Submitted by:

Robert L. Haddock

Surnames: PRATT

TEMPLE DAILY TELEGRAM

Temple, Bell Co., Texas

Thursday, November 10, 1910

J. T. PRATT, WELL

KNOWN HERE, SHOT

INSTANTLY KILLED AT MADILL

OK., LAST SUNDAY

Was Sheriff of His County and Highly

Esteemed – Two Brothers Live

in Temple

     The following special, taken from the Dallas News of yesterday, is of local interest.

     Madill, Ok., Nov. 6 – At about noon, J. T. Pratt was shot and almost instantly killed. His slayer escaped and is being hunted by a posse of officers and armed citizens. The shooting was done from the door of a wagon yard house with a 22-caliber rifle. The bullet passed through the body in the region of the heart. The deceased leaves a widow and children, and was an efficient officer.

     Before dying, he made a statement to the county attorney, declaring that Jim Thompson did the shooting.

     The J. T. Pratt referred to was Joe Pratt, son of W. T. Pratt of Blevins, and brother of Henry and Will Pratt of this city.

     Henry received a telegram Sunday announcing the death of his brother and he and Will immediately went to Madill. From them a message was received yesterday by Mrs. Henry Pratt announcing that they were starting for with the body and that the burial would be at Eddy today.

     Further particulars of the tragedy have not been obtained. Deceased was sheriff of the county in which he was killed, and it is supposed that in pursuance of his official duty he had incurred the emnity of the man who murdered him.

     He had never resided in Temple, but for many years he was a resident of Rosebud and that vicinity. He was as a boy and young man a very quiet, peaceable person, and a hard worker. That he was a man trused in his new is evidenced by his election to the high office he held at the time of his death. His father is a frequent visitor in Temple and practically all the business men are acquainted with him, the old being at Barclay in Falls county, where the family settled in an early day and prospered, Mr. Pratt being now one of the largest land owners in this section of country, and cultivating hundreds of acres of the finest land. Henry, the brother who resides in Temple, has been a citizen here for a number of years. At present, he is associated with Mr. Wilson in the real estate business of Wilson & Pratt. He also has many friends who deeply sympathize with the bereaved ones in the untimely death of the son and brother.