Congratulations Class of 2023

RALSTON, COLTON RAMIREZ-MARTINEZ ESTRELLA RAMIREZ, ALICIA RAMSEY, PEYTON

RAMSEY, TANNER RANDOLPH, MIGUEL RELEFORD, EMMIE

REYNOLDS, SETH ROACH, ISABELLE ROBERTS, KAYLEE ROBERTSON, KAEGAN ROGERS, BLAKE RUIZ, CRISTIAN SAYLOR, JEFFREY

SEBASTIAN, BRITTANY

SHELLY, DEVON SHERON, TESLA SILER, KAIDEN

SMITH, KATHERINE

SMITH, LANDON SNEED, COLE SNEED, KAYLEE SNOW, ALEXIS SPARR, CONNOR STAMPER, KENNEDY

STATON, TESSA

STULL, DESIRE TAYOR, ALYVIA TILLEY, ANTHONY

TROYER, SAMUEL

TURPIN,BRANSEN UNERWOOD, MADDISON

WALLIN, MICHAEL

WARREN, LEEVI WEBSTER, MEGAN WEST DURBIN, BRAYDEN WHEELER, RAYNA WHITAKER, JOSHUA WHITING, DARTANIAN

WILSON, BENJAMIN WILSON, JAMES WILSON, SHELBY YODER, LUCUS

NOT PICTURED GRADUATES

ABNER, JEANA

ALCORN KELVIN

ANDERSON CHRISTOPHER

BAILEY BRYON

BULLOCK DUSTIN

CARRETERO, EMILY

COLEMAN, MADISON

CRAWLEY, JORDAN

DAVIS, JACOB

GALLAHER, ASHLEY

HIPPS TIFFANY

JUDY GRACIE

LAND KRISTINA

MATTHEWS MARISSA

MITCHELL CHRISTIAN

PERRY TANNER

PRICE LOGAN

RICHARDSON FAHAD

VICE SAMUEL

WALTERS BRADLEY

YORK, ALLISON YORK LAKYN

EDITOR’S NOTE: IN THE LAST ISSUE, WE PRESENTED A WORK OF HISTORICAL FICTION BY LOCAL HISTORIAN JONATHAN SMITH, BASED ON A TRUE STORY FROM AUGUST 1890 WE CONTINUE WITH OUR MADE-UP REPORTER, JOHN ROBERT RAMSEY, NICKNAMED “REX”, BECAUSE HIS FIRST STORIES FOR THE PAPER WERE TRAIN WRECKS THE DETAILS OF THE PEOPLE AND FACTS ARE REAL, AS THEY WERE REPORTED AT THE TIME THE REPORTER’S CONVERSATIONS AND, IN THIS CASE, THE COURTROOM ARGUMENTS, ARE FICTITIOUS BUT ARE BASED ON TRUE FACTS. ANY NAMED PERSON OTHER THAN THE REPORTER IS AN ACTUAL PERSON WHO WAS INVOLVED IN THIS MATTER

A JUSTIFIED KILLING (A REX RAMSEY REPORT)

IT WAS A LATE AFTERNOON IN NOVEMBER 1890 I WAS SITTING AT MY WRITING DESK IN THE MAIN STREET NEWSPAPER OFFICE WHEN J B PAXTON, THE COUNTY ATTORNEY, WALKED THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR.

HE HAD A BRIEF CONVERSATION WITH MY BOSS, THE PAPER’S EDITOR, WHO THEN CALLED FOR ME TO COME UP FRONT I AM NOT INTIMIDATED BY LAWYERS BUT NOTHING GOOD COMES FROM TALKING TO ONE.

“REX,” PAXTON STARTED OUT IN A FRIENDLY WAY, “I READ YOUR ARTICLE ON TOM MARTIN’S KILLING OF AL CAMDEN ARE YOU COVERING TOM’S PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION HEARING TOMORROW?”

By Claudia Alves Photographer

“YES SIR, I AM. THAT’S THE BIGGEST NEWS IN TOWN RIGHT NOW AND I’M MR WALTON’S BEST REPORTER ”

WHEN I SAID THAT, I GLANCED AT MY EDITOR WHO NODDED SLIGHTLY IN THE AFFIRMATIVE WHILE LISTENING.

