Carthage Cafe Proprietor Seriously Wounded in Early Morning Gun Battle Here
Printed in The Panola Watchman Newspaper, March 2, 1939.
District attorney Wardlow Lane of Center informed The Panola Watchman this week that he had filed six separate charges against Mr. and Mrs. Pete Drawhorn and Casey Drawhorn, following an early Sunday morning shooting in Carthage.
Lane specified his charges as follows: Pete Drawhorn and his wife, Mrs. Ruby Drawhorn charged with assault to murder upon Mrs. Dorothy Lindt; Pete Drawhorn charged to murder on Corbitt Akin by shooting toward him with a gun; Pete Drawhorn charged with assault to murder on Homer Porter by shooting toward him with a gun; Casey Drawhorn charged with assault to murder on Elmer Chamness by shooting toward him with a gun; Casey Drawhorn charged with assault to murder on him with a gun; Casey Drawhorn charged with assault to murder on Corbitt Akin by shooting toward him with a gun.
Mrs. Dorothy Lindt, according to Constable Corbitt Akin, was formerly in the employee of the Eat-A-Bite Cafe here, which Mr. Drawhorn owned and operated.
The time of the shooting was officially set by local authorities at about three o'clock Sunday morning, February 26 [1939].
Local officers informed the press that the shooting started after they walked toward the cafe on the north side of the square to stop a disturbance taking place, allegedly, between Mrs. Ruby Drawhorn and Mrs. Dorothy Lint. Constable Corbitt Akin, Elmer Chamness, and night watchman, Homer Porter, participated in the gun battle with Casey and Pete Drawhorn, according to information given the newspaper by local authorities.
Pete Drawhorn was the only participant to receive serious wounds in the encounter, he having been hit twice, once in the right lung and once in the left hip. Following the shooting, Mr. Drawhorn was rushed to a Shreveport hospital for treatment. His condition is still reported as being grave. He is the father of four small children, according to Judge Ralph Bogard, his attorney from San Augustine, Texas.
Deputy Elmer Chamness was struck by falling glass and received several minor facial bruises and small cuts. Constable Corbitt Akin stated that a bullet grazed his face, but night watchman Homer Porter escaped uninjured, as did Casey Drawhorn and Mrs. Ruby Drawhorn.
District Attorney Lane stated that Mrs. Dorothy Lindt received cuts and bruises in the affray preceding the shooting.
Constable Corbitt Akin told a representative of the press that Elmer Chamness and Homer Porter were in the sheriff's office, along with himself, when they saw Mrs. Pete Drawhorn come out of the cafe with a knife in her hand and start chasing Mrs. Dorothy Lindt, a former waitress in the Eat-A-bite Cafe. Akin said Mrs. Drawhorn caught the Lindt woman and attempted an assault on her with the knife, when Pete Drawhorn stepped out of the cafe holding a gun. Akin stated that the women were struggling in the middle of the street in front of the cafe when the officers advanced from the courthouse to attempt to settle the trouble. The constable, flanked by Porter and Chamness, said he called to Pete Drawhorn to put up his gun, but Akin said, "Drawhorn started backing toward his cafe entrance and made no attempt to release his gun or submit to the suggestions of we officers. When Drawhorn reached the cafe door, I heard a burst of gunfire from the inside and that's all I remember until the shooting stopped."
Akin stated that evidently fifteen or twenty shots were fired in the exchange.
Following the shooting, Casey Drawhorn was arrested and placed in jail. Pete Drawhorn was placed in an ambulance and rushed to Shreveport. Mrs. Ruby Drawhorn accompanied her husband to Shreveport.
Prior to the alleged assault on Mrs. Lindt by Mrs. Drawhorn, the cafe had been the scene of another disturbance, which was thought peaceably settled by Deputy Sheriff Stanley Orr and Constable Akin.
Pete Drawhorn Expires After Shooting Here
Printed in The Panola Watchman Newspaper, March 9, 1939.
Pete Drawhorn, age 35, expired in a Shreveport hospital last Thursday afternoon, and funeral services were conducted for him last weekend in San Augustine, Texas.
Mr. Drawhorn came to Carthage several months ago, and entered the cafe business here. He was the owner and manager of the Eat-A-Bite Cafe in Carthage prior to his death, which resulted from pistol wounds received in an early morning gunfight on the streets of Carthage about ten days ago. Those engaging in the gun battle were: Pete and Casey Drawhorn, Constable Corbitt Akin, night watchman Homer Porter, and Deputy Constable Elmer Chamness. All officers escaped serious injury and Casey Drawhorn was also uninjured.
C. Drawhorn Acquitted in Trial Here
Printed in The Panola Watchman Newspaper, June 1, 1939.
Casey Drawhorn, age 27, was acquitted in the Panola County District Court Wednesday afternoon after a jury deliberated two hours.
Drawhorn was on trial for assault to murder Elmer Chamness, which testimony revealed was a deputy constable under Corbitt Akin.
Another charge is reported pending against Drawhorn here, but it was not learned whether the state intends to prosecute it or not.
Drawhorn was defended by two of Eastern Texas' most able attorneys, Hon. Ralph Bogard of San Augustine and John Anderson of Center. Bogard, a veteran attorney, delivered a forceful address to the jury in behalf of his client. Bogard defended Mrs. Reable Childs here when she was on trial for the murder of her husband, the late Marlie Childs, treasurer of Shelby County.
The Drawhorn case developed from a grand jury indictment following an early morning gun fight, allegedly engaged in by Pete and Casey Drawhorn and Corbitt Akin, Homer Porter, and Elmer Chamness here several weeks ago. Pete Drawhorn died from wounds received in the shooting affray.
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