The Unsolved Murder of John L. Tucker

By Shane Dunning

http://www.redshalereflections.com

My great-great-uncle John L. Tucker was murdered on Otter Creek in 1911. His murder was, and remains, officially unsolved. Florence Shy, in Echoing Footsteps, wrote that "People were terribly upset over this but were too divided in their opinion, so no arrests were made."

He was discovered shot in the back of his neck at his residence during the evening hours of March 28th. The body was found initially by Tucker's friend James Maxwell, who immediately notified Rosebud County Sheriff N.G. McMullin (who also resided in Ashland).

Tucker's residence was a mile and half east of Ashland, officially in (at that time) Custer County by a matter of only twenty feet. The Rosebud County Sheriff set guards on the scene and traveled to Miles City to inform Custer County Sheriff Lavalley of the crime.

McMullin, who had formerly operated a store in Ashland, was a friend of Tucker's. McMullin being among the very first to the crime scene was memorialized in the initial newspaper accounts of the tragedy. "Sheriff Finds Body of Friend" was blazoned across newspapers across Montana.

Tucker was killed when he was only 32 years old. He was unmarried, a moderately successful stockman, and the brother of Robert Lee Tucker (my great-great-grandfather), a prominent homesteader on Otter Creek. Stock rustling proliferated in the area at this time, and initial newspaper speculation on the murder pointed to this as the motive: "There has been considerable feeling over stock rustling in that territory, and Tucker had been assisting the authorities in ferreting out the criminals," according to the Forsyth Times.

When Sheriff Levalley arrived with the coroner, they found Tucker dead with a single bullet wound that entered the back of his neck and exited his forehead. Tucker entered his cabin in the early evening hours and attempted to light his stove. When he was shot, he fell forward, struck his face on the stove, and then backward. They found Tucker's own six-shooter undisturbed in his trousers. Another pistol was discovered lying on the dead man's chest, and "it looked as if an attempt had been made to close his fingers around the butt." This pistol belonged to Tucker's good friend, Ves Hall, who declared to the inquest that the gun had been stolen sometime before. The inquest concluded that death had been instantaneous and that the crime had been committed between seven and ten o'clock the evening of the 28th.

Any initial thoughts that Tucker may have committed suicide, as indicated by the hand closed on the gun, were dismissed almost immediately. Not only were there no indications of depression in Tucker's demeanor that day, the location of the entry and exit wounds with no powder burns squarely pointed to another person.

The most immediate suspicion fell upon local stockman J.W. "Billy" Coleman. Ves Hall testified to a conversation he and Tucker had the day before the killing.

The other day as we were going to Ashland, inside of the last three weeks, and we were talking about Mrs. Coleman, Mrs. Bill Coleman, he says she is coming back. I got a letter from her and he says she wrote and told me to be on the lookout, that Bill was going to kill him and when we got off at the gate he took the letter out of the vest pocket and handed it to me, but I handed it back and said I don't want to read your letter. And he insisted my reading it, but I didn't even look at it.

Several people testified to seeing Bill Coleman on a black horse around the area in the late afternoon. Coleman was also seen near Ves Hall’s residence earlier in the day. Seventeen-year-old Ora Ferris testified that she was with Tucker most of the afternoon and witnessed Tucker get his pistol. When she asked why he was getting his gun, he reportedly replied that he "wanted to play cowboy."

Billy Coleman briefly testified to arriving at Elmer Landers' place (about two miles from the killing) at seven o'clock and staying the night. Frank Jordan also stayed there that night and testified to Coleman's presence until morning, although he placed the suspect's arrival at half-past seven. Dusk had arrived around seven o'clock that night. Coleman made no statement to the inquest about threatening Tucker, only a description of his activities that day.

Suspicion of Coleman had been communicated to Sheriff McMullin by Hall because one of Sheriff McMullin's first acts on discovering the body was to send his deputy, J.C. "Kid" Anderson, to arrest Coleman and notify the Custer County authorities of his actions. Anderson found Coleman in time to give minimal testimony before the inquest.

The final witness before the inquest was thirty-year-old Mrs. J.W. Coleman. She testified that she and her husband had returned to Otter Creek from Siloam Springs, Arkansas, the previous Saturday. Her testimony to the coroner confirmed several elements of the letter described by Ves Hall, but she obfuscated on some key points.

