Annals of Platte County, Missouri - Paxton
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1895, AUG. 1040 N. WINN. John Eldridge, of Green Township. is found to be insane, and T. M. Baughman is appointed his guardian. DEATH OF NEWTON VI1N. Aug. ]6 Nevton Winn is shot in the court-room at Platte City by Watson Reed. A feud had existed between the families for many years. On a. for111er occasion. Reed had shot Winn, and the bullet was removed by the surgeons who operated on him at the second shooting. In 1893 Winn claimed 11 hogs found in his mark. and in the pen of Reed. The latter refused to give them up, and Winn replevined them in the circuit court of Clinton County, and the sheriff delivered him the hogs. The case was brought. by change of venue. to Platte,and was set for trial at the August term in 1895. There were many witnesses, and trouble was anticipated. The evidence was through, and the attorneys were addressing the jury. Col. Cross, attorney for Reed, was criticising the testimony of a son of Winn, and used about these words: I have sons at home, whom it has always been my ambition to bring up honest, sober, and industrious; and not for every hog in Clinton County would I have one of them to testify from signs given him by his father. Instantly, with a cry of rage, Vinn, the father. sprang forward, striking at Cross with one hand, and grabbing him by the collar with the other. The first stroke, it is thought, missed Cross. but the next struck him on the back of the head. F. M. Wilson sprang forward, with a View of parting them, when Yatt Reeds revolver sent forth, in quick succession, three ballsa fourth was stopped by a deputy sheriff. Reed held the pistol with both hands, and determination was depicted i11 his face. Winn whirled half round. clasped his abdomen. and emitted a crv of pain upon receiving the first shot. A second shot passed through Winns arm, and the third missed. The three shots left their marks on table, oor. and wall. With assistance, Vi11n went down stairs, and the trial progressed. He was operated upon by surgeons, and the wound in the abdomen pronounced mortal. After giving his statement before an officer, he died, and the next day was removed to Clinton County. The jury gave the hogs to Reed, but a motion for a new trial was filed. and taken by Judge Herndon under advisement. Reed is now imprisoned at Kansas City. - new trial of the hog vase was granted. Reeds death will he noticed. The Phoenix Mill, of Tracy, is being dismantled of machinery. Aug. 19 - Weather - A 4-inch rain, which brings the Missouri River over low bottoms. Apples sell at 65 cents per barrel at Edgerton. A. J. Colman, J. S. Brasfield, Lewis Siler, Willaim Calvert, and Thos. Davis attend the Boston Conclave of Knights Templars. Aug. 25 - The camp-meeting at Iatan, in Rev. R. W. Howerton's mammoth tent, closes, and the tent is taken to Ray County.