Deadly Baptism:
The Murder of Will Lewis
Written by Justin Lamb
A baptism is usually a joyous occasion, but on September 6, 1908 the baptism of Will Lewis turned deadly when he was gunned down on Jonathan Creek after a quarrel with two local brothers, Fred and Victor Jones.
Tension between the Jones boys and Lewis began when Lewis accompanied a young lady, with whom Fred Jones had been courting, to church. Jealousies arose and feelings of hatred followed. The two families were close neighbors, the Joneses lived in Marshall County in the section known as Jonestown while the Lewis family lived in the Hico community just across the county line in Calloway County. All three men were in their twenties and had known each other all their lives.
On the afternoon of September 6, many friends and neighbors gathered to witness the baptism of Lewis when the Jones boys arrived. Not long after their arrival, a heated exchanged ensued between Lewis and Fred Jones which culminated in the Jones boys pulling out their pistols and gunning Lewis down. The crowd scattered as Fred and Victor Jones ran to the hilly woods to escape. Sheriff Edwards was notified of the killing and a manhunt ensued to find the renegade Joneses.
Fred and Victor Jones were soon captured three days later and brought before Judge Wells where they claimed their act was in self-defense. Fred Jones took responsibility for the entire shooting in an effort to spare his younger brother, but several eye witness accounts confirmed that both Joneses took part in the shooting. A .32 caliber and a .38 caliber revolver were taken into evidence as the weapons that killed Lewis and the two men were indicted by the Grand Jury to face murder charges in the circuit court.
The trial began in April 1909 with over 200 witnesses being called to testify. Several witnesses testified that the shots were fired simultaneously and the volumes of smoke arose instantly in front of Lewis. The prosecution sought the death penalty against the accused while the defense argued self-defense. After a lengthy and highly publicized trial which garnered a great deal of sensation in both Marshall and Calloway Counties and split the area into Lewis and Jones factions, the jury found the Jones boys guilty with Fred Jones receiving five years in the penitentiary and Victor receiving two. Their sentences angered many in the community prompting the Paducah Sun Democrat to write, “Human life is very cheap in Calloway County if the verdict of the juries in homicide cases tried in the circuit court of the county can be taken as a criterion.”
The Jones boys filed an appeal for a new trial, but their motion was ultimately denied. After serving their sentences in the Eddyville Penitentiary, the two men returned home to Marshall County where they lived out a peaceful and uneventful life.