Trammel Trace Tribune - April 15, 2004 edition
TRAGEDY AT TATUM
The Times Clarion newspaper of
Longview
October 3, 1907 edition
Late Saturday afternoon Sheriff Stone was notified by telephone that W.T.
Hemby, cashier of the State Bank at Tatum, had been killed by Sam Helveston,
a young man of that place.
Mr. Stone, in company with County Attorney Strong and DeWitt Oliver, left
immediately for the scene of the trouble. While en route to Tatum, the party
met Deputy Sheriff Holtzclaw with Helveston coming to Henderson. Mr. Green
took charge of the prisoner and returned to the city.
Sheriff Stone and others went on to Tatum where they found a bad state of
affairs existing between two factions composed of the leading citizens of
that little city.
Sheriff Stone and party remained in Tatum all day Sunday and when they left
there, a high state of feeling still existed.
This shooting seems to have been the result of an old feud with was renewed
early Saturday afternoon in a difficulty between two of the leading
businessmen and during this skirmish a gun play was made, but cooler heads
succeeded in quieting things for the time being.
Mr. Hemby was not in town at the time of the first trouble, but when he
returned home he and Helveston met in front of McNaughton's store and during
a friendly conversation, the difficulty in the early afternoon was
mentioned. One word brought on another when the lie was finally passed. At
this juncture, bystanders separated the men.
Hemby and Helveston then left each other, going in opposite directions. When
Helveston reached the Reynolds Hotel, he entered and came out with a
double-barrel shotgun and met Hemby advancing toward the hotel with a rifle.
Robert Kuykendall happened to be standing between the two men and tried to
prevent Helveston from shooting and during the scuffle Helveston fired one
barrel of his gun, the load tearing off the brim of Kuykendall's hat and
entered and tore away the top of Hemby's head.
Hemby, though mortally wounded as he was, lived until Sunday afternoon when
he died at 4:35 o'clock. The shooting took place about 7 o'clock.
Immediately after the shooting Helveston surrendered to Mr. Holtzclaw. Mr.
Watson, a druggist at Tatum, was accidentally shot, receiving a wound in the
face and side from stray bullets. Mr. Watson, however, is not seriously
wounded.
NOTE:
W.T. Hemby
10 Oct 1857 - 29 Sep 1907
Tatum Cemetery
Sam G. Helveston
1885 - 1976
Tatum Cemetery
J.E. Holtzclaw
5 Oct 1873 - 7 Aug 1939
Tatum Cemetery
Robert O. Kuykendall
30 Sep 1887 - 4 Dec 1937
Tatum Cemetery