Beckham County, OK - Deaths: J. Walter Sheehan, Henry Maddox, 1905
Saturday, 01 November 2008
Submitted by: delma25@pldi.net (Delma Tindell)

 ************************************************
 Copyright. All rights reserved.
 http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm
 ************************************************

SHEEHAN, J. WALTER
MADDOX, HENRY
(28 Nov 1905, Sayre Newspaper, Sayre, Beckham Co, OK):
BARTENDER SHOT TWO.
Killed One and Injured Another of Quarling (sic) Crowd.
J. Walter Sheehan was shot and killed here this afternoon and Henry Madoux
was badly injured by C. E. Vance, bartender in J. S. Williams' saloon.  It
appears Madoux and Sheehan brothers had difficulty last Saturday night
when friends interfered and trouble was averted.  The parties met this
afternoon in Williams' saloon where Sheehan and Madoux began to quarrel,
and a six-shooter was used freely by one of the parties when the bartender
Vance opened fire with a shotgun with the results as above stated.  All
parties are men of families.
(30 Nov 1905, Elk City Record, Elk City, Beckham Co, OK):
Killing at Sayre.
Tuesday afternoon about four o'clock, G. E. Vance, bartender in J. S.
William's saloon at Sayre, shot and instantly killed Walter Sheehan, and
wounded Henry Maddox.  The wounds of Maddox, however, were accidental and
not serious.
It seems that Maddox and Walter Sheehan were fighting.  Maddox was making
an effort to strike Walter over the head with a pistol, when his brother,
Luther Sheehan, walked up and wrenching the weapon from his hand started
to the front door of the saloon to throw it out and did throw it out into
the street.  At this point Vance, who was in no way mixed up in the
trouble, fired the contents of a double barrel shotgun into Walter
Sheehan's head and face, and turning took a shot at Luther Sheehan who was
going towards the door with Maddox's pistol.  Maddox, who had his hand
about Sheehan's throat or head, lost a finger and received a few shot in
the face.
Walter Sheehan was a quite peaceable young married man.  Vance and Maddox
have been in trouble frequently.  We are told that the evidence against
them at the coroner's inquest was damning.
(1 Dec 1905, Sayre Standard, Sayre, Beckham Co, OK):
Tuesday evening about 4 o'clock a number of shots were heard in the
Williams saloon on Main street.  Quickly a crowd gathered and the sight
that met their eyes was Walter Shehan (sic) lying gasping in a pool of
brains and blood, Henry Madoux waving a mangled hand excitedly, and Elmer
Vance standing behind the bar of the saloon with a shotgun and warning the
crowd to stand back.
Officers were summoned, and when Marshall J. W. Dobbs arrived Vance
surrendered his weapon and was placed under arrest.
Shehan was not yet dead, and he was cared for by friends and doctors, but
it was evident that nothing could be done for him.
Madoux and Shehan were involved in a difficulty and Luther Shehan,
Walter's brother, snatched a revolver as he claims, out of Madoux's hand
and ran to the door, throwing it into the street.  As he returned Vance,
who was behind the bar, shot at him twice but missed him, the shots going
through the front door and window.  He then shot either once or twice
more, all the time calling on the fighting men to stop.  As he shot the
third time, Luther Shehan stumbled and fell, and the shot struck Madoux
and Walter Shehan, the load striking the latter in the top of the head,
ranging down through the temple and the side of his face.  Madoux was shot
in the right hand, losing his little finger.  It seems probable that the
same shot struck both men.  They were across the room from the bar, in the
bowling alley.
Shehan never regained consciousness, and died about six o'clock.
Vance was taken at once to Cheyenne, and the coroner and county attorney
were notified.  An inquest was held Wednesday by Dr. H. Riley, and the
facts brought out were substantially as above stated.
Henry Madoux was held on a charge of assault, and the preliminary
examinations of him and Vance set for Monday, December 6.
It seems that the trouble was the outcome of a dispute which began
Saturday night, when Madoux was slightly stabbed in the shoulder by a
young man who has been working for the Shehans.
Walter Shehan was 32 years old.  He lived on a farm a few miles north of
Sayre, and had a wife and three children.
(7 Dec 1905, Thursday, Elk City Democrat, Elk City, Beckham Co, OK):
The Sheehan Killing
The facts in the trouble as we are informed are as follows:  Henry Maddox
had some words with Walter Sheehan an hour after Maddox attacked Walter in
the saloon, beating him over the head with a six-shooter,  Walter
Sheehan's brother renched (sic) the pistol from Maddox hand walked to the
front door and threw it out, they were fighting in the rear of the saloon
on the same side the bar was.  Elmore Vance standing behind the bar arised
a shot gun and first fired at Walter Sheehan but missed, fired a second
shot and hit Walter in the head, killing him almost instantly, a few shot
of the same charge hit Maddox in two fingers, Vance then reloaded and
fired twice at Luther Sheehan as he came back from the front door but
missed both times, Tom Hughes was fighting another man during the time,
all four charges of the shot gun was located, no other gun fired.
At 2 a.m. next morning a shot was heard in the saloon and an examination
showed a bullet hole from a .41 calibre pistol on outside of bar.  Henry
Maddox's pistol, thrown out the door, was a .45.  Vance, Maddox and Hughes
were all arrested for murder, Dr. Riley county coroner held the inquest
with J. W. McMurtry as his attorney.  Henry Maddax's (sic) fingers were
amputated, blood poison set in supposedly through nitro glycerine powder
poison.
Tuesday another amputation below the elbow, Tuesday night, Maddox died at
Cheyenne.  In order to give every man a chance for his white alley, we
withhold all comment.
(28 Mar 1907, Thursday, Elk City Democrat, Elk City, Beckham Co, OK):
Given Life Sentence.
The Jury in the Elmore Vance case at El Reno this week brought a verdict
of guilty, the Judge giving Vance a life sentence.  Vance it will be
remembered shot one of the Sheehan Bros. in a saloon at Sayre two years
ago.
(11 Apr 1907, Thursday, Beckham County Democrat, Erick, Beckham Co, OK):
El Reno, Okla., March 23. - In the case of Elmer Vance, charged with the
murder of J. Walter Sheehan and Henry Mardoux (sic), in a saloon at Sayre,
on November 28, 1905, the jury today returned a verdict finding Vance
guilty as charged, and giving him a sentence of imprisonment for life at
hard labor.
Notice was given by Senator J. B. Harrison, as counsel for Vance, that he
will appeal the case to supreme court of the territory.
Ever since the killing Vance has been held in jail, being refused bonds by
Judge Irwin.
The shooting of Madoux and Sheehan followed a quarrel of long standing
between the Sheehan brothers and Walter and Luther Madoux (sic), and in
which Vance had no part.  They had quarreled on the streets of Sayre,
several days prior to the killing and were seperated by friends.  Later
they met in the J. S. Williams saloon at Sayre, where Vance was tending
bar, and renewed the quarrel.  Revolvers were being flourished in a
threatening manner, when Vance without warning opened fire on the
participants in the quarrel, with a double barrel shot gun, killing
Sheehan instantly and fatally wounding Madoux.  The latter died several
days later.
The Sheehans and Madoux had quarreled because a farm hand in the former's
employ had stabbed Madoux.  Walter Sheehan was 32 years old and left a
wife and three children.  Madoux was 40 years old and left a wife and
several children.  Excepting Vance, all the parties were farmers.

---------------------------------------------------
Return to Beckham County Archives:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/beckham/beckham.html