THE EARLY LEAD | A chance encounter spurs an appreciation, deep dive into the archives

By BRANDON HURLEY    
MANAGING EDITOR
News@beeherald.com

A thrilling perk to my role as editor is the occasional odd and interesting story ideas that through our doors at the Jefferson Bee and Herald office.

My most recent encounter was relatively captivating.

Mary Book, who now lives in Bella Vista, Arkansas but grew up in Jefferson with 12 other Beck siblings (her maiden name) popped into our office last week.
I assumed she was in search of a typical news story about a long-ago family member, maybe someone who’d been in an accident or one who was honored for a cool volunteer project.
I wasn’t expecting anything exciting.

Though I couldn’t provide her with any physical copies in relation to the person she was searching for, we did strike up an interesting conversation. An ancient relative of hers, either a great, great uncle or a distant cousin named William “Billy” Shipley was shot and killed 100 years ago outside of Beaver, as a result of a rather interesting scuffle.
All things considered, it’s a fairly insignificant story a full century later, though it is a true testament to the power of newspapers and physical documentation. I was immediately intrigued.
Book proceeded to show me a picture of Shipley and several news articles she had found on the situation.  

What tickled me most besides my immediate infatuation with a local murder, was how without area newspapers meticulously covering the shooting, reporting the details and announcing the trial verdict, Book and her family likely would only have known of Shipley’s death via rumors passed down through several generations. They’d have ultimately come to their own conclusions of how a long-ago family member passed, never quite sure how exactly he died. But, thanks to the dutiful reporting of local scribes in the Jefferson Bee and the Grand Junction Globe Free Press, the story of Shipley’s death and the surrounding trial are forever cemented in Greene County history.
In fact, Book told me she had only heard of the shooting just a few days prior, and wasn’t even aware of the 100th anniversary until I made mention of it. Shipley was shot on Jan. 3, 1923, merely a full century ago, almost to the day.

She was disappointed to learn we don’t have an extensive physical archive (our storage only dates back one year) as I was also dejected to inform her, though several stories depicting vivid details of a scuffle between Shipley, who lived in nearby by Beaver, and another man are easily accessible via our online digital archives.
Here’s what I found following Book’s exciting visit last week.

A shooting in Beaver

A headline in the Thursday, Jan. 11, 1923 issue of the Grand Junction Globe simply reads “Will Shipley killed at Beaver Monday.” The news reporters didn’t mince words, either, as the ensuing subhead quickly pinpoints the suspect “Shot by ‘Hook’ Lawson in quarrel.”

The tale of Shipley’s death is a strange one, if not fairly unusual. The one-sided shootout actually arose from a festering feud between Henry “Hook” Lawson and Shipley’s father, Tom six years prior in 1917 before William eventually got involved.

Lawson wanted Tom arrested for an unknown reason or another, and even made his presence known in Ogden. The elder Shipley was well-respected in said community, and law enforcement essentially ignored Lawson’s claims. Despite his father remaining a free man, and Lawson departing to serve in the military for a few years, the bad blood continued to fester, even upon his return. Witnesses saw William Shipley, age 21, trespassing on Lawson’s land a few months later, climbing a fence and picking fruit from Lawson’s apple trees.

This clearly incensed Hook Lawson, kick-starting his anger again until the fateful day in the winter of 1923.
Witnesses claim Lawson was headed to a friend’s home, which required him to bypass Shipley’s land, but suspiciously took a .22 riffle with him. Several news reports say Lawson claimed he wandered onto the Shipley farmland and began hunting rabbits.

As the day of Jan. 3 dragged on, William, who was driving a truck load of hay, spotted Lawson in a ditch attempting to dislodge a dead rabbit. This clearly incensed Shipley, who proceeded to stop and confront his enemy. That’s when things began to get out of hand. Lawson and some news reports say Shipley came after him with a pitch fork, attempting to swing at Lawson and claiming he was “committing petty thievery” on the Shipley’s land, according to the Jefferson Bee.

Out of self-defense, Lawson told reporters, he struck Shipley in the right eye with his riffle.

The rest of the scuffle is rather blurry, with Lawson saying the gun “accidentally” discharged upon impact with Shipley’s head, though he said he was unaware a shot was fired until a doctor looked over Shipley. Lawson said he saw blood dripping from Shipley’s head, though he did not fall to the ground. This sent Lawson on a search for help, as he found Fred Hartens and Mr. Wise, asking them to come to the scene of the scuffle. Shipley had fallen into the roadside ditch by the time of the trio’s return, and as reported by county attorney Walter Canaday, a finger was in his mouth and his jaw was locked - by all indications he was all but deceased. He was immediately transported to the
Boone County Eleanor Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead at 8:20 p.m.

Lawson was apparently remorseful, turning himself in to “Constable Piper” in Ogden and promptly placed in the county jail in Boone. The case was taken to trial, where Lawson was eventually acquitted.
News of the trial was buried in the middle of the front page of the March 28, 1923 issue of the Jefferson Bee, simply stating “Lawson acquitted.” The jury concluded that Lawson was in fact operating out of self-defense while they also claimed the reaction was reasonable because of PTSD from Lawson’s military service in France. They said he dealt with “shell shock” when he was a soldier and suffered from “transitory mania.”
The Bee’s editor at the time inserted his or her own opinion into the story, saying because there were no living witnesses other than Lawson himself, the courts had to go with Lawson’s story. But, the Bee did not agree with the final verdict of acquittal. They didn’t feel Lawson was completely innocent in the entire ordeal, mentioning how he was allegedly hunting on Shipley’s land, without his permission.

“The Bee is of the impression there was enough evidence to have warranted a verdict of manslaughter,” the story read. “Lawson, knowing there was enmity between him and Shipley, was at fault that he ever took a goon and went hunting in the Shipley’s locality.”

The Bee referenced evidence of footprints believed to belong to Lawso where he had walked a significant portion of Shipley’s farm.

“We repeat every righteous and honorable man can always give an account of himself,” the writer continued.

They felt Lawson, if he meant no ill harm, would have not hunted on an “enemy’s land” with a good chance of encountering said person while he was armed. The Bee continued to blast the jury, claiming incompetence, pulling absolutely no punches.

“The trouble with too many juries is they cannot bring the dead back to life by punishing a man,” the story said. “They forget the very necessary example that should be brought out of the matter for the benefit of other gun toters.”

The Bee editor felt a lesson should have been made of Lawson’s apparent carelessness and disregard for respect and safety, saying men should, on occasion, “receive some degree of punishment, regardless of so-called ‘facts,’ particularly where there are no witnesses but the survivor.”
The Bee editor clearly believed Shipley was murdered, and died undeservedly, unafraid to go to bat.

What this long-winded column is trying to accomplish is how newspapers have been an important piece of community for hundreds of years, and the Jefferson Bee and Herald continues that legacy. Without our dedication to report the news and share the truth, families across the state might be in the dark on some of their most important details. Most touching of all, after our brief but pleasant discussion with Book, she decided to purchase a subscription and get the paper delivered to her Arkansas home.

Journalism serves one main purpose, and that’s to inform the people, to tell the correct stories. That’s what we’ve always done, and I promise to keep pushing forward with that mantra.

Thanks for stopping by, Mary.