Beckham County, OK - Deaths: Ruth Vaughan, 1930
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Submitted by: delma25@pldi.net (Delma Tindell)

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VAUGHAN, RUTH
(12 Jul 1930, The Daily News, Elk City, Beckham Co, OK):
Unable to get detailed information in regard to the assault and killing of
Mrs. Henry Vaughn (sic), a former resident of Erick, The Daily News late
yesterday afternoon sent T. H. Maloy, managing editor, to Shamrock, Texas,
by airplane in quest of further facts.  Mr. Maloy was taken to Shamrock by
W. D. Mauk, proprietor of the Western Oklahoma School of Flying and of Elk
City Airport.
From the meager information as could be obtained by long distance
telephone, The Daily News published an extra, which was sold on the
downtown streets at about 6 o'clock.  On the way to Shamrock Mr. Maloy and
Mr. Mauk dropped copies of the extra over Doxey, Sayre and Erick.
First Extra Published.
This was the first extra to be published by The Daily News since the
establishment of Beckham county's daily newspaper and The Daily News today
received many compliments, not only on the enterprise displayed, but also
on the fact that this brought to residents of Elk City and Beckham county
the first authentic information in regard to the killing of Mrs. Vaughn by
the negro, Jesse Lee.  Little additional information in regard to the
affair was contained in morning newspapers distributed in Elk City some 12
hours later.
Although rumors of the killing of Mrs. Vaughn were received here at about
4 o'clock yesterday afternoon much difficulty was experienced in getting
the definite facts about the matter.  Long distance calls to Erick,
Shamrock and other points at first brought little information, but by
continued and persistent effort The Daily News finally pieced together the
story and published the extra.
(17 Jul 1930, Beckham County Democrat, Erick, Beckham Co, OK):
Excitment High Here Following Texas Tragedy.
In Signed Confession Black Gives Assault As Motive For Slaying.
Jesse Lee Washington, young negro arrested Friday afternoon in connection
with the murder of Mrs. Henry Vaughan, confessed his guilt to Sheriff
Claude McKinney, District Attorney James C. Mahan and County Attorney
Luther F. Gribble of Collingsworth county (Texas), the sheriff said over
the telephone early Saturday morning.  The negro made his confession
between 2 and 3 a.m.  The sheriff said the prisoner was at Granite,
Oklahoma.
Funeral services for Mrs. Vaughan were conducted Saturday afternoon at
3:00 o'clock in the First Methodist church by Rev. R. N. Huckabee, pastor.
 A crowd filled the large auditorium to overflowing gathered to pay last
respects to the victim of the foulest crime this section has ever known. 
Burial was made in the Shamrock cemetery.
Head Is Crushed
While her husband supervised a crew of field hands not more than half a
mile distant, Mrs. Vaughan was brutally attacked and fatally beaten about
the head between 9 and 10 o'clock by a negro at the Vaughan farm about 12
miles southeast of town in Collingsworth county.
With the exception of her three-year-old daughter, Mrs. Vaughan was alone
at the home.  The little girl said afterwards the negro rode into the yard
on a horse.  She said her mother broke away from her assalient (sic) once.
"Get daddy", Mrs. Vaughan managed to tell the little tot.  She started
across the field to Mr. Vaughan, who was not in sight on account of a rise
in the ground between the house and field.
Brother Finds Victim
In the meantime Mr. Vaughan had sent his eleven-year-old brother, George,
to the house in the car for water.  Reaching the house, he discovered Mrs.
Vaughan lying in a pool of blood a short distance northeast of it.  He
started back to the field shouting for Mr. Vaughan, who came to meet him. 
Returning to the house they met the little girl and left her at a
neighbor's house.
Placing his wife in the car, Vaughan drove at top speed for town, taking
her to Shamrock General Hospital.  Physicians said she was in a dying
condition upon arrival.  She died shortly after 2 o'clock without having
regained consciousness.
She had been horribly beaten and her skull crushed almost to a pulp,
presumably with a short length of gas pipe found near where she was lying
when discovered.  Attending physicians said she had not been criminally
attacked.
News Spreads Quickly
Within a few minutes of Vaughan's arrival the news had spread over town
and carloads of armed men began leaving for the scene of the crime.  More
than a hundred Shamrock men and neighboring farmers gathered at the
Vaughan home within a short time.  Sheriff Claude McKinney of
Collingsworth county was among the first to arrive.
Suspicion pointed to Jessie (sic) Lee Washington, a young negro employed
as a field hand on the Sparlin farm, adjoining the Vaughan farm.  He had
been sent earlier in the morning to a store at Lutie for medicine for a
sick horse and was the only negro in the country known to have been
mounted on a horse.  After questioning some of the negroes, Sheriff
McKinney went to the shack where Washington lived.  He was followed by a
few cars the greater part of the crowd remaining at the Vaughan home.
Sensational Getaway
The negro was found lying on his floor in the shack, but did not rise
until made to do so.  He denied any knowledge of the crime, explaining
scratches on his nose and right arm by saying that his horse had thrown
him into a wire fence.  After further questioning, the sheriff took the
negro into custody and placed him in his car.
Fearing mob violence on the part of the crowd Sheriff McKinney,
accompanied by two Shamrock men, drove back through the stream of cars at
breakneck speed.  Only those following him knew he had the negro.  He
quickly outdistanced the greater number of cars, driving north and east. 
He put the two men accompanying him out at a filling station on the
Oklahoma line and drove east toward Hollis, Oklahoma.
He said over the telephone late Friday night he had taken the prisoner to
Granite, Oklahoma.  Later in the afternoon he had returned to the shack
where the negro lived and made a thorough search, finding a bloody shirt
which a negro woman said the prisoner had worn when he left that morning. 
Tracks of the horse were also traced from the Vaughan house through the
fields to the spot in front of the shack where the negro turned it loose,
the sheriff said.
Feelings Run High
Throughout the day excitement ran high here, crowds gathering on the
streets and discussing the crime.  Some talk of running the negroes out of
town was heard, but cooler heads counselled moderation and carried the
day.  By midnight the streets were deserted and quiet as on normal
occasions.
Mrs. Vaughan, who was 25, is survived by her husband and small daughter
Margaret Ruth; her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Tackitt of Erick, Oklahoma,
three sisters and one brother, Mrs. T. C. Lackey of Blanchard, Oklahoma;
Mrs. John Withrow of Frederick, Oklahoma; Mrs. Leo Rosson, Miss Guinevere
and Francis Tackitt, Jr., all of Erick.  All of them were here for the
funeral services.
(Shamrock Cemetery, Wheeler County, Texas:  Ruth Vaughan, born 2 Apr 1905;
died 11 July 1930.)

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