News Stories Various Butler County Kansas Genealogy Trails

Butler County, Kansas

GEORGE E. KING IS KILLED ON HIGHWAY

Unknown Assailant Shoots El Doradoan While En Route To His Home From Wichita Last Night

IN PRESENCE OF HIS WIFE, INFANT SON

Slaying Occurs After Car Is Stopped For A Few Minutes On Slab Between Augusta and El Dorado

ART REED IS QUESTIONED IN UNUSUAL CASE

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BULLETIN

About noon, Deputy Sheriff Roy Enright, of Butler County, and Deputy Sheriff Harold Faulkner, of Sedgwick County, took Art Reed, aged about forty-two years, into custody at a local rooming house for investigation in the King murder. Reed was taken to the county jail, where he was questioned briefly, and about 2 o'clock was taken to Wichita by Officer Faulkner and Deputy Sheriff Fred Kaelson for further interrogating.

According to Officer Enright this afternoon, Reed followed the Kings to El Dorado last fall from Oklahoma. Reed admitted, the officer said, that he has been in the King home on numerous occasions and was unusually friendly with Mrs. King.

Reed denied he had anything to do with the killing last night and said he knew nothing about the murder until he read of it in a morning newspaper. Reed said he spent most of last evening playing pool, and persons were found who saw him indulging in this sport late in the evening.

According to the officers this afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. King had had some "words" in recent weeks over Reed.

Reed told the officers he had been out of work for a number of weeks.

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A number of angles were being checked today by officers of Butler and Sedgwick Counties in an investigation into the murder of George E. King, aged 42 years, El Dorado oil field worker, on the paved highway between El Dorado and Augusta last evening.

Probes were being pushed in both El Dorado and Wichita and it was expected some important development would be announced by late this afternoon. Deputy Serhiffs Fred Kaelson and Harold Faulkner, of Wichita, came to El Dorado early this morning to help the office of Sheriff Tom Turner here with the investigation.

According to investigators this morning, Mr. and Mrs. King and their only child, Stanley Everett, aged 22 months, drove to Wichita late yesterday afternoon to visit Mrs. King's sister, Mrs. Reta Dorie, 1245 South Market Street. They were returning home when King was killed

Pick Up Hitch-Hiker

At the Wichita city limits on Kellogg street, King is reported by Mrs. King to have stopped to pick up a hitch-hiker, something he is said not to have done in the past.

Mrs. King said she was asleep in the back seat when her husband stopped and at his request moved up to the front seat to allow the man to ride in the rear of their car, where the baby was sleeping.

She fell asleep again in a few minutes, she told Lieut. W. L. McLeman at Wichita police headquarters, and a few minutes later asked her husband to stop the car at the roadside.

While out of the car, Mrs. King heard two shots fired. She started to get back into the car and saw the young man going through the pockets of her husband, who was slumped over in the driver's seat.

The young bandit gruffly asked her if she had any money. She handed him her pocketbook containing $40. He emptied its contents and threw the pocketbook on the back seat.

It was at that point that Mrs. King saw that her husband had been shot and noticed the menacing gun in the killer's hand. She fainted.

Drives to Wichita

When she regained consciousness, Mrs. King courageously turned the car around and started back towards Wichita, without knowing how far they had driven.

"I thought of only one thing," she told the lieutenant, "and that was getting him back to my sister's house in Wichita."

Mrs. King said she faintly remembered driving through Augusta and running a red light there on the way back but was unable to tell why she had not stopped.

"I didn't know what I was doing," she sobbed.

Several times she tried to hail cars passing on the highway but none would stop. Finally she discovered a rear tire on her car was flat, and she was forced to stop at a point about a quarter of a mile east of the Veteran's Hospital, five miles east of Wichita.

After a few minutes, two motorists stopped and brought her to a telephone at the edge of Wichita.

The two men were C. E. Skile, of Hutchinson, and Clark Nye, of Wichita. Police were notified and they in turn called upon the sheriff's office at Wichita.

