Former Louisiana mayor dies after shooting

 

Editor’s note: Following is the second part of a story series by contributing writer Brent Engel.

   The men charged with determining culpability in the 1915 death of former Louisiana Mayor Alten Walker found more intrigue than answers.

Walker was wounded in the stomach the night of March 2 and died two days later. He and fellow real estate agent Fred Wilkins each adamantly said they had been handling a revolver at Walker’s downtown office when the weapon accidentally discharged.

A six-man coroner’s jury met at Louisiana City Hall on March 8, the day after Walker’s funeral and burial at Riverview Cemetery. An estimated 500 people attended. The crowd began arriving 90 minutes before the 10:30 a.m. start.

“Many of those who came late were disappointed,” said The Quincy Daily Whig. “Not even standing room remained for them.”

Wilkins was among the throng. He was represented by popular Louisiana attorney Erasmus “Ras” Pearson, who said his client would not testify. The decision led to rumors that Wilkins had something to hide.

Jury foreman Fred Stichter, a Louisiana pharmacist whose store motto was “The Home of Good Goods,” was not happy.

“If a man is found riding a stolen horse and refuses to tell how he got it, the burden is on him to tell the jury, and the community is not willing to have the door of silence shut in their faces,” he said.

Joining Stichter on the panel were John Givens, Thomas Thornton, J.D. McAllister, Victor Agee and Judson McCune.

Since it couldn’t compel an explanation from the only living witness, the jury focused upon the five hours leading up to the incident.

“Something was plainly brewing that afternoon that developed in the shooting, whether it was accidental or intentional,” The Whig speculated.

Louisiana residents had observed Wilkins and Walker, together and separately, that day. The two visited the Louisiana train depot at 4:25 p.m. Wilkins bought a ticket to Clarence, but ended up not using it. The men reportedly went their separate ways.

Wilkins showed up alone in a grocery store at Third and Delaware about 5:30 p.m. and asked owner Morrison McNelly if he could use the telephone. Customer William Roberts overheard the conversation, but could not make out to whom Wilkins was speaking.

“He asked over the phone ‘Is everything all right,’” Roberts recalled. “In a moment he said ‘All right’ and hung up the receiver and walked out.”

Meanwhile, Walker went to the Eagle Theatre. In a bit of irony, it was showing the silent movies “The Scales of Justice” and “Their Island of Happiness.”

He certainly had other downtown entertainment options. The Eagle had competition from The Bijou, the Nickelodeon and the Burnett-Buell, which was about to stage a burlesque show titled “Billy Walton’s Beef Trust Beauties” with an opening act called “The Big Girlie Singing-Dancing Show.”

Walker paid 10 cents for a ticket to the shows at the Eagle, but a witness said he stayed only 10 to 15 minutes. Less than an hour before the reported time of the shooting, Walker bought two ham and two brick cheese sandwiches from Louis Soellinger’s restaurant at 415 Georgia. A witness said he was carrying six bottles of beer.

Others told conflicting stories. There also was inconsistent testimony about how Walker’s car got from his house to his office and whether he had driven it or not. And to make matters worse, the .38-caliber revolver used in the shooting had disappeared.

Though it wasn’t part of the formal testimony, a possible motive emerged when it was alleged that Walker showed up at the Wilkins house. Wilkins’ wife, Diana, reportedly had told the story to a family member.

Diana Wilkins refused to let her husband’s friend in, but he shoved his way past her. Not long after that, Wilkins allegedly arrived and became angry when he saw the beer and sandwiches and his wife alone with Walker, who was wounded moments later.

A tryst sounded plausible, especially after several witnesses testified at the inquest that they had seen Wilkins helping a visibly-disheveled Walker to his office. The trouble was, Diana Wilkins had also decided to keep her mouth shut.

Left with incompatible details, the best the coroner’s jury could do waz recommend that Fred Wilkins be held for additional questioning. Since there was no verdict, a judge said he could not under the law issue an arrest warrant.

Stichter offered an explanation – one that probably had Wilkins regretting his decision.

“If he had corroborated Walker, we would have felt that was sufficient to overcome the other conflicting testimony and would have exonerated him,” Stichter said. “If he had gone on the stand and testified that he shot Walker in defense of his rights, we would have believed him and we would have exonerated him.”

“The evidence against Wilkins now is too weak to convict him, it is thought, and his refusal to testify cannot be made to militate against him,” the Kirksville Morning News observed. “Louisiana people seem to want a solution of the mystery, rather than the conviction of any person.”

Despite the sentiment, Wilkins wasn’t off the hook just yet.

 

Next time: Stridence and silence.

 

CUTLINE FOR PHOTO:

A headline in the March 11, 1915, edition of The Pike County News.