Tillman County, OK - obit - B. B. Rogers
Contributed by Rosemary Myers <rsmyers@cableone.net>

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THE FREDERICK LEADER, Sunday, August 10, 1919, front page:

DEAD OFFICER TO BE BURIED TODAY; PARKER MAY RECOVER

   J.C. Parker, who was shot Saturday morning, in a pistol duel with Night Officer B.B. Rogers, was reported
resting well at three o'clock this morning at the home of W.W. Grayson on North Fourteenth street.

   Parker is sleeping the greater part of the time, but attending physicians say that his condition is now such
that there is hopes for his recovery.

   Funeral services for B.B. Rogers, night police officer and brother of Mayor Z.Z. Rogers, who was shot to
death early Saturday morning by J.C. Parker, will be conducted from the First Methodist church this afternoon
at four o'clock by the Reverend J.A. ??? assisted by the Reverend Burke Culpepper.

   Burial will be made in the cemetery immediately following the services.  Pallbearers for the service will
be:  D.W. Womack, E.E. Mathis, Burney B. Forgy, Max Leebrick, Spence Akins and Frank Brown.

   Resulting from a pistol duel at about two o'clock Saturday morning, B.B. Rogers, night police officer and
brother of Mayor Z.Z. Rogers, is dead and John C. Parker, a merchant is seriously wounded.

   Rogers expired at about 2:30 o'clock Saturday morning without having made any statements of the affair.  His

cont'd page eight

body was pierced with a 15-caliber bullet which had entered slightly above his heart and had passed out of the
body three inches to the right of the spine.  The bullet did not penetrate the heart, but is believed to have
gone through the back of the liver.

   Parker was shot twice.  One bullet entered the right side of the abdomen, and came out at the right rear of
the body.  The other bullet passed through the front part of the thighs.

   It was said Saturday morning by Dr. P.G. Priestley, who attended Parker, that the latter had a good chance
for recovery.

   The shooting occurred through the screen door leading into the alley from the rear of Parker's store room,
on the south side of West Grand Avenue.

   Earlier in the evening Parker is alleged to have been in a partially intoxicated condition and to have made
some trouble at a dance given at the opera house, of which Rogers was one of the lessees.  Rogers is said to
have caused Parker to leave the opera house, and to have urged him to go to bed.  Parker slept in the rear of
his store room.

   At two o'clock Night Patrolman Spence Akins says that he received a call to come to Brown's cafe, and there
found Rogers and Parker.  Parker, Akins said, was drunk, and as he (Akins) entered the cafe, Rogers pushed
Parker into a chair.

   "I asked Parker why he did not sober up once in a while," said Akins, "and gave him a bawling out.  I asked
Buda (Rogers) what he wanted to do with him, and he said "Whatever you say."  I then told Parker that  he must
go to bed and that if he did not we would put him in jail.  He said that that was what he was going to do. He
got up and went to his store.  I started down towards the depot and I saw Rogers go down the street and turn
into the alley alongside of Parker's store.

   "In a few moments I heard five shots, one very loud report and then four smaller ones in quick succession.
I at first thought that Parker was merely shooting out his door, but someone called for me.  When I got to the
store, Parker was standing in the front door, with his clothes bloody.  I asked him what was the matter and he
said that Rogers had shot him.  Parker was dressed.

   "I went into the alley and found Rogers lying on the ground, just about dead.  His revolver lay beside him
on the ground.  He made no statement."

   Akins was of the opinion that Rogers had walked past Parker's door and was returning north when he was shot.
Rogers revolver was a 38 caliber.

   A crowd had gathered, and Rogers, gasping for breath, was carried into the McLellan and Stagg undertaking
parlors, where he was attended by Dr. L.A. Mitchell and Dr. J.D. Osborn, Jr., Mayor Rogers, S.E. Patton, a
brother-in-law of the slain man, Chief of Police May, Sheriff Perryman, Justice O.P. Daws, City Attorney J.O.
Counts and others were hurriedly summoned.  The wounded officer passed away at 2:30 o'clock, without recovering
consciousness.

   No inquest was held as there was no doubt as to the manner in which Rogers had met his death.

   Parker was taken in charge by Officer Akins and conducted to the offices of Dr. Priestley and Osborn over
the Mono? grain store.  He walked up the stairs and when he reached the offices _______ to be admitted saying
that Rogers had shot him.  He lay on the couch, and asked the physician, Dr. Priestley, to give him relief as
he was suffering.

