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Submitted: 7/4/21 • Approved: 7/4/21 • Last Updated: 7/7/21 • R433403-G0-S3
Texas
PRIVATE FIRST CLASS 65 Pegt Combined Arms Command
May 28, 1891-December 14, 1937
Another link is broken
In our beloved band;
A golden chain is forming
In a better land.
Photo/information, courtesy of Edith Guynes Stanley
Enlisted in Battery A of the 65th Coast Artillery at Camp Kearney, Calif. He served as second class gunner and participated in the following battles: St. Mihiel, Montfannon Very, Muese and Argonne. He was discharged at Camp Kearney, February 25, 1918.
*Obituary
Ben Chapman, 53 years old, Borger policeman held in the Potter County jail here for the slaying yesterday of Lee Hutson, 46-year old Hutchinson County constable, doesn't remember what happened, he told officers today.
"It's a blank to me," W.L. McConnell, district attorney, quoted Chapman as saying.
A murder charge was filed last night at Panhandle by the district attorney upon information by Deputy Sheriff G.L. Warren of Borger, who witnessed the shooting and who was shot at by Chapman after Hutson was slain.
His head swathed with bandage, Chapman early this afternoon was making a statement to the district attorney, Sheriff T.B. Harris of Panhandle and Sheriff Dan Hardee of Borger.
"So far as we have been able to learn the three were the best of friends and there is no known motive," District Attorney McConnell said.
Officers said Chapman fought ferociously while being brought to the Amarillo jail and had to be subdued, which accounted for the prisoner's bandaged head.
Chapman, Hutson and Warren were returning to Borger by automobile after appearing as witnesses in a district court case at Wheeler. On a dirt road in Carson County between White Deer and Borger, the accused man, riding in the rear seat, instructed Warren, the driver, to stop the car.
"I'm going to kill both you" Chapman was quoted by Warren.
As Hutson left the front seat Chapman fired at him, the bullet striking the back of the victim's head, related Warren who left the scene after Hutson had fired at him through the automobile.
Chapman was arrested at the scene of the shooting.
Both Hutson and Chapman were veteran peace officers in Borger during the boom.
Chapman had returned to Borger only six months ago after serving as police chief at Mount Pleasant.
Funeral services for Willie Lee Hutson will be held Thursday afternoon at 2 o'clock in the First Baptist Church at Borger.
Hutson, who came to Borger from Goodnight in 1927, served most of the 10 years as city policeman and constable and made a fine record for efficiency and loyalty as peace officer.
He was a member of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars and enlisted in Battery A of the 65th Coast Artillery at Camp Kearney, Calif. He served as second class gunner and participated in the following battles: St. Mihiel, Montfannon Very, Muese and Argonne. He was discharged at Camp Kearney, February 25, 1918.
Hutson married Miss Toy [sic] Mayo of Goodnight in 1922. He was a member of the Methodist Church of Goodnight.
Surviving are his wife and two sons, Edwin 14 and Wayne 10; three brothers, John L. of Borger, Sam of Littlefield, and Bill of Hereford; five sisters, Mrs. Lillie Saffron of Denver, Colo., Mrs. Naomi Williams of Abernathy, Texas, Mrs. Lucille Sartienn of Shreveport, La., Mrs. Beatrice Wharton, Denver, Colo., and Mrs. Howard Ledbetter of Hereford; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Hutson of Hereford.
Joe Hutson, brother of Lee Hutson, was killed here in 1929, while serving as city policeman when a gun fell and accidentally discharged. Sam Hutson, another brother, who is deputy sheriff of Lamb County, barely escaped injury last spring when a negro opened fire upon him and the Lamb County sheriff and killed the sheriff.
(Published in The Amarillo Globe-Times (Amarillo, Texas) - 15 Dec 1937, Wed - Page 1)
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Texas, Death Certificates, 1903-1982
Name: Willie Lee Hutson
Gender: Male
Race: White
Age: 46
Birth Date: 28 May 1891
Birth Place: Garland, Dallas, Texas
Residence: Borger, Texas, USA
Death Date: 14 Dec 1937
Death Place: Panhandle, Carson, Texas, USA
Father: Jack Hutson
Mother: Hettie Bolton
Spouse: Toy Hutson
Contributed on 7/4/21
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Record #: 433403