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Submitted: 5/18/21 • Approved: 5/19/21 • Last Updated: 5/22/21 • R419645-G0-S3
December 24, 1917-November 26, 1949
Photo/information, courtesy of Edith Guynes Stanley
Texas, Death Certificates, 1903–1982
Name: Frank Seburm Bullard
Birth Date: 24 Dec 1917
Birth Place: Texas
Gender: Male
Race: White
Residence: Borger, Hutchinson, Texas
Father: Wm L Bullard
Mother: Lottie Steelman
Age at Death: 31
Death Date: 24 Nov 1949
Death Place: Borger, Hutchinson, Texas, USA
When most children were hearing the blessing at their Thanksgiving tables yesterday, there were seven who saw a man die when two bullets from a .32 cal Savage automatic tore through his heart and head.
Dead is Frank S. Bullard, 32-year-old Borger truck driver and father of four children. Charged with murder with malice is O.F. Swaffar, 48-year-old welder.
When city police arrived at the scene of the shooting which took place in Bullard's rented two-room small apartment, located at 321 N. Weatherly, they found him lying on his left side in the dingy hall, blood slowly seeping through the rough wooden floor.
City policemen John Mayfield and Hays Dunaway were the first to arrive on the death scene. Officer Lon Shields arrived soon afterwards.
During the time the three officers were conducting an investigation all observers were tense for they knew the gunman was still at large. When the police desk sergeant informed officers that Swaffar had surrendered, everyone concerned visibly relaxed.
After firing the two fatal shots, Swaffar left the Bullard apartment and went immediately to the Sheriff's Office but no one was there. He then went in a Main street domino parlor off Sixth street and asked someone to call the police station and tell them he had shot a man.
Deputy Sheriff Jess Love found Swaffar calmly talking in a group of men. According to Love, Swaffar told him, "Jess, I just shot a man."
Swaffar reported he shot Bullard because, "He had threatened, cursed and argued with Mrs. Swaffar. He said Mrs. Swaffar agreed Bullard had had an argument with her.
District Attorney Bob Gallaway said Swaffar's examining trial would be held at 1:30 p.m. today with Justice of the Peace C.C. McClelland presiding. Gallaway said he talked to Swaffar last night and Swaffar declined to "make a formal statement."
A witness, Mrs. Hattie Coggins, who resides in an apartment next to Bullard's, told investigators that the Bullard's were going to "baby sit" with her three small children, Linda, 2; Stanley, 3; and Roy Wayne, 3 months. Mrs. Coggins said the last time she saw Bullard, he was holding Roy Wayne in his arms feeding him soda pop.
She was standing in the doorway of the bathroom, located next to Bullard's apartment, talking to a yet unidentified man when Swaffar walked in.
Mrs. Coggins told reporters Swaffar walked between her and the man she was talking to and knocked on the Bullard door. Mrs. Bullard opened it. Later she told Mrs. Era Roberts, who resides in a trailer house immediately south of the apartment house, this story. "I opened the door and asked Swaffar to come in. He said, "I don't have much time." He then fired the first shot."
As Bullard lunged out the door he fell on two-year-old Linda Coggins, who was standing near the Bullard door. Mrs. Coggins said she grabbed Linda from under the slain man. Swaffar told Love that, as Bullard lunged at him, he fired the second shot. This bullet entered Bullard's head.
Swaffar has been employed in Amarillo as a welder for the past three days. District Attorney Gallaway said 'the shooting was a climax of three-year-old inter-family trouble over Swaffar's wife, Almeda."
Other than his wife, Bullard is survived by one daughter, Barbara, 11; three sons Frank, Jr., 9; Charles, 5; and Carl, 3. His parents Mr. and Mrs. William L. Bullard of Tyler.
Five sisters; Miss Stella Bullard, Mrs. E.L. Sustaire, both of Tyler; Mrs. S.F. Sustaire, Mt. Vernon; Mrs. H.W. France, Sulphur Springs; Mrs. C.E. Sanders, Gilmer.
Three brothers, J.E., Borger; E.L. and C.D., both of Mt. Vernon.
Funeral services are pending at the Minton Funeral Home.
(Published in Borger News Herald, November 25, 1949)
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Funeral services for Frank S. Bullard, 32, of Borger who was shot to death Thursday, were held at 4 p.m. yesterday with the Rev. Charles Taylor, pastor of the Holiness church of Mount Vernon, officiating, in the chapel of the Minton Funeral Home.
Interment was in Highland Park cemetery under the direction of the Minton Funeral Home.
(Published in Borger News Herald, November 27, 1949)
Contributed on 5/18/21
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Record #: 419645