Background
Mr. Walter Boyd, of No. 7 was assassinated yesterday morning, Aug. 5th, at about 6 o’clock. His brains were shot out while he was in the lot feeding chickens. Mr. Boyd was a cousin of Dr. J. C. McQuiston, and recently purchased the Baird farm. His residence was burned last Friday while he, with his family, were visiting in Marshall County, Miss., from which state Mr. Boyd had recently moved. Mr. Boyd was a peaceable citizen and had no enemies as far as known, and yet a personal enemy must have done both deeds.
Neighborhood
The people of the neighborhood are greatly excited. Mr. Boyd had moved to Mr. Carson Miller’s after his own house was burnt and it was in Miller’s yard that the murder was committed. He was about 25 years old and leaves a wife and two children.
Details
There is no present clue to the murderer, as no one was seen with a gun near the place by any of the neighbors. Bloodhounds from Ripley are on the way, and will be put on the track when they arrive. Mr. Miller walked up to the store at Idaville and gave the alarm, and Messrs. John McCain, Reid Wallace and others were soon on the scene but Boyd was dead when they got there. He was lying on the ground with a pan of dough near by and his hand full of the dough the he had been feeding his chickens. It was after sunrise when the deed was committed, and it is highly probable that the murderer will be discovered, although he has probably skipped the country.
(The Tipton Weekly Record, Friday, August 6, 1897)
Name: Walter Boyd
DOB: 12 Sep 1866
DOD: 5 Aug 1897
Burial: Mount Carmel Cemetery, Cayce, Marshall County, Mississippi
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