Therold

I was about ten. One day the local radio station reported on the six o'clock news, we always listened to that. It would be he last news of the day, a one-hour jazz program called Bourbon Street Parade came on afterwards and ran until seven. From seven to ten was a pop program (they played country all day after the morning show, with a one-hour 'bulletin board' show at noon where people could call in and advertise stuff for sale. Describe the item and give a phone number. And a price generally. Then back to country - Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash. And some stuff that made me think Mom wasn't listening too close. Evan at that age I knew what The Grapes in Mary's Vineyard was about. Seven to ten was contemporary pop for the young folks, later the DJ was a girlfriend for a while, fortunately for one or both us it didn't last long. I know for me it was good, and probably for her as well. Ten PM was the end until six or seven the next morning.

Anyway news that day was a shooting, a fatal one. Fairly unusual, we't have maybe one killing a year and maybe none. Rarely multiples. So any killing was a major event. The news (we had a newspaper too and they'd tell you about it on Friday) was supplemented by the grapevine. So all we knew until then was a fellow was shot and killed. Had his name - Therold Holt.

Mom said he was a justice of the peace. I didn't know what that was but it sounded important. Actually it meant he had been elected to the quorum court, kind of like a city council only for the county. And they could perform marriages, I probably knew that. Well, the next meeting of the quorum court would have be short at least one member for a while.

By the six o'clock news the next day we pretty well had it all. Seems Mr. Holt made a living hauling gravel. There were big gravel pits all along a nearby ridge of low hills, and the clay gravel was used for roads and driveways and parking lots and such. The county roads accounted for a lot of it, and a few miles or private roads on our farm were built with it. It was a pretty good business for a guy with a truck or two, it was always in demand.

Therold had a truck, maybe more than one. He got into a habit of parking it in a shed owned by another guy, without permission. The owner of the shed objected and Therold beat him up a time or three over it. On the last day of his life he drove the truck over and the owner ot the shed told him he couldn't park there. Therold beat him up again.

According to witness the beat-up fellow crawled into his house and before Therold had gotten around to getting back in the truck he came out with a .22 pistol. Fired four shots, all of them connected but one just grazed the target. Therold fell down on his hands and knees and cursed for a bit and expired.

Therold had an employee, a big African-American fellow. He was sitting in the truck watching the fun and the bullet that grazed Therold continued on and hit him in the neck. He died shortly afterwards. What do you figure the chances are?

The shooter was arrested and hauled in to the county jail, seeing as how he had shot and killed a man who wasn't shooting at him. The charges were dismissed due to lack of evidence. Evidence of a crime presumably, it was pretty clear he shot the guy and he was dead afterwards, but it was also pretty clear Therold was a bully who had it coming. He needed killing as used to say, and some probably still do.

The demise of the large African-American fellow was not addressed. The fact that he was laughing at the poor beat-up fellow probably had something to do with it. And it was 1960-something.

A .22 pistol is right handy for a lot of things. They're fun and cheap to shoot. I'd prefer something more substantial (.45 for many years but now I prefer a 10mm) for stopping an attacker, one shooting at me or wielding a large weapon edged or not, but a .22 will kill a man quite nicely. Put three of four in the ten ring or somewhere close and it won't knock him down right off but he probably won't keep going for long. Personally I'd use more than four. A Ruger MKI, real popular back then, had a ten round magazine and you could empty it in a few seconds and stay on target.

Not long afterwards Mom bought me new bedroom furniture. It was a fancy cedar four-poster and matching chest and dresser. She said it was too good a deal to pass up, a customer had ordered it at the local Dixie Furniture and never did come to get it. Because he beat up the wrong man one time too many. Nice furniture, not that I was particular.

There you are, barely digressed at all. Maybe the next killing will be more interesting.