Elihu Martin King (c1856-1888) gave remarkable account of his homicide. Doctor Howard Switzer (1850-1923) “procured a light wagon, and in company with Constable Clayton Ramsey, came to this city [Lexington, Kentucky] with King, taking him to St. Joseph’s hospital.” Cincinnati, Ohio Enquirer described Samaritan Switzer “sitting over and fanning [the victim] and doing all in his power to relieve him.” “King was entirely rational during the trip,” his family physician attested. [1]
King conveyed “account of the encounter” to a Transcript reporter, likely the Lexington Morning Transcript, “while laying at the hospital.” A version of this note-taking appeared in The Blue-Grass Clipper published at Midway, in Woodford County, Kentucky.
King did not come across as particularly vindictive in what would resolve as deathbed statement.
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Martin King, by his account, “managed at different times to pay Dr. Switzer sums cutting down the account against him about one-half. Some time ago he bargained for a little farm in Madison county to be paid for on time.” Switzer, at rail station, “dunned him for the bill. King said he would not be able to pay him anything on it just then; that he had not been quite able to pay all his rent from the land he made a crop on this year; that he had a little cash money but needed it all to pay the expense of moving. He had however a note on hand for $15 and some cents given him by a man for whom he had plowed last spring. This he offered to Dr. Switzer in liquidation of his account.”
Reporting driſted from implied first-person: Francis ‘Frank’ Payne Drake (1861-1936) “in whose store the conversation took place, was asked by Switzer if the maker of the note was good pay. He declined to say, and Switzer then refused to take the note, saying it was worth about as much as King’s individual note would be.”
“This enraged King because he took it to be a slur on his honesty. The men by this time had moved out into the street in front of Drake’s store. Several angry words passed between the men and King stooping down gathered a rock which he attempted to hurl at Switzer, but before he could do so the Doctor grappled with him and King, raising his arm, struck Switzer over the head with the rock, which he still held in his hand.”
“The combatants were pulled apart by Drake and a man named Farrell from Lexington. Drake took Switzer to the front of the store while Farrell drew King to the rear, where they sat upon a pile of boards. A few minutes aſterward Switzer came around the corner of the store with a pistol in his hand. King, who was sitting with a cedar stick in his hand, sprang toward Switzer, catching hold of his pistol hand, and pinioning his arms so that he could not shoot.”
“While they were scuffling, [George Henderson (1855-1941)], a cousin of King, came up behind Switzer and struck him on the back of the head with a heavy scale weight. It was then that the pistol was discharged. King could not say whether Switzer had pulled the trigger or himself, both were struggling at the time for the possession of the weapon.”[3]
Though it offered dim view of problem solving, declaration did not altogether damn the shooter.
“King went in” to Drake’s establishment “and laid down on some sacks” Switzer would attest. “The doctor then examined him and found that the bullet had entered near the navel and to the leſt and below.” Said Switzer, “I then telegraphed for Dr. Scott.”[4] “I told [King] I would care for him until the doctor came.” “I gave him a dose of morphine; I also gave him three tablespoonsful of whisky and he drank about half of it. We …” apparently he and Ramsey “… then decided to carry [King] to St. Joseph’s Hospital. I did all I could for him on the way.”
The grievously wounded man is to have stated “Dr. Switzer came around the depot with a big pistol in his hand. I saw him, and rushed upon him and clenched him. I held him so tight that he couldn’t shoot me. I put one arm around his neck and grabbed the pistol with the other hand, holding the muzzle down. I was so close to him that neither of us could move much.”
Storylines paralleled, but I find first-person victim statement extraordinary: “Just then my cousin, George Henderson, came up and, seeing who was fighting, picked up a couple of scale weights and began to hit Dr. Switzer with them. The pistol went off in the scuffle, and I fell wounded.”
Astonishingly, our agonizing, hospitalized subject “seemed to bear no ill will to Switzer, who frequently came and sat near him while [King] told his story. [King] did not rave wildly or speak angrily, but with a clear mind and in a connected way.”
The patient consented to surgery described to him as “his only chance, and that one in a thousand for recovery.” Two reporters “interested in the dangerous and difficult operation of laterotomy [laparotomy]” observed procedure by a six-physician team. The Kentucky Leader correspondent made forensically useful observations: “From the appearance of the wound it was [made by] 44-calliber pistol, and when discharged was so close as to burn the surrounding flesh.” Also, “The course of the ball could not be traced.”
Switzer advertised himself as an ‘allopath’. An advance on homeopathy, allopathic practitioners relied on medical training, science-based practice. Switzer had taken degrees at Central University of Kentucky and, in 1884, Hospital College of Medicine at Louisville, Kentucky. He was three years beyond receiving Chicago Medical College diploma. He’d been through practicing stints there and at Memphis, Tennessee.[6]
Warsaw Independent, at some remove in Warsaw, Gallatin County, Kentucky, would report Switzer “attempted to extract the fatal bullet but without success.” He, still a general practitioner, did not. Similarly, 12-line notice in the Kentuckian-Citizen at Paris in Bourbon County concluded “The wounded man was taken to St. Joseph's hospital, where he was waited on by Dr. Switzer, and claims that he does not believe the Doctor intended to shoot him.”
Captain John Connelly May (1849-1903) and Edmund Shackelford DeLong (1842-1899) promptly appeared as bondsmen.[9] $3,000 was vouchsafed, “to be void on [Switzer’s] appearance” before James on Monday morning. The doctor was released from custody.
King alleged Switzer had rounded corner of the store, advanced on him. Louisville Special news was probably based on Switzer’s initial declaration to Judge James. ‘Cedar stick’ was not alluded to. “The doctor looked around and saw King coming from behind the station with a big club in his hand, which he was brandishing in a threatening manner. The two men advanced on each other and for the second time grappled, King grabbing Switzer’s pistol by the barrel. They struggled together for several minutes when Henderson come up behind the doctor and struck him a terrible blow on the back of the head with one of the scale weights. In a moment aſter, the pistol was discharged and King cried out: "I’m shot; oh, I’m shot."”
