Fish Causes Death of Two Men 'Tis Alleged

Two men were killed last Friday morning a few miles northwest of Carrollton, the cause being, it is suggested, an argument over a big cat fish weighing 102 pounds, caught about twenty-one years ago.
The dead men are George Lay and Ross Gustin. George Elliot said he did the shooting which resulted in the deaths, and he went to Dallas and surrendered to the Sheriffs office. The shooting occurred at a resort owned by Warren Diamond and is located on the Dallas-Denton county line northwest of Carrollton.
R. M. Thompson, justice of the peace, when he learned of the shooting went out to the resort and investigated.  H. E. Long, of Carrollton was out there when the shooting occurred but said he did not actually witness the shooting as he had gone to the river a short time previous and was just returning as the shots were fired. He reported that all the party seemed friendly and in a good humor. Judge Thompson, reported the shootings as being done in self defense.
George Elliott, who is held in connection with the shooting was hired by Diamond as keeper of the camp and had been there since Feb. 5th. He stated that George Lay and Ross Gustin, the men killed, had come to the camp Thursday night, Feb. 16. The came to go hunting and spent the night there in a tent, as did also H. B. Davis. A portion of the statement made by Elliott to officers follows: "About fifteen or twenty minutes before the killing occurred an argument started between Lay and Gustin on one side and I on the other. The argument was about an old argument we had fifteen years ago.
"Lay said something about the argument we had then; about that time he said I was wrong about it. Gustin took it up. I told him, Lay, I knew I was right and be began to curse and to go just a few steps".
"I beat them to it." declared Elliott. "They shot at me first- I beat them to it!"
George Lay, one of the men killed was a Dallas citizen aged about 54 years. He was a well known in the city and had long been a familiar character in Dallas. In 1903 he was a member of the Dallas police department, serving for a time as driver of the patrol wagon. After leaving the police department he served as a Deputy Constable in Oak Cliff and later in Dallas. While a Deputy Constable he killed Will Copeland in the winter of 1912 at the Old Phoenix Club on Jackson street. He later was tried in Judge R. B. Seay's Criminal District Court on a charge of murder in connection with this case and acquitted. At the time of his death, Lay was under indictment in Judge Grover C. Adams' Criminal District Court on a charge of assault to murder in connection with the shooting of J. O. Smith of Dallas at a place near Love Field on the night of Jan. 2.
In the days before prohibition Lay operated saloons in Dallas and had figured in numerous events where gunplay and danger were not unusual. At the time of his death Lay owned a considerable tract of land on the northeast outskirts of Highland Park. He was reputed to have been wealthy. Lay is served by his wife.
Ross Gustin was aged about 40 years. He was employed as chauffeur by Lay.
The shooting was done with an automatic shotgun. Each of the parties had a gun. They were struck several times and death in both cases is believed to have been almost instantaneous. When investigators reached the scene they found Lay crumbled near a small camp chair. A pump shot gun was still gripped in his had and cartridge was about one-third the way in the gun, officials say Gustin was lying on the ground near Lay with a shot gun near his feet. Officials say no cartridges were found in the shotgun near Gustin. A third shotgun was found a short distance from the two bodies.
As a sidelight on the fish argument which seems to have played such an important part in this shooting affair we give a story credited to Jim Moore, stereotyper on the Dallas Journal. He said he vividly recalls the Saturday night twenty one years ago when the 102-pound catfish was caught at Record Crossing, and said Lay always claimed the honor of landing the monster.
"There were five of us, I think," Moore said. "George Shaw, Henry Cowan, Mell Elliott, now dead; George Elliott was with us. We were all in a party and the fish was caught on Ross' trotline, They were fishing in a boat and I was on the bank, but we all aided in capturing the prize. We had to; he was so big.
"Lay always claimed he caught the fish. Every time he would say that in a crowd Elliott would correct him. Just the same Lay kept on arguing every chance he got about how he happened to land the 102 pounder. As a matter of fact, we all helped.
"A couple of nights after we caught the fish we had a fish-fry. That night Lay boasted about how he caught him and Ross arid he had caught him. They were always arguing about it - and that twenty-one years ago."

The Carrollton Chronicle - Friday, February 24, 1928
Submitted by Edward Lynn Williams