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OBITUARY Hebron Man Shot to Death in Drugstore
After Ex-Convict Provokes Quarrel With Deputy
Crazed With Dope
"Came in Here Asking for It, Now He's Got It," Man Says, Flees
E. W. Isom, 26, Deputy Game Warden of Hebron, was shot for times and
instantly killed Friday afternoon by Jimmy Ragsdale, narcotic addict and police
character, in the D. & D. Drugstore, Akard and Powhattan.
Ragsdale, believed to have been crazed with dope, escaped after the
shooting, but surrendered about 11:30 o'clock Friday night.
Isom was shot three times in the chest and arm and once in the back as he
struggled with Ragsdale whom he did not know. Ragsdale was said to have provoked
a quarrel with the Deputy Game Warden who had ordered a glass of beer from Jerry
Hardin, the only man on duty at the drugstore.
The shots were fired from Hardin's Gun which Ragsdale had taken from its
hiding place behind the counter while Hardin had absented himself from the store
on a brief errand.
Ragsdale, according to witnesses walked over to the table at which Isom
was sitting and began quarreling with him. As Isom got to his feet the drug
addict drew Hardin's pistol and a struggle ensued, during which Isom was shot
once in the back. He dropped to his knees and Ragsdale emptied the gun, a .32
caliber, at him
"Came Asking for It."
Ragsdale threw the empty pistol to the floor, turned to the horrified
witness and declared:
"He came in her asking for it - now he's got it."
Then he fled on foot to a near-by sedan. He was seen an hour after the
shooting in company of two men driving a sedan near Ninth and Ewing. All
police squads were directed in a city-wide search for until his surrender.
Two witnesses, Evelyn Jones, 16 of 1310 Powhattan, and Floy Prigmore,
16, of 1214 Powhattan, were questioned by police. The former was standing on the
sidewalk outside of the store and had talked to Ragsdale a few minutes before he
entered. Floy Prigmore told police she begged Ragsdale not to fire, when
she saw him flourish the pistol. Frightened, she ran out of the drugstore
to avoid stray bullets.
Ragsdale was said by police to have been in an ugly humor all afternoon,
and, according to officers, had threatened to "get" a narcotic peddler, whose
activities are known to patrolmen.
He entered the drugstore presumably in search of the peddler.
Ragsdale appeared at the Criminal Courts Building with relatives and was
placed in the county jail after being questioned by Chief Deputy Sheriff Bill
Decker.
Dean Gauldin, former Assistant District Attorney, telephoned Deputy Decker
that Ragsdale was in his office and ready to surrender. Gauldin said Ragsdale's
relatives had brought him to his office. He said he would represent Ragsdale.
Funeral services for Isom will be held at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Hebron
Baptist Church. Burial will be at Plano.
Isom is survived by his wife; his mother and father, Mr. and Mrs.. E. Isom
of Hebron; a brother, Weldon of Dallas; a sister, Maurine of Hebron; four
uncles, G. F. of Carrollton, S. J. Isom of Dallas, Charles Skiles of San Antonio
and Earl Skiles of Carrollton; two aunts, Mrs. Harris Harpool of Hebron, Mrs.
Oscar Crane of Kim, Colo., and a grandmother, Mrs. W. H. Skiles of Garland.
Isom was a member of the Masonic Lodge and of the Hebron Baptist Church.
He was employed as manager of the J. M. Rush farm near Hebron, which formerly
was the property of the T. W. Vardell estate.
The Dallas Morning News - January 30, 1937
Submitted by Edward Lynn
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