The Courier-Journal, on front page the day following the affray, portrayed medical procedure with some precision: “Drs. Brock, Robinson, Malloy, Patterson and Coleman performed an operation on [King].[10] They found the intestines were badly cut in several places by the bullet, and aſter clipping off the bruised parts with scissors and sewing up the various wounds, the intestines were put back through the large opening which had been cut in the victim’s abdomen.” The Cincinnati Enquirer described bowel pieces “fastened together with silver thread.”
The Louisville paper, at some remove, found the wounded man “… has a wife and one child, and was a respectable, but poor, farmer.” Furthermore, “Dr. Howard Switzer is a highly-esteemed country physician, and stands in the estimation of his fellow-citizens.”
Aſter dangerous operation, King’s “skin was found to be cold and clammy, his pulse low and his breathing difficult. Morphine and whisky were hypodermically administered, and everything possible was done for the sufferer by the physicians and attendant Sisters” a Saturday evening edition of The Kentucky Leader contended. Under front-page headline ‘Martin King is Dead.’
His victim having died, a warrant for murder was issued. Switzer was rearrested and jailed.[12]
King had lived about seven hours aſter his shooting: it proved a long day for Switzer, who apparently secured legal representation. A hearing was fixed for ten o’clock the following day, Saturday 28 July. Uniquely, “The prisoner was driven by Deputy Sheriff [Edward Tilford Gross (1853-1914)] to Chilesburg, to visit his wife who is lying very ill.”
Mollie (Early) Switzer (1855-1928) was six months pregnant with their first child. “The deputy and prisoner returned to Lexington about midnight.” Switzer then entered the jailer’s custody. It seems missed opportunity in court of public opinion, that Switzer or his attorneys did not think to proffer urgent need for patients to settle bills: I doubt reporters would have passed on opportunity to wring sympathy for an expectant father.
Examining Trial, initially set for Saturday morning, was continued with consent of all parties.
Defense strategy soon entered messaging. Brief account of mortal wounding appeared in the New York Times on Saturday. Beneath “A Doctor Defending Himself.” Headline stood above terse but favorable sentiments.
Cincinnati’s Evening Post imparted ‘Little Ditties Sung by Ohio Valley Telegraph Wires’. The Saturday paragraph read “Kentuck physicians have a business-like way of collecting their dues. Dr. Howard Switzer, of Yarnaltown, first saved Martin King’s life, then took it away with a dose of cold lead because he wasn’t paid for the first job.”
Monday passed. Attorney James had been elected in ninth round of Democratic Party balloting to serve out another’s unexpired judicial term in Fayette County Court not much more than three months prior. That day, 30 July, party bedfellows named Judge James their candidate to fill a vacancy in the Kentucky legislature. He had no doubt been politicking for some time.
Lexington’s Leader devoted more than a page-deep column on front page, to crudely synopsize Principal Witnesses for the prosecution. Frank Drake led off: “I live at Yarnalton seven miles from Lexington on the L. and N. road; keep store there and attend to the railroad’s business.”[15] “The first fuss occurred on the depot platform about 10 o’clock in the morning; [I] was weighing wheat when the Doctor came around on the platform and spoke to me: a short while aſterward I saw the Doctor, Henderson and King sitting together; heard King say, "Doctor I cannot pay you." Then I went into the depot; Doctor and King were standing near the corner of the depot; King asked the Doctor if he would like to have a note on M. F. Jenkins; the Doctor asked me whether Jenkins was good or not, I had told him I had nothing to say about it; the Doctor said, "Martin, I’m afraid that wouldn’t be any better than your note."”
I found it interesting that Courier-Journal Special Report, otherwise incredibly specific, had redacted note issuer’s name: “I’m afraid J----’s note wouldn’t be any better than yours.”[16] It’s insignificant detail, but Switzer’s observation on creditworthiness fomented high dudgeon: by King’s account, language was taken as a slur, enraged him. Transcript deathbed statement alluded to “slighting remarks” by Switzer.
The Kentucky Leader had abstracted “sharp retort” by King. Drake, conversant in uncouth language, proved level-headed. He recalled King’s response as “Doctor, haven’t I always paid you?” A short time later he heard King say “"Jesus Christ!" in a loud tone of voice, saw him jump off the platform, pick up two rocks and return to the platform in a threatening attitude …” Drake watched Switzer extend an arm, “then King struck the Doctor with one of the rocks, and the two men clinched.”
Drake called on Everett Aaron Farra (1860-1913, seen as ‘Farrell’ in Transcript reporting), asking him to help separate the pair actively fighting. “I took the Doctor and Farra took King, each one of us going in different directions with our men. Henderson came up while I was holding the doctor and the latter [Switzer] said to him: "You black s-- of a b----;" Henderson then got a weight off the scales standing on the platform, but I made him put it down and he went back and began unloading coal again.” (Henderson and his parents were persistently enumerated as ‘White’ in census race data.)
Drake cast Switzer, wounded by King, as brewing for a fight: Henderson “was on the wagon when the doctor repeated his former offensive remark. Henderson got down from the wagon and came towards us, but I asked him to go back and he went. About this time [Leslie Combs Downs (1847–1911)] came up, and being so tired holding Switzer, I asked Downes to hold him,” and reason with the feisty thirty-eight-year-old.[17] “The doctor said he wanted to go to his buggy. I went in the house, and the next thing I saw of the doctor he was standing near the corner of the depot with his pistol in his hand.” Drake watched Henderson raise a scale weight, “but he did not throw it. In a minute aſterward I heard noises as if rocks and sticks were being thrown against the end of the house. I heard some one hallow, "Frank, Oh Frank! Frank Drake!"”
The witness constructed a tableau. He went to his door “and saw all three men in bent attitudes and clenched; saw smoke and saw King’s pants pocket on fire. I went to them and grabbed the pistol, which was being held by Switzer and Henderson with both hands and by King with one hand; I got possession of the pistol and put it in my safe.” Curiously, “The doctor came to me a few minutes aſterward and asked for the pistol, saying he wanted to give himself up and that he was afraid of Henderson.”
