Beckham County, OK - Deaths: Carl Turner, 1927
Thursday, 29 January 2009
Submitted by: delma25@pldi.net (Delma Tindell)

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TURNER or TURNEUR or TURNUEIS, CARL
(21 Jul 1927, Sayre Journal, Sayre, Beckham Co, OK):
Carl Turner, age 24, employed by the Rock Island railroad in connection
with the moving of the freight station and later with the crew which was
moving the Community Hall, was shot through the head and killed instantly
Monday evening about 10:30 on the Thomas farm one and three fourths miles
northeast of Sayre.
Oran Smith, age about forty, is being held in the county jail awaiting
arraignment on a charge of murder, filed by County Attorney C. L. Clearman
after investigation.  Preliminary hearing was set for Wednesday, however
was postponed until Thursday morning (today) at 10 a.m.
Smith alledges (sic) Turner was in company with his wife.
Turneur (sic) was a single man and his parents are farmers living twelve
miles northwest of Geary and those who know the family say they are
prominent farmers in that section and have an excellent reputation.
The body was taken charge of by Hullum and prepared for shipment on Train
42 Tuesday afternoon for Geary at which place the family will meet the
train and take charge of the funeral arrangements.
The shot entered his head approximately two inches above the left ear and
came out about an inch from the corner of the right eye.  He was killed
instantly.
At the place of the shooting, which is located about a quarter of a mile
off Highway 66 on the Berlin road there is a vacant house and Smith is
alleged to have the farm rented.  Turneur was in the car when the shot
penetrated his head and his car engine was dead when officers arrived and
the front wheels of the car were in an old dug out and the car could go no
farther that direction.  No one was in the car they say at the time of the
fatal shot except the deceased.
Three bullet holes were in the front of the car, one ripping along the
hood another through the radiator and the third through the left front
fender penetrating the tire on the wheel causing it to go flat.
The body was said to have been in a sitting up position under the wheel
with the head laying on the left arm which was hanging through the open
glass of the door.
(21 Jul 1927, Sayre Headlight, Sayre, Beckham Co, OK):
About 11 o'clock Monday night O. G. Smith, living on the W. G. Thomas
farm, two miles north of Sayre on the Berlin road, called Sheriff Green at
the courthouse and informed him that he had killed a man and wished to
give himself up.
Officers, accompanied by physicians, made an immediate investigation and
found a man laying at the side of the road with a bullet hole through his
head, and a car which he had driven out there was parked near.  The body
was brought to this city and turned over to the Hullum-Hardware Co. in
their undertaking department, but was not identified until about 9 o'clock
Tuesday morning, when men working with the Rock Island bridge gang, which
has been here moving the old depot and community hall, identified him as
Carl Turnueis, of Geary, Oklahoma, who had been working with them.
From the railroad crew it was learned that his parents lived a few miles
north of Geary, and they were notified.  A little later a telegram came
from his father requesting that the body be shipped to Geary, which was
done on (Train) 42 Tuesday afternoon.  No inquest was held, officers
considering that there was no question as to how he came to his death
after Smith admitted killing him.
It is understood that Smith claims that he discovered this man and Smith's
wife in a compromising position near where the shooting took place, and
that when Smith came upon them a quarrel ensued in which Turnueis remarked
that he had a good six-shooter and would use it unless Smith left, and
made a dive to his car as if for the gun, when Smith shot.
Smith has employed J. A. Minton, Melrose Minton and Robert Minton to
defend him, and it is understood will claim self defense, with a possibly
intermingling of  ......??? (not legible).
The officers are making no announcement of what they have discovered, but
intimate that there is considerable more to this case than at first
appeared on the surface.  Yesterday forenoon Smith was arraigned before
Judge Andrews, and his preliminary trial fixed for today.
At the close of the arraignment Mrs. Smith was placed under arrest, and
both are now confined in the county jail.

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