O. J. "Dummy" CUNNINGHAM

October 28, 1903, New Boston, Bowie County, Texas - October 3, 1940, Rockdale, Milam County, Texas

*Newspaper Article

ARGUMENT DUE IN MURDER TRIAL HERE

Story of Brutal Treatment Told by Mother Who Slew Father of Her Child; Attorneys Weep As She Reveals Sufferings At Hands Of Man She Once Loved and Married; Court Room Is Crowded

Afternoon

Proceedings in the trial of Mrs. Flossie Cunningham produced frequent clashes between attorneys for defense Camp & Camp and Criminal District Attorney Morrison.
When court convened after lunch Mrs. Cunningham was questioned by State's Attorney Morrison. Frequently E. A. Camp, senior member of the defense firm, asked the court for a ruling on a plea to dismiss the jury. He charged misconduct on the part of the state. Nature of the questions objected to were those Mrs. Cunningham was asked concerning her forenoon testimony on how her husband had at times planned to kill her.
It appeared the defense attorneys were attempting to bring about a mistrial. Judge Graham Gillis over-ruled all defnse counsel objections in this regard.
At ne time the jury was taken from the box while testimony was taken regarding her arrest.

Forenoon

Mrs. O. J. Cunningham, on trial for the killing of her husband in Rockdale, Thursday, October 3, told a crowded court room this morning of brutal marital discord for which she said her husband was responsible.
After a two hour examination by sobbing defense attorneys, the jury had heard how Cunningham had made repeated threats on Mrs. Cunningham's life and how she had been made the victim of numerous schemes whereby Cunningham was to obtain money and dispose of his enemies.
She testified that he had often boasted to her of his escapades and desperate character and told her of a hereofore undisclosed murder in Houston when he "disposed" of the husband of a woman with whom he was accused of having improper relations.
Mrs. Cunningham testified to several attempts by Cunningham to hurt her by the throwing of chairs and hot coffee which did not suit his taste.
She told of one occasion where be choked her into insensibility in a fit of rage over the coming birth of the child whose custody she sought prior to the killing. According to Mrs. Cunningham her husband would not let her attended church nor see any of her sisters, calling her and her sisters bad names on many occasions.
Mrs. Cunningham stated that for several days before the shooting occured he prevented her from having the child but permitted her to hear its cries in the night from the nearby Cunningham home. On Thursday Mrs. Cunningham said she saw her husband leave with the bay and thinking that she would never see it again she took her gun and tried to overtake him hoping to scare him into giving up the child.
She said he refused her pleas but when he finally put the baby down in the A & P store she sought to grab it and run away. Mrs. Cunningham here told of how he ran toward her with what she thought was intention of killing her whereupon she took her pistol from her purse and fired several shots at him.
The defendant stated that she remembered nothing that happened after the fist shot was fired but that she later found herself in the ice house down the street with the child.
Court adjourned at 11:45 as District Attorney Morrison stated that his examination for the witness would require more than the quarter hour left.
Other witnesses to testify were Dr. E. Rischar for the state, and Florence Dunnington and Mrs. Sonny Wentworth both present in the store at the time of the shooting.
Little O. J. Cunningham, 3 years old, is expected to be called as a witness.

The Cameron Herald(Cameron, Texas), 21 Nov 1940, Thu, Page 1

MOTHER SITS CALMLY AT MURDER TRIAL

The first witness to testify when evidence was begun at 10 a. m. Tuesday in the trial of Mrs. Flossie Cunningham for the murder of her husband, O. J. Cunningham, was Don Luckey, Rockdale undertaker.
The second witness was Arthur Hahn, manager of the grocery in which the shooting occured. Attorneys for the defense as well as for the State, went into considerable detail over Mr. Hahn's testimony and a map was drawn with his assistance in an effort to reconstruct the killing for the jury. Mr. Hahn seemed confused at times and his testimony took up almost the entire forenoon.
His testimony was followed by Mrs. Hahn who was in the store at the time Mrs. Cunningham fired four shots at her husband.
Mrs. Hahn was on the stand giving testimony at the time this goes to press.
A supplementary venire of 20 men was summoned early Tuesday from which one juror was selected to complete the jury of 12 men who are to try Mrs. Flossie Cunningham for the murder of her husband.
When the court adjourned at 10:45 Monday night only eleven jurors had been selected. State and defense attorneys had spent the entire day wrestling with the problem of selecting the jury.
Mrs. Cunningham is on trial for the murder of her husband, O. J. Cunningham. The killing occured according to Mrs. Cunningham, over their separation and the custody of a baby boy. Mrs. Cunningham who wanted the baby at night to sleep with and care for, could not overcome the love of a mother for her child and armed herself, and when she found her husband in a grocery store in Rockdale late in the afternoon of October 3, she opened fire, one of the bullets taking effect from which Cunningham died in a Cameron hospital around 10 p. m. that night.
Mrs. Cunningham sat beside her attorneys, Camp and Camp apparently un-moved by the proceedings in the court room which has been crowded by spectators since the trial opened early Monday morning.
When the killing occured she made a statement in which she said she had agreed to a divorce from her husband and one of the conditions of the agreement was her husband's right to custody of the child during the day and she was to have the baby at night.
On the Sunday prior to the killing, the agreement was reached and he took the child. She said that her husband not only failed to keep his agreement to give the child to her at night, but had refused her permission to visit the child at anytime.
A stream of bullets poured into Cunningham as he stood in a grocery store in Rockdale and he collapsed, dying later in a Cameron hospital.
Mrs. Cunningham quietly surrendered to officers and detailed her heartbreak telling the story of how she had suffered over what she thought to be the loss of her baby.
Cunningham was sentenced to state prison some years ago for an attempt to murder Mrs. Floyd Horton, rural mail carrier. He secreted himself in a clump of woods near a mail box and opened fire on Mrs. Horton, who escaped.
Cunningham was deaf from birth and was a barber by trade.
The jury is as follows: John White, Briary; Frank Shafer, Hanover; Frank Tomek, Elm Ridge; Charlie Heugater, South Elm; Paul Thompson, Briary; Joe Cummings, Lilac; E. E. Ward, Ben Arnold; F. J. Stalcup, San Gabriel; Steve Marek, Jr., Cameron; T. H. Garrett, Clarkson; T. H. Garrett, Clarkson; John T. Gould, Branchville; and Emil Voldan, Buckholts.

The Cameron Herald(Cameron, Texas), 21 Nov 1940, Thu, Pages 1 & 5

Family Members
Parents
John Wesley Cunningham
1857-1955

Amma Augusta Warren Cunningham
1871-1948

Spouses
Elsie May Graham
1904-1946(m. 1930)

Flossie Yoakum Beathard
1904-1988

Siblings
Walter Barkstel Milam
1892-1958

Ruby Olivia Milam Bartlett
1894-1964

Wallace E. Milam
1897-1961

Joe Oliver Milam
1899-1979

Half Siblings
Affie Jane Cunningham McMillian
1889-1971

Will Cunningham
1891-1931

Lula Mary Cunningham Thornton
1893-1982

Annie Pearl Cunningham Taylor
1896-1919

Contributed on 4/11/21 by lynst.peters62
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Record #: 407595

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