The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-05-17
ME FATEl THAIIBEFE FATHER

quarreling factions and at one time
two neighbors acted as a board of
to decide where the fence
should be run. Railsback offered to
give six inches of a foot of the dis
puted territory. He was to have pos
session Of a pear tree that figured in
the squabble. Meek consented at first
but afterward changed his mind and
hostilities were resumed.
As soon as they learned of the
tragedy Mrs. Meek and her daughter.
Hazel, who is about eighteen years old,
became hysterical. Their condition
was so critical that at first neighbors
expected that their lives, too, might be
sacrificed as the result of the fence.
Mrs. Meek became SO crazed that all
efforts to induce her composure were
fruitless. She was taken to the home
of a neighbor and there her rawlings
but after about three hours of griev-
ing became somewhat calmed. Mrs.
Meek remained in such a state of ner-
vous collapse that the services OF a
physician were needed.
Sheriff on the Scene.
AS soon as he learned Of the affair.
Sheriff Meredith hurried to the place.
He went to the Railsback home and
secufed the shotgun tassd by joel. r.
contained two empty shells. The shot
gun that lay on the body Of young
Meek contained one empty and one
loaded shell. The revolver which had
been used by Alex Meek contained one
discharged cartridge shell and another
showed where the hammer had hit, but
it failed to explode. The guns. revol-
yer and the hat of the senior Meek
were taken by the sheriff for evidence.
The hat was an old. black slouch. and
was completely riddled by the small
bullets.
After examining the bodies OF the
dead men, Coroner Bramkamp began
his inquest He took the testimony OF
Frank Railsback, Sr., and his wife's.
Mrs. Meek's condition was such that
the official could not secure an account
Of the story from her. The elder
Railsback maintained throughout his
ACCOuAI tAdI ALo oOA4 OoOi heA~A INV -
defend Frank. Jr. and LArkin.
"oid Woman" Jumps In.
In his version Of the affair, the
Railsback father said: Joel came in
and said he had to do something "a
protect tho boys. Me and the old wo-
man told him not to get the gun. but
he did. and when he went into the
wardrobe after 1t We ran down to the
fence. We found Alex and Raymond
Just about to shoot. The old woman
Jumped in and a. she grabbed Frank,
Raymond shot him. Tfllie kept
screaming and while 4 was looking at
Raymond. 1 heard q gun fired and the
bullets whizzed by my head. saw
Raymond throw up his hands and fail
backward. l supposed Joel had shot
him. Somebody yelled Mas hit and
Just then l felt bullet that Alex
aimed at me strike my leg. He's q
pretty bad shot or else was awful ex
cited. Then I saw Alex 90 over. He
fell rtEht back on his back. It WA
an excitable time, tell you. II ever
I was in an excitable time. that was 1t
The Others carried Otto up to the
house and / staid to keep the dog on
Harm Woke came across the f1eld
and then Percy Lankert came over.
Felt Something Coming.
81 had felt something was coming
for a long time Saturday the line
for the fence was staked out and then
in the night somebody pulled up the
stakes. This morning l stayed at the
house while Joel. Lark and Otto went
down to chop the fence down. I call
him Otto because my names Frank
too and we do 1t SO as not to get con.
fused. It was only short time after
ward that Joel ran in for the gun
Just as we got there Otto was shot
down and then bullet came through
my pants. The Meeks were ut the
fence defying my boys and daring
them TO touch the fence Otto tried
to argue them out Of using the guns
He said to Raymond. Take that gun
off OF me, just as Raymond shot him
Otto fell right at his mothers feet
then Raymond pointed the gun ii
Lark's head Joel was Is or 20 feet
from the fence and heard a shot and
saw Raymond fall am sure joe
shot to save Lark's life. had al
wars forbid the boy's to take any
firearms and they went down to cut
the fence without 30 much ~ pocket
knives for weapons. Tillie kept
screaming and II seemed everybody
was yelling :