Tragedy at Tatum
Trammel Trace Tribune, April 15, 2004 editionReprinted from the Times Clarion newspaper of Longview
October 3, 1907 edition
Late Saturday afternoon Sheriff Stone was notified by telephone that W. T. Hemby, cashier of the State Bank at Tatum, had been killed by Sam Helveston, a young man of that place.
Mr. Stone, in company with County Attorney Strong and DeWitt Oliver, left immediately for the scene of the trouble. While en route to Tatum, the party met Deputy Sheriff Holtzclaw with Helveston coming to Henderson. Mr. Green took charge of the prisoner and returned to the city.
Sheriff Stone and others went on to Tatum where they found a bad state of affairs existing between two factions composed of the leading citizens of that little city.
Sheriff Stone and party remained in Tatum all day Sunday and when they left there, a high state of feeling still existed.
This shooting seems to have been the result of an old feud with was renewed early Saturday afternoon in a difficulty between two of the leading businessmen and during this skirmish a gun play was made, but cooler heads succeeded in quieting things for the time being.
Mr. Hemby was not in town at the time of the first trouble, but when he returned home he and Helveston met in front of McNaughton's store and during a friendly conversation, the difficulty in the early afternoon was mentioned. One word brought on another when the lie was finally passed. At this juncture, bystanders separated the men.
Hemby and Helveston then left each other, going in opposite directions. When Helveston reached the Reynolds Hotel, he entered and came out with a double-barrel shotgun and met Hemby advancing toward the hotel with a rifle.
Robert Kuykendall happened to be standing between the two men and tried to prevent Helveston from shooting and during the scuffle Helveston fired one barrel of his gun, the load tearing off the brim of Kuykendall's hat and entered and tore away the top of Hemby's head.
Hemby, though mortally wounded as he was, lived until Sunday afternoon when he died at 4:35 o'clock. The shooting took place about 7 o'clock.
Immediately after the shooting Helveston surrendered to Mr. Holtzclaw. Mr. Watson, a druggist at Tatum, was accidentally shot, receiving a wound in the face and side from stray bullets. Mr. Watson, however, is not seriously wounded.
NOTE:
W. T. Hemby
10 Oct 1857 - 29 Sep 1907
Tatum Cemetery
Sam G. Helveston
1885 - 1976
Tatum Cemetery
J. E. Holtzclaw
5 Oct 1873 - 7 Aug 1939
Tatum Cemetery
Robert O. Kuykendall
30 Sep 1887 - 4 Dec 1937
Tatum Cemetery
Back to Main Page