Drake noted morphine, and Switzer’s contention the wound was probably fatal. On re-direct, he testified to finding three scale weights near corner of the depot “where noises were heard,” and that window shutters “were indented as if they had been struck by the weights.”
Farra made a credible witness for the prosecution. He saw Switzer in Drake’s store about nine-thirty that morning. Half an hour later “Drake came to the door and said there was a fight outside. The men were clinched when I first saw them; [I] saw nothing in the hands of either. I took hold of King … went around to the depot next to the railroad and out of sight of Switzer.” He’d witnessed blood on Switzer’s face, “it was running down on his collar and shirt front.” Farra contended King “said he was satisfied to allow the matter to remain as it was.”
I can see how Switzer might take umbrage at settling the matter at this juncture. He’d come to collect money owed, instead received a damaging head wound.
King “sat on a pile of shingles and then on a barrel. He picked up a stick, but I took it away from him and threw it on the platform. He told me he had done everything he could to satisfy Dr. Switzer. Aſter King was pacified I went around the house to see about the doctor. I met him at the corner of the house with a pistol in his hand and told him not to go around there, that King was reconciled to let the matter drop, but he paid no attention to me, and, pushing me aside, went on.” By his account, Farra then told Switzer “If you are going to shoot him I don’t want to see it.” He looked back, rounding a corner in return to the store, “and saw the two men together, with King grasping the pistol.” Farra then continued on.
The witness asserted that, aſter two or three minutes inside the store, “I heard a pistol shot distinctly; heard a voice which I recognized as King’s say: "Oh, Frank! oh Frank! oh Frank!"” And that Drake never answered.
Farra and Drake went outside, “… saw three men; King and Switzer were clinched, and I think the other had hold of Switzer,” who held the pistol out between the other men. “[I] don’t think King or Henderson had hold of the pistol; aſter the difficulty was over, [I] saw a rock lying on the platform.” He’d seen no weights, no indentations on window shutters.
One of Switzer’s team cross-examined for elucidation. “The doctor said to King that he was sorry that the thing occurred, and that it was an accident. King replied that "it was not an accident, you were trying to shoot me all the time."” Farra described combatants’ repartee: “Didn’t you have hold of the pistol?” Switzer asked. “Yes,” replied King, “but it was to keep you from shooting me.” Per Farra, “The doctor’s reply to this was "Another man was trying to kill me with a weight, and what I did was done in self-defense."” Testimony presented inherent discord to Judge James. Was this murder? Was it accidental shooting … or did Switzer make intentional act of self-defense?
I find King’s purported rejoinder most curious: “Well, doctor, if I die or get well, its God’s will; either way I don’t want anything done with you.” Per Farra, Switzer made no reply. Statement intrigues me. Was King not wanting anything more to do with his creditor? Or was he, through Farra, telling the court that he felt Switzer deserved no consequences?
In deathbed narrative, Transcript reporter wrote “King could not say whether Switzer had pulled the trigger or himself.” Both statements seem exculpatory to me.
The Kentuckian-Citizen observed Farra’s testimony “was anything but flattering to the doctor’s case.”
“Sam Hany … saw Henderson run up aſter the doctor and King were clinched, and throw a weight which struck Switzer on the head.” He testified two weights were thrown before the pistol was discharged.
I concur with paragraph reported out of Richmond, Kentucky, where The Climax: determined “The case seems to be a little mixed.”
Trial was resumed at ten o’clock on Thursday, 2 August. George Henderson, “a first cousin of the deceased, who took an active part in the appalling tragedy of that day,” was first witness on the stand. Curiously, The Kentucky Leader did not synopsize his testimony. “Dr. Barrow, Harry Drake, Dr. Malloy and Leslie Downs were also examined,” but their contentions were not reported. [Harry L. Drake (1867-1940) was Frank’s brother. See endn. [10] for Barrow and Molloy.] Perhaps typesetter deadline imposed. Kentucky Gazette in reprint asserted “nothing new was developed” by the quartet. “The trial will last perhaps for another day,” the Leader surmised.
Judge James adjourned the trial until 9:00 the following morning, Friday 3 August.
Report of Switzer testimony commenced amidst heated action on his fateful day. The Citizen summarized: Henderson “picked up a rock and started to throw at me. I said you s---b, what have you got to do with it; said to Frank Drake, don’t let Henderson strike me with that rock. He threw the rock and struck me in the groin. I then went to my buggy and got my pistol and started towards him. He had some weights in his hand. Henderson said he would surrender. I turned away from him, and then advanced towards King, when he advanced toward me with sticks.” Switzer avoided notion that he’d rounded depot’s corner.
Introducing new accusation, which may indeed have been out of Drake’s earshot, Switzer swore “They rushed at me and cried "Let’s kill him!"” Switzer testimony, as printed, was doled out in morsels: “I didn’t know at the time that King was shot” contrasted with Drake’s assertion of pants afire. “Drake came out and got the pistol; I didn’t want to give it up, thinking Henderson wanted to kill me.”
I cited, in opening, King lying on sacks, telegraphy for a doctor, morphine and whisky … which came from this reporting. Switzer also attested King “said God would be the judge whether you tried to kill me or not.” In this instance Judge James would be the decider.
Switzer was apparently in the hands of defense council when shirt and collar “covered” with blood were exhibited. “Did you make any effort to shoot him?”
“I did not. My object in getting the pistol was simply to protect myself.” No longer collecting a debt, “My purpose in going towards King with the pistol was to subdue him like I had done Henderson” … testimony at variance with Farra contention that “King was pacified” on far side of depot from Switzer’s buggy.
The reporter made several errors, may have lost the thread a few times, but Switzer did not appear as having been particularly well coached in his telling: “King did not wait for me to get to him; I saw him approaching; there was nothing to prevent me shooting him if I had been so disposed.”
“I heard King say let’s kill him; that was just aſter I received the blow on the skull. The pistol went off aſter I received the blow from King [Henderson]. I did not fire the pistol intentionally; I have the recollection of King pulling at the pistol; he was holding the barrel …” Switzer also contraried Farrar by contending he had called out to Drake.
