Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1917-08-23
KILLED IN DISPUTE
OVER WATER RIGHTS.

Lying in wait behind a huge boul-
der on his place three miles south of
Wenatchee at an early hour Tuesday
morning, ]. w. Coon waited with his
rifle in hand until Mr.. and Mrs. Jo-
seph A. Charlton, neighbors with
whom he had quarreled over water
rights appeared at the point where
the water in an irrigation ditch is
divided to the two ranches and then
taking careful aim sent bullet thru
the heart of Mr.. Charlton, who drop
ped to the ground instantly killed
and then, as Mrs. Charlton turned to
run, he sent second bullet crashing
into her back, inflicting a wound
which, after she had staggered along
the gulch toward her home for a
hundred yards finally brought her
to the ground in dying condition
in the hollow of a big boulder,
where she lay on her breast until
she bled to death. After finishing
his gruesome work, Coon calmly tele
phoned sheriff McManus that he
chad had little shooting scrape'
and that he was ready to give him
self up to the authorities. Taken in
to custody by the sheriff, Coon as
serted that he shot in self defense.
The authorities found rifle with
one empty cartridge beside Mr..
Charlton's body.
Sheriff McManus received noti-
fication of the affair about six o.
clock this morning and it is presum-
ed that the shooting occurred about
$50. The story told the sheriff by
Mr.. Coon was to the effect that he
had gone up to where the irrigation
ditch was diverted from the ditch
leading from the Charlton place and
that there he had been fired upon by
Charlton and that he had returned
the fire but did not know whether
he had killed anyone or not.
Man and Wife Both Dead.
When the sheriff arrived at the
scene he found Mr.. Charlton lying
on his face with a % caliber rifle
clutched in his hand and a hole il
his forehead from which the blood
was issuing. Some fifty feet from
where the man lay, the rocks anc
boulders were splattered with bloo6
and marked the trail leading toward
the Charlton house toward which
Mrs. Charlton had run a distance OF
about one hundred yards before she
fell in the hollow of big boulder
and lying on her breast had bled to
death.
Coon surrendered 25-20 calibe,
rifle to the sheriff and offered no re.
sistance whatever to arrest. He wa
at once lodged in the county Jail
The sheriff then notified County
Coroner Templeton, who, with 6
number of witnesses, went to the
scene of the fatality to take charge
of the dead man and his wife.
Had Quarreled Over Water.
The place on which Mr.. Coon lives
is about three miles below the city
of Wenatchee on the Malga road jus
east of little white school house.
The Charlton place is about a quart
er of a mile on down the road ant
just beyond the school house. Bott
men claimed the water that flowet
down the gulch back of the two
places, most of the water coming
from the overflow from the bitches
on Wheeler Hill and from spring
further up the gulch. There hao
been considerable trouble over thu
water lately and 1t appears that Mr.
Coon had been using the water ex
clusively for the past month.
Evidently some time in the pas.
twenty-four hours Mr.. Charlton hat
gone to a point on the Coon place
where the water is diverted to one
ditch or the other and had turned
the water so that it flowed on to his
land as the bed of the stream was
moist and showed that water had
been recently flowing through it. II
appears that Coon early Tuesda.
morning went up to turn the water
back ont his place and with 25-2(
caliber rifle lay in wait behind some
convenient boulder or thicket o.
brush to await developments.
Woman Shot in Back.
AS to what happened when Mr.
and Mrs. Charlton appeared cannot
be definitely known as there were
no known witnesses as to what oc
Cured. Just two empty shells were
found that fit the rifle that CoOr
surrendered both elected at the same
spot. Mrs. Charlton was probabl,
carrying the hoe that was fount
near the place where she was shot
Evidently she had turned to rui
when Mr.. Charlton was fired at, a
the bullet entered her back at tn
right shoulder, and coursing upwar,
passed out through her neck below
the chin. A large artery from al