Hopkins Co., TX - Killing - Wilkerson B. Watson and Tom Neal 1901 ***************************************************** This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb by: June E. Tuck USGenWeb Archives. Copyright. All rights reserved http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ***************************************************** WATSON, WILKERSON B. - Sulphur Springs, Texas - Oct. 7, 1901 - Wilkerson B. Watson, a barber, and Tom Neal, a bootblack, both black, of Sulphur Springs, was killed as a result of a shooting affray occurring at 4:30 o’clock yesterday morning on a Cotton Belt train, a short distance this side of Reinhardt. The train was crowded with colored visitors to the State Fair. The two men, along with several other passengers, were in one of the smoker. Trouble started without warning and several shots fired. One struck Neal in the side of the head, killed instantly. Watson was struck in the right side of the head and one in the abdomen and lived until taken to the City Hospital. He had left his wife and mother in the rear of the car and entered the smoker immediately before the shooting began. The individual doing the shooting was seen to jump from the steps and not seen since. But later said he boarded next north bound train at Reinhardt . Sheriff B. Loving of Hopkins County was notified by phone and instructed to make the arrest if possible. Jerry Griggs did the killing, and a complaint was sworn out by Ed Wells, one of the passengers, charging him with the murders. Watson was 27 and Neal 22. ( Dallas Morning News, Oct. 8, 1901)