Prosecutor Allen examined the witness. He narrowed focus, played adversary with some skill. Other reporting indicated Henderson too owed the doctor: it may have arisen in Transcript correspondent’s vague use of pronoun in Switzer statement: “Just as Henderson was getting in the wagon I said to him that it was not too late for him to pay me what he owed.” ‘Him’ was probably King, as Switzer was surprised Henderson had involved himself, asking “What have you got to do with it?” Per Switzer, “Henderson replied with a good deal of anger that I wouldn’t get it [payment], but would pay me when he got it; I replied "Very well, that there was no need of showing anger."”
“King jumped down [from the wagon] and picked up two rocks and sprang upon the platform; I then advanced towards him with the intention of collaring him, and did … King struck me over the head with the rocks; Drake dragged me off. Am positive that Henderson picked up rocks when I said "You d----b-----s--- of a b---- what have you got to do with it?" He said "I have got a heap to do with it."”
No longer quarantined by Drake, Switzer got to his buggy, “where my pistol was wrapped up in paper.” You can sense Switzer being peppered with questions: “I had the pistol because I expected to be out late at night; had no intention of any trouble with these men; do not usually carry firearms.” Switzer did not recollect seeing Leslie Downs, let alone remember him saying “Go back and put your pistol up.”
Allen pressed for moment-by-moment depiction. Switzer remembered “distinctly cocking pistol on my way back to the scales; pistol makes some noise in the cocking.” I think it likely the doctor intended the sound be menacing. “I carried pistol in both hands.”
“I then started towards King … sitting on a barrel with a stick in his hand; my reason for subduing him was because he had a stick in his hand.” ‘Club’ receded from the doctor’s recorded terminology. Allen likely pressed Switzer, on steaming ‘round depot’s far side: “[I] don’t remember whether the man I met on my way [Farra] said "Don’t go around there;" I pushed him, perhaps aside.”
Though his resolve was to “subdue him, make him throw down his stick” Switzer argued “I did not advance on King in a threatening manner.” Cross-examination was effective: a likely fatigued or medicated Switzer contradicted himself, now claimed he “had pistol in my hand down to side.” “When King advanced with stick upraised I still held my pistol down, keeping it cocked.” “King first grasped the pistol before he struck me.” When Henderson came from behind and “grabbed me around the waist, King said, "Let’s kill him."” Switzer was certain “the pistol had not gone off at the time Henderson grabbed him.”
“I had my finger on the trigger the whole time,” he admitted. I leave assessment to you the reader; I detect huffiness or exasperation: the pistol “went off immediately aſter I was struck with the stick, the blow did not stun me enough to entirely eradicate my ideas of time.” (King had related “I put one arm around his neck and grabbed the pistol with the other ...” By this account, King apparently grasped pistol in one hand, raised his other clutching a stick.) Switzer had pleaded, in initial appearance, that “Henderson hit me on the back of the head with the weight, and the pistol went off.” Either press report during Examining Trial was inattentive, or Switzer, perhaps again deteriorating, lost the point of who had struck him, and with what object.
Switzer recalled Drake separating the parties. “Aſter that King cried, "Oh Lord, I’m shot."” He remembered King entering Drake’s office where, for first time known to me, he imparted his antagonist foretold “Doctor, you have had your day and I will have mine.” Switzer introduced bedside manner. Aſter King had laid down, perhaps never to walk again, Switzer claimed to have responded “I am sorry this occurred.” To which King replied “You were trying to shoot me the whole time.” By allegedly countering with “What was done was done in self-defense,” the defendant neatly bracketed his lawyers’ strategies.
Allen masterfully drew cross-examination to a close. He scrutinized. “Can you tell why it was that you said at first it was an accident, and then, "what was done was done in self-defense?"”
Transcript reporting did not provide direct answer. In print, the doctor went off-topic, spoke for King, saying the victim did not think it was an accident. Switzer portrayed King, passing into Drake’s office and saying “God will judge whether you fired intentionally or not.” Switzer did not remember King saying “don’t want anything done with you, because it will do me no good.”
I am surprised defense counsel did not put on the stand the two reporters who heard King allocute at Saint Joseph’s hospital. King’s account had, to me, been more indicative of accidental discharge than the doctor’s own, muddy narrative.
The defense produced nine character witnesses.[20] Among them, DeLong, who had gone his bail, had known Switzer about three years: “His standing was good.” ‘Mr. Wheeler’ vowed to “have known the doctor for some time. Considered his standing above reproach.” I’ve identified another five at endnote, anticipating we’ll better understand our subject if we attend to those among whom he was popular.
The Citizen contended Switzer gave his account “in a very straightforward way.” And that public opinion was “decidedly in favor of the defendant.”
The Blue-Grass Clipper, which had reprinted deathbed narrative, led with local interest: “Dr. Switzer, formerly of the Payne’s Depot neighborhood but now of Chilesburg, in Fayette county …” shot King and “… is favorably known here, where the news of the tragedy was heard with regret. Not long since [Switzer] married Miss Early, sister to Mr. R. R. Early, of near this place.”[21]
Mollie Early had, days before Christmas 1887, wed Howard Switzer at ‘Waverly’, the Woodford County home of her brother, Rogers Randolph Early, Sr. (1852-1913). Early had, in 1880 married Ella Wheeler (1855-1936), daughter of Character Witness for Switzer. [These Earlys figure prominently in Tales from the Attic.]
Judge James was satisfied by Allen’s case. He ordered Switzer to await the action of a grand jury, according to Kentucky Gazette. The Blue-Grass Clipper elucidated: “The examining trial of Dr. Howard Switzer for killing Martin King, at Yarnallton, was concluded at Lexington [Friday] aſternoon. County Judge James held the defendant to answer for further trial at the next term of the Fayette Circuit Court, and fixed his bond at $2,000. Bond was executed and Dr. Switzer was released.” R. R. Early replaced Captain John May as a bondsman.
