‘I’ll Love You ‘Til The Day I Die’
In little more than a whisper, she asked, “do you really love me?” “Of course, of course, I love you. “I’ll love you till the day I die.” George’s words were so very true, but the young lovers had no way of knowing that the day George’s love would come to an end would arrive so soon.
Mabel was only fifteen years old when she and George began keeping time with one another. George was three years Mabel’s senior but that didn’t matter to either as they soon fell in the deepest of love. Mabel hoped the love would lead to marriage, but George thought the two were far too young to give thoughts like that serious consideration.
The young boy and girl had been seeing each other for three years and recently Mabel had given birth to a baby fathered by George. Mabel wanted George for her husband, but the baby’s father wasn’t sure. He knew that he and Mabel had a lot of growing to do and asked Mabel to be patient, to wait just a while longer.
George knew very well that Mabel’s father, Andrew McGhee, was known by all to be a harsh man, and George knew that the warning was spoken with serious words: “Marry my daughter or stay away from her. If I see you with her again, I’ll kill you.” But George was only twenty-three years old, knew little of life and that inescapable burning heat of love within him shaped his actions more than any threat. He could not, and would not, give her up.
George Oyler and Mabel McGehee lived in the small rural Southwest Missouri town of Southwest City. The town was home to less than two-thousand hard-working folks who found the slow pace of life in the Ozarks to their liking.
Most of the people in the area made a living working in small stores in and around Main Street or tending the crops in their fields. Not much of anything special ever occurred in Southwest City, but the romance between George and Mabel would bring tragedy and death to the small town.
The night of Sunday, May 19th, in the year 1907 was a warm half-mooned one, unseasonably warm some said. Spring was certainly in bloom and there was great optimism as the seeds were spread in the outlying fields.
That night was much like any other in the quiet town. The shopkeepers had locked their doors and the farmers and their families fell into their beds early, as morning on the farms came all too soon. It seemed as though all had fallen asleep, that was all but George and Mabel.
Thinking all in the house but she were fast asleep at that late hour, Mabel brushed her hair, dabbed a drop of lilac water behind each ear, and slipped into her flowered spring dress. With nary a sound or movement of air, the young woman left the quiet house and ran into the darkened night, that dark night where George was waiting for her.
The two young lovers met at the railroad station. Hand in hand they walked alongside those tracks as a soft warm springtime breeze brushed up against them. George told Mabel she was the most beautiful girl he ever saw, and the moon rises in her eyes. Young girls love to hear those softly whispered words of love and Mabel was so very young. Mabel’s lover said he would love her until he died, and so he did.
Andrew McGhee was not to be fooled and he was determined to prove to George Oyler that he was not a man to be trifled with. Determined to end this flawed romance once and for all, he gathered up his best and most trusted shotgun, the same firearm that had many times before sent nagging crows to meet their maker, and from a distance followed his daughter.
Andrew silently followed the couple as they walked near the railroad tracks. Never allowing the couple to stray from sight, his temper began to consume him as he thought of the couple’s long relationship and the fatherless child now in his home.
McGehee walked quickly to a growth of bushes along the couple’s intended path then stepped out and into plain sight of George. The two men exchanged some coarse words, then Andrew reminded George of his warning against seeing Mabel. Several seconds passed, and those seconds would later prove to be crucial elements of the shooting before Andrew aimed the shotgun at Oyler and pulled the trigger. McGehee’s aim was true, and the mortally wounded George fell to the ground. Unsure if the wound killed George, McGehee then used the butt of the shotgun to strike the young man in the head.
Andrew surrendered to McDonald County Sheriff Tom Carnell, who promptly placed the arrested McGehee in a jail cell. McGehee contacted attorneys J.A. Sturges and George R. Clay and requested that both act as his defense attorneys in the matter. The two ultimately agreed to represent him for a fee of $500 each.
The trial was held in the Pineville courthouse, and it was well attended. Most had little doubt that McGehee would be convicted as he had on several occasions admitted to shooting and killing Oyler. And, of course, there was one witness, Mabel McGehee. However, after deliberating for some time, the jury’s foreman announced that a decision could not be reached. Therefore, a mistrial was declared.
The three prosecuting attorneys, J.S. Long, O.R. Puckett and J.W. Walker were determined to see justice served, so a second trial was scheduled. All three were certain that this trial would result in the conviction of McGehee.
McGehee claimed that Oyler filled his hand with a pistol, a revolver. It was then, and only then, that McGehee pulled the shotgun’s trigger, sending the deadly pellets into George Oyler’s body. During her testimony at the first trial, Mabel swore under oath that George did have a pistol but the revolver never left his pants pocket.
The second trial began, and things were going well for the state but then Mabel took the stand. She reiterated that George’s .28 caliber revolver remained in his pocket and at no time did he threaten her father. This was important as the location of the gun during those few seconds prior to the shooting was so crucial. It was then that defense attorney Clay produced a letter and entered it into evidence.
The letter was written by Mabel McGehee and sent to her friend, Esther Stucker. In the letter, Mabel wrote that George not only had the pistol, but it was indeed in his hand when he was shot and killed. Mabel admitted that she lied and perjured herself when testifying in the first trial. Clay produced two more letters written to Stucker in which Mabel stated she wanted her father to pay for what he did and spend the rest of his life in prison.
The jury, consisting of
L.L. Woolard, Joe Brock, J.L. Dobbs and others came to a decision on the fourth ballot. The first three ballots saw two of the twelve jurors voting for a conviction but on the fourth and final ballot, all twelve members of the jury voted the same: not guilty.
Just as it always has a way of doing and after the killing of George and the two ensuing trials, life continued. The Oyler family grieved the loss of George and the McGehee family moved in with Andrew’s mother. That is, all save one, Mabel.
The feelings, the love for her father that once lived in Mabel’s heart died when those shotgun pellets tore through the body of her dearest love. While seated in the witness chair and under oath, Mabel admitted lying about the presence of the .28 caliber pistol in George’s hand. Mabel had not the desire to see her father go unpunished for her lover’s death.
For the longest time, the love that Mabel had for George smoldered deep within her and the tragedy that was his death remained a dark memory. The town she knew so very well and its people held such terrible memories, so Mabel left Southwest City. She eventually found a new suitor, accepted him as her husband and the couple started a life together in Tulsa, Okla.
Andrew “Andy” McGehee, the man who had been acquitted in the death of George Oyler, died of pneumonia in the year 1918.
— Stan Fine is a retired police officer and Verizon Security Department investigator who, after retiring in 2006, moved from Tampa, Fla., to Noel. Stan’s connection to Noel can be traced back to his grandparents who lived most of their lives there. Stan began writing after the passing of his wife Robin in 2013. Opinions expressed are those of the author.