“GOOD,” SAID THE ATTORNEY AS HE HANDED ME A PIECE OF PAPER “THAT’S A SUBPOENA I’M PLANNING ON CALLING YOU AS A WITNESS TO TESTIFY ABOUT WHAT TOM MARTIN SAID TO YOU ”

MR. WALTON SPOKE UP THEN, “LOOK HERE, J.B., I’LL NOT HAVE YOU CREATE A CHILLING EFFECT ON OUR ACCLAIMED REPORTING BY CALLING MY REPORTERS AS WITNESSES YOU’RE GOING TO IMPACT THE GOOD SERVICE WE PROVIDE THE COUNTY WE OPERATE UNDER THE RIGHTS GUARANTEED IN UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND YOU WON’T TRAMPLE ON THEM!”

“CALM DOWN IT’S A SIMPLE QUESTION ABOUT WHAT TOM MARTIN SAID TO REX WHEN ASKED FOR A COMMENT I WON’T BE INFRINGING ON YOUR FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS ”

PAXTON LOOKED AT ME IN A SERIOUS WAY AND SAID, “I’LL SEE YOU AT NINE-THIRTY TOMORROW, REX DON’T MAKE ME SEND THE SHERIFF AFTER YOU ”

HE TURNED AND WALKED OUT AS I LOOKED OVER AT MR WALTON HE MERELY WINKED AT ME CONFUSED, I ASKED HIM WHETHER HE WAS UPSET ABOUT THIS

“NOT AT ALL, REX. I HAVE TO TAKE A HARD POSITION WITH LOCAL OFFICIALS OR WE WILL GET PUSHED AROUND, BUT THIS IS NO BIG DEAL JUST GO TELL THE TRUTH AND JUDGE VARNON WILL TAKE CARE OF IT FROM THERE HE’S A GOOD MAN AND A FINE JURIST ”

THIS ALL STARTED SATURDAY NIGHT IN ROWLAND. IT WAS THE THIRD KILLING IN AS MANY MONTHS THIS TIME TOM MARTIN, THE TOWN MARSHAL, WAS THE KILLER ALBERT CAMDEN, AN L&N EMPLOYEE, WAS THE DECEASED

I ALMOST SAID HE WAS THE VICTIM, BUT CLEARLY HE WAS NOT.

PAT RILEY, ONE OF THE ROWLAND ROWDIES, HAD GOTTEN DRUNK AND DISORDERLY IN MRS DAN COLLIER’S HOUSE SHE SWORE OUT A WARRANT FOR HIS ARREST, BUT WHEN MARSHAL TOM MARTIN WENT TO ARREST RILEY, AL CAMDEN INTERCEDED AND LEVELED A SHOTGUN AT THE MARSHAL, WHO TURNED ON HIS HEELS AND RETURNED TO THE COURT HOUSE TO OBTAIN A WARRANT FOR AL CAMDEN

WHEN MARSHAL MARTIN RETURNED TO ROWLAND, HE FOUND AL CAMDEN IN DALE WOLFORD’S STORE AND ATTEMPTED TO ARREST HIM

CAMDEN DREW HIS WEAPON FASTER BUT THE MARSHAL GOT OFF HIS SHOT FIRST THE BALL WENT RIGHT THROUGH AL CAMDEN’S HEART, KILLING HIM ALMOST INSTANTLY.

THESE PEOPLE ARE ALL FROM A WELL-KNOWN CAST OF CHARACTERS. MRS. COLLIER, GEORGIA ANN JENNINGS COLLIER, WHO SWORE OUT THE WARRANT ON PAT RILEY, IS THE STEP-DAUGHTER OF AL CAMDEN

AL WAS MARRIED TO ELIZABETH JENNINGS, KNOWN AS THE WIDOW JENNINGS SHE WAS ALSO THE MOTHER OF MISSOURI JENNINGS, NOW THE WIDOW OF BOSS HAMILTON.

YOU’LL REMEMBER THAT BOSS HAMILTON AND BOB FERGUSON KILLED EACH OTHER IN A POINT-BLANK DUEL BACK IN AUGUST OF THIS YEAR TROUBLE AND KILLING SEEMED TO ORBIT AROUND THESE PEOPLE.

