The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-05-07
BOY KILLS TO SAVE FATHER
Ogden Youth Of H. Halliday Thompson Protects His Father by
Shooting His AssaIant William NcGhss, During
Melee Yesterday.

on to me. 1t was my AFFAIR, and While
Z MCGEE deserved death, I ought to have
done the killing. MCGEE said he worked
for me twenty years ago. and that /
mistreated him. Il don't remember it.
] don't know whether he worked for
me or not, but he has had it in for
me.
To-day started down the back
stairs, and he assaulted me with
/ brick. or rock, or something. / W.
knocked down, and he was beating me.
1 turned over a time or two, and was
putting up the best fight I could He
took my watch out of my pocket and
was hammering me on the head with it,
making these gashes Showing severaD.
He also got my nose in his mouth and
bit It. / saw my boy near us. and
heard him say: Get off Of father; get
of, say-you are killing him. Get off.
or III fix you.
"Then he had me down for a while
and was over me. / suppose, when /
heard the gun go bang, bang-bOth
barrels"
Ira Thompson is the proprietor of the
Senate gambling rooms. which are i'm
mediately over the Senate saloon, Of
which w. A. Scudder is the proprietor
The stairway leads from the outside
back door of Thompson's place down
to the ground. and this stairway forms
a sort of alley-way. of which the wall
/ of the Mushroom attached to the Sen
( ate saloon is the west side. 1t was in
this little passage way that the tragedy
! occurred. McGee's body lay face up
ward about ten feet from the door Of
the wash-Foom, the head being under
the outside stairway.
Details in Doubt.
/ 1t is a little uncertain just where
[ MCGEE stood when the fatal shot was
/ fired, There is considerable blood on
the floor of the Mushroom. and also
all along this passage and on the
steps of the Senate saloon As Thomp-
son and MCGEE had been fighting, both
of the men were bleeding, and this
blood may have came from one or the
other Of the men before the shot was
fired. If the blood in the wash-room
was from the gun-shot wound, then
MCGEE must have stood inside when
4 the shot was fired. There are marks
/ of buck-shOt on the north wall. indi-
eating that the shot might have been
] fired from the south end of the wash
room through the window. Another
possibility is that MCGEE was shot from
the passage way, started into the
/ Mushroom, and then out again, where
he died, although the charge Of buck
/ shot tore a big hole in his left breast,
I striking the edge of the heart.
| MCGEE was AZ years of age, and had
/ been in Ogden about four months. He
/ had been working for Scudder as por-
] ter about three weeks. He has a daugh-
I ter - years Of age, a domestic in the
/ family Of W. H Chevers. She arrived
! in Ogden only a few weeks ago. hav-
III s-en sent for@srcal Bndiaua by her
J father. She stated that there had been
an old grudge between Ira Thompson
and her father, dating many years back.
( before either came to Ogden. The body
I Of MCGEE was prepared for burial by
Larkin, and the dead mans mother
has been telegraphed to for fnstruc-
! tons as to the disposition Of the re-
mains.
Coroner's Inquest.
Halliday H. Thompson, the boy who
/ did the shooting. is a student in the
/ IntermOuntain Business college. and
viii graduate next June He is
very well known to the public. as he
had charge Of a soda fountain in one
\ of the principal business places of the
city last year.
I
oners jury, and the inquest was begun
/ this afternoon. Young Thompson testi-
fed, and adhered to the story as given
to The Herald, except as to minor
/ changes in details. A number Of other
/ witnesses were examined, among them
+ J. K. Hilman, engineer of the Troy
laundry, Z. J. Taylor, who roOrled over
the Troy laundry. Robert Gould and
W. A. Scudder, and Joseph Harper. The
testimony of these witnesses went
chiefly to show that young Thompson
fired the fatal shot from the roof OF
the coal shed at the rear of the wash
room. Mr. Scudder testified that he
Hooked the back door OF his place wher
he heard the quarreiing. and by reason
Of this MCGEE was unable to get in
when he tried. The most important wit
ness. probably. is Harper, who saw
most of the tragedy The inquest viii
be continued in the morning.