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Murder of Amy Manaugh

Privacy Level: Open (White)
Date: 10 Nov 1906
Location: Oklahoma Territorymap
Surnames/tags: Manaugh Swalley Feller
This page has been accessed 163 times.

Contents

Newspaper Articles on the Murder of Amy Manaugh

Brings Keen Anguish To Two Homes

(Published on 16 Nov 1906 in the Yukon Sun,[1] in Yukon, Canadian County, Oklahoma Territory)

The citizens of Yukon were horrified last Saturday by the news that John Swalley, living at Tuttle had shot and killed his wife, who was suing him for a divorce, and then turned the weapon upon himself and committed suicide. Relatives and friends went to Tuttle and the bodies were brought to Canadian County for burial. This terrible tragedy has brought sorrow and gloom to two homes and the hearts of a host of friends beat in sympathetic unison with them in this dark hour.


John H. Swalley was born in Pike county, Mo., and was 31 years, 9 months, and 7 days old at time of his death. He came to Oklahoma with his parents in 1884 before the opening. He has lived in various parts of Oklahoma and Indian Territory but most of the time in the Chickasaw near where Tuttle now is.

The funeral services were held on Sunday afternoon at the home of his parents in Yukon, the services being conducted by Rev. Conkright of the Baptist church. The funeral was attended by a number of people whose sincere sympathy goes out to the parents in this time of trouble and sorrow.


Amy Manaugh was born in Richland county, Ill., on February 11, 1878. In 1876 (1896) she was married to John Fellows and to that union there was born one child, a little girl now 8 years old. – In 1902 she married John Swalley and moved to Broken Arrow, I. T. (Indian Territory) While there she united with the Christian church and was a member in good standing at the time of her death. Besides her little daughter, she leaves her father and mother, two brothers and one sister, to mourn her untimely death.

She was buried in the Mustang cemetery last Sunday, the funeral services being conducted by Rev. Peter J. Marsilje. The sympathy of all their friends is freely extended to the grief stricken parents in this hour of deep sorrow.


Card of Thanks.

To the many friends and neighbors of Mustang who so kindly assisted us in our sad bereavement we wish to express our thanks.
Mr. and Mrs. W. P. Manaugh


Attorney Burns, who was Mrs. Swalley's counsel, was also shot but he was not seriously injured. He was taken to his home in Chickasha.


Awful Tragedy

(Published on 16 Nov 1906 in the The Tuttle Times,[2] Tuttle, Grady County, Oklahoma Territory, page 1)

Our little city was on Saturday the scene of one of the bloodiest tragedies that has been committed in the Indian Territory and cost two lives and came very near being the end of another.

John Swalley, who has lived in our city for several months, and who has been engaged in farming near the city, shot his wife, Mrs. Emma (sic) Swalley, from whom he had been separated for some time, killing her almost instantly, and seriously wounding her attorney, Mr. Robert Burns, of Chickasha, then turning the gun upon his own self, and viewing the gruesome work already done, blew his own brains out.

The story of the killing and suicide is a dismal affair, indeed, and one that will never be forgotten by those who were in the city on that day.

Several weeks ago Mrs. S. sued her husband for a divorce, alleging among other things, incompatibility of temper. She employed Mr. Burns to represent her in the courts and had come to Tuttle for the purpose of getting ready for the case, she having left Tuttle at the time of her separation from her husband and was residing at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Manaugh, of near Yukon, Okla., who has her little girl age about eight years.

Mr. Burns had just entered his office after having been out on the streets for some purpose and found Mr. and Mrs. Swally (sic) in his office upon entering it. He observed at once that the two had been having some words and at once took a chair at his desk and began to look over some papers and otherwise to kill time until the parties could come to some conclusion, when to his horror and consternation he heard Swalley say, "I will settle this right here and now," and heard almost at the same instant the click of a revolver and turning his head in the direction of Swally saw him bring the pistol around to a level with his head and fire the gun, at the instant and almost quicker than thot Burns dodged to the left with his face and at the same time threw up his left hand and attempted to rise from his chair only in time to save himself from being shot through the head and perhaps, instantly killed. The ball from the gun passed thru the wrist of his left arm and thru the right side of his face near the corner of his mouth and reached the point of his right shoulder going thru the fleshy part of the shoulder and inflicting some very painful, but not fatal wounds. As it was, the blow to his hand, face and shoulder knocked Burns out of his chair and he fell with his face away from Swally and the rare presence of mind exhibited by Mr. Burns in keeping quiet after being shot is all that, in the minds of many, kept Swally from shooting him again, he evidently thinking that he had killed Burns the first shot.

