BODIES OF MAN AND FIVE CHILDREN FOUND
Believe Father Shot Children While They Slept Then Killed Self
Vernon, Texas, Dec. 29. --Death ended a bleak Christmas for J.H. Haggard, 56, a tenant farmer, and his motherless children. They were found shot to death in their poverty stricken home Sunday, and apparently they had been dead several days.
Justice of the Peace H.C. Justin held an inquest at the scene of the tragedy and indicated his verdict would be suicide in the case of the father and death by gunshot wounds for the children. Poverty was the only motive advanced for the slaying.
A note, tragic in its brevity, penciled in scrawling print and stuck to the door of the house read: "All dead. I had rather be dead. Look in cellar." It was signed J.H. Haggard.
The dead, all of whom were shot in the head, were:
J. H. Haggard, the father, 56.
Simon Haggard, 18.
John Haggard, 10.
Alta Haggard, 15.
Alma Haggard, 12.
Dorothy Haggard, 6.
Covers on the beds of the victims indicated they were killed as they slept. The two boys were on their beds in a cellar, 50 feet from the house. The elder girls were in bed in their room and the bodies of the other girl and the father in another room.
The bodies were found Sunday morning by Lewis Rivers, a Mexican youth, who lived nearby, when he went to the house to borrow a saw.
There were no traces of Christmas presents in the little house. Only the scantiest necessities of life were on hand.
Officers agreed with the theory held by the justice of the peace that Haggard shot the children and himself, but were unable to explain how the slayings could have been accomplished without any of the victims beinf awakened. There were no sign of a struggle.
The wife and mother of those killed had been dead about three years. Her brother, I.G. Church of Vernon, said he knew of no reason for the act.
KIAMICHI COUNTRY GENEALOGY SOCIETY
McCURTAIN COUNTY OBITUARIES
McCurtain Gazette
Broken Bow News
1930
Page 1
Local Newspaper
Wednesday, January 1, 1930
Contributor:
Brandon O'Rear - [email protected]
Believe Father Shot Children While They Slept Then Killed Self
Vernon, Texas, Dec. 29. --Death ended a bleak Christmas for J.H. Haggard, 56, a tenant farmer, and his motherless children. They were found shot to death in their poverty stricken home Sunday, and apparently they had been dead several days.
Justice of the Peace H.C. Justin held an inquest at the scene of the tragedy and indicated his verdict would be suicide in the case of the father and death by gunshot wounds for the children. Poverty was the only motive advanced for the slaying.
A note, tragic in its brevity, penciled in scrawling print and stuck to the door of the house read: "All dead. I had rather be dead. Look in cellar." It was signed J.H. Haggard.
The dead, all of whom were shot in the head, were:
J. H. Haggard, the father, 56.
Simon Haggard, 18.
John Haggard, 10.
Alta Haggard, 15.
Alma Haggard, 12.
Dorothy Haggard, 6.
Covers on the beds of the victims indicated they were killed as they slept. The two boys were on their beds in a cellar, 50 feet from the house. The elder girls were in bed in their room and the bodies of the other girl and the father in another room.
The bodies were found Sunday morning by Lewis Rivers, a Mexican youth, who lived nearby, when he went to the house to borrow a saw.
There were no traces of Christmas presents in the little house. Only the scantiest necessities of life were on hand.
Officers agreed with the theory held by the justice of the peace that Haggard shot the children and himself, but were unable to explain how the slayings could have been accomplished without any of the victims beinf awakened. There were no sign of a struggle.
The wife and mother of those killed had been dead about three years. Her brother, I.G. Church of Vernon, said he knew of no reason for the act.
