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Submitted: 6/14/21 • Approved: 6/14/21 • Last Updated: 6/17/21 • R427472-G0-S3
1900-1938
Photo/information, courtesy of Edith Guynes Stanley
*Obituary
Oma Fuller, 35, wife of Fuller, was charged with murder with malice in connection with his death at 2:30 o'clock this afternoon in the court of Justice of the Peace E.L. (Buddy) Butts following an inquest.
Mrs. Fuller was arraigned and waived preliminary hearing immediately after the questioning of nine witnesses in the crowded little boxcar courtroom.
Her bond was fixed at $5000 and she was bound over to the action of the district court, which convenes June 6.
The complaint, written by Judge Butts and signed by Deputy Sheriff Ellis and County Attorney O.T. (Jack) Lackey, who questioned the witnesses, charged Mrs. Fuller today "did then and there kill Harry Fuller by shooting and striking him with a pistol."
Harry "Lefty" Fuller, 38-year-old widely-known proprietor of the Silver Spray Night Club here was shot and beaten to death about midnight last night at the roadhouse south of Borger.
Fuller, formerly a baseball pitcher who came here in 1926 from Topeka, was found in the bedroom of the couple's apartment in the rear of the club dance floor and bar, sprawled sideways on the floor by the stove.
A .32 pistol bullet pierced his right upper arm, broke the bone, and lodged in his right side. The left side of his face was severely cut and bruised, and his skull was fractured high on his left forehead.
A powder burn on his arm indicated the bullet was fired at close range. There was a deep gash over his left eye.
His body was being held at the Carver Funeral Chapel, where it was taken by ambulance last night, pending arrival or instructions of relatives.
The pistol was fired five times. Revelers at the club said they heard one shot in the bedroom, there was a pause of about half a minute, then four other reports rang out in quick succession.
Mrs. Fuller came onto the dance floor from the rear with the gun in her hand, witnesses said.
"I'm not sorry I done it." onlookers quoted her as saying, "He's knocked me down for the last time."
Then apparently in a relieved, nonchalant mood, she was quoted by a hostess as saying to her: "Put a nickel in the piano, and let's dance."
Deputy Sheriff Ellis said that when he arrived at the night club, after being notified by the city police department, Mrs. Fuller was sitting at one end of the bar crying.
She confessed to him that she killed her husband, Ellis said.
Those associated with the Fullers in the night club business said the two frequently quarreled, especially when they drank, and that the midnight shooting climaxed a long-standing enmity.
Both had been drinking last night, witnesses said. There was nobody else in the apartment when the killing occurred, according to reports of those nearest the scene.
Haggard, red-eyed, and sick, Mrs. Fuller drowsily arose from her cot in the city jail at mid-morning to state:
"I have nothing to say. I don't remember how it happened."
"Will there be big headlines?" she asked softly, and when told that there would be, moaned and walked back to her bed.
Mrs. Fuller, a large woman with coal black hair and dark eyes, is under a federal suspended sentence of two terms, four years and three years, following conviction in Kansas, recently, a member of the sheriff's dept. said.
Hostesses at the night club said the parole prohibited her from having any part in operating the night club or drinking.
Fuller talked little about his past, close friends said, but from one, it was learned Fuller was born, reared and educated in Centralia, Ill., where his parents and a sister are reported living. A former wife also was reported living in Pampa, but her name was not disclosed.
Fuller, known here as an ace strikeout artist on the mound, began playing baseball at Centralia. A lefthander - hence the familiar nickname by which he was generally known - Fuller pitched for Topeka, Kas., in the Southwestern League in 1925.
He also tried out one year with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Fuller came here early in 1926 from Topeka and worked in a bakery at Sixth and Whittenburg streets.
In 1927 and 1928 Fuller hurled for the Borger Pacers, managed by "Buffalo" Hines. In 1927, the Pacers lost only one of their 32 ball games that year, Hines said. It was that season that "Lefty" won nineteen straight games, Hines said.
Fuller also pitched for Phillips 66 for a short time, Hines said.
Since 1927 and 1928, Hines said, Fuller has pitched irregularly, playing for sandlot ball clubs by the game.
In 1934 Fuller, who worked for the Parrot Motor Company and the Wilcox Oil Company, both of Oklahoma City, pitched for these two clubs in a semi-pro tournament here. He won the two games he pitched for Parrot and one for Wilcox, Hines said.
(Published in Borger Daily Herald, May 10, 1938)
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Funeral services were conducted this afternoon at 2 o'clock at the Carver Funeral Chapel for Harry "Lefty" Fuller, 38-year-old night club operator, slain early yesterday morning.
Father Andrew Quante of St. John's Catholic Church, who conducted rosary services last night at the Carver Funeral Chapel, also officiated at the funeral rites. Burial was in Highland Cemetery.
Pallbearers were Claude Ruby, Claude Upton, Wiley Hinds, Cuz Jones, C.W. "Red" Bennett, and H.L. Boykin.
(Published in Borger Daily Herald, May 11, 1938)
Contributed on 6/14/21
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Record #: 427472