   Parker at that time is said to have been perfectly coherent, and to have made the statement that he was
preparing to go to bed when Rogers shot him through the door.  As his trousers were removed he told Dr.
Priestley the contents of the pockets telling of checks he had ad and by whom they had been given and saying
that he also had some lose silver in the pockets.

   While Dr. Osborn and Dr. Mitchell and Dr. Priestley were momentarily out of the room, a reporter for The
Leader heard Parker say:

   "After I shot I asked him what he thought about it and he said, 'Parker, you did me wrong'."

   Parker's pulse was normal and he remained conscious until he was put under the influence of an opiate.  He
was taken to a room on the floor where the doctors' offices are located.  His chances for recovery were
considered good, unless it developed that one of the bullets had penetrated the abdominal cavity, and even
then, Dr. Priestly said, he would have a chance for recovery.  Parker is a fat man and the possibility was,
said the physician, that the bullet which struck him in the abdomen had only passed through the fleshy part of
his body.

   Parker was unarmed when he was taken in custody by Officer Akins.  Akins asked him if he had his gun and
Parker replied that he did not.  Akins then searched him.  His revolver was later discovered in the rear of his
room.

   Rogers is said to have called repeatedly for Akins after he was shot, his calls having been heard in a
restaurant across the street.  Here also it was said that there was first one very loud report and then four
others, not so loud.

   The screen door through which the shots passed showed one large bullet hole, from a shot which had come from
inside the building, in the top panel of the door, and four smaller holes, in the lower panel, made by bullets
which had come from outside.  The manner in which the wires were bent gave evidence of the directions from
which the bullets came.  The door was removed to the McLellan & Stagg undertaking rooms.

   Rogers, the dead officer, had been on the night force about a month.  He was a magnificent specimen of
physical manhood, and had been honorably discharged from the army a short time before he came here last time.
Earlier in _____(Mte?) he had been in the regular army, and a member of the military police in El Paso.  He was
an athlete, and expert marksman and had been a bayonet instructor in the army.  He was married.   His wife and
one child living in Fierro, New Mexico.

   The slain man was the son of Mr. and Mrs. W.W. Rogers.  W.W. Rogers was for years a pioneer resident of
Frederick, having come here in the early days with his family from Vernon, Texas.  He died several years ago.
The mother survives and makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. S.E. Patton, South Fourteenth street.

   In addition to the mother, wife and one child, one sister, Mrs. S.E. Patton, and five brothers, E.E. Rogers,
Hutchinson, Kansas; D.D. Rogers, Wellington, Kansas; Dr. J.J. Rogers, Oklahoma City; A.A. Rogers, Wilson and
Z.Z. Rogers of Frederick, survive.  All the absent brothers were communicated with by telephone shortly after
the tragedy and will be here for the funeral this afternoon.

   Parker was removed to the residence of W.W. Grayson, on North Fourteenth street, yesterday morning about 11
o'clock and late yesterday afternoon, was resting well, under the influence of opiates.  The seriousness of his
injuries cannot be determined as yet, the attending nurse said, but it was thought that he more than an even
chance for recovery.

   Parker has been in the clothing business here for the past eight or nine years.  His wife died a year ago,
leaving him with a young daughter, Alice Ruth, who resides with relatives of his mother at Foss.

 

THE FREDERICK LEADER, Thursday, Sept 4, 1919:

Slayer of B.B. Rogers Brought to Courthouse; Hearing Set For Friday

   John C. Parker, under arrest on the charge of killing B.B. Rogers, special night patrolman, on the morning
of Saturday, August 9, and confined since then at the W.W. Grayson home by wounds received during a pistol duel
with Rogers, was brought to the courthouse Wednesday morning by officials of the sheriff's office to answer the
formal arraignment to the charge of murder.

   Owing to Parker's physical condition and on the advice of his physician, Dr. J.D. Osborn, Jr., the
arraignment and preliminary were postponed until Friday afternoon at 1:30 o'clock, and an agreement was made
between county officials and attorneys for Parker by which he is to be placed in the care of W.A. McKinney
until Friday afternoon, at which time it is believed Parker will be able to appear in court and answer his
arraignment in person.  The only living witness of the tragedy, so far as is generally known at this time, is
Parker himself, and it is therefore believed he is the only person who knows the exact circumstances leading up
to the killing.

   Many witnesses, is was said Wednesday, will appear in the case, and because of the many uncertain and
contradictory elements involved in the tragedy, it is expected a great legal battle will be staged at the
trial, which will be held in district court here if the preliminary hearing sustains the charge of murder is
set out on the complaint filed by County Attorney F.H. Hurst. (?)
 
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