Seward, Ray Henry

age 28, died. BULLET IS FATAL TO PICHER MINER; SLAYER ARRESTED. Ray Seward, a hard rock lead and zinc miner in the Picher District, was dead tonight and Riley E. Whitman, age 38, also a miner, was a county prisoner as a result of what Whitman asserted was an accidental shooting in his room at a boarding house operated by Mrs. Nettie Harris, 216 So. Vantage St., Picher. Seward and Whitman were alone in the room at the time and no other persons were in the house, so far as could be learned. Whitman, following his arrest, said he and Seward were preparing to go to a dance and that he opened his trunk to get a shirt. He had a .32 caliber automatic pistol in the trunk and Seward asked to examine it, Whitman said. In handing the weapon to Seward, Whitman told officers he took the magazine from the gun and placed it on a dresser. He said Seward placed the magazine back in the pistol without his knowledge and that he, in fooling with the gun after Seward gave it back to him accidentally discharged it. The bullet entered Seward's body near the heart. He died within 15 minutes. Whitman told officers he and Seward were good friends, their acquaintanceship dating from last Christmas. Throughout questioning by officers, he maintained he had taken the magazine from the weapon and that Seward had placed it back in the gun without his knowledge. He said he was demonstrating a scabbard for the pistol to Seward when the shot was fired. An ambulance to take Seward to the hospital was called by Orville and Lee Barnes, brothers, who were passing the house shortley after the shooting. Whitman said he hailed the two youths and asked them to go for a doctor. Seward was dead when the ambulance arrived and he was taken to the Green Undertaking Co. Whitman told officers he had plenty of time to make his getaway if he had wanted to flee, but said he wasn't guilty of any crime and didn't want to run away. He was arrested by Patrolman George Norton at the room house and taken to the city jail. Sheriff E. E. Simpson was called and he transferred Whitman to the county jail. Seward had been employed as a shoveler at the Rialto mine. He was married and lived at the Paul Clark boarding house, 208 So. Netta St., Picher. Besides his wife, Mrs. Marie Seward, he leaves his father, William Seward of Galena, his mother, two brothers and one sister. His father and mother are separated. Funeral arrangements have not been made. Whitman has been working as a shoveler at the No. 8 mine of the Anna Beaver Mines Company. He said he had been living in Picher for three months, coming from Cardin, Oklahoma. His home is 13 miles SW of Neosho, Missouri, where his father, Samuel Whitman, operates a farm. After the shot was fired, Whitman said he got a towel and some water and bathed Seward. The latter's wife reached the scene shortly afterward. Her husband was unconscious then. Officers said Whitman would be held for investigation.

The funeral of Ray Seward, 208 South Netta St., Picher Oklahoma, who was killed Saturday night, Jul 16, 1927, when shot by R. E. Whitman at the latter's home, 216 So. Vantage St., Picher. Will be held at the Green Undertaking company Jul 19, 1927. Burial will be in the G.A.R. Cemetery, Miami Oklahoma. Seward was an ex-service man. Military services will be conducted at the grave by the American Legion. Note: Riley E. Whitman was tried. The verdict was accidental death, and Whitman released.