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 making it. The encounter occurred in this w, 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