetery Sunday afternoon, one of the
largest crowds being present that has ever assembled at the cemetery.  He
was a member of the W.O.W. lodge, and the body was buried by the members
of that order from Elk City.
A son, Lee Castillo, came in from Plainview, Texas, and a son-in-law and
daughter, Mr. Jim Parker and wife came in from Lela Lake, Texas, Sunday
morning, after receiving messages informing them of the tragedy.  A wife
and six children, five daughters and one son, are left behind to mourn his
sad, tragic and sudden taking away.
No man in the country was more respected by his neighbors and friends than
was Mr. Castillo.  We join the large host of friends of the family in
expressing our sincere sympathy.
(28 Jun 1917, Elk City Newspaper, Elk City, Beckham Co, OK):
JOHN CASTELLO (sic) KILLED BY BULL.
Early last Saturday morning, John Castello of near Carter, went to the
home of his son for a bull, which he led back home, supposedly about eight
o'clock in the morning, but as he did not appear his wife became uneasy
and seeing the bull in the field went out about eleven o'clock to see what
the trouble was, and she found her husband mangled and crushed with life
extinct.  It was thought when taking the ring out of the nose of the bull
it became enraged and threw him to the ground, trampling him to death.
He was sixty-seven years old and a member of the Carter W.O.W.  A number
of members from the Elk City lodge went to Carter Sunday afternoon to
attend the funeral services.
This is another sad tragedy which the people deplore and which cast a
gloom over the neighborhood in which he lived and much sympathy is
expressed for his wife and family.

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