The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1939-07-06
VINDEX MAN KILLED AS HE
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Floyd Harvey Is Slain July 4th:
William Thomas Cooper Will
Be Charged With His Murder
ARRESTED NEAR ALTAMONT

A 52-year-old Vindex coal
miner will be arraigned in Oak
land tomorrow for the Fourth of
July Staying of a fellow miner
who was eating a chicken supper
with the slayer's wife.
Neil c. Fraley, States Attor-
ney, said this morning that Will
liam Thomas Cooper would be
charged with the murder, and
that the warrant would be issued
upon the information furnished
by Sheriff J. w. Owens.
Owens said that Cooper admitted
the shooting Of Floyd Harvey, 81, in
Harvey's three-room cabin along the
railroad tracks a mile from Vindex
toward Chaffee on the Western Mary
land Railroad.
Cooper was taken into custody at
daybreak near Altamont by Sheriff
Owens, who with States Attorney
Fraley and Deputy Sheriff Clarence
Spear had trailed him to that point
and found him walking along the road
way near the home of his son.
Mr.. Fraley said he had obtained
statement from Cooper concerning the
Staying. 81 didn't mean to shoot any
one; l just meant to shoot out the
light" Fraley quoted Cooper as say
ing. A lighted lamp was on table be-
tween the couple as they were partak-
ing of chicken supper at the time of
the murder.
The shooting took place between
900 and $50 p. m. in the kitchen of
Harvey's home while Harvey and Mrs.
Cooper, Al, were dining. Cooper said
he stood outside the house watching
the couple for about fifteen minutes,
heard them in conversation and SAD
he saw them embrace several times.
He then shot once through the window
screen with a twelve-gauge shotgun,
the missiles striking Harvey in the
back of his neck and head, topping
him from his chair and killing him in
stantly. Mrs. Cooper was not touched
but the lamp was blown out and she
started to run out the door, then
stopped and hid in the darkness of the
cabin. A few minutes later she went
to a neighbor's home to give the
alarm. Hiawatha Harvey, no relation,
ran to Vindex and called Constable
Roy Sewers at Kitzmiller, who in turn
called the Sheriff's office in Oakland.
Hunts For Wife
Cooper told the sheriff that he
walked back to his home in VindeN
after the shooting, cleaned his gun,
undressed and went to bed. Later he
got up and walked to Altamont to see
if his wife had gone to the home Of
her son there He was walking back
home at 1870 a. m. when the sheriff
picked him up and brought him to the
Oakland Jail. He was not armed at the
time.
Cooper said that he and his wife had
gone to call on Harvey earlier in the
day but that Mrs. Cooper refused to
return with him at dusk 1t was then,
he said, that he went home for his
shotgun.
Deputy Sheriff Spear said neighbors
of Cooper had heard him threaten to
shoot Harvey previously and this
morning States Attorney Fraley said
that Harvey and Cooper had been in a
fight on Christmas Day, at which time
Cooper had received cut on the
cheek, and that the scar resulting from
this encounter is still visible.
Mrs. Cooper is being held pending
the completion of the investigation,
but no charges have been placed
against her.
The Coopers have three children:
David, Is; Junior, II, and Clifford, 8.
Clifford accompanied his father and
mother to the Harvey home on the 4th
but returned home with his father.
Harvey was twice married. His sec
ond wife, friends said, has been living
for several years in Ohio. Also surviv-
ing are his mother, in Ohio; three
daughters and son in Detroit; sew
eral brothers and sisters in Ohio, and
a brother, William Harvey, near Alta
mont.
Cooper will be arraigned before
Magistrate Charles F. White.