The Porum Journal Friday Nov 27, 1914

Muskogee Phoenix, Sat Nov 28, 1914

Fight With Fist at Younger Bend Ends in Murder

G.M. Ward a farmer 60 years old is dead and Henry Ward, his son,30 years old is dying with a bullet wound in his abdomen as the result of a quarrel yesterday afternoon at Younger Bend, near Porum, that began in a fist fight and ended in a gun play.
Deputies and citizens are searching for Will Stidham, also a farmer, who is declared to have fired the shots and for a man known only as Scott, who was one of the principals in the fist fight.
According to the reports from Younger Bend, Henry Ward and the Scott boy got into an argument over a crop and the two began fighting. Ward was getting the worst of it when Ward’s father pitched in to help him.
Stidham who was watching is alleged to have jumped in then, making four in the fight. Scott ran and when Stidham saw that he was left alone to fight both Wards, he is declared to have pulled his revolver and began firing.
The first shot fired killed the elder Ward, the bullet entering his brain or his heart, two reports conflicting. The younger Ward, shot through the stomach, was taken to his home, where physicians said he had very little chance for recovery.
There were no deputy sheriffs in Porum when the killing was reported there and when word of it was received here, Sheriff Ledbetter and Ed Maloney, a deputy, went out. They arrived in Porum last night and at once set out for Younger’s Bend, a small settlement.
The younger Ward boy is known to officers here, having been arrested at least twice on whiskey charges. Officers say that within the last year he had married and had announced his intention of reforming.
Stidham is a farmer near the settlement and little is known of him except he shot and killed his brother, Coon Stidham, three or four years ago. Nothing is known of Scott.

Daily Ardmoreite
Sunday, Nov 29, 1914
Ardmore, OK
Vol: 21
Page: 8

Muskogee, Okla., Nov. 28-George Ward, a wealthy land owner of near Porum, Okla., was shot and killed and his son Henry, perhaps fatally wounded this afternoon in the road near Porum, William Stidman, a farmer, went to town and phoned to the sheriff’s office here, telling what had happened. He claimed self-defense.

Muskogee Times Democrat Monday, Nov 30, 1914 page 1

Shooting of George and Henry Ward by Will Stidham Held by Coroner’s Jury to Have Been in Self Defense- Stidham Will Not Be Prosecuted

A coroner’s jury sitting in Justice Coodey’s court at Porum Saturday, holding an inquest over the bodies of George and Henry Ward, who were shot and killed by Will Stidham Friday afternoon returned a verdict that Ward and his son came to death by gunshot wounds inflicted by Will Stidham but that Stidham fired in self-defense.
Stidham who lay in the bushes near the town is said to have come out of hiding after he learned the jury’s verdict, and went to his home. County Attorney Disney said today that Stidham will not be prosecuted. A report made to him by Sheriff Ledbetter bears out the coroner’s jury and shows that Stidham shot in self-defense.
Stidham, it is said several years ago killed his brother in Brushy Mountain, and later killed another man. He served a term in prison for one killing it is said and was acquitted of the second. The killing of the Wards adds the forth notch to his gun.
Sheriff Ledbetter, who spent all of Saturday investigating the killing, said that the Wards were quarrelling in front of Stidham’s home. They had been drinking and were in a row with Melvin Scott. Scott hit George Ward with a monkey wrench and fled. The old man came back and made an attack upon Stidham, who shot him. Then Henry Ward, his son, went after Stidham with a hoe handle. Stidham was in the doorway of his own home, and when Henry came at him, he shot him from the door step. Sentiment in the community, according to Ledbetter, was with Stidham.
The Wards one time lived in Muskogee and in 1909 and 1910 operated a hotel on Elgin Avenue. After closing their place they went to near Younger’s Bend and bought a fine river bottom farm. Henry Ward then married a young girl about fourteen years old, who is now his widow. He also leaves a child.

The Porum Journal Dec 6, 1914

Father and Son Shot Down in a Drunken Fight

The news spread over this locality last Friday evening that G.M. Ward and son Henry had been shot by Bill Stidham. The sheriff was notified and he and deputy Maloney left Muskogee at eight o’clock for the scene of the shooting. The evidence introduced was to the effect that Henry Ward had been drinking in Porum last Friday, and his father G.M. Ward, came to town and got his son and started with his son in the direction of home. At the residence of Bill Stidham, five miles south of Porum, the Wards stopped and Henry the son got into a fight with a boy named Melvin Scott and Scott was getting the best of Henry. The elder Ward took a hand in the fight and then Stidham entered the arena as a peace-maker. The Wards then turned onto Stidham and Stidham whipped out a pistol and shot G.M. Ward in the head, killing him instantly, and shooting Henry in the abdomen, Henry dying early next morning.
Justice Coodey was called Saturday morning to hold an inquest over the bodies and the following jury viewed the bodies and heard the evidence. D.A. Hickes E. Moore, Jim Pounds, Will Byrd, H.A. Braxton, R.D. Starr.
The verdict found was that the men were shot by Stidham and Stidham was justified in shooting the men. The dead men were buried in one grave last Saturday on the Early Farm. It is said that Stidham was recently released from prison; he having participated in several killings. The Wards owned farms and it said that had owned the old Elgin rooms in Muskogee. The young Ward leaves a young girl widow.
The inquest will cost this county $37, and the affair can be traced to the bootlegger selling the poison to Henry Ward.