Bullet Holes in Head

Deputy Sheriff's Fred Kaelson and Sam Heidebrecht answered the call and awaited Dr. Leslie E. Knapp, coroner, who appeared a short time later. Dr. Knapp, after a cursory examination, said two bullets had been fired into King's head at close range. Powder burns were visible.

McLemar, after getting a description of the killer, said his description fitted that of the bandit who recently held up a couple at the Municipal Airport at Wichita and who had committed other armed robberies in the Wichita area lately.

He was described as being about 25 years of age, five feet four inches in height, weighing about 135 pounds, dark fluffy hair, combed pompadour. He was bareheaded and wore a long dark brown coat.

Description Vague

Mrs. King said she did not pay any particular attention to the youth after he had entered the car and could not describe his features.

It was figured by officers that the youth was attempting to catch a ride in the vicinity with the express purpose of holding up some gullible motorist. The bandit who has been staging lone holdups has been especially partial to that area.

Mrs. King said they left the home of her sister about 9:30, and from that the officers figured the shooting took place about 10:15.

A .25-caliber Colts automatic was found early this morning in some weeds near the place where Mrs. King said a tire went flat last night. Nearby was a baby's milk bottle and a short distance away footprints, which were made by a woman, were found. The officers said that it had been determined King had been killed by a gun of the caliber of the one found in the weeds.

Check Finger Prints

Finger prints on the gun also were being checked this morning, and it was expected some decision on them would be announced later in the day.

Mrs. King was being questioned at the sheriff's office at Wichita this morning. The body of King was at the Lahey-Martin Mortuary. No funeral arrangements had been made.

The Kings moved to El Dorado last August, coming here from Tulsa, Okla. King was employed by the Sinclair Oil Company on the Adams Lease, west of El Dorado.

The Kings resided in the south apartment on the main floor of the dwelling at 510 South Atchison Street.

Early this afternoon, Deputies Kaelson and Faulkner, of Wichita, and Deputy Sheriffs Roy Enright and Russell West and Gerald Snell, of the Police Department, went to the place to make an investigation. A search warrant was secured late this morning. The officers intended to search the entire apartment for some clue that might lead to the identity of that killer.

F. J. Schuckman, who resides on the second floor of the dwelling at 510 South Atchison Street, said this afternoon that the Kings were at home as late as 5:20 o'clock yesterday afternoon. At that time, Mr. Schuckman said that he saw Mr. King sitting in a chair in the living room and the little boy was sitting on his lap. A coyp of a later afternoon edition of a Wichita newspaper was found this afternoon on a small table near the chair in which Mr. Schuckman last saw King sitting. The paper was open to the sport page. As far as could be learned this afternoon, Mr. Schuckman is the last El Doradoan who saw the Kings before they started for Wichita.
(El Dorado Times ~ Friday, 27 Jan 1939)

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CONFESSES TO THE MURDER OF HUSBAND ON ROADSIDE

Mrs. Venezuela King Tells County Attorney Gale Moss Early Today She Killed Spouse Because of Unrequited Love and Fear For Her Life And Baby Boy Would Be Taken From Her; Says She Shot Victim But Once In the Back Of The Head

FIRST DEGREE CHARGE IS FILED

Statement Is Made Following Questioning Of Only A Few Minutes; Gun Used In Slaying Purchased By George E. King At Tulsa Week Ago; Woman Denies She Was Assisted In Bizarre Crime By Any Other Person

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BULLETIN

Mrs. King was arraigned at 3 o'clock this afternoon before County Judge W. N. Calkins and her preliminary hearing was set for 10 o'clock the morning of February 7. In default of $15,000 bond, she was committed to the county jail.

Mrs. King was represented by George Adams, Wichita attorney. He arrived in El Dorado early this afternoon. On application of Mr. Adams, he was granted permission by the court to confer with his client in private.

The courtroom was comfortably filled for the arraignment, which took only ten minutes. Mrs. King took a deep interest in the proceedings, sitting on the edge of her chair catching every word that was said.