“Aſter the evidence in the case of Dr. Switzer for the killing of Martin King was completed … Judge Mulligan made the argument for the defense and Col. Allen for the Commonwealth. Both made rare speeches,” announced Evening Edition of The Kentucky Leader. “Aſter the arguments were through Judge James delivered his opinion in a very short order, saying it was not a case of murder, but manslaughter, and he would hold [Switzer] over to the Circuit Court …” before granting bail. “Mr. Ed. DeLong, Alex. Shropshire and Roger Early going on the bond.” Alexander Harcourt Shropshire (1839-1900), of some repute, was Switzer’s first cousin.[22]
I found “rare speeches” incongruous. Allen and Mulligan were political animals. On 4 August, the day following decision in Switzer’s case, the Prosecutor and Defense Attorney were among a quartet of speakers to rally Lexington Democrats. At the county courthouse! “Judge Mulligan’s speech was sound and witty” by Courier-Journal assessment.
Amelia (Brookshire) King (c1871-1888), widow of Martin King, on Saturday 10 August died seven days from trial conclusion. Apparently at Yarnalton, at five o’clock in the evening. “Her remains were taken to Clark County for burial” confided the Kentucky Leader. Martin and Amelia had married there, among her people, on 21 February … less than six months prior. King’s body “inclosed in a suitable casket” had on 28 July been removed to Irvine, at Estill County, for interment. I found no reporting on disposition of his orphaned son.
The Cincinnati Enquirer the next day introduced “grief” to the teen’s passing. Though forename was rare, death notices reverberated for weeks. At culmination, most papers imputed “Excessive grief over the loss of her husband is said to have caused her death.” Let us expect Amelia would have read her new husband's hospital declaration: "For the sake of his babies he had married again ..." And imagine the blushing bride had married for love.
Also on 10 August, Judge James was reported as elected to the legislature. Sheriff Rogers was re-elected to his own post.
Months passed. Mollie produced Howard Switzer, Jr. on 30 October at Chilesburg.
Kentucky Gazette broke news on 1 December 1888: Fayette Circuit Court had dismissed murder charges against Dr. Howard Switzer. Our subject was born and raised on Scott County, Kentucky farm near Georgetown. It was Georgetown Times that amended narrative. Under “Dr. Switzer’s Friends” headline. “The Grand Jury of Fayette County failed to find an indictment against Dr. Howard Switzer, who, in July last, in a difficulty at Yarnell’s, shot one Martin King, the latter dying of his wounds a few hours aſter. This action will be gratifying news to the many friends of Dr. Switzer in this section.” The Rogers Randolph Early family would have been prominent among them; were quite likely the paper’s informants. The Kentuckian-Citizen, at Paris, appended notice with “Dr. Switzer’s mother was a Miss Shropshire, of Bourbon.”
“Dr. Howard Switzer leſt yesterday morning for his home near Georgetown to be with his family a few days. He is well pleased with Ashland,” announced The Ashland Daily News 8 June 1890 at Boyd County, Kentucky. The Switzers had leſt Chilesburg; Mollie had birthed second son, at Scott County 6 December 1889.
The Cincinnati Enquirer is credited with initiating further scandal. On 5 August 1890 their ‘Special Dispatch’ from Ashland appeared on front page of The Kentucky Leader. Sub-headline read “Dr. Howard Switzer, Formerly of This County, Swallows a Dose.” Switzer, “a physician recently located here from Central Kentucky, come near dying Sunday from an overdose of morphine. Whether accidental or otherwise is not known.” Following paragraph recounted King as killed by him, Switzer’s acquittal … but misstated (date and) key events “at Frank Drake’s store, at Yarnall’s Station.”
First paragraph of Enquirer overdose report appeared in Midway’s The Blue-Grass Clipper on 7 August. Readers were there reminded “Dr. Switzer is a brother-in-law of Mr. R. R. Early, of this place, and is well known here.” Phrase The Kentuckian-Citizen at Paris attached two days later … under “Tired of Life” headline. ‘Male relatives’ reported attending 1888 Examination Trial with Switzer must have been fatigued by saga that refused to emerge from stigma.
The Courier-Journal on 8 August printed letter Howard Switzer, M. D. had penned to its Louisville Editor two days earlier: “Will you kindly correct the report, sent from this place on August 4 …” he asked from Ashland. “… that I had taken an overdose of morphine? It is absolutely false. I took no opiate of any kind, and the report, which became current and was off by the correspondent without proper investigation, does me a great injustice.”
Maysville Republican at seat of Mason County, Kentucky – as name implies – on 9 August may have intended injustice in terse announcement: “DR. HOWARD SWITZER tried to go thence by the morphine route from Ashland Sunday.”
Mollie had likely moved back in with her parents. Switzer had gone catatonic at trial … almost exactly two years earlier. I can aver that Mollie followed her husband in subsequent thirteen years of itinerancy ... doubling back into two of six known locales. And that Switzer’s Miami, Florida obituary went out under “Leading Medical Man.” Another credited our subject with having been President of the Dade County Medical Society.
[Author’s note: while writing account of overdose, Drug Historian Herzberg’s New York Times guest essay divulged “The first drug crisis came in the Gilded Age of the late 19th century. In the unregulated, buyer-beware markets of that era, sales of pharmaceutical morphine, cocaine and heroin rose precipitously. Addiction rates skyrocketed, mostly among the white, propertied class of Americans who had ready access to a doctor.” ‘Papa’s Condition’ was suspected to involve opiates in conclusion of A Race of Extraordinary Goodness.]
Elihu Martin King’s fade from public awareness leſt me feeling slightly forlorn. The Climax at Madison County, which personalized King when Lexington papers had been oblivious, on 13 August communicated “Dr. Howard Switzer, who some months ago killed a former county man — his name slipped our memory — at Chilesburg, Fayette county, was found in a dying condition near Ashland last week from an overdose of morphine.”
Postscript
I conveyed at outset that this rendering is not a ‘whodunnit’ but, long aſter having the story outline, I realized it might offer unsolved mystery.