KIAMICHI COUNTRY GENEALOGY SOCIETY
McCURTAIN COUNTY OBITUARIES
McCurtain Gazette
Broken Bow News
1930
Page 1
Local Newspaper
Wednesday, January 1, 1930
Contributor:
Brandon O'Rear - [email protected]
BODIES OF MAN AND FIVE CHILDREN FOUND
Believe Father Shot Children While They Slept Then Killed Self
Vernon, Texas, Dec. 29. --Death ended a bleak Christmas for J.H. Haggard, 56, a tenant farmer, and his motherless children. They were found shot to death in their poverty stricken home Sunday, and apparently they had been dead several days.
Justice of the Peace H.C. Justin held an inquest at the scene of the tragedy and indicated his verdict would be suicide in the case of the father and death by gunshot wounds for the children. Poverty was the only motive advanced for the slaying.
A note, tragic in its brevity, penciled in scrawling print and stuck to the door of the house read: "All dead. I had rather be dead. Look in cellar." It was signed J.H. Haggard.
The dead, all of whom were shot in the head, were:
J. H. Haggard, the father, 56.
Simon Haggard, 18.
John Haggard, 10.
Alta Haggard, 15.
Alma Haggard, 12.
Dorothy Haggard, 6.
Covers on the beds of the victims indicated they were killed as they slept. The two boys were on their beds in a cellar, 50 feet from the house. The elder girls were in bed in their room and the bodies of the other girl and the father in another room.
The bodies were found Sunday morning by Lewis Rivers, a Mexican youth, who lived nearby, when he went to the house to borrow a saw.
There were no traces of Christmas presents in the little house. Only the scantiest necessities of life were on hand.
Officers agreed with the theory held by the justice of the peace that Haggard shot the children and himself, but were unable to explain how the slayings could have been accomplished without any of the victims beinf awakened. There were no sign of a struggle.
The wife and mother of those killed had been dead about three years. Her brother, I.G. Church of Vernon, said he knew of no reason for the act.
KIAMICHI COUNTRY GENEALOGY SOCIETY
McCURTAIN COUNTY OBITUARIES
McCurtain Gazette
Broken Bow News
1930
Page 1
Local Newspaper
Wednesday, January 1, 1930
Contributor:
Brandon O'Rear - [email protected]
Believe Father Shot Children While They Slept Then Killed Self
Vernon, Texas, Dec. 29. --Death ended a bleak Christmas for J.H. Haggard, 56, a tenant farmer, and his motherless children. They were found shot to death in their poverty stricken home Sunday, and apparently they had been dead several days.
Justice of the Peace H.C. Justin held an inquest at the scene of the tragedy and indicated his verdict would be suicide in the case of the father and death by gunshot wounds for the children. Poverty was the only motive advanced for the slaying.
A note, tragic in its brevity, penciled in scrawling print and stuck to the door of the house read: "All dead. I had rather be dead. Look in cellar." It was signed J.H. Haggard.
The dead, all of whom were shot in the head, were:
J. H. Haggard, the father, 56.
Simon Haggard, 18.
John Haggard, 10.
Alta Haggard, 15.
Alma Haggard, 12.
Dorothy Haggard, 6.
Covers on the beds of the victims indicated they were killed as they slept. The two boys were on their beds in a cellar, 50 feet from the house. The elder girls were in bed in their room and the bodies of the other girl and the father in another room.
The bodies were found Sunday morning by Lewis Rivers, a Mexican youth, who lived nearby, when he went to the house to borrow a saw.
There were no traces of Christmas presents in the little house. Only the scantiest necessities of life were on hand.
Officers agreed with the theory held by the justice of the peace that Haggard shot the children and himself, but were unable to explain how the slayings could have been accomplished without any of the victims beinf awakened. There were no sign of a struggle.
The wife and mother of those killed had been dead about three years. Her brother, I.G. Church of Vernon, said he knew of no reason for the act.
KIAMICHI COUNTRY GENEALOGY SOCIETY
McCURTAIN COUNTY OBITUARIES
McCurtain Gazette
Broken Bow News
1930
Page 1
Local Newspaper
Wednesday, January 1, 1930
Contributor:
Brandon O'Rear - [email protected]
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