The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1949-03-04
Man Shot
Times
In GunFight
Coulter Mon Opens
Fire On Sheriff In
Bottle On Fill

0ottAS III Ill
A furious gunbattle on the fill
between Pascagoula and Gautiel
shortly before noon Thursday
sent j. T. Hamilton of Gautiel
to the Jackson County hospita.
in a critical condition from five
bullet wounds and left Sheriff ]
Guy Krebs and Deputy Leo Byrc
with six bullet holes in their cal
to testify to their narrow escape
The exchange of gunfire fol
lowed a report Thursday morn.
ing that Hamilton, a maintenance
electrician at the ingalls, Ship.
yard, had a gun and was threat.
ening to "kill somebody. Sher.
iff Krebs and Deputy Byrd start
ed to drive to Gautier to "take
the gun away from him." the
sheriff said, when they saw him
walking on the fill coming to-
ward Pascagoula.
I'VE drove past, turned around
and stopped about ten feet be-
hind him." the sheriff related,
land l got out and said, Hey
fellow, where're you going?' He
whirled around, grabbed his gun
from his belt and yelled Stick
'em up and started shooting"
The officers leaped behind their
a while Hamilton shot five
times as fast as he could pull the
trigger. Then he crouched down
and reloaded.
Il never saw a man reload a
revolver SO fast in my life" Sher-
iff Krebs said. "We hadn't shot
at him but when he came up with
that revolver again we started
firing"
First one of the officers would
shoot and when Hamilton would
swing his gun in that direction
the man on the opposite side
would shoot. Five bullets had
struck the man, three in the
chest and two in the abdomen,
at a distance of about 10 feet, be-
fore he fell.
Berserk
With no other reason to ex-
plain the gunplay, officers ex-
pressed the belief that the man
went berserk. Members of his
family said he had not behaved
normally for the past few days,
Mr.. Krebs said.
Hamilton owned his home just
off the highway the West side
of Gautier where he lived with
his wife and child. He had worked
for several years at ingalls, as (;
guard and with the electricians
but was laid off some time ago.
However, he had been rehired
about two months ago as a main
tenance electrician. He was cas-
ly remembered because of his
size, being about six feet, two
inches tall and weighing about
$50 pounds.
According to Charles Guynn,
under whom he worked at the
yard, Hamilton had been on a
medical lay-off since February
Is when he had left the job with
a severe case of laryngitis. Mr..
Guynn said Hamilton was a
steady worker and appeared to
be a family man. He had built
his home himself.
The shooting was done with a
38 revolver with a nickle plated
short barrel. He was supplied
with a quantity of ammunition,
Sheriff Krebs said.
When he fell. the gun fell I'M
der his body.
AiANtO was OilC OullCt tClI III
his gun,' Sheriff Krebs said, land
l was all out of shells but when
Cecil Byrd Estate highway pa
trolman) answered our radio call
for an ambulance and help we
went over and Tipped the gun
from beneath him."
Still conscious despite the five
serious wounds. Hamilton brag-
ged at the hospital that he was
a better shot than the sheriff"
ut doesn't look like it, Ham
the attending physician
said.
"Oh, WELL" Hamilton answered
''There'll be another time"