After shooting Mr. Burns, Swally then turned his attention to his wife and fired, it is thot that he shot at her three times before the fatal shot was fired. he evidently, after shooting his wife placed her in the chair from which she had risen when engaging in the struggle with him for her life-

After dealing the death shot on his wife, Swally evidently went to the door leading into the bank form the office of Mr. Burns, and looked for Mr. Green, the cashier of the bank, who he had told others that he intended to "settle" with, along with Jimmy Campbell, and finding that these gentlemen were not in the bank at the time, turned the weapon upon himself and sent a bullet crashing into his own brain.

At the report of the first shot Marshal Forsythe and Jimmy Campbell both ran to the bank and Jimmy being the swifter to unhorse than Forsythe, was the first to enter the bank and ran direct to the office of Attorney Burns where, from intuition he knew the shots had rang out from, and on entering the office found the horrifying sight as is here depicted. Mr. Swally was just falling from the chair in which she had been deposited and he was just in time to save her from falling onto the floor.

Kind hearts and willing hands were at once enlisted and did all that human hands could do for both the deceased, but all to no avail and in the afternoon both were dead and their friends were notified at once of the awful affair.

Attorney Burns was attended by medical aid and sympathizing friends and his friends and family notified at Chickasha, who came up on the afternoon train and accompanied him to his home.

The remains of Mr. and Mrs. Swally were taken in charge by Undertaker Morris and prepared for internment and were shipped on Sunday morning, to Yukon and Mustang respectively where they were layed to rest to await the day when all men will be required to stand before the judgement bar of their Creator and answer for the deeds done while in this life.

At last accounts, Mr. Burns was getting along nicely and, altho quite sore, no serious complications had arisen.

Thus Tuttle's history has been bathed in the blood of its first, and we hope its last, tragedy.


Man Kills His Wife

(Published on 15 Nov 1906 in the the Chickasaw Capital,[3] Tishomingo, Johnston County, Indian Territory, page 1)

Chickasha, I. T., Nov 12. – The little town of Tuttle, eighteen miles northeast of here, was the scene of a tragedy this morning, in which John Smalley (sic) shot and killed his wife, attempted to kill Robert Burns, an attorney of this city, and then committed suicide. The trouble arose over a divorce case between Smalley and his wife, in which Mr. Burns was an attorney.

Burns was in the bank at Tuttle when Smalley entered and began to shoot, three shots being fired, one inflicting a wound on the attorney's shoulder and another shattering his hand.

Smalley left the bank at once and went home, where he shot his wife and turned the weapon on himself.


Editorial Decisions

The first article, "Brings Keen Anguish To Two Homes," was chosen because it is not only a news report, but also an obituary column with family connections detailed.

The second article, "Awful Tragedy," was chosen because it gives more specific details of the crime. However, note that Amy's name is wrongly given as Emma.

The third article, "Man Kills His Wife," was chosen because it demonstrates the inaccuracies that creep into journalism. And it does not even mention Amy's name!

Sources

  1. Woods, Judd. The Yukon Sun newspaper, (Yukon, Okla.), Vol. 14, No. 46, Ed. 1 Friday, November 16, 1906, page 1; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc126220/: accessed February 23, 2023), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.
  2. Awful Tragedy Takes Place in the City of Tuttle Last Saturday; The Tuttle Times, Tuttle, Oklahoma, Friday, 16 Nov 1906, page 1, found on Newspapers.com
  3. Man Kills His Wife; Chickasaw Capital, Tishomingo, Indian Territory, Thursday, 15 Nov 1906, page 1, found on The Gateway to Oklahoma History

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