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Murderess Seen By A Small Group Of El Doradoans

That Mrs. George E. King, confessed murderess of her husband, was seen by a group of well-known El Doradoans within a few minutes after the crime was committed Thursday night, seemed probable today after Butler County officers had heard a story related to them by a spokesman for the group.

The El Doradoans were returning from Wichita late Thursday night when they noticed an automobile parked on the south shoulder of the highway at a point approximately three miles east of Augusta.

The car was headed into the ditch as though it had been driven there hurriedly, the spokesman said, and the right door was open. Standing by the automobiel and leaning into the front compartment, as the she was arranging something on the seat, was a large woman.

"We were driving probably 45 or 50 miles an hour at the time," the El Doradoan said, "and had no time to observe any details but we did notce that the woman was wearing a gray coat. We saw no other person eithe rinside or outside the car."

The El Dorado said that the lights of the car were on at the time and while he though the vehicle was parked in a rather peculiar manner, it never entered his mind that anything unusual had occurred.

"When I heard about the murder and saw Mrs. King's picture in the paper, however, I felt certain that we had passed the spot of the crime within a short time after it had happened," he declared.

The El Doradoan voluntarily offered the information to local officers and the story has checked with details incorporated to the confesion obtained from Mrs. King.

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Unrequited love and fear for her life and that her 22-months-old son, Stanley Everett, would be taken from her, caused Mrs. Venezuela King, aged 27 years, of El Dorado, to kill her husband, George E. King, aged 42 years, oil field worker, on Highway No. 54, three miles east of Augusta, late Thursday night.

In a long confession made to Gale Moss, county attorney, at the office of the county jail early this morning, Mrs. King gave these reasons as the motive for the crime, the most outrageous that has occurred in this community in many years.

Mrs. King made her confession and freely signed it after she had been questioned only briefly by the prosecutor. She was brought to El Dorado about 8 o'clock last evening from Wichita, where she had been severely grilled all day by Wichita police and county officers. When it was determined that the crime had been committed in Butler County it was decided to turn the woman to this jurisdiction.

Questions Wichita Officers

Mr. Moss and Deputy Sheriff Roy Enright drove to Wichita late yesterday afternoon to bring Mrs. King to El Dorado. Officer Enright returned with the woman alone, while Mr. Moss remained in Wichita a short time longer to question Art Reade, aged 42 years, of El Dorado, and some deputy sheriffs of Sedgwick County who had been working on the case.

Reade was taken into custody here about noon yesterday after the officers were informed that he had been friendly with Mrs. King in recent months. He was brought to El Dorado this morning by Officer Enright and placed in the county jail. Mr. Moss said it is likely no formal charge will be filed against the man, but he will be held until the entire murder is cleared up.

The prosecutor started to question Mrs. King about 10:15 o'clock. At first she was defiant and said she would not talk unless her attorney, George Adams, of Wichita, was present. When Mr. Moss read from a diary, which Mrs. King kept in 1931, and produced some other damaging evidence against her, the murderess relented and indicated she would make a statement. She said she woudl "talk" if her sister, Mrs. Rita Dorie, of Wichita, was present.

Bring Sister Here

This request was granted after the questioning had continued for about fifteen minutes and Officer Enright and Deputy Sheriff W. P. Dunagan drove to Wichita after Mrs. Dorie. They returned to El Dorado about 1:15 o'clock. After a short conference between Mrs. King, Mrs. Dorie and Mr. Moss, the announcement was made that Mrs. King would sign a written confession. It took about an hour and fifteen minutes to secure it. The statements of Mrs. King were taken down in long hand by Mr. Moss and then read to Mrs. King. She also read the entire confession after it was completed and before she signed it.

The only persons present when the confession was made in addition to Mrs. King, Mrs. Dorie and Mr. Moss were Will R. Feder, news editor of The Times, Miss Erma Knust, stenographer for Mr. Moss and Charles Dunn, of Wichita, son of Mr. Dorie. They also signed the statement.

