Freestone County, Texas History News of 1956 Malakoff News of Malakoff, Henderson County, Texas Friday, April 13, 1956 Change of Venue Sends Athens Murder Trial to Fairfield ATHENS, Texas - A motion for a charge [change] of venue was granted here Monday by Dist. Judge Melvin Johnson in the case of Jimmy G. Barker, 21-year- old Negro charged with murder in the shooting Feb. 16 of William Hubert Clanton, 45. The case will be heard in Judge R. W. Williford's District Court at Faifield in Freestone County. A special venue of 200 men and women had ben summoned to report here. The change of venue motion held that "because of publicity". The defendant could not obtain a fair and impartial trial in Henderson County. It was filed by the court-appointed defense attorneys, Mack Wallace and Pete Cornelius. ================================================================ The Commerce Daily Journal - April 15, 1956 edition - page 2 Klondike News [section] Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Hudson of Teague and Mr. and Mrs. Hoyt Williams returned to Dallas Sunday afternoon after spending several days here with their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edd Hooten and with their aunt and sister, Mrs. Homer Stephenson in her final illness Thrusday. ============================================= Page One, The Commerce Daily Journal, Thursday, June 7, 1956 JURY AT FAIRFIELD FREES YOUNG NEGRO ON MURDER CHARGE FAIRFIELD (AP) - A jury here found a young Negro innocent of killing an East Texas white farmer. The veredict was returned after the defendant said the dead man's wife offered him $100 to say he did it. The jury of eight men and four women, all white, freed 21-year-old Jimmy Barker of charges of murder in the death of Hubert Clanton, a farmer shot to death last February at his farm home near Athens. Barker testified that while rabbit hunting on the Clanton farm, Mrs. Clanton came toward him from the barn and said to him: "I'll give you $100 to say you did it." The Negro told the jury he did not know what Mrs. Clanton was talking about and that she then pulled a pistol from her skirt and began firing at him. He said all her shots missed. Mrs. Clanton called to the stand, denied this. Barker repudiated a confession he had signed shortly after the crime, saying he could not read, did not know what he had signed and was frightened. White Barker was held in an East Texas jail, there were published accounts of possible mob action against him. ============================================= The Commerce Daily Journal - Page One Friday, June 8, 1956 ACQUITTAL OF NEGRO IN SHOOTING TERMED JUSTICE MISCARRIAGE ATHENS (AP) - District Attorney John McDonald has called the acquittal of Jimmy Barker on murder charges a miscarriage of justice. He says the young Negro will be brought to Athens and tried on other charges. An all white jury in Fairfield freed the 21-year-old Barker yesterday after his surprise testimony that the wife of the victim offered him $100 to say he did it. Barker was accused of shooting farmer Hubert Clanton, a white man. Barker testified that on the day of the shooting. Mrs. Clanton approached him and made the offer. Barker said he was not aware of the killing and did not know what Mrs. Clanton was talking about. He also said the woman began firing at him, but that all shots missed. McDonald says he will return Barker for trial on charges of assault with intent to murder. The charge was filed as a result of an arm wound suffered by Mrs. Clanton. She has testified that Barker inflicted the wound with his rifle when she went to investigate her husband's absence. ==================================================== The Commerce Daily Journal - Page One Tuesday, July 24, 1956 TEAGUE SHOOTING KILLS 1, WOUNDS 1 TEAGUE (AP) - An elderly woman was killed and her husband was critically injured last night in a shooting in the Freestone County town of Teague in East Central Texas. Mrs. Frank Bodine, who was 50 years of age, died shortly after arrival at a Teague hospital. She had been shot once in the breast and twice in the right side of her neck. Her husband, about 65 years of age, suffered a bullet wound in his head. A .25 caliber pistol was found near the bodies which were discovered by Mrs. Bodine's 90-year-old father who notified authorities. ================================================================ The Commerce Daily Journal - Nov 8, 1956 edition - page 8 Klondike News [section] Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Bigony spent the weekend in Fairfield with their mother, Mrs. Koonce. ==================================================== The Commerce Daily Journal - Thursday, December 18, 1956 - page 2 MISTRIAL DECLARED IN ASSAULT CASE CLEBURNE (AP) - A mistrial was declared today in the assault trial of Jimmy Barker here when a juror's father died. Barker, a Henderson county Negro, was being tried on a charge of shooting Mrs. W. H. Clanton, a white woman, at her farm home near Athens last summer. The mistrial was declared by Judge Penn Jackson because of the death of G. C. Martin of Cleburne, father of Mrs. T. M. Soweli, the only woman member of the jury. Barker was acquitted of a murder charge in connection with the death of Mrs. Clanton's husband after a trial in Fairfield last June.