Extremely "Cold Case"

The death of young Fred Sheppard more than 100 years ago and the ensuing scenario was a story that was never fully told to my satisfaction. Shots were fired, and then a man walked out of a building, saw the young man lying in a pool of blood and exclaimed, "Oh my God, you've shot the wrong man!" A shroud hung over the event and what followed three months later.

In the back of my mind, I knew there was more than what had been told. I wondered about it, but knew that I wasn't supposed to ask, "What really happened?" This murder was committed at a Fourth of July picnic at Old Woodville July 4, 1901.

Uncertainty abounded, but apparently a contract had been put out on Jim Sheppard by a banker who came out on the short end of a financial matter. Then instead of killing Jim, the "hit man", a deputy marshal, had shot Jim Sheppard's son Fred. It was stated that Jim Sheppard went to his grave with the burden that somehow he was responsible for the death of his son.

Fred was the son of James (Jim) Lavender Sheppard. Jim had married Margaret Ann Calpurnia Catherine McCuan who was a sister to my Great-grandfather Noge McCuan. I can understand why her tombstone simply reads, Anner Sheppard Oct. 5, 1852- Mar. 27, 1934.

My grandfather, Moody was named Isaac Lavender McCuan after his grandfather Isaac Wright McCuan and his uncle James Lavender Sheppard. However, he had his name legally changed to Moody McCuan. To me he was always "Daddy Moody".

Daddy Moody gave me an old wooden handled pocket knife and told me to keep it, because it was given to him by Uncle Jim Sheppard. He recently shared some of the missing pieces of the story that was never fully told.

Thanks to the late Mary Jane (McCuan) Jones, I now have a copy of the Lottie Durham Diary, (1898-1920). On July 5, 1901, Lottie recorded what happened at the 4th of July picnic at Woodville. Her account verified what I had heard.

As Paul Harvey would say, "Now, for the rest of the story."

On October 23, 1901, the deputy Marshall that shot young Fred Sheppard was himself gunned down. He was shot twice while drunk, with a knife in his hand, a bottle of whiskey in his pocket. Nobody was talking and the entire community seemed to look the other way.

Suddenly that knife entrusted to my care had a whole new meaning. That gun that Charles showed me evidently was used to avenge the death of an innocent young man. Even though parts of this are purely speculation, somehow it seems to be like the last few pieces of a jigsaw puzzle finally falling into place.

The tombstones of the father, mother and son are in the south central part of the Woodville cemetery which is located just east of Hwy. 70 A in McBride. The boy's epitaph reads: FRED A. SHEPPARD BORN JAN. 4, 1874- DIED JULY 4, 1901. "You are not dead to us, but a bright star unseen. We hold that you are ever near though death intrudes between."

The father's tombstone reads: JAMES L. SHEPPARD MAR. 16, 1858- FEB. 17, 1927. "Asleep awaiting the resurrection."

There was also a hat with a couple bullet holes in it that was part of this story, but it got misplaced somewhere in the ensuing 100 years.

I don't recommend taking the law into your own hands. However, when a Deputy Marshall proves to be a hired killer it leaves room for lots of speculation.