STABBING AFFAIR - CHASTAIN SCRAPBOOK

WILKIE, DOOLEY, CHILDS

Posted By: Judy Chastain (email)
Date: 2/21/2002 at 20:19:30

>From the Chastain Scrapbook:

The Democrat-Reporter went to press an hour
too soon last week to give an account of the
difficulty between William Wilkie and Jake
Dooley, in Morgan township, on Monday of last
week. Immediately after the encounter Dooley
went home, changed horses and left the
neighborhood. A warrant was issued and
parties sent out to overtake and arrest him.
He was captured a few miles this side of
Centerville, brought back, taken before
'Squire Moore, waived examination and was
delivered over to Sheriff Allen who brought
him here and lodged him in jail. He does not
deny the stabbing but says he did it after he
had been struck at by Wilkie with a stick of
wood. At last accounts Wilkie was reported
much better, and it is thought will recover.

The following is the Lineville Tribune's
account of the affair.

It appears that the difficulty grew out
of an effort on the part of the Dooleys to
gain possession of some of the personal
property belonging to Mapes, estate, the
charge of which had been given to Wilkie by
the administrator, J. D. Petty By a
succession of remarkable fatalities, all
three of the adult members of the Mapes
family have died since the beginning of
winter, the old man in November, the old lady
and widowed daughter, Mrs. Maggie Childs,
last week, the former on Wednesday and the
latter on Friday, leaving only two surviving
children, a girl 16 years old and a boy 7 or
8, children of Mrs. Childs. Mrs. Dooley,
mother of Jake, is a daughter of the Mapes.
It is reported that Wilkie said at the burial
of Mrs. Childs on Saturday that old Mrs.
Dooley had made an effort to take away some
clothing belonging to the Mapes, and this
report coming to the knowledge of the Dooleys
it appears that Jake was dispatched to make
Wilkie retract the charge or punish him for
maki!
ng it. The encounter occurred in this way,
as near as we can learn: Jake rode up to
Wilkie, who was chopping wood in front of the
house, and asked him if he had made the
statement as above; Wilkie replied that he
had, whereupon Dooley leaped from his horse
and attacked him with his fists. After
receiving two or three blows Wilkie clinched,
threw Dooley and proceeded to pound him. At
some time during the conflict Dooley had
succeeded in drawing his knife and upon
finding that Wilkie had got the better of
him, proceeded to use it in a most desperate
and savage manner. He inflicted three wounds
on Wilkie, one in the thigh, one in the back,
penetrating the left kidney, and a slight one
on one cheek. On finding himself badly
wounded, Wilkie, let go of Dooley and secured
the axe, and thus armed made Dooley put up
his knife, and leave the place. Dr.
Glendenning who attended Wilkie, thinks the
wound which penetrated the kidney will prove
fatal, although there is a possibility!
of his recovery.

Copied by Judy Chastain
February 18, 2002