The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1917-05-11

James Harris was murderer that
he made his sensational capture of
the man as because he heard that
Harris was selling whisky to his In
dams. That was enough for the In
dian departments chief special officer.
He went after Harris, and, when John
son goes after anybody, he gets him.
1T wasn't any business Of mine
whether Harris murdered his son-in-
law or not" said "Pussyfoot" to the
writer. "All l had against him was
that he was peddling whisky along the
Canadian river"
One day in October, 1906. ferry
man named Tate went down about
quarter of mile below the Pawpaw
ferry On the Arkansas river to set a
fish net, and observed an object some
40 feet distant in the water. He
rowed out to it and found it to be a
sack containing the body Of dead
man. The body had evidently been
placed in the sack, weighted and flung
into the stream, but after the lapse Of
a short period the body rose to the
surface, the weights falling to the bot
tom of the sack and causing 1t to
stand upright. Tate, unfastening the
sack, was Mortified to discover the
corpse within it.
He returned and notified the inhabi-
tants of his village, and they notified
the authorities at Sallisaw. The body
was removed and found to be weight
ed with a piece Of railroad iron weigh
ing % pounds. The back of the head
had been crushed in by blow, which
had evidently been the cause of death.
On or about September q three
men and two women, with some chill
dren, had landed near the Pawpaw
ferry from two households. For a
month past they had been floating idly
down the Verdigris river, sustaining
life with rod and gun, hunting along
the banks, fishing from the boat, trap
ping small game. The party was COM
posed of James Harris, fifty-eight
years old, the stepfather of two young
married women, who, with their hus-
bands and children, completed the
party.
Nora, a pretty girl Of sixteen, was
the wife of the murdered man, who
was subsequently identified as James
McKeehan. He had had a consider
able sum of money in his possession.
Nora's sister and John Trumbly were
the other pair.
On or about October 4, week after
the arrival of the party at Pawpaw
ferry, two of the men and the women
disappeared. The man who was left
behind stated that they had gone to
trap and would return shortly. The
sudden disappearance Of the two men
and the women aroused the suspicion
of the Pawpaw people that one of
them might be the murdered man and
the other his murderer. The clothing
worn by one of the men, who was said
to have gone on the trapping journey,
had been similar to, if not the same
as that found on the corpse. On Oc-
tober Trumbly told an acquaintance
that he believed the others were on
drunken spree somewhere and not
likely to return, so he intended to pro-
coed on his journey and overtake
them. The citizens of Pawpaw, be-
lieving that two of the men had MUIR
dered the third, made up purse to
pay the expenses of two who we're to
follow them and endeavor to obtain
particulars. On October % Martin
and Tate started out to locate them.
hn frrya &c
mile below the Fort Smith bridge, and
from information given by people in
the vicinity were able to learn that
there had been but one man and
one woman there, with five chill
dren. Martin and Tate returned to
Pawpaw with this intelligence.
The authorities at Sallisaw were
informed of the facts and asked by
the Pawpaw citizens to make further
investigations. They refused unless
someone would swear that John Doe
was dead and that Richard Roe killed
him. The evidence thus far secured
did. not justify any citizen in making
oath to this effect. Being caught in
this predicament, and being resolved
to locate the murderers, two men
named Watts and Shrum went to Fort
Smith and secured the aid Of Deputy
Sheriff Charley Henderson. He re-
quested Shrum and Watts to go to
the houseboat and investigate. They
went to the shanty on the river bank
which the pair occupied temporarily
and found some bedclothing saturated
with blood. Trumbly was found max
ing ready to ship some goods to John
Harris at Eufaula, and was at once
arrested
Your father-in-law has been arrest
ed and put in Jail, so you may as well
tell us all you know about the mat
ter" they said to Trumbly.
Thereupon, while on the road to
the Jail, Trumbly made a confession.
He said that Harris had become in
fatuated with his pretty stepdaughter,
and had quarreled with McKeehan
many times, ostensibly because Nc
Keehan failed to support hel The
two men had travelled down the river
on different households. McKeehan
was known to have money, and fire.
quently lent small sums to his COM
panions, taking their watches and
other personal effects as security, and
charging them a high rate of interest.
An agreement was made among the
members of the party to stop at Paw
paw and steal some sorghum cane.
On the way to the field McKeehan
dropped behind the others. Harris
also stopped, according to Trumbly's
story, alleging that he wanted to get
a burr out of his shoe. Harris let