Marshall County, Oklahoma
Franz J. Kim is dead;Sheriff Edd Long Surrenders
County Attorney Wore Steel Jacket
And Had Gun In Hand When Shot
Long In Jail
EDD LONG
R.C. Roland, the new county attorney, returned from Ardmore at 6:00 o'clock Wednesday with complaint signed by J. Berry King assistant attorney general and okayed by Roland, charging Sheriff Edd Long with murder.
The preliminary hearing will be held before Justice M. E. Ewing at 2: o'clock Thursday, with J. Berry King and E. L. Fulton, special attorney for Governor Henry N. Johnson, prosecuting.
Roland disqualified himself for having been employed by Long Monday but retires from defense leaving the case with Ruel W. Little.
The assistant attorney generals and Mr. Fulton have been conducting the prosecution of Sheriff Long at Ardmore.
Franz J. Kim county attorney of Marshall County, shot and fatally wounded by Sheriff Ed Long Monday morning At 11:45 o'clock as he was entering the room of the county commissioners wearing a steel breast plate and carrying a revolver in his hand, died at midnight Tuesday at St. Vincent's hospital in Sherman, Texas.
Sheriff Long, who made bond for $2,500 Monday on n charge of assault with intent to kill in Justice M. E. Ewing's court, surrendered to justice Ewing early Wednesday,
Morning and accompanied Ewing to the county jail where he was held pending the filing of charges against him.
New Attorney Named
Delay in the filing of charges against Long was caused by the absence of a county attorney. The commissioners met In special session at 10:30 Wednesday and named R. C. Roland as the successor of Mr. Kim. Judge Roland left in the afternoon for Ardmore where he consulted with W. .0. Gordon, Evidence man in the attorney general office, after which charges were to be filed.
Judge Roland, employed by Long, offered the place of assistant. County attorney to Paul Buford, assistant under Kim, in order that Buford might file the charges, and retired as counsel for Long. The attorney general's office will prosecute.
Buford did not accept the place of assistant.
Body to Missouri
Following the, death of, the attorney the body was taken in charge by the Watts Funeral Home and brought to Madill and prepared for burial. It was carried to, Durant in the afternoon and was shipped on the Katy northbound to a suburb of St. Louis where, it will be interred in the cemetery at the old home of Mrs. Kim.
Asks To Go to Jail
Long, in an interview early In the morning said that he asked to be carried to the jail and go through the same, procedure that he- would have to carry any prisoner of his under a similar charge'. He said that. He went to Justice Ewing and surrendered his gun and asked Justice Ewing to take him to jail where he was placed in the custody of Granville Thompson jailer.
Long said that he hunted up Justice Ewing on Monday and, surrendered for the shooting and charges were filed at that time. Judge Ewing stated that Long was waiting for him when ho returned from lunch at 12:30. about a half hour after the shooting.
Long corroborated.
Sheriff Long said that the shooting followed an argument over a claim.
Long had gone to Texas for prisoner for which Kim had signed a warrant. A telegram from the Texas, sheriff announced a man was being held for Marshall county, and Kim being absent, Buford told Long to go after his man. The claim was for $52.00 And Kim had written an opinion to the commission.
Advising them to turn down the claim. After the papers had been presented and the facts related. Buford saying that he had sanctioned return. The commissioners allowed the claim and had a warrant issued to Long for the expenditure.
Following the disposition of the case Kim and Long had an argument. Kim departed abruptly saying, "that he would get the difference," according to long. Kim returned in a few minutes coming through the county clerks office, the adjoining room to the commissioners office. He had a revolver in his hand. Sherlff Long saw him coming and commanded him to stop.
"I ordered him to stop and put down his gun twice," said Long, "but he kept coming on towards the commissioners office where the commissioners were in session."
Long said, "he fired three times with his 44 caliber Smith and Wesson Revolver."
Long said he shot at Kim's right hand which had the gun in it in front of his body.
The bullet passed below the hand, hitting the edge of the steel jacket and ricocheting into the abdomen. This bullet pierced the intestine six times according to word received from the hospital where the wounded man was operated on. The next bullet entered the upper part of the thigh fracturing it. The third bullet went wild and lodged In the facing of the commissioners' room door.
The wounded attorney fell Inside of the clerk's office, where medical aid was summoned and Kim rushed to the. office of Dr. P. F. Robinson where he was prepared for rushing to the hospital. At the doctors office the steel jacket was removed.
Long's statement was corroborated by Jack Colby, W. f. Winston end Charley Duren,
Commissioners who in session, and Gus Byrd, county clerk, Earl Ayers and Ruel Little.
