Bisbee daily review., 1916-01-08
SERGEANT KILLED BY PRIVATE WHEN
 HE IS UNBRANDED
Non-C Commissioned Officer is Killed While at Dinner By Soldier who Had Been Gen. sured for a Nights Spree.

DOUGLAS, Jan. 7.-Sergt William F. Lawrence, Company K. Eighteenth Infantry, was shot twice and almost instantly killed at noon today, mom- ent after he had sat down in the com pany dining hall for dinner. His as- the same company, was disarmed i'm mediately, and afterward told Capt. John Robertson, the officer detailed by Col. James S. Rogers to investigate the case. the motive for the murder. It was the aftermath of a night spent playing poker and drinking bootleg whiskey, according to other soldiers of the company.
 When Murphy came back to camp after a nights carousal, his nerves were unstrung and he was still suffer ing from the effects of the liquor he had drunk, it is asserted. At drill this morning, Sergt. Lawrence upbraided him for being intoxicated. Capt. Chase Doster, commander of the company. learned of the mans condition, and ordered him under arrest in quarters" This meant that he was not to leave the boundaries of the company's camp.
 Instead of obeying orders, Private Murphy went down town and bought a cheap Harrington-Richards 3S-cal- ibre gun and some cartridges. At noon he purposely placed himself at the table directly opposite Sergt. Law renee The latter bad barely seated himself, when Murphy. without the slightest warning, lifted his gun above the table and fired two shots at the sergeant, who was not more than four feet away. Fifty or sixty men were at the table, but the shooting was so sudden that they were dazed and did not act for a few moments. For space nobody knew who had fired the shots.
 Sergt. Frank Langost was sitting be- side Murphy. He wrested the gun from his hand before Murphy could shoot again. The next instant several men bounced upon the private and he was hustled to the guard house.
 'T was driven to it; let it be lesson 10 others is the declaration Murphy is said to have made in the excitement
 One bullet pierced Lawrence's breast just above the heart. The oth- CT fractured the bone of his left arm. He was placed on a stretcher and talk en to the camp hospital. Four or five surgeons were on the scene within
 five minutes. but Lawrence died be- fore they arrived without regaining consciousness.
 Murphy was stripped of his uniform and turned over to Constable $. J. Hay hurst, who will take the prisoner to Tombstone.
 Murphy was laboring under the de fusion that Lawrence had reported him to Capt Doster, but as matter of fact Lawrence did not do this. He spoke to Murphy about his behavior but made no report, although Capt Doster learned through other means. To Capt. Robertson, soon after the shooting. Murphy is caid to have ad- mitted that he went down town to buy the gun to kill the sergeant, but de nied that he was drunk this morning or that he had been drinking the night before. He resented the sergeants re buke.
 Sergt. Lawrence was 30 years old, his murderer a few years younger. He was one of the most efficient non-com- missioned officers in the regiment and we'll liked. He was sober man or quiet habits. His father resides in Aline, Okla, and has been notified.