The Coconino sun., 1927-11-25
(Coconino Sun of Jan. %, 1887

NCOcOnlnO Oun OF Jan. u, 1881
The people of Flagstaff were horri-
fled on Tuesday morning last to hear
that during the night John n, Berry
had been shot while attempting to
quell a disturbance which occurred in
his place of busienss. The facts, as
correctly as they can be ascertained,
are as follows:
During Monday Evening a cowboy,
named William .Lannb--wfro. when he.
is sober, is said to be a very inoffen-.
sive, well behaved man-had been fill
ing up on whiskey and became noisy
and demonstrative generally. Shortly
before midnight he entered Berry's
saloon, where there was, at the time,
a considerable number of people, the
most of whom were gathered around
a monte game. Some playing and
others looking on. Lamb was noisy
and commenced singing, when George
Hawks, who was one of the lockers
on at the game ordered him to "shut
up" This infuriated Lamb, who, not
knowing who made the remark, COM
menced abusing the company gener-
ally and wanted to whip the man who
had interfered with him. He was very
abusive in his talk and used aggravat-
ing language, but after a while he
cooled down and went out of doors. At
this time Mr.. Berry was playing a
game of whist with three other geR-
tlemen in the back part of the saloon
and took no part in the disturbance.
About half past one o'clock Lamb
returned to the saloon still very noisy
and continued the row where he left
off, when a young brother, William
Hawks, handed George a revolver,
making a remark-so it is alleged by
some who were present-that if
George didn't whip Lamb he would
give it to him. At this time Lamb
was walking down the floor of the
saloon towards the front door and the
Hawks boys behind him, when George
Hawks stepped up and struck him two
or three blows on the head with the
pistol. In a moment there was gen
eral confusion and George Hawks ap-
peared to be making a break for the
door when young man known as the
California Kid ran up behind him and
pinioned his arms. Hawks still hold
ing the revolver in front of him, both
hands.
When the blows were struck Mr.
Berry was standing at the end of the
counter near the door talking to a
gentleman and the barkeeper. He i'm
mediately ran to the scene of the tu-
mutt and evidently endeavored to
wrest the revolver from Hawks, who
was by this time in the grip Of the
man who had pinned him from be-
hind. Exactly what happened then
will never be known. A pistol shot
was heard and Berry cried out.
Everybody's attention was turned to
the wounded man and in the confusion
Hawks left the saloon and was seen
with his brother to run down the
street.
Drs. Brannen and Cornish were at
once in attendance and found that the
ball had entered Immediately under
the ribs about three inches above and
little to the right of the umbilicus,
coming out about two inches from the
spine. Mr.. Berry fingered all day in
great agony and died about 6:30
O'Clock in the evening.
After Mr.. Berry's death took place,
the two Hawks boys, who had been
!. under surveillance of the constables,
were locked up in Jail. As the jail
here is not a very safe building, q
prisoner having recently escaped from
it. it was determined to appoint
guards to watch on the outside dur
ing the night; two men to go on duty
every two hours. Between the hours
of II and o'clock, j. Y. Crothers
and William West were on duty. AS