MR. F. C. WILLIAMS TALKING
January 29, 1943
Neither Bill Payne nor Jim
Livingston stole cattle. He did not believe that Payne killed Poe, as
had been said, because Poe tried to get him to join in stealing some
cattle, and that Payne told him that he wasn’t going to do that any
more, that he had boys who were beginning to notice, and that he was
trying to raise them right, and that Poe was supposed to have said,
"You are just a ...... coward." He said that Poe was a
constable.
Mr. Williams’ version of the Poe killing was that Payne and Poe fell
out over "handling" a colt. He understood that they and Griffin
were riding together and that Poe left them and went to his house and got
a pistol and returned. That in the meantime Payne had dismounted. He met
Poe, grabbed the reins of his horse and shot him. Poe was a large man,
that when he hit the ground, he grunted like a hog."
That Payne had talked about Poe and Hal Williams in connection with the
colt, intimated that they had stolen it. Mr. Williams said that he
went to Payne and told him that he had heard enough of that talk and that
it had to stop. (Hal Williams was Mr. Williams’ brother.)
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CHESLEY'S HAMILTON COUNTY INTERVIEWS
BY
HERVEY EDGAR CHESLEY, JR.
Born: 21 November, 1894
Died: 17 July, 1979