All news accounts gave victim’s name as Martin King … and I could not anchor him in records. My initial clue was that he was cousin to George Henderson. Who proved just as elusive. Colloquially written article in The Winchester Democrat, published at Clark County seat, appeared as recap of elsewhere-published events leading up to Switzer’s trial. I did note “King was well known in this county being a son-in-law of Wiley Brookshire of this county. His remains were carried to Estill county for burial.” I had not seen these clues anyplace else.
Every mystery benefits from a red herring. The Climax, which (above) found case against Switzer “mixed,” finished report from Madison County with “King formerly lived near Waco.” I was never able to associate King with the locale … which is short distance from Estill County line. (To give you sense of King’s transient life, he and Drusilla appeared twice in 1880 census for Estill County; they’d moved between enumerators’ rounds of 14 June and 5 July.) I wonder whether Waco was King’s intended 1888 destination … where, with change in fortune, his name might have been recorded as property owner.
Breakthrough moment arose when I found Kentucky Leader death notice naming King’s deceased widow as ‘Amelia.’ “Her remains were taken to Clark County.”
Marriage bond, where Wiley Brookshire (1817-1907) stood surety, named Amelia’s groom as ‘E. M. King’. As did Clark County Marriage Certificate. Rustic 1860 Estill County census record enumerated four-year-old Martin as ‘Lyhue King’ and I knew I had our man. (Named for a paternal uncle.) Curiously, I found he had married Drusilla (at Estill County) as Martin King.
Informant filling out Drusilla’s son’s Death Certificate did not know either of William Meridith King’s parents’ names. William led a distinctive life. A Manhattan horse fancier sent him to property in France, to serve as his breeder. Within months of arrival the thirty-something married a fiſteen-year-old he outlived by nearly thirty childless years. Obituary lauded William for similar-length rein as Manager of Fayette County thoroughbred horse farm. That had produced share of 102 stakes winners including seven champions, returning more than $9 million in winnings to Philadelphia owner … who sold the farm at William’s death.
NOTES:
[1] Constables were elected by county precincts. No Ramsey appeared in 1885 or 1889 list of Fayette County Constables. I figure this subject was Layton James Ramsey, Sr. (1861-1916), son of Lewis Layton Ramsey, Sr. (1817-1892) whose 1877 holdings are highlighted (right). L. J. Ramsey spread nearly abuts Yarnalton Station in 1912 map (above). Layton Ramsey’s residence at Yarnall Station had burned in 1886: “It had just been furnished new, preparatory for a marriage reception.” Despite his father’s estimable net worth, young Farmer Layton had no insurance.
[2] William Meridith King’s mother, Mary Drusilla (King) King (b c1856) had appeared as ‘Drusey D. King’ in 1874 Estill County, Kentucky marriage record. If the parents were kin, I assess common ancestor was at Virginia and at least four generations removed. Drusilla and Martin were both enumerated as illiterate in 1880 census. BACK
[4] I believe this to be Matthew Thompson Scott (1855-1894). Seen as ‘road surgeon’ he had, only 42 days prior to the shooting, been appointed Surgeon, Eastern Division of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. Dr. Switzer may have been alert to promotion in Lexington medical community; perhaps Telegrapher Drake knew what the railroad expected of him. ‘Matt’ Scott had taken Centre College degree at Danville, Kentucky in 1873, graduated as an M. D. from the University of New York in 1877. He was, by 1881, an Examining Surgeon for U.S. Pensions. Alternatively, at image endn. [8] a John W. Scott sits 1888 among Lexington doctors. BACK
[5] Peer review explained I may have missed a point, alluding to initial Kentucky Leader news as “moralizing.” Final paragraph matched sub-headline: “Again the deadly pistol ends a simple fisticuff over a small matter of a few dollars; wrecks one life and mars another, leaves sorrow and devastation behind its awful work.” I will concede that two lives concluded, can imagine a handful were devastatingly marred.
Story lede was tinted with editorial: “Again was the community startled by the exaggerated reports of another foul murder …” “These acts of bloodshed and awful murders have passed into a byword of stigma on the fair name of Kentucky, such killings have become not much to be talked of, as they happen so frequently: and generally with such revolting and sometimes brutal details.” Gruesome particulars followed immediately.
Scholars have studied the ambiguous nature of rural violence in the period, and it does seem incongruous that a degreed man of healing was quick to resort to a pistol. Contemporary academics merge analysis with Kentucky’s penchant for intergenerational feuds. Particularly in antebellum era, family history research revealed street shootings which bore none of dueling’s elegance. Coarse bloodletting included newspaper editors, lawyers, politicians … learned men of standing: I did normalize Switzer, in stream of bloodletting permeating 19th-century reporting. Perhaps there was, in 1888, an actual social movement to curb common resort to lethality.
In my defense, the Leader reconciled this vicious act in preface: “But the shooting this morning had none of these brutal features, and it is even a question with eye-witnesses whether either party engaged … intentionally.” BACK
Switzer may have been in last class to graduate from Hospital College of Medicine. According to ‘Forgotten Kentucky Medical Colleges’, posted 2019 by Shawn Logan, in order to graduate, students had to be “of good moral character.” See Biographical History of the Members of the McLean County Medical Society of Illinois (1954), p. 81, for Chicago degree. Switzer had undoubtedly sworn sacred oath there, including vow to “lead my life and practice my art in uprightness and honor,” and hold himself “aloof from wrong.” See Directory of Deceased American Physicians, 1804-1929 (1993) for licensure at Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia and, ultimately, Florida. BACK
[7] The Honorable Daniel James was an up-and-comer. He had been Magistrate at Lexington since at least 1885. Democratic State Convention had nominated him for Attorney General in 1886. He did not obtain office … but qualified as Justice of the Peace at Lexington in 1887. Laudably, Judge James, bondsman E. S. DeLong, and Banker William H. May (1842-1922, apparently unrelated to Captain John May, below) would together compose a Board of Equalization in March 1889, ultimately reduce Lexington and Fayette County taxes due the state by tens of thousands of dollars. BACK
[9] John Connelly May was prominent as Lexington Real Estate Broker negotiating loans. He, with 1870 law degree, simultaneously raised lucrative crops (and children) at ‘Maywood’ in Bourbon County. By 1885 his stallion was known in trotting horse breeding circles. In 1890, then also Director of the Lexington Chamber of Commerce, he would scout tin in substantial South Dakota investment. He will be killed in freak accident while prospecting for a coal field in Georgia/Tennessee hinterlands; death notice described him as Curator, University of Kentucky and Member of Executive Committee, (Baptist) Kentucky Christian Education Association. He was a Mason, and seen as Trustee, Good Samaritan Hospital.