The confession is about as the officers theorized themurder. Mrs. King said she, Mr. King and son left there about 6:30 o'clock Thursday evening to visit Mrs. Dorie. They started home about 9:30 o'clock. At ap oint about three miles east of Augusta, Mrs. King said she asked Mr. King to stop the car so she could go to the toilet.

When she returned to the car, she said she re-entered the read seat and took the gun---- a .25-caliber Colt automatic---from her pocket and shot her husband in the back of the head. He was shot twice, but Mrs. King she said could remember firing but one bullet. Mrs. King then got out of the car and fainted. She beacme panicky and her first thought was to return to her sister's home in Wichita. She picked up her son to see if he was all right and then got into the front seat of the car and turned it around, headed towards Wichita.

Tire Goes Flat

She drove to a point about five miles east of Wichita on the Kellogg Street Road, when a tire went flat. She stopped and tried to flag several cars but none of the drivers would stop. Mrs. King then re-entered her car and drove it a short distance further down the road, where it was later found by Sedgwick County officers. She finally stopped a car and the occupants picked her up and took her to Wichita and called the police.

At the place where the woman stopped when the tire went flat, she said she threw the gun into a field on the north side of the road. It was later found by the officers. A baby's milk bottle also was nearby. A woman's footprints also were discovered.

Then Mrs. King gave Mr. Moss her motive for the slaying. She said that Mr. King did not love her, that he taught the baby "dirty, nasty" tricks, that he had threatened to kill her on several occasions and he also had told her that he was going to take the baby from her. She also said that Mr. King had refused her a divorce.

"If figured that if he took my baby from me," said Mrs. King, "there was nothing in the world to live for. I knew I had no chance, no money, no way of getting money to fight against keeping George from taking my baby. When he finally told me he had gone to a lawyer about taking the baby I was desperate. What I did was the only thing I could think of to prevent him from doing it."

Bought Gun In Oklahoma

Mrs. King said that her husband had the gun in the car, "I suppose when he came back from Tulsa, January 21, 1939." "The shells were in the gun." says the confession. "The night before George was killed I found the gun in his jumper pocket. After I found the gun, and thinking of George taking my baby, and George having threated to kill me so many times and I knew we were going to Wichita. I made up my mind to do what I did."

At the request of Mrs. King, this statement also was put in the confession: "I desire to state that Arthur Stanley Reade had nothing whatever to do with my motive in this matter and is not in any way implicated in it."

The statement taken from Reade at Wichita yesterday said that he was friendly with Mrs. King, but denied that he had anything to do with the slaying. The Kings came to El Dorado last summer and Reade followed them a short time later. Mr. King did not know that Reade was in El Dorado Mrs. King said.

Shows Little Emotion

After the confession was signed, Mrs. King retired for the night. She had had little rest since the evening before.

Only on two or three occasions did Mrs. King show any emotion when she was making her confession. She cried for a few seconds when she was asked to sign it. During the time Mrs. King was held at the jail office while the deputies went to Wichita after her sister, Mrs. King talked freely on various subjects and asked Mr. Moss a number of questions regarding the family property and the manner to dispose of it. Mr. Moss said he would help her all he could in getting her business affairs ironed out.

Mrs. King laughed heartily during the conversation with the officers and Mr. Moss when she asked them to guess her weight. The guesses ranged from 200 to 233 pounds. Mrs. King too off her shoes and stepped on a pair of scales nearby and the pointer stopped at 260 pounds.

Mrs. Dorie had little to say. She appeared to be grealty shocked by the confession. She is much older than Mrs. King. Mrs. Dorie and her son returned to Wichita early this morning in young Dunn's car, in which he followed the officers to El Dorado last night. Mrs. Dorie was expected to return to El Dorado today.

This morning Mr. Moss filed a state complaint, charging Mrs. King with murder in the first degree in the County Court of Judge W. N. Calkins. It was possible, it was said, she would be arraigned later in the day. The charge is the first of its kind that has been filed here in many years.

