| Notes |
- Beckley Post-Herald, Beckley, WV, Monday, 20 Jul 1959, p. 1, col. E
State Trooper Kills Terrorist
Drunken Man Is Felled In Fayette Gun Battle
OAK HILL - An elderly man died in a gunfight with troopers Saturday night after hours of terrorizing his neighbors in a drunken fury.
Giles Akers was dropped with a single .38 slug in the chest when he came from around a corner and opened fire as his house was approached.
People in the little settlement three miles west of here - called White Oak Hollow - said Akers had been drinking and rampaging since early afternoon. He let go 30 to 35 blasts from his .20-gauge shotgun before his death.
Two of the men from the hollow went to the State Police detachment at Oak Hill and swore out complaints. The said Akers, 60 years old and the father of eight children, had been making threats to kill his neighbors and shooting at random. Nobody had been hurt, but there was great fear of what might happen next.
TWO ANSWER PLEA
Troopers C. A. Berkley and R. L. Cutlip were sent out. The heard shooting as the drew near the Akers' small, plain home on a slope in the valley and parked their car to go the rest of the way on foot.
Akers wasn't in sight then. He rushed from out behind his house when they were about 60 feed away, shouted profanity, threw his shotgun to his shoulder and began firing.
Cutlip heard pellets whiz past his head. He and Berkley drew their service revolvers and began an exchange of shots. Akers dropped with a single wound and died 30 minutes later just as an ambulance arrived.
An inquest held Sunday afternoon at Thomas Funeral Home determined it had been a shot by Cutlip that hit. The ruling was justifiable homicide because of self-defense.
FACTS OF THE CASE
There were the facts of the case as reported by Sgt. C. C. McGraw of the Oak Hill detachment and Justice of the Peace Virgil Lyons, who held the inquest and serves as acting coroner.
This further information was given:
Akers had not stayed on his property during the hours of terror, but had gone up and down the hollow. He never said what it was that had enraged him - if it had been anything other than just plain drinking.
The Akers' home was deserted when the gunfight broke out except for a one-year-old baby. It was thought to the a grandchild. Both of Akers' sons and four of his daughters are married.
The wife, Mrs. Elsie Mae Akers, and the girls, Fanny and Phyllis, had gotten away earlier.
RURAL PEOPLE
The family and their neighbors were described as "rural people," the kind who typically live in small hollows in all parts of the state. The investigation did not bring out what work the father had done. One rumor was that he had retired.
About 25 of the people living in the settlement were available as witnesses at the inquest. Only six were called.
Questioned afterward, Sgt. McGraw said he didn't think Trooper Cutlip had been shaken up much by the incident.
"We realize this can happen to us in our work," McGraw said.
"We try to steel ourselves against it. We carry those guns to protect our lives when there's the need."
Beckley Post-Herald, Beckley, WV, Tuesday, 21 Jul 1959, p. 2, col. A
Rites Wednesday For Giles Akers
OAK HILL- Funeral services for Giles H. Akers, 61, of Fayetteville, Route 1, near Wriston, who died in a gunfight with troopers Saturday night, will be conducted at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Doggett Chapel Methodist Church at Dempsey. The Rev. Norman Foster will be in charge.
Burial will be in Carter Cemetery near Dempsey.
Akers was killed with a slug from a service revolver fired by Trooper R. L. Cutlip during a gun battle. Cutlip with another office had been sent to the White Oak Hollow where Akers lived after neighbors had complained that the victim was on a drinking and shooting rampage.
Survivors include his wife, Elsie Mae; his mother, Mrs. Mary Ellen Akers of Fayetteville, Route 1; two sons, Phillip and Darrell, both at home; six daughters, Phyllis at home, Mrs. Norman Treadway of Beckwith, Mrs. Fannie Akers of Scarbro, Mrs. Billy Ingram of Oak Hill, Mrs. Myrtle Louise Ramsey of Winona, and Mrs. Rose Elizabeth Thomas of Fayetteville; six brothers, Bedo and Willie both of Summerlee, Herman and Edward, both of Fayetteville, Route 1, Ken of Meadow Bridge, and Roland of Sistersville; three sisters, Mrs. Roy Dempsey of Fayetteville, Mrs. Earl Hitchcock of Fayetteville, Route 2, and Miss Leona Akers of Fayetteville, Route 1; and 10 grandchildren.
The body will be taken to the residence this afternoon from Thomas Funeral Home at Oak Hill.
|
1897 - 1959 (61 years)
[1]