Hopkins Co., TX - Killing - Wilkerson B. Watson and Tom Neal 1901
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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)