Case Attracts Crowd

The report that Mrs. King had confessed to the crime spread rapidly about town this morning and a large number of persons flocked to the courthouse in the hope of catching a glimpse of the woman and attending her hearing. The throng became so large that notices had to be posted on the doors leading to the courtroom, saying no hearing would be held at this time.

Dr. A. P. Cloyes, county coroner, said this morning no inquest will be held in view of the confession.

If Mrs. King pleads guilty to first degree murder, she can be sentenced to life imprisonment in the Women's State Industrial Farm, at Lansing. Should she stand trial, a jury could either set her punishment at life sentence or hanging.

Blamed Hitch-Hiker

In her story to the Wichita officers shortly after the murder, Mrs. King said that a hitch-hiker, who had been picked up by King at the east edge of Wichita while the Kings were returning to El Dorado, killed her husband. Because of the alleged discrepancies in the story, the officers continued to interrogate Mrs. King most of yesterday.

Mrs. King said she was asleep in the back seat of the car when King stoped, and at his request she moved to the front seat to allow the hitch-hiker to ride in the rear of their car, where the baby was sleeping. Mrs. King said she fell asleep again and a few minutes later asked King to stop the car at the roadside.

Mrs. King declared while she was out of the car she heard two shots fired. She returned to the car and saw a young man searching the pockets of King, who was slumped over in the driver's seat. The young bandit, Mrs. King said, asked her if she had any money. She said she handed him her pocketbook, whicih contained $40. The hitch-hiker emptied it and threw the purse on the back seat of the car.

Observed Husband Shot

At this time, Mrs. King said she observed that her husband had been shot and that the young bandit held a gun in his hand. She then fainted. When she revived, Mrs. King asserted she turned the car around inthe road and headed for Wichita. She said she wanted to reach the home of her sister.

Several times Mrs. King said she tried to hail cars on the highway, but none of the drivers would stop. Finally she discovered a rear tire had become flat and she was forced to stop near the Veterans' Hospital, on the Kellogg Street Road. This is about five miles from Wichita.

In a few minutes, C. E. Skile, of Hutchinson, and Clark Nye, of Wichita, arrived and the officers in Wichita were notified of the death of King. Mrs. King was taken to Wichita, and an investigation of the shooting was started.

According to Mrs. King last night, her husband carried $3,000 worth of life insurance. The family also has a 20-acre tract of land near Tulsa, Okla., that is being planted to an orchard. The family, she said, does not own all the furnishings in the apartment at 510 South Atchison Street where it has been living. One payment is still due on the family car, the woman said.

The body of Mr. King was still at the Lahey & Martin Mortuary at Wichita today. No time had been set for the funeral and it is possible none will be until Mrs. King's mother arrives from her home in Montana, it was said. Mrs. King will be given permission to attend the funeral if she so desires, Mr. Moss said.

Mrs. King's Confession

STATEMENT OF VENEZUELA KING---Made in Butler County Jail---1:30 A.M., January 28, 1939, relative to the death of George King, made in the presence of: Mrs. Rita Dorie, Charles Dunn, Will R. Feder, and Erma Knust, said statement written by Gale Moss, county attorney of Butler County.

My name is Mrs. Venezuela King and my residence is 510 South Atchison, El Dorado, Kansas. George King was my husband, we were married at Cheauteau, Montana, on July 8, 1931.

About 6:30 in the evening of January 26th, 1939, my husband, baby and I drove to Wichita to visit my sister, Mrs. Rita Dorie. We took her over some groceries. We took the groceries in. I wiped dishes for Rita while she finished washing them, we sat around and talked. We started home about 9:30 when we left the house. We drove towards El Dorado by way of the Kellogg Street road through Augusta. At a point about three miles East of Augusta I had George stop the car and I got out and went to the toilet. I got back in the back seat again and took the gun out of my pocket and I only remember firing one shot in the back of George's head. I got out of the car and fainted and when I came to I realized then what I had done and grew panicky.

