The Mystery of the Irate Father

Local historian Roy Hensel digs into the mysterious Paducah murder of Ed Pegram

IN OAK GROVE CEMETERY, THERE is an interesting gravestone. It appears to be homemade and is inscribed with:

Jas. E. Pegram , Jan 12, 1893 - July 4, 1915, Son of Jas. and Sarah Pegram— Shot By An Irate Father

Now that last phrase catches your attention, doesn’t it? The father and mother are buried next to young “Ed” Pegram, and no, his father was not the irate father chiseled on the stone.

Researching the newspapers of the day, I discovered a fascinating story of an ex-con, two sisters, their father, and his sweetheart, concluding with a man who was shot and killed maybe because he was I just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

George Feagan was a horse thief, recently released from prison. He was “seeing” Lucy Barefield. He took her to the Saturday night dance off Benton Road in Tyler, a community on the outskirts of Paducah at the time. Lucy’s sister Virginia was with the victim. They left the dance around 12:30, on the morning of July 4, 1915. Lucy and George wound up on the front porch of the house of the girls’ father, Will Barefield. Ed and Virginia were on the back porch.

Will Barefield, the father, had let it be known to his daughter that he did not want her to have anything to do with Feagan. Will, at the time the couples returned, was visiting a few doors down with his friend’s sister in law. He and his lady friend, Belle Carvel, were alone on the porch. He saw two couples pass going towards his home shortly before 1 AM. Within a short time, a man approached the house and Lucy, remembering her father’s warning, exclaimed, “Here comes Pappy and he’s mad, you’d better run,” to Feagan. So, Lucy and Feagan ran through the house to the back porch. As Feagan passed by Pegram, on the back porch, he yelled to Pegram to run as well. The man ran through the house after them and fired four shots, one hitting Feagan in the arm.

The next morning, the body of Pegram was found, shot through the heart and found about 175 feet from where he had dropped. There was a trail in the high grass weighted down by a body. There were fingerprints embedded on Pegram’s wrists, indicating that he was dragged.

Barefield protested on being arrested the next morning. He claimed he was on the porch a few houses down. He had heard the shots in the direction of his house where his two daughters were supposed to be, but he claimed that was a common occurrence in that part of town. He said he did not leave until about an hour and a half later, around 3 AM. The daughters went to bed within minutes after the episode and never said a word to their father when he returned. They also testified that they did not think the man who fired and ran through the house was their father.

This case has many flaws, with the testimony of witnesses who were constantly contradicting each other and their own statements. Many questions still remain unanswered. Why didn’t Barefield check on his two daughters who were supposed to be alone in the house after he heard gunfire from that direction? Why couldn’t the daughters positively identify the mysterious man as their father, someone they should recognize instantly? Four shots were fired as all the witnesses testified. Why were four bullets found to be replaced in Barefield’s gun the next morning when the constable examined it? The ending remains a mystery. Barefield was indicted, but nothing was found in the local papers as far as what happened after indictment. The answer is undoubtedly lying in Oak Grove Cemetery forever known only to the late Ed Pegram.