Death By Violence in Perry County
Oliver Thomas, April 16, 1918
Oliver Thomas (November 1865) and Nathaniel Thomas (January 1869) were sons of James C. and Sarah Humphrey Thomas. Thomas family farms totaled more than 200 acres which lay around a half-mile east and a mile north of the community of Dodd, a mile upstream from the mouth of Deer Creek.
Oliver Thomas, a bachelor, had operated a store and post office at Dodd until early 1918 when he sold the stock to Charles Polk and began farming on the mile-distant part of the family farm. He was thought to have upwords of $200 in cash from the sale of the stock, whether in the bank or at home was not known. No Money was found in his cigar-money box in the house.
Evidence collected by the time of the trail of his nephew, Oval Thomas (November 1898, son of Nathaniel and Lennie Roberson Thomas) on February 17-18, 1919 outlined the following sequence of actions: On Tuesday, April 16, Oval Thomas worked a half-day for his Uncle Oliver, then he returned home. That evening he called on his fiancée, Ethel Allen (August 24, 1901), daughter of Charles and Sophia Little Allen, at his customary time of 5:00 pm. However, he left three hours before his customary time of 9:00 pm.
Oliver Thomas came from the field some time at the end of the day. Since the team was found in the stall the next morning with the harness still on. Oliver must have been killed in or near the barn – one shot in the back of the head with a weapon of .22 caliber. The body was carried to a ravine some distance from the barn and left with a freshly killed sheep laid across it, ostensibly to confuse the scent for any bloodhound which might be brought into action.
On Wednesday the 17th Oval Thomas went to Evansville and purchased two suits of clothes at $25 and $15 each. When questioned as to the source of his money he claimed to have accumulated it while employed at an intuition at Ft. Wayne and then at the nearby O’Dell farm. His mother, Mrs. Lennie Thomas, supported her son’s claim in her rather questionable testimony. Red stains on Oval’c clothing retrieved from his parents’ home were identified by Dr. Dillis S. Conner as blood, whether animal or human he could not say. Laboratory tests in Evansville were not introduced into evidence at the trail.
A First Degree Murder indictment was brought on April 25, 1918, trail was set for August 21. On August 12 Perry Circuit Judge William Ridley was replaced by Ralph E. Roberts of Rockport. In January newly elected prosecutor Edmund Lincoln had to withdraw because he had been employed before by Thomas in another matter.
At the trail Oscar C. Minor, William Waldschmidt, and Charles T. Brown of English, Ind., prosecuted, John W. Ewing of New Albany, formerly of Perry County, defended. There were 21 witnesses for the state, 18 for the defense. Testimony ended at noon on Thursday, February 20. Closing arguments, instruction to the jury, and supper occupied the afternoon and evening until 8:30 pm. The jury returned the verdict of Guilty of Manslaughter, sentence of 2-21 years. Sheriff James Masterson took him to Jeffersonville on Saturday, February 22.
Oval Thomas returned to the area in the late ’30s after serving his sentence; he was shunned by his former neighbors.