Saturday, January 26, 2019

Trouble for Harley Dailey - Part 2


In Part 2 of my blog posts about Harley Dailey and his troubles, let's continue to learn his fate.  Imagine my surprise when I pulled up the first article and the headline said, "Brother, Sister Shooting Victims"! I kept pulling up more articles and more scandalous headlines.  Here is a transcription of one of the articles that explains the situation. 

DOUBLE KILLING ENDS QUARREL. Paoli News, 13 December 1939.
"A quarrel between brother and sister over who should stay at the family home and care for the mother led to a fatal shooting in which two were killed.  The tragedy took place place on the Dailey farm near Valeene and seven miles southeast of Paoli.  

Mrs. Edna Landrus, 42, of Paoli, and her brother, Harley Dailey, 48, patient in Hillcrest Tuberculosis Sanatorium at Vincennes, were shot fatally. Dailey was home on a vacation.

Deputy Sheriff Floyd Morris of Orange County related that the woman's son, Jewell Dailey, 21, of Paoli, said his uncle shot his mother. Then young Dailey killed the uncle."

Ok, what the what?  Read that again and again and again.  Seriously.  Brother shoots sister, nephew shoots uncle!  Need more details?  Keep reading.

"The brother and sister had quarreled, the deputy sheriff quoted the young man as saying, over which should live with their 76-year old mother, Mrs. Josephine Dailey, on her farm, where the shooting took place. 

The deputy sheriff said young Dailey gave this account of the shooting.

Mrs. Landrus and her son had been staying on the farm the last three weeks. Her brother drove there Sunday from Vincennes.  

He went rabbit hunting. Back at the farm house he parked his automobile, got out and stood holding a shotgun.

A quarrel followed. All four on the farm took part. Mrs. Landrus ran up to her brother and he struck her.  His mother then ran up and he hit her too.  Young Dailey went into the house and obtained a pistol.  

When he came out his uncle had shot his mother once in the back and killed her.  He emptied five chambers of the pistol into his uncle's body. 

The young man was jailed here on an open charge while Sheriff Noble Ellis and Coroner George Dillinger investigated.  

Funeral services were held for Mrs. Landrus from the Ellis Funeral Chapel, Tuesday afternoon, conducted by the Rev. D.M. Boyd and burial made in the Community cemetery.  

Mr Dailey will be buried this afternoon (Wednesday) at Concord with funeral services at the Ellis Chapel with Rev. Boyd conducting."

How can this be?  Can you imagine this poor mother witnessing and seeing two children killed in front of her in her own front yard?  This just makes me so sad.

In reading a few more articles, a few more details emerge.  The Logansport Pharos Tribune claimed that Harley died instantly and Edna died en route to the hospital.  In addition, Edna was a defendant in a divorce suit filed in English by her husband, Jerry Landrus.  The Monroe Morning World, stated Edna was on her second marriage and her son, Jewell, had adopted his mother's maiden name.  While the Manitowac Wisconsin Herald stated that Harley was killed by a .38-caliber revolver while Edna was murdered by a .410 gauge shotgun. Another article in the Paoli Republican said that Jewell fired his shots at his uncle through the window and three of the pistol bullets struck Harley.  

Now you may be wondering about Jewell and if he escaped punishment for the murder of his uncle.  Remember what Grandma Leona said when I asked her if the persons responsible went to jail, and she said, "No, not back then. It was justified. They didn't have to go to jail."  Well, let's find out exactly what happened.  

Apparently Jewell was held in the Orange County Jail immediately following the killings and a special session of the grand jury met to decide his charges.  He was indicted and faced the charge of voluntary manslaughter for the killing of his uncle. Bond was set for $2500, and his trial was set for February 26, 1940.  I also learned his full name in the court news of the paper, Charles Jewell York Dailey.  However, another article put "Jack" by his name as well.  


  
At the court hearing in February, it didn't take long to acquit Jewell for the charges.  The trial lasted for two days and the jury gave the non-guilty verdict with only fifteen minutes of deliberation.  Mrs. Josephine Dailey testified in the courtroom on the first day of the trial and stated, "Harley came to her home, seven miles south of Paoli, the day he was slain to visit her and go rabbit hunting. After hunting a while he came back to the house and told her he was going back to Paoli on business."

Sheriff Noble Ellis testified as well and stated, "Harley and a man he identified as Roy Gerkins came to him that morning and asked if there was some way to make Mrs. Landrus and Jewell leave his mother's house because they were living there on her pension money."  The sheriff told him there was nothing he could do.  

Josephine also stated, "They came back and said a heated argument was engaged in by Edna, Harley and Jewell during which the aged woman said she was knocked to the ground and when she regained her senses she found Harley lying on the ground near her and Edna lying on the ground a few feet from Harley.  She said Jewell asked her to help him get Mrs. Landrus, his mother, to a doctor since he did not believe she was dead and they met a doctor about a half mile up the road who pronounced Edna dead and they brought he back home."

The courtroom was said to be packed for the two day trial with standing room only, and when the ordeal ended, the courtroom erupted in what was described as a "joyous uproar" and "compared by some spectators to that of a close basketball game" when Jewell's acquittal was read.   


Seeing the Indiana Death Certificates for both Edna and Harley solidify this awful fateful day where two siblings were killed by members of their own families.  So you see, Grandma Leona's story was correct.  She would have been about 21 years of age at the time this tragedy happened in her family.  It made an impression on her just as it has made an impression on mine while I have been learning about our family history.  In closing, let's learn to love one another, folks!    






Sources
Newspaper Article, Paoli News, Paoli, Indiana, 13 Dec 1939, Page 1, Column 3 and 4, Double Killing Ends Quarrel.

Newspaper Article, Logansport Pharos Tribune, Logansport, Indiana, 12 Dec 1939, Page 5, Column 3, Youth Held for Murder.


Newspaper Article, Monroe Morning World, Monroe, Louisiana, 11 Dec 1939, Page 4, Column 5, Two Killed, Son of One Arrested.


Newspaper Article, Manitowoc Herald Tribune, Manitowoc , Wisconsin, 11 Dec 1939, Page 7, Column 3, Family Quarrel End in Shooting; 2 Dead.



Newspaper Article, Paoli News, Paoli, Indiana, 14 Dec 1939, Page 1, Column 6, Jury To Meet for Sifting Of Dailey Deaths.

Court News, Paoli News, Paoli, Indiana, 27 Dec 1939, Page 1, Column 1, Court Adjourns Until February.

Newspaper Article, Paoli News, Paoli, Indiana, 28 Dec 1940, Page 1, Column 1 and 2, Jewell Dailey Acquitted Tuesday on the First Ballot. 

Newspaper Article, Paoli Republican, Paoli, Indiana, 29 Dec 1940, Page 1, Column 5, Packed Courtroom Applauds Dailey Manslaughter Acquittal. 

Ancestry.com. Indiana, Death Certificates, 1899-2011 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Indiana State Board of Health. Death Certificates, 1900–2011. Microfilm. Indiana Archives and Records Administration, Indianapolis, Indiana.

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