The first I thought of was to get to Wichita and to Rita and the police. I picked my baby up to see that he was alright and got in the carand turned around and drove toward Wichita over the same road until I had a flat tire. I stopped the car at the time I had a flat tire. When I stopped I flagged cars. No car stopped so I got back in and drove to the place where the officers found the car. I hailed another car and the picked me up and hauled me to Wichita and one of the gentlemen who picked me up called the police. The police and the ambulance came at the same time and they took me to the police station in Wichita. They, the police, asked questions and took pictures. The police took me out to Rita's. Two deputies from the sheriff's office came out and took me to the couty jail and questioned me.

At the time I stopped when the tire went flat I threw the gun into a field on the north side of the road.

I suppose you want a reason.

Ever since the baby has been born, George has taught him everything he could to be dirty, nasty and as mean as he can be. He taught him to tell me "To go to Hell" and we would talk and when anyone would ask George what the baby would be when he grew up, George would say that he was going to teach him to be a thief. An juast as fast as I would teach the baby to behave George would tear down what I would try to build up. George said there was no good in anybody and that he hated everybody in the world, me included. George threatened to take the baby away several times and have me put in an insane asylum.

George has backed me up against the wall and taken his pocket knife out and threatened to kill me because I slapped the baby on the hand two or three times.

Nothing I did was ever right. I never cooked anything to suit him. When I would want to go to a show or any place and the only thing George would say would be "What the God damned Hell do you want me to go there for?"

I have always been afraid tha he would take the baby away from me and I wouldn't want to live without the baby. George didn't love me, never has loved me, and it has been as much as two years that he would never want as much as to kiss me.

Any time I would put my arms around him and ask him if he loved me, he would push me away and say, "Is that all you can think of to talk about?" He would ask me to go places by myself when I wanted to go some place. There was no love or companionship whatever.

Before the baby was born I told him that if we couldn't make a go of it we should get a divorce, and he refused to give me a divorce. When I asked him the reason why, he said women weren't worth a damn and that he was going to give me misery the rest of my life for the misery his other wife had given him. He nagged constantly. He said he had been up to a lawyer to see about taking the baby away from me and there was going to be something started right away. George told me this two days before the shooting.

I figured that if he took my baby away from me there was nothing in the world to live for. I knew I had no chance, no money, no way of getting money to fight against keeping George from taking the baby away from me. He asid he could get 20 or 30 people to swear to what he wanted them to swear to. I told him that that would be perjury. He said I couldn't prove that it was.

When he finally told me he had gone to see a lawyer about taking the baby I was desperate. What I did was the only thing I could think of to prevent him from doing it.

After it was done I realized it wasn't right, that it shouldn't have been done, but it was too late then. I always wanted the baby to be raised right and I knew that as he grew older his life would be hell just like mine was. He seemed to like the baby---but he said don't---don't to everything the baby did---and got to slapping him and spanking him but when I would correct the baby he would hit me---and tell the baby to call me profane names.

George had the gun in the car, I suppose, when he came back from Tulsa last Saturday, January 21, 1939. The shells were in the gun. The night before George was killed I found the gun in his "jumper" pocket. After I found the gun, and thinking of George taking the baby, and George having threatened to kill me so many times and I knew we were going to Wichita---I made up my mind to do what I did.

I desire to state that Arthur Stanle Reade had nothing whatever to do with my motive in this matter and is not in any way implicated in it.

I make this statement consisting of five pages of my own free will and volition, that it is not the result of any threat or intimidation and knowing full well that it can be used against me. I have read the same and it is true and correct.

(Signed) MRS. VENEZUELA KING

Signed at El Dorado, Kansas, 2:45 A.M., January 28, 1939.

Witnessed by: WILL R. FEDER
ERMA KNUST
CHAS. DUNN
RITA DORIE

(El Dorado Times ~ Saturday ~ 28 Jan 1939)

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