I HAD FOUND OUT ALL THE FACTS AND WRITTEN A STORY ABOUT THE KILLING CAMDEN WAS A CLEVER, GOOD-HEARTED MAN AND WELL BEHAVED CITIZEN, EXCEPT WHEN HE WAS DRINKING

WHEN INTOXICATED, HE WAS BOISTEROUS AND QUARRELSOME AND HAD GOTTEN HIMSELF INTO MUCH TROUBLE IN THAT CONDITION THIS TIME, IT GOT HIM KILLED

I WENT TO SLEEP THAT NIGHT AFTER GETTING THE SUBPOENA, AND WOKE UP THINKING ABOUT BEING CALLED AS A WITNESS IN BETWEEN THAT, I SLEPT PEACEFULLY AND GOT UP RESTED AND READY

I WAS IN THE COURT HOUSE WELL BEFORE THE HEARING STARTED AND SAW ALL THE PLAYERS WHO WOULD PARTICIPATE IN THE COURTROOM DRAMA. COUNTY ATTORNEY J.B. PAXTON, WHO HAD SERVED THE WARRANT, ACKNOWLEDGED MY PRESENCE WITH A COURTEOUS HEAD NOD

AT THE OTHER TABLE TO HIS RIGHT, WAS THE ACCUSED, MARSHAL TOM MARTIN, AND HIS ATTORNEY W.E. VERNON, A GIFTED AND SUCCESSFUL YOUNG ATTORNEY.

AT THE APPOINTED HOUR, JUDGE THOMAS W VARNON, ENTERED THE COURTROOM AND THE PROCEEDINGS CAME TO ORDER THE CLERK CALLED

THERE WAS NO JURY OF PEERS. JUDGE VARNON WOULD MAKE THE DECISION WHETHER TOM MARTIN WOULD STAND TRIAL

VARNON WAS ORIGINALLY FROM BOURBON COUNTY AND HAD STUDIED LAW AT TRANSYLVANIA IN LEXINGTON HE CAME TO STANFORD ABOUT TWENTY YEARS BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR AND HAD SERVED FIVE TERMS IN THE STATE LEGISLATURE HE HAD BEEN APPOINTED TO THE COUNTY JUDGESHIP AFTER THE PRIOR OFFICE HOLDER DIED

HE WAS A MAN OF GREAT INTELLIGENCE AND WAS WELL-REGARDED BY ALL WHO CAME BEFORE HIM HIS COURTROOM WAS OPERATED WITH DECORUM AND ALL LAWYERS AND LITIGANTS WERE TREATED WITH RESPECT AND DIGNITY

“HONORABLE MR PAXTON, IT IS YOUR CASE AND YOU SHALL BEGIN”, THE JUDGE DECLARED

“MAY IT PLEASE THE COURT, YOUR HONOR WE ARE HERE TODAY BECAUSE TOM MARTIN, A SWORN OFFICER OF THE LAW, TOOK ACTIONS THAT HE KNEW OR SHOULD HAVE KNOWN WOULD INCITE THE VICTIM TO RESPOND IN SUCH A MANNER THAT MR. MARTIN WOULD BE JUSTIFIED IN USING DEADLY FORCE I PROFFER, YOUR HONOR, THAT TOM MARTIN WITH PREMEDITATION PLANNED TO KILL ALBERT CAMDEN AND THEN THROUGH A SEQUENCE OF EVENTS, CARRIED OUT A PREMEDIATED MURDER ”

JUDGE VARNON INTERJECTED, “DO YOU HAVE ANY EVIDENCE OF THIS OR JUST YOUR OPINION?”

“I DO,” RESPONDED PAXTON I CALL JOHN ROBERT RAMSEY TO THE STAND

JUDGE VARNON LOOKED AT ME AND SAID, “YOU MEAN REX, THE NEWSPAPER REPORTER?"

“I DO YOUR HONOR, HIS GIVEN NAME IS JOHN ROBERT RAMSEY REX IS HIS NICKNAME ”

W E VERNON, THE DEFENSE ATTORNEY WAS ON HIS FEET “OBBBB-JECTION, YER HONNOR ” THE WORDS CAME FAST AND FORCEFUL

I’LL CONSIDER THE OBJECTION, MR VERNON, AND WILL MAKE A DECISION ON MR RAMSEY TAKING THE STAND AFTER MR. PAXTON