Edmund Shackelford DeLong and two brothers operated DeLong & Company at Lexington, seed store and purveyors of innovative agricultural implements. The firm had beginning in harness and saddlery. Mulling over plan to raise three-story building following 18 July 1888 purchase of stables, DeLongs would have had cash on hand. It was likely E. S. DeLong quoted in August: “Did you know that DeLong & Co. have the largest establishment for the sale of agricultural machinery and hardware in Kentucky? In addition to two larger stores … we have immense warehouse near the C & O freight depot full of machinery. No firm in Kentucky has such a large establishment or does as much business as we do.” He was fiscally astute. Would in December be appointed Supervisor of County Assessment for his district. Obituaries described E. S. as a real estate and insurance man, prominent member of Presbyterian Church. BACK
[10] The Kentucky Leader additionally identified Consulting Surgeon David Barrow (1859-1932), youngest in the squad, who made incision “straight down the abdomen, almost its full length.” Barrow had received Doctor of Medicine degree at Tulane University 1880. Began Lexington practice 1887. The David Barrow United States Army Reserve Center at Lexington was dedicated to Colonel Barrow in 1957 … recognizing formation of ‘Barrow Unit’, a volunteer medical organization serving WWI forces overseas.
William Anderson Brock (1837-1915) had been giving freely of his time to indigents at Saint Joseph’s Hospital. He believed the Lexington City Physician should be responsible for delivering such care; and will in 1889 obtain Democratic nomination for the position, focus on sewers and clean water at outset of at least a decade in the role. He and Coleman had been officers in an irregular ‘Physicians of Lexington Kentucky’ convocation since at least 1874.
Marshall Prewitt Robinson (1847-1910) administered ether to King during surgery. Robinson, son of a successful General Practitioner, graduated University of Virginia 1869, took medical degrees at Louisville and Cincinnati. In 1889 he will obtain interim appointment as Fayette County Physician, hold the post for several years.
Patrick Henry Molloy (1850-1921), also the son of a doctor and King anesthetist, graduated 1876 from University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He interned with the Cincinnati Sanatorium, remained there until arriving Lexington 1881. He, a Catholic, would – independent of Democratic machine – get elected Fayette County Coroner in 1894. It may have been Coleman’s son credited as pallbearer for Molloy. BACK
[11] “This office of the sheriff was on the east side of the court house lawn,” the Lexington Leader observed. Image was captured as “fourth court house was under construction.” I expect ‘Lexingtonians Loafing at the Sheriff’s Office’ hints at Switzer’s midsummer exposure to reporters, sundry local officials, as well as concerned supporters. Gadflies no doubt gathered as interest in his trial spiked. 1883 assemblage included (l to r) William Bush, Gip Sammons … and E. B. ‘One Arm Dish’ Dishman in doorway. ‘Uncle’ Jesse A. Hall, Sr. (1827-1904) was, at his sitting, a City Policeman. Center of seated trio, Colonel (Missouri State Guard, CSA) John Robinson Graves (1831-1908) was member of Lexington City Council, on the board of the Library Association. From at least 1885 he had been Principal of Dudley public school. Personal visit that year to President Cleveland is revealing of Graves’ character … and Courier-Journal readership. Seated to his leſt was City Policeman Estes M. Garrett (1842-1910). Standing were Sherriff Rodes, who was organizing a bank in 1888, and ‘Squire’ Jewell. Sherriff James Constantine Rogers (1860-1919, not pictured) ramped up re-election campaign while Switzer was in his custody. BACK
[12] Switzer would have been confined at Lexington’s 1854 City Jail. I turned to Google’s Gemini Alien Intelligence to be told: “This was the jail that would have been behind the courthouse in 1888. However, sources indicate that no photos of this structure are known to exist. Inmates were moved out of this jail in April 1889 as it was being demolished to make way for a new courthouse.” Gemini made false assertion when presented above photo of Fayette County Sheriff’s Office. BACK
[13] Prosecutor Allen was son to a prominent and politically active father. Was admitted to the bar in 1879. Men of the Third Battalion, Kentucky State Guards (USA) had in 1881 unanimously elected him Major. He in 1882 commanded more than 200 volunteers, including a light artillery company, per judicial request to escort two prisoners in change of venue … through lynch mobs congealed in at least two towns. Five civilians were killed, at least twenty injured at Boyd County, Kentucky. (Allen’s aſter-action report here, p. 27.) His men elected him “without opposition” Lieutenant Colonel in 1883, voters at Lexington their City Attorney the same year. He had (turned in his commission and) been elected, unopposed, as Fayette County Attorney in 1885. He had been Chair of the County Democratic Committee in 1887 and, on the party’s State Central Committee, was likely involved in Judge James’ selection to fill vacant seat in the Kentucky legislature. BACK
President Cleveland will appoint Mulligan Consul General of Samoa in 1894, he will associate there with novelist Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) and decline further office. Mulligan's witty 1902 poem ‘In Kentucky’ adds flavor to era of King's killing. Millard hints that Mulligan’s son will try to poison him in 1904.
