Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
The ‘dead’ surprised by reports of demise
In Little Rock newspapers published 100 years ago this week, missing people were found and supposedly dead men were found to be alive.
Let’s start with the biggest story in the bunch, which appeared on the front page of the Arkansas Gazette on Aug. 27, 1917. Man, Supposed to Be Slain, Is Found
Heavener, Okla., Aug. 27 — J.W. (“Bud”) Terry, supposed to have been murdered in this county 10 years ago and for whose “death” four men were tried and who were discharged, after one of the trio was acquitted during a second trial, has been found in Los Angeles, Cal. Terry is a patient in the county hospital in Los Angeles, according to a letter received from him today by J.W. Patton of this city. He not only denies that he is dead, but insists he never heard of his demise.
W.L. Bates, a sawmill man of this city, Will Stiles of Ratliff, Ark., Millard Vaught and Louis McKibben of Mena, Ark., were arrested in November of 1910, seven years after the skeleton, supposed to be that of Terry, was found.
The reporter muffed the time element — the skeleton was found in 1907, the men arrested in 1911. But this case contained details so tangled that it’s no wonder. It’s a murder mystery that, as best I can determine, never was solved. The one thing that’s certain is the victim definitely wasn’t Bud Terry.
As the paper reported, although this young man from Caulksville (Logan County) had vanished from a sawmill in the Oklahoma Indian Territory where he had a job, and although a skeleton found later in the woods had been positively identified as his, and although three suspects were prosecuted (in vain; they had alibis) — one of them twice — and although the second mistrial included a vivid description of the murder given by one of the suspects as well as a fourth man — Terry wasn’t dead.
He was being treated for tuberculosis in LA. He was recognized by another patient who happened to be the brother of two men from Oklahoma, who had regaled him with the sensational details of the trial. Terry quickly fired off several letters to let folks know he lived.
Because his health was so poor, Terry refused to return to Oklahoma to help the defense, and so he was coerced — arrested on what was termed “a technical charge” of murdering “John Doe.” He came, the charge was dismissed and the suspects were exonerated — although the two who had testified about watching him die got 25 years for perjury.
Terry died in 1922 and was buried at Caulksville. Revisiting the mystery in 1927, the Gazette reported that the Woodmen of the World had erected two tombstones for him, side by side, each with the same birthdate but differing years of death. Today there’s only one.
Bud Terry’s “murder” is one of 65 notorious cases included in Edwin M. Borchard’s Convicting the Innocent: Errors of Criminal Justice (Yale University Press, 1932). You can read that chapter online (bit.ly/2wr5goH).
He wasn’t the only not-dead man in that day’s Gazette:
Comes For His Son’s Body: Finds Boy Alive
Receiving an unsigned telegram saying that his son, Roy Kirk, aged 19, had been killed in an accident at Camp Pike, W.R. Kirk of Des Arc came sorrowfully to Argenta yesterday with the intention of taking his son’s body home. He went to the house at 424 Maple Street, where his son had been boarding and was almost overcome when he was greeted by his son, who had not even been injured. Roy Kirk said that he has no idea as to who sent the telegram, but he believes it was the work of some heartless practical joker. He has been working at Camp Pike for about two months. His mother has been confined to her bed at Des Arc as the result of her grief.
Above that in the Aug. 27 edition was this:
Odis Cape, 15, Is Strangely Missing
Odis Cape, aged 15, left his home Saturday night, telling his parents that he was going to a moving picture show. He has not been heard from since. His father, W.B. Cape, 1603 Orange Street, a car inspector for the Missouri Pacific railroad, notified the police last night. Mr. Cape said that his son has been working as a water boy at Camp Pike, and seemed well pleased with his work. “Saturday night,” said Mr. Cape, “Roy came home and gave his mother all his money with the exception of 75 cents, saying that he was going to a moving picture show. That was the last we have heard of him. He had never expressed any desire to leave home and we feel sure that he has met with foul play.”
He was still listed as missing in the Gazette Aug. 28, but on Aug. 29 the Arkansas Democrat reported he was OK:
He said that he had gone for an auto ride and could not return home when the car broke down. By the way, Odis made the paper once before, when he was 10. He and another “lad” were playing with an air rifle that “in some manner” discharged, wounding him above his right eye.
Also in the Aug. 27 paper, two little farmer boys in the woods near Hot Springs had found the body of a long-missing visitor to the city from Nebraska. I shall spare us all the vivid speculation that was published about how he’d killed himself, as well as the condition of his corpse — except to note that he was identified by the contents of his wallet, which included $100, his union card, letters from home and his naturalization papers dated 1897.
And finally …
Arrives in Time to Stop Own Funeral
Milwaukee, Wis. Aug. 27 — When Henry H. Pihl returned to the city last night after several days absence on business he found his friends and neighbors had collected funds with which to buy flowers for his funeral.
A man had been run down and killed by a train on Friday and in his pocket was the name “H.H. Piehl.” Pihl’s name was found in the city directory and inquiry proved that he had failed to return that night and the slight discrepancy in the name was made up for by the fact that certain marks on the mangled form corresponded to those of Pihl. Pihl is well known in business circles.
... Speaking of missing things … Thank you, Helpful Readers, including Sally Brune of Russellville, Heath Ward of Springdale and others, for spotting all the typos in the Aug. 21 “Final Editione” of our serial re-creation of the 1917 Page of Presidents feature.
We did salt in a few bonus boo-boos, as promised, but the one involving New Jersey was unintentional, a free-range typo — and much regretted by all the editors who overlooked it on the proofs.
But we don’t regret that you found it. Thank you for reading that goofy feature so closely these past months.