Elliott, Dewey "Tobe"

25 years old, a hard rock lead and zinc miner living at Hockerville Oklahoma, died early Monday morning at Miami Baptist hospital from a wound inflicted by Justice of the Peace T. F. Wilburn. Wilburn shot Elliott in the left side, slightly below the heart. The shooting is said to have followed an attack which the younger man made on the justice, who is 72 years old. Elliott, better known as "Tobe," had been arrested by a Hockerville sheriff, for drunkenness and possession of liquor, and taken into Justice Wilburn's courtroom. The trouble took place after the officer had left to answer another call. A bottle of liquor, found in Elliott's possession, had been placed on Justice Wilburn's desk, and Wilburn was making out a commitment to send the prisoner to the county jail, it was said. Elliott made an attempt to get the liquor, which was being held for evidence. When Wilburn refused to let Elliott have the whisky, the younger man attacked the justice and overpowered him, obtaining the bottle and broke it. Elliott then continued his attack upon the justice, beating him severely, it was said. Wilburn then drew a gun and fired, according to the story told county authorities. Justice Wilburn said it was in self defense that he shot the man. "After he struck me twice, I realized he was going to get the best of me," Wilburn said Monday, "So I drew my gun and fired at Elliott." Wilburn appeared at the office of A. L. Commons, county attorney, Monday morning and gave himself up. He was not taken into custody, though it is believed that he will have to stand trial. Elliott was brought to the hospital immediately following the shooting in an ambulance called from the Todd undertaking company of Picher Oklahoma. Elliott leaves a widow and a 2 year old son, Buddy Eugene Elliott. Funeral arrangements have not been made. The body is at the Todd undertaking company.

Funeral services for Dewey Elliott, 25 years old, who died Dec 14, 1924, age 25, when fatally shot by T. F. Wilburn, local justice of the peace, will be held at the family home tomorrow afternoon at 2. Burial Dec 22, 1924, will be in the Hillcrest cemetery at Galena Kansas under the direction of the Todd undertaking company.

T. F. Wilburn of Hockerville Oklahoma, 72 year old white-haired justice of the peace, was bound over to district court to answer to a charge of murder by Justice Grover C. Hanna, examining magistrate, late Tuesday afternoon following a preliminary hearing that was featured by an eloquent appeal of A. W. Turner, a boyhood friend of Wilburn. Following the final argument of the defense and preceding the final state plea. Turner obtained the floor and delivered an appeal for the aged justice that bordered on the picturesque. The speaker told of meeting Wilburn in 1894 at a Mississippi river steamboat landing in Kentucky. At the time Turner was a youthful steamboat captain. Turner eulogized the life of Wilburn, whom he termed his "lifetime friend," and pleaded with the court to dismiss the charge. "He shot in self-defense," the speaker reiterated. Turner was not a member of the defense counsel. Wilburn is charged with murder in connection with the death of Dewey "Tobe" Elliott, whom he shot and fatally wounded following an altercation in the justice's office at Hockerville the afternoon of Dec 14. The action of Justice Hanna in holding Wilburn to district court came as a surprise to court attaches. The defendant was allowed to stand on his present bond of $2,500. Carl Eubanks, 16 years old, Hockerville, who said he was a friend of Elliott's was the first witness called by the state Tuesday afternoon. The youth testified he was an eye witness of the shooting and said that Wilburn knocked Elliott down after the latter had obtained and broken the bottle of whisky. The aged justice then drew a gun on Elliott, according to the witness, and said: "I've got a notion to blow your d--n brains out." Eubanks said the next thing he knew Wilburn fired and Elliott sank to the floor. Willard Lay, Picher, also a miner, also a state witness, testified that Elliott seized the bottle of liquor after he arose from his seat and asked a friend for a cigarette. "I shot to defend myself," Wilburn testified when his counsel, A. Clark of Picher and N. C. Barry of Miami, placed him on the stand. "When Elliott obtained the whisky, I told him to leave it alone," the aged justice testified. "I grappled with him and Elliott attacked me. I told him to stop, but he continued the attack. It was then that I drew the gun from my hip pocket and fired. I shot to defend myself. I was exhausted and could not protect myself." Wilburn has been crippled with rheumatism for five years, testimony brought out. The aged justice sat with bowed head and wept openly during the closing arguments of the attorneys. The shooting took place after Elliott, who had been arrested for possession of liquor, seized a quart bottle of whisky, which had been taken from him to be held as evidence and broke it upon Justice Wilburn's desk. Note: See Wilburn for more information.