Last Saturday, Sun City was thrown into a state of intense excitement, by an
occurrence, which whoever may, have been to blame, was terrible in its results,
and which furnishes another proof that whiskey is the great enemy of peace and
happiness, a fit beverage for the purlieus of hell. The story, we give just as
we have heard it without pretending to vouch for the authenticity of all the
details: Geo. Riter, who has been holding cattle on Big Mule creek, Comanche
county, Kansas, was in Green's saloon at Sun City, engaged in a game of
billiards with one Hopper, and made a bet with Green
Adams and Lee Adams on the result of the game, Riter lost the first game,
and then offered to double the bet, which was taken.
This time Riter won,
when an altercation took place, in regard to giving up the stakes, which were,
however, finally handed over to Riter, who, reaching in his pocket for a glove
in which he kept his money, found, as he says, that it was gone. He then accused
Adams and Green of having robbed him, whereupon Adams knocked him down and took
his revolver from him.
Riter says that he then ordered everyone to stay in
the room until a search was made for his money, and that Adams and Green started
to leave. He followed outside the door and snatched the revolver from Adams, who
started to run. Riter then fired two shoots at Adams, the first missing him, the
second striking him in the right hip, the ball ranging upward and inward,
through his bowels and lodging in his left groin.
Riter then turned his
attention to Green, who started to run in the opposite direction, and fired
three shots at him, one of the balls grazing his leg and another making a
painful, though not necessarily a dangerous wound the ball striking him in the
back, some two inches from the spine, passing through the spleen and out, two
inches below his heart.
Dr. Kessler who had been called to Sun City to visit
a patient, was present when the shooting occurred, and rendered the wounded men
all the surgical assistance necessary. Examination showed that Adams was fatally
wounded and could receive no assistance, other than an alleviation of his
sufferings. His death occurred on Monday, at 5 o'clock P. M. Green, at last
accounts, was recovering.
Riter was immediately arrested and his preliminary
examination set for 1 o'clock, Monday; a continuance, however, was granted by
Justice Davis, until next Monday. The prisoner, meanwhile, was released from
custody, on giving bail to the amount of $2,000.00. The attorneys in the case
are, J. T. Whitelaw, for State; Ed Sample and Orner & McNeal, for defense.
It
is not our place to express any opinion as to the guilt of innocence of the
parties engaged in this affair, but one thing is moderately certain: If there
had been no whiskey shop at Sun City, there would be one less widow there today
and one man whose mind would not now be burdened with the prospect of a trial
for his life.
Col. Pepperd, of Big Mule creek, Comanche County, Kansas,
came over on Monday for the purpose of signing Riter's bond for his appearance
at court. Mr. Pepperd has a herd of about thirty-five hundred head of cattle in
Comanche County.
William Adams and wife and Green
Adams, were here from Sun City, Monday to attend the examination of Riter.
Also see:
Johnson M. Adams, Baptist
minister in Sun City, father of Leander "Lee" Adams and Green Adams.
(Old) Sun City Cemetery,
the burial place of Lee Adams.
Greenville "Green"
Adams, Son of J.M. Adams, owner of the "whiskey shop" where his brother was
shot.