Beckham County, OK - Deaths: Walter and William Sutton, 1918
Monday, 15 December 2008
Submitted by: delma25@pldi.net (Delma Tindell)

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SUTTON, WALTER
SUTTON, WILLIAM
(18 Jul 1918, Elk City Newspaper, Elk City, Beckham Co, OK):
DEATH OF FATHER AND SON
Will Sutton and his son Walter were killed in New Mexico last week and
their bodies brought to this county for burial.  So many stories are going
the rounds that we do not feel justified in giving the facts of the case. 
It seems that Senior Mr. Sutton, who had moved to New Mexico, had had some
trouble with some of the people there.  His son went out to see about it
and both were shot.  They are old residents of this county and the tragedy
is deeply deplored by all.
(19 Jul 1918, Carter Express, Carter, Beckham Co, OK):
The relatives and friends of Messrs. W. E. and W. W. Sutton, father and
son, were severely shocked when the news was flashed back here that the
two men had been shot to death on Wednesday of last week in New Mexico.
The elder Mr. Sutton was residing in that state at the time and he had
been in a shooting scrap a few days previous it is said, and wired for
Walter to come out there.  In this first shooting scrape it is said that
the elder Mr. Sutton mistook some officers for enemies who had come to his
house, and had opened fire on them wounding one and being himself shot but
not seriously.  But after Walter got out there we are informed that bond
was made for his father and as he was taking him back to his home from the
hospital, the elder Mr. Sutton was shot to death after getting off the
train, the same man shooting Walter when he stooped to catch his father
while falling.  Walter lived some six hours after being shot.  Among his
last words that he sent home to his family it is said that he stated that
he had done nothing whatever to be shot for and that he was not afraid to
die.  We are informed that the party who did the shooting gave himself up
to the authorities.  As there are several conflicting stories about the
tragedy it is difficult to get at the true facts but we have yet to hear
of a single man who believes that Walter especially had done anything
whatever to cause anyone to shoot him.
The two corpses were shipped here for burial which took place at the
Carter cemetery last Friday afternoon.  The largest crowd of people ever
assembled at the cemetery was present at the funeral, which was conducted
by the Masonic order, both of the men being members of that fraternity.
Both men left a host of warm friends in this part of the country who
deeply deplore the terrible tragedy and who sincerely sympathize with the
grief stricken families and other relatives.

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