Evening star., 1926-12-13
LAY MAYOR KILLING
TO HIRED GUNMEN
Police Advance Theory After
Illinois Gang War Victim
Is Shot in Home.
BY the Associated Pre-

oy tNt RSSuCldteu
BENTON. ILL.,. December IA
theory was advanced today that hired
gunmen killed Joe Adams. 3O0-pound
mayor of West City, near here, who
was shot down by two unidentified
men as he stood in the front doorway
Of his home late yesterday.
1t was another episode in the gang
warfare that has disrupted the peace
Of Williamson. Franklin and Saline
Counties during the Fall and Winter.
and was the elimination of two previ-
Gus attacks on the mayor. West city
is in Franklin County, 20 miles from
Herrin.
Adams, a former roadhouse pro-
prietor, whose term would have eX-
pired next May. had figured In south
ern Illinois gang strife through his
admitted friendship with the Shelton
gang, and had reported that Charles
Birger militant leader of a rival gang,
had threatened his life.
Fight for Rum Supremacy.
The Sheltons and the Birgerites.
once comrades in arms against the
Ku klux Klan. now are at pistol
points in a struggle for southern Him
Adams was forced recently by Bir-
ger to close his roadhouse because he
was said to harbor the Sheltons. who
subsequently, were expelled from tho
county by Henry Doris. then sheriff,
and States Attorney Roy G. Martin.
Adams armed himself. obtained a
deputy sheriff guard for his home.
and declared that Birger could not
force him to leave this part OF the
State.
This is my home and 1 won't
leave" he said.
Adams was called to his doorway
yesterday after his wife. Beulah, au-
swered a knock and found two young
men standing there. They told her
that they had letter for Joe from
Carl Shelton, leader of the Shelton
camp, who was released on bond last
Thursday from a Jail at Peoria, Ill.
He had been held pending trial on
mail robbery charge. .4
The mayor came to. the door, ex.
tended his hand to receive the letter,
but was answered with, two shots
from the gun of each of the men. He
turned, staggered and fell, with three
bullets in his body, and died 40 min
utes later. He was able to tell his
family only that he had not recog-
nized the men.
Stepfather Almost Hit.
Marshall Jones, stepfather OF the
mayor, was sitting in the dining
room in the rear of the house and mar
rowly escaped being struck by the
fourth bullet, which went wild and
buried itself in the leg of a table.
After shooting Adams, the men
fired shot into the air, presumably
signal to companions waiting in an
automobile parked a block up the
street, ran to the machine, whicn had
been left with engine running, and
were driven out of town.
A small group of men were standing
in the vicinity of the Adams home.
but their testimony to States Attor.
ney Martin and Sheriff James 5
Pritchard revealed few clues. None
was able to catch the license number
of the automobile, and the only. unanr
nous opinion of the group. was tina
the automobile was a closed one.
The gunner were roughly dresse1!
and had their coats turned up and
their caps pulled down.
Buckner. a town west of here. re-
ported seeing machine thought to
contain the gunmen pass through
there but further trace of the ma
chine was lost.
Two southern Illinois mayors have
met violent deaths within the last two
months at the hands of gangsters.
Jeff Stone, civic head of Colp,
small town. fell dead from machine
gun fire on the main street on the
night of November 6, after he was
lured. with Police Chief John Keith.
to a resort where it was reported
there was trouble. Stones assailants
felled him as they sped by in three
automobiles which had been waiting
on side street.
Keith was shot in the hand as he
started to run away. and John Milroy,
a pugilist friend of the mayor. was
killed when he ran to his assistance.
Stones death was attributed to
enemies he had incurred in his
political activities. or to ill feeling
engendered by his killing more than
a year ago of John Freeman, former
deputy sheriff and police chief at Colp.