Switzer was swiſtly represented by interesting assemblage of lawyers. (Mulligan was, apparently, third attorney brought in.) All three were sole practitioners. Like Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), railroads engaged Shelby and Representative Mulligan: these of Switzer’s legal ‘dream team’ were in simultaneously plotting to secure charter for the Passenger and Belt Line Railway Company. The Kentucky Leader would expose financial self-dealing the following year. BACK
[15] Drake acquired most of his education at Fayette County private school his father conducted. See History of Kentucky, Volume 4 by Connelly and Coulter (1922), p. 116: “In early life he took charge of the [family] farm, but also learned telegraphy and was appointed station agent at the Yarnelltown station near the old farm. He also opened a stock of goods and developed an extensive trade as a general merchant, acting in the meantime as railroad agent and postmaster. He continued this flourishing business from 1882 to 1900. In the meantime, in 1888, he had bought a farm, which he also handled in addition to his other responsibilities.” Drake rode Roaring Twenties with aplomb, resurrected failed bank in 1931; obituaries lauded him as extensive Fayette County landowner, former President of Citizens Bank & Trust, liberal contributor to Cavalry Baptist Church, Georgetown College, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Frank’s wife, Mayme G. (Klopf) Drake (1878-1960) will in 1923 entertain Yarnalton neighbors at Leestown Pike home. Guests Rogers Randolph Early, Sr., his wife Ella and a half-dozen Wheelers partied among subsequent generations of (Ramsey and) Dolan and Downs families, witnesses yet to be introduced.
Switzer had died at his Miami, Florida home three months earlier. BACK
[16] Certainly pre-Civil War, I do not find Kentucky newspapers reluctant to name names. That the Courier-Journal redacted M. F. Jenkins indicates to me that he had Louisville presence, did not merit disparagement. I found no such moniker in 1860-1900 search of extant Kentucky newspapers. I present, as promising suggestion, Union veteran Francis Marion Jenkins (c1837-1910). In Larue County, Kentucky, his meager farm was a hundred miles from Yarnalton, perhaps sixty miles due south of Louisville paper, but King’s plight was severe, and he had plans to relocate his family 40 miles to Madison County. For all I know, my research fell victim to a typo in courtroom reporter’s harried notation. BACK
[19] Howard was not the only Switzer ailing in court. In delightful, 8 August 1888 chastisement – naming offenders – aſter a goodly Reverend severely handled tobacco chewers and smokers, a Citizen writer was reminded of “several persons smoking in court room at Lexington near [Ann Rebecca (Switzer) Urmston (1845-1911)], who was seeming ill from sympathy for her brother, Dr. Switzer, who was on trial for the killing of Mr. King.” An indisposed elder sister would have added to Switzer’s ordeal in a very personal way.
Above Kentuckian-Citizen report of 4 August divulged that, before Switzer took the stand, “Clayt Roinsart and Mr. Kennard were examined touching the incidents surrounding the shooting of King.” I was surprised not to identify subject with distinctive ‘Roinsart’ surname … and suspect second individual was James Grant Kinnaird (1828-1890), stock breeder at Chilesburg. Kinnaird was Republican, a Christian Church member. BACK
[20] The following gentlemen testified to the general good standing of Dr. Switzer in the community as a peaceable, quiet citizen.”
James Jefferson Rucker (1828-1910) would have been sterling character reference. He apparently took the stand first. Notation read: “[I] have known Dr. Switzer since he was a boy; his standing always been good.” Rucker, with Baptist roots and “simplest rudiments of a common school education,” graduated Georgetown College 1854 and promptly filled Chair of Mathematics there. He, persistent advocate for gender parity in education, reformed Georgetown Female Seminary with wife Mary Margaret (Allison) Rucker (1836-1884); the pair 1866 initially taught and boarded students at their home. Aſter the indefatigable fundraiser enabled facilities, well-resourced Kentuckians had since patronized the morally strict school offering degrees. In 1892 Georgetown College will become coeducational, in 1895 establish Rucker Hall as women’s dormitory.
‘P. Dolan’ appears along Woodford County border and at ‘Plain Home’ directly below Marshall on 1877 map: I believe it was Patrick Dolan (1822-1904) who testified “Dr. Switzer’s standing in the neighborhood was good.” Pat Dolan, “well known trotting horse man” (breeder and stock trader) was, with Marshall, a Ruling Elder in Presbyterian congregation. He was a Democrat and had in the mid-1870s been President of stockholders operating annual ‘World’s Fair’ at Fayette County. Dolan settled considerable land and cash upon his heirs. Inventory of personal property auctioned in 1904 lends poignancy to a Fayette County stockman’s temporal achievements aſter nearly eighty-two years.
Mr. Ramsey related he had “Never heard anything said against the doctor’s character.” If he was not the Constable, who fetched King and Switzer to Saint Joseph’s Hospital (endn. [1]), witness was his father Lewis.
Dr. Charles Chase (1820-1892) had retired from medicine, retired as Druggist at Winchester, Clark County. He came into Lexington from meager farm at Payne’s Depot to be rendered as saying “Dr. Switzer’s standing was good so far as I know.” Dr. Chase had been “one of the staunchest friends of the Union,” was probably Republican. Frank Drake will appraise his estate.
J. Thompson asserted Switzer possessed “Character above discussion.” I suppose this to have been Lexington Allopath Joseph Freeman Thompson (1867-1909).
I was unable to identify Colonel Gilcher. His transcribed laudation was above par: Switzer “was my family physician. His standing was a No. 1.” A ‘Mr. McConley’ devoted of his time to be recorded as testifying “Standing good.”
[21] 20 Jul 1860 census for Jefferson County, Kentucky household of Doctor Joseph Early (1800-1871) and Adeline Ford (Rogers) Early (1812-1887) enumerated seven children, among them Roger R. and ‘Virenda A. Early’, age five. She completely escaped the moniker. I found no other record with the name; death record and 1855-1928 grave marker describe ‘Mollie E. Switzer.’ Yes, her father was a Doctor, she married one.
Conditions had undoubtedly changed by c1886 when Switzer was building client base in Yarnallton neighborhood: I found three doctors’ households depicted in the two, overlapping 1877 map montages I’ve built. (Chew, Price and Spurr.) Perhaps, due to bedside manner or effective medical practice, Switzer built quick reputation at the expense of established relationships neighbors had with physicians. Perhaps death and retirement at rail stop four miles from home base at Payne’s Depot had vacated competition. BACK
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