Butler County KS Archives Obituaries.....Dunn, Birney August 21, 1902
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Peggy Luce pegsue59@cox.net and   December 18, 2006, 4:23 pm

The Walnut Valley Times, August 22, 1902, Volume XXXIII, Number 31
MURDER AT DOUGLASS 

F. C. Wise Jr., Kills Birney Dunn With A Rifle  Liquor Causes a terrible 
Tragedy 

Birney Dunn, a  young man living in Douglass was shot and almost instantly 
killed yesterday evening by F. C. Wise Jr. The tragedy happened at 5:15 
o'clock. The affair occurred in front of Wise's house about a mile south of the 
town.

A telephone message from Douglass this morning gave the facts as follows:  A 
party of young men from Douglass, Birney Dunn, his brother Frank, George 
Ralston, Charles Renfro and others were camping out at Dunn's mill, a popular 
picnic ground a short distance south of the town. There were other parties from 
various places camped there also.  Among others Mr. Wise, his mother and other 
relatives and some of their friends went to the grove to spend the day. The 
crowd of boys mentioned before had been drinking and were intoxicated. Wise had 
also been drinking. As Wise approached the grove he was met on the bridge near 
the mill by the crowd of boys and they had an altercation in which blows were 
exchanged by Wise and the two Dunn boys. After this they met again in the grove 
and fought. Wise left the place and went home. An hour or so later when Dunn 
was driving to town he passed Wise's home and in front of the house he met 
Wise.  They had an altercation and Dunn was shot. The only eye witness to the 
affair was a young man named Pierce who lives near Providence, a few miles 
south and west from the place where the affair occurred. It is said that he 
stated that Wise grabbed the bridles of Dunn's team and stopped them, that he 
cursed Dunn and ended by firing at him several times with a rifle. Dunn was 
still in the buggy and the team ran away. After going about 200 yards he fell 
out of the buggy and the team ran on into town.

E. B. Pratt of Douglass who was one of the first to arrive upon the scene of 
the tragedy, was in El Dorado today. He was within fifty rods of where it 
occurred and the runaway team passed him before Dunn's body fell out of the 
buggy. He did not hear any shots fired.

A traveling man by the name of Fergus, from Chicago, was riding a wheel on his 
way to the mill and was several hundred yards away when the affair occurred. 
Dunn was still in the buggy when it passed him and just as he alighted from his 
wheel to let the runaway pass he says he was struck in the side by a spent ball 
but it had lost its force and he was uninjured.

Ethan Russell, who was on his way to Douglass from the mill, stopped at Wise's 
house a short time before the affair happened, to get Ed Pratt who was to 
accompany him to town. They were the first persons to reach the injured man. He 
was lying in the middle of the road, face downward in the dust. He was then 
unconscious and was bleeding badly. They went to town after a physician but 
Dunn was dead before the doctor arrived.

Jacob Washburn was sworn in as coroner and an autopsy was held by Dr. 
McCluggage and Dr. Hamilton. They found that the ball had entered his body 
about two inches above and to the left of the left nipple, passed through the 
fourth rib, through the left lung and cut through the aorta, the large vessel 
which carries the whole heart supply, lodging between the third and fourth ribs 
on the right side. He lived only about twenty minutes.

Young Pierce and Fergus both say that several shots were fired and this is 
substantiated by the fact that three bullet holes were found in the buggy top.

After the shooting Wise went into his house and remained there until he was 
arrested, several hours later by Joe Couch and R. D. Blackwell who brought him 
to El Dorado.

A reporter for the TIMES was admitted this morning to the cell in which Wise is 
confined. Mrs. Wise mother of the prisoner, was with him and they occupied 
chairs near the door of the jail. When asked about the affair he said that he 
did not wish to make any statement in regard to the matter, that he had not 
recovered from the excitement of the affair, and that his mind was not clear as 
to the happenings. He said he did not remember how many times he shot but that 
he did not do so until Dunn had said he would kill him and he thought he meant 
it. He said that Dunn had a neckyoke with him and that he started to get out of 
the buggy before he shot.

Mrs. Wise was overcome with emotion and weeping bitterly. She held her son's 
hand and stroked it affectionately. He tried to console her and put his arm 
around her tenderly as he told her not to cry. But tears came to his own eyes 
and it was all he could do to keep from breaking down as he said, Poor mother, 
it is all she can. Oh, it is terrible that this should happen, said Mrs. 
Wise. We have always tried to raise our boys right and this is the first real 
trouble they have ever gotten into. Those other boys have been after Clarence 
for a long while though and I have thought for some time that they would get 
him into trouble if they could. They would have killed him at the grove, I 
believe, had it not been for me. After they fought on the bridge Clarence came 
down into the grove and they pulled him off his horse. Birney Dunn struck him 
and the Dunn boys and charley Renfro got him down. I am just sure would have 
killed my boy then if I had not ran to where they were fighting. Charley Renfro 
went to the tent and got a hatchet. He came back and said, Here let me fix 
him. Then there was another man in the crowd, a little fellow and I saw him 
with a gun in his hand. He had it right down near Clarence's head and oh, I was 
so afraid he was going to shoot him. I just threw myself down over Clarence and 
if he had shot the bullet would have had to pass through my body. I think all 
the boys were under the influence of liquor. I wasn't there when the shooting 
occurred but I know my boy wouldn't have killed him unless he thought he was 
going to be killed himself. We have heard that Dunn said he was going to kill 
Clarence and that he said that just before he came to the place where the 
tragedy happened but we haven't found out yet to whom he said it. Clarence had 
just come out of the house when Dunn drove up. He was going over to the other 
farm which is about a mile from where he lives and happened to have the rifle 
with him.

The rifle with which the killing was done is a Winchester repeater, 22 caliber 
and model 78. It will shoot either longs or shorts but was loaded with the 
smaller size yesterday. It is in the possession of Sheriff Turner.

Prior to the occurrence the young men had been considered to be friends, in the 
ordinary sense of the word. They had both borne good reputations. Dunn was the 
son of John Dun who came to Douglass in an early day and was an extensive 
farmer and miller. He died several years ago. Young Dunn was married and had 
one child.  Wise is also married and has two children. He is a son of F. C. 
Wise who was in business at Douglass several years ago. The men are about 28 
years of age.

Dunn's funeral occurred at 5:00 o'clock this afternoon and he was buried in the 
Douglass cemetery. 




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