Resolutions Passed by the City Council on the Death of J.D. Yonts
At a call meeting of the city council of the city of Greenville Kentucky, present, W.A. Wickliffe, Mayor, T.J. Slaton, T.J. Tinsley, John S. Miller, J.F. Rice, and G.H. Dexter, councilmen, W.H. Wilkinson, clerk, J. E. Reynolds, treasurer, E. Reynolds, Marshal, E.A. Coppage Judge, W.J. Cox, City attorney protem.
On motion the mayor appointed W.J. Cox, E.A. Coppage, and T.J. Tinsley as a committee to draft suitable resolutions on the death of the late J.D. Yonts, a member of this council. Where upon the said committee reported the following resolutions:
“Resolved that it is with sincere sorrow and conviction of a great loss to this body and community that we learn of the death of our esteemed citizen, J.D. Yonts. We wish to justify [rest of line illegible] ever faithful and true and as a father ever kind and loving, as a citizen progressive, public-spirited and worthy and ever ready to do more than his part.
“Resolved: That to his family in their great and irreparable loss the kind sympathies of this body are tendered and with them we mourn his death.
“Resolved that the clerk is here by directed to spread these resolutions upon the records of this board, that he furnish the Muhlenberger a copy of same for publication and that this council attend the funeral ceremonies of said deceased in a body.”
This June 10th 1896. W.J. Cox, E.A. Coppage, T.J. Tinsley
A motion being made and seconded on said resolutions the same were unanimously carried. Witness our hands this 10th day of June 1896
W.A. Wickliffe, Mayor. W.H. Wilkinson, Clerk.
Morton Yonts fell from his office door Monday sustaining several severe injuries.
Poisoned by bugs in strawberries
Central City, Ky., May 21 - Raymond and James, young children of Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Yonts, while eating strawberries today swallowed poisonous bugs, which were concealed in the fruit, and were made ill. Their condition is said by physicians to be critical.
Visits parents before going back to sea duty
Mr. and Mrs. H.P. young, who have been recent visitors of Mr. Young's mother, Mrs. Minnie Young and family, left last Wednesday for Brooklyn, NY, where Mr. Young will report for service on the US Cruiser Honolulu.
The following article was taken from a Memphis, Tenn., newspaper, where Mr. and Mrs. Young resided, headed, “Sailor Ashore Three Years to Get a Look at Sea Again”:
A sailor without either ship or sea has been the lot of H.P. young, of the Memphis United States Naval Recruiting Station, for the past three years. Yesterday he received orders to report for service on the United States Cruiser Honolulu.
During his recruiting service here Mr. Young has passed an estimated 300 applicants into the Navy. Several times that many have been rejected for physical and mental deficiences.
“I am looking forward to getting back to a ship,” he said. “I probably will meet a lot of the men I have recruited,” he added. “Most are stationed with the Atlantic and Pacific fleets are in Naval Trade Schools,” he said.
A native of Central City, Ky., Mr. Young tells of his own enlistment in the Navy.
“I was walking down the main street when the recruiting officers stopped me to talk,” he said. “After that I was sold on the idea and got my parents' permission to enlist.”
He has been in the Navy 14 years, starting as an apprentice seaman and working up to the grade of water tender, first class. He hopes to qualify for the grade of chief water tender during the next two years.
The Honolulu, a 10,000-ton cruiser, is now under construction at the New York City Naval Yards. It will be commissioned May 1. Until that time, Mr. Young and other members of the crew will study the machinery and design of the boat.
Jeanie Young accused of killing colored man to Blue Moon Hall
Shot in back while running for his life on Reservoir Avenue Saturday night.
The Blue Moon, which opened for business several weeks ago on Reservoir Avenue, between Locust Street and the Illinois Central railroad, brought about what many expected between 9:30 and 10 o'clock Saturday night when violence ended in a shooting and a death. The victim was “shot down like a dog,” according to one at the inquest. He was shot in the back as he was running for his life, according to information revealed at the coroner's inquest.
The victim was Albert Simons, 31-year-old Cleaton negro, who stopped at the Blue Moon Cafe to purchase a package of cigarettes. He and Bill Gotee, white, were engaged in a fist fight, according to witnesses at the inquest. Young came up, started kicking Simons. The colored man starting running. Young, according to witnesses, fired five shots from a .45 caliber revolver at the fleeing colored man, two piercing his body.
The body was found 20 or 30 minutes later about 150 feet from where the shooting took place, behind the house occupied by John Robinson. The body was found by Cleve Wilson and Louis Staton.
Two White Men Arrested.
Officers, after investigating the killing, started in search of two men, Jeanie Young, who lives near Powderly, and Bill Gotee, of Dovey. Young is accused of the shooting.
Young was arrested at 3:30 o'clock Sunday morning at the home of his step-father, Cecis Lile, near Powderly, by Sheriff Peck O'Neill and Deputy Sheriffs Chuck Robinson and Rhode Kennedy. Gotee was arrested earlier in the night by the same officers at Finnbottom's road house on the Central City-South Carrollton highway. Each was lodged in the Greenville jail. Officers stated that Young denied “any knowledge whatsoever of the shooting.”
Young, according to officers, is an ex-convict. He had been sentenced to the penitentiary on four counts, and had spent twelve of his 35 years behind prison bars. He was paroled, it is said, from the Eddyville penitentiary about a year ago, being last convicted on a charge of robbing the restaurant of Mrs. Brant.
The Blue Moon is a dance hall. Since the opening of the hall, many expected violence most any time, and the killing Saturday night was what many people predicted would happen as soon as the place was opened for business.
Young Accused of Crime.
Coroner Lonnie Bryan was summoned, setting the inquest for Monday morning at the City Building.
After the hearing, the jury, composed of Jim Dempsey, Louis Foster, Dick Lamasters, Jim Dotson, Vol Garrett and Lem Wells, returned the following verdict:
“We, the jury, after hearing the evidence, find that Albert Simon came to his death at the hands of Jeanie Young, being shot in the back with a .45 caliber Colts pistol.”
Colored Man Killed Here Saturday Night
Last Saturday night about 9 o'clock Richard Young, a well known colored man, was called from a store and shot down by Beatrice Cheetam. The shooting took place in front of the Baptist parsonage on Main Street. Young was picked up unconscious and taken to the office of Dr. Wilson, where his wounds were examined. The bullet had entered his right temple and lodged in the other side of his head, but nothing could be done for him. He died about 8 o'clock Sunday morning, and his remains were taken to Guthrie, his home, for burial Wednesday.
Young was well known about Greenville, having been employed as houseman for a number of years by Clarence Martin. The woman claimed that Young had promised to marry her, and was probably in a jealous rage, when she shot him. She plead guilty to a charge of manslaughter and was held to the second day of April circuit court. She made bond of $2,500.00 and was freed from jail Wednesday morning.
Updated July 9, 2024.