COUPLE SLAIN IN MONTAGUE COUNTY FIELD

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Mr. and Mrs. O.T. Goff Are Found Dead; Neighbor and StepDaughter Held

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St. Jo,  Sept. 20 -  O.T. Goff, 46, tenant farmer , and his wife, 39, were dead tonight, and L.H. Reynolds, 55, neighbor farmer, and Amanda Poole, 23, Reynold’s stepdaughter, were charged with murder in the shooting of the pair this afternoon on the M.W. Aubrey farm, five miles northwest of here.

The bodies were found in the cornfield in which the dead man and his wife had been working.

Reynolds, arrested at the scene by City Marshal Donley of St. Jo, admitted firing the shotgun charges which felled the man and woman as the outgrowth of a quarrel over the trespassing of cattle on the neighboring farm cultivated by Reynolds.

He had gone, he said, accompanied by his stepdaughter, to the field in which Goff and his wife were working.  As he started to remonstrate with them, he said, the other two advanced toward him with heavy clubs.  He ran, he continued, as far as was able, then turned and fired.

The woman, shot first, was struck in the left side of the neck.  Her husband was struck behind the left ear as he turned to flee. 

Goff’s body, said Donley, was found lying across a heavy section of a plow handle.  A  large stick lay beside the body of his wife.

Reynolds, who is married, and his stepdaughter were placed tonight in the Montague county jail at Montague.  Charges were filed in Justice Sampson’s court here.  No examining trial had been asked for or waived, and no bond had been set tonight. 

County Attorney T. H. Yarbrough and Glen T. Wilson, assistant, continued their investigation of the shooting until a late hour tonight.

The Goffs are survived by six children, the eldest 13.

FUNERAL HELD FOR VICTIMS OF ST. JO SLAYING

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MR. AND MRS. O.P. GOFF ARE BURIED; MAN AND WOMAN CHARGED WITH MURDER

St. Jo,  Tex.  Sept 22 -  Funeral services for O.P. Goff, 46, and his wife, Nettie, 39, who were shot to death at their farm home, five miles west of St. Jo late Tuesday, were held at the Shiloh Baptist Church Wednesday afternoon at 5 o’clock.  Rev. Shelby West officiating, with burial in Ables cemetery under the direction of Scott Brothers of St. Jo.

Mr. and Mrs. Goff were the parents of six children, Lulu, Alvah, Lois, Orville, Travis and Velma, ranging in ages from 5 to 17.  Besides the children, Mr. Goff is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Goff of Walters, Okla., six brothers, John, J.W., and L.G., all of Walters, Okla.; A.L. and Gilbert, Gainesville, and J.G. Goff of Comanche, Okla., and three sisters, Mrs. Nora Wooten, Marysville; Mrs. Bernice Standridge, Tucson, Ariz., and Mrs. Overa Tucker, Comanche, Okla.  Mrs. Goff’s mother and two sisters of Marysville, survive her.

Murder Charges Filed

L.H. Reynolds and his stepdaughter, Amanda Pool, who are charged with murder in connection with their deaths, are being held in the Montague county jail.  Reynolds has made a statement in which he admitted the shooting.  County Attorney Temple Yarbrough said Wednesday morning.  Yarbrough, with Glenn Wilson, county attorney-elect, was in St. Jo Wednesday morning to visit the scene of the crime and question witnesses in connection with the shooting.

Reynolds and Miss Poole were arrested  late Tuesday by Deputy Sheriff Bill Donley after L.? E. Crabtree, who is employed by Reynolds, notified officers of the shooting.  Crabtree was passing along the road on horseback when Reynolds told him of the shooting and asked him to notify officers. 

Two shots had been fired  from a shotgun, officers said.  One struck Goff in the head and the other struck Mrs. Goff.  Both were fired at close range. 

Old Trouble Is Blamed

The shooting took place just inside the Goff farm near the fence which separates it from the Reynolds place.  Feeling had existed between the two families more than a year, Reynolds and Miss Poole told officers. 

Reynolds said the trouble which ended in the double shooting started when the Goff cattle broke into his corn field and he and his stepdaughter went to drive them out.  They met Mr. and Mrs. Goff in the field and the trouble followed.   Reynolds told officers that he and his stepdaughter were being charged with clubs at the time he fired the fatal bullets.

No attempt has been made to secure the release of Reynolds and his stepdaughter.  It is possible that they will waive examining trial and await the action of the grand jury, which meets on October 7.