Coroner: Did you hear Mr. Coleman, while you were down there, before coming back here, make any threats against John Tucker?

Mrs. Coleman: Well, I don't know. I don't remember.

Coroner: Did you, before starting home from down there, write a letter to John Tucker, deceased, stating in that letter that Mr. Coleman had threatened his life and to look out for him?

Mrs. Coleman: I wrote and told him that he had better be on the lookout, and I was afraid. That he would deal me lots of misery. And that the best thing I could do was to stay there.

In the written record of her testimony, Mrs. Coleman, as other witnesses, had been allowed to review and correct her statement. In that document, a phrase has been scratched out by the witness where the stenographer had recorded the above testimony. The sentence was originally recorded as "better be on the lookout, and I was afraid he would take my life."

In the final questioning, the coroner followed up on the letter:

Coroner: Did you ever write to Mr. Tucker more than this one letter while you were down there?

Mrs. Coleman: I wrote him one or two or three letters while there.

Coroner: Did you know of your husband having any ill-feeling towards Mr. Tucker?

Mrs. Coleman: Not that I know towards him, but he did towards me.

Coroner: Did your husband know you were writing these letters to Mr. Tucker?

Mrs. Coleman: No, he did not.

The inquest concluded that an "automatic pistol had killed John Tucker, Savage make, 32 caliber, then and there in the hands of persons unknown to this jury." A grand jury in Miles City was also allowed to indict any suspects but did not. To this day, the crime remains unsolved.

As mentioned before, this lack of action caused considerable tension along Otter Creek. Coleman's "alibi" did not seemingly cover the period immediately around seven o'clock. Witnesses did not definitively see Coleman until approximately seven-thirty, two miles from the crime scene. Coleman's wife seemingly corroborated Hall's testimony regarding the letter, including that she had warned Tucker and she considered her husband a violent man. Many years later, Otter Creek resident Ernest Coon stated that "Lav Jordan and Bill Coleman were two of the Ashland toughs…He said he was sure Billy Coleman killed John Tucker." Lavie Jordan was also questioned briefly by the inquest and was the brother of Frank Jordan, who provided part of Billy Coleman's alibi. Within three months, Lavie Jordan eloped with Ora Ferris (the girl who testified to Tucker’s actions the day of his death), against her parent’s wishes.

Ves Hall, whose stolen pistol was found on Tucker's body, was a known friend of Tucker's and was apparently not suspected as having a role in his death. In later years, Ves Hall became infamous as the first man arrested for loudly criticizing President Woodrow Wilson's pro-British policies in the frenzied run-up to World War One. I wrote a column about that incident several months ago.

It seems likely that Billy Coleman did, indeed, kill John Tucker. The evidence, however, is circumstantial at best. Coleman seems to have had several possible motivations for the deed. Coleman’s wife was admitted communicating privately with the unmarried stockman. It is possible those letters indicated a romantic relationship, although Tucker’s willingness to show Ves Hall the last letter casts some doubt. Mrs. Coleman’s testimony seems to indicate tensions between herself, her husband, and John Tucker. Perhaps Billy Coleman knew Tucker was cooperating with law enforcement and this threatened his (and others’) criminal interests. Mrs. Coleman may have also known this and, having some affection (romantic or otherwise), chose to warn Tucker via her letters.

Even so, the performance of Custer County officials also seems strange, and no doubt contributed to the community’s hard feelings. The coroner, O.M. Lanphear, resigned his post within weeks of this case. He objected that the county was not paying his expenses, including his travel costs from Miles City to Ashland. Perhaps his unhappiness contributed to a less-than-vigorous investigation.The grand jury convened that month, as mentioned before, also refused to indict Coleman or anyone else.

John L. Tucker was among the first buried in Willow Creek Cemetery, the land for which was donated by Robert Lee Tucker, the deceased's brother. The tragedy clearly had a significant impact on the family. If you go down to the cemetery along Otter Creek, you will find, near the graveyard's center, an obelisk headstone nearly three feet high that dwarfs every stone near it. It marks the final resting place of John L. Tucker. This obviously expensive and ornate headstone reflects the Tucker family's considerable grief.