Ayres, who is former county clerk and is now a real estate dealer, left the office of the commissioners immediately after the argument, thinking he would intercept Mr. Kim return; but found the letter inside of the clerk's clerks office coming toward the commissioners office so he dodged out of the line of fire In to the vault.
S. M. Luttrell, who was standing by the door, says that the first bullet from Longs gun passed close to his shoulder but when the second was fired he was over by the front window.
Kim was rushed to the hospital by the Watts ambulance, where little hope was held for his recovery. When the operation was made. Several Infusions of
blood were made and caused the wounded man to rally until Tuesday midnight.
Appointed to Office
Front J. Kiln was appointed county attorney by the commissioners to succeed late the late George S. March, who died a few week's after taking over the office.
At the election four rears ago Kim was close friend of Long and assisted in managing the campaign which carried Long, March and others to victory. He was at that time living in Madill and serving as court reporter for Judge Porter Newman. He had served March in the same capacity when March was on the district bench.
Differences existed between the two offices, beginning several months ago.
The Jacket
The steel jacket which the dead county attorney wore to his death was not recognizable, being the second lining of a blue serge vest, specially prepared
to cover the steel adjustable casing. The lower part of the vest was sewed together, while the usual buttons fastened the front. A white stock fastened to the collar, allowing the tie to be placed over it. The back of the vest was made with horizontal ribs, white the front was composed of perpendicular ribs, securely joined, joined together. The jacket weighed approximately twenty pounds. It is said that he wore this vest almost continuously. Several parties remember seeing him with it on. Several boys had noticed the false shirt front at times when it had worked out of his vest fitting.
Probe Conducted
At the insistence of Governor Henry Johnson, W.O. Gordon, special investigator from the Attorney Generals offices and now on the Sheriff London trial in Ardmore, was ordered to Madill Tuesday and conducted an investigation of the facts concerned with this case in the office of Judge Isaac O. Lewis. Mr. Gordon returned to Ardmore in the evening.
It is not known if Mr. Kim made any statement before his death or not.
FRANZ J. KIM BORN IN SWITZERLAND
Franz J. Kim was born Switzerland it is said; but spent most of his life in the land of his adoption.
He is survived by widow and two brothers in Kansas.
Mrs. Kim is the daughter of a Missouri newspaper publisher living in the suburbs of St. Louis.
Madill Record--4/5/1928 & Madill Record--4/12/1928
MURDER AT LEBANON
INDIAN TERRITORY
Because of the lack of law enforcement in the Indian Territory, it was not uncommon for desperadoes, to be in the Indian Territory. In the 1880's, in early winter, an outlaw named Brassfield and his partner killed one of John Alexander "Dink" Orr's ranch hands on the Orr property. The body was covered with leaves and a snow came the night of the murder. The Orrs were suspicious of foul play when the ranch hand disappeared without a trace and Brassfield took up with the ranch hand's wife. No one could prove a murder had been committed because the body could not be found.
Soon after the murder, Brassfield and his partner came to the Oklahoma home with guns late in the night. John Orr had expected the outlaws to confront him and he knew they would kill him if he was caught off guard. The outlaws were surprised when they were met by an armed Orr family. When the outlaws called for John Orr to come out of the house, the door opened and the outlaws could see by the full moon, that John and his family were armed with gleaming new Winchesters. John ordered the outlaws and the women friends to move off the Orr, property, which, they promptly did.
When the murdered ranch hand's body was discovered the following spring, John Orr sent for U. S. Marshall MeShann out of Fort Smith, Arkansas, the nearest court. Marshall MeShann apprehended the suspected murderers, who were still in the area, and took them to Fort Smith to be held in jail awaiting trial. Next fall John and Mary went by wagon from their Lebanon home, to Fort Smith to testify at the murder trial. They left their wagon at the Fort Smith wagon yard and, at their own expense, stayed at a hotel awaiting the trial. Due to the backlog of cases, the case still had not come to trial as winter approached. Before winter set in, John and Mary returned to their Lebanon home for the winter.
The next spring they went back to Fort Smith for the trial.
The trial day finally arrived. The witnesses testified and the accused took the stand. One of the outlaws stated that he did not commit the murder but he stated he knew who did. When instructed by the judge to name the murderer, the outlaw replied that he would not tell and that he would die with the secret in his breast, to which the judge replied " . . . then you'll die with the secret because I'm going to hang you both."
Both outlaws were hanged to insure the murderer was being punished. The judge was the infamous "Hanging Judge", Isaac Charles Parker.
This story ways related by Cliff Orr to his grandson, Joe R. Orr, and to
his granddaughter, Mary Jane Lowery. The murder occurred on Cliffs fathers place north of Lebanon near Hauawi Creek.
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