Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-01-30
ELEVEN FACE TRIAL
FOR TRIPLE KILLING
IN N|GHTR|DER RAID

ARDMORE, Okla, Jan. 26.-Trial
OF eleven prominent men living here
and at Wilson, Okla, on charges of
murder growing out Of the alleged
operations of a band of masked men,
in December, 1921. was postponed
until Monday when called here to-
day in district court.
Charles of murder grow out of the
Staying of three men near Wilson,
Okla, during the operations of
masked band on the night OF de-
cember Is, 1921.
The Ku K,ux Khan definitely was
brought into the case by the state
when it questioned witnesses at the
preliminary hearing as to the exist
ence of the organization In TINS
county and as to meeting which
was said to have been held here
few nights prior to the killings. The
hearing was brought to an abrupt
close after one witness refused to
answer a number Of categorical
questions concerning the khan.
The story Of the affair, as related
by the then county attorney, James
Mathers. in what he termed an out
line of evidence, was that on the
night of December Is, a band of
more than so men, led by c. G. Sims
local police detective, left here in
automobiles to get Joe Carroll for
alleged dealings m Illicit whisky"
They took with them buckets or
tar and pillows of feathers"
After traversing the oil field dis
tricts to a point a few miles outside
of Wilson, where Carroll lived. the
band halted in field and a commit
tee of a dozen or more men was as
signed to bring Carroll before the
gathering.
They summoned Carroll to the
door of his hut, and shot. him down
when they discovered that he was
armed. A hail of bullets was pour
ed down on the masked men by
members of his family. and after
the marauders had taken to their au-
tomobiles. CAROLS body was picked
up few PAGES from his door step.
John Smith, of Wilson, who, ac-
eording to statements of confess
ed member of the band, was forced
out of a sick bed and made to &C
company the committee" on it's ex-
petition, was found near Carroll's
been wounded in the fight and died
soon afterward in a hospital.
Early the next day. officers, at the
direction of Jeff Smith, the confess
ed participant in the attack, went
to the field and found Sims body.
He evidently had also been wound
ed in the fray and been taken back
to the field and left to die.
Three days later seventeen men,
one of them a minister in whose
home Jeff Smith had taken refuge
while suffering from a bullet wound
in the leg, were under arrest.
Charges against six of these, includ-
ing the minister, were dismissed by
the state attorney general, who came
here to take personal charge OF the
prosecution.
AT the preliminary hearing, Ray
L. Beede, an Ardmore automobile
dealer, one of the defendants, was
pointed out by CAROLS brother az
the man who murdered my broth
er." Carroll later retracted his ac-
cusation, saying that che might
have been mistaken.
The other defendants, all of whom
have been at liberty on $4,000
bonds, are: Dan Ridpath, local con-
tractor; c. G. Whitchurch, oil sup
ply. man; J. H. Pitts, automobile
dealer; Tom Hailes, automobile sup
ply salesman; Frank Cardwell, in
surance agent; Jeff Smith, of Will
son; DIR. E. C. Harlow, optometrist;
w. L. T. Hilton, oil lease broker;
J. B. (Curley) Smith, Of Wilson. and
J, A. Gillian, rancher. .'