Murder in Texarkana

One Saturday evening in March of 1919, Jeff Hines walked into the Majestic Floral Co. in Texarkana, Arkansas, carrying a grudge and a gun. He walked out of the flower shop a few minutes later, leaving behind a dead businessman; a bleeding wife, now a widow; a shocked family friend and bystander; and a fatherless 7-year-old girl.

Peter Mackley and Willella

Peter William Mackley, my great-grandfather, was the businessman who was killed that day. He was 31. Widespread newspaper coverage, the ensuing murder trial, and a couple court cases (on employment law, of all things) ensured that this was one of the most thoroughly documented events in my family. Some facts are disputed among the various sources, but there is no doubt about the cause of the crime: wounded pride.

Jeff Hines was a driver for the American Railway Express Co., and his pride was wounded, on two occasions, by my great-grandmother, Chloe Moffett Mackley, Peter Mackley's wife. The first offense took place on the Monday before the killing, when Hines arrived at Majestic Floral with a shipment of fresh flowers. Peter Mackley co-owned the shop with his father-in-law, George Moffett. Chloe Mackley, who helped run the shop, was there when Hines arrived. The two argued about something, but the nature of this "trivial dispute," as she later called it, is unknown.

Chloe Mackley

A few days later on Friday, the day before the murder, a second disagreement arose over a new shipment of flowers delivered by Hines. It was almost 6 o'clock in the evening, and again Mrs. Mackley was in the shop, apparently by herself. She voiced her displeasure that the flowers Hines brought were wilted. She asked when they had arrived in Texarkana, and Hines replied with the number of the train. Mrs. Mackley thought something didn't add up, and accused Hines of lying. She contended that the flowers had arrived earlier in the day on a different train, and that they were wilted because they sat in the express office for several hours awaiting delivery. They "had a few words," Mrs. Mackley said later, but she thought it was nothing serious. A claim agent arrived to settle the matter, and asked Hines to leave. Mrs. Mackley told the agent that Hines had been "impudent" and did not have "a drop of gentleman blood in him." Sources disagree as to whether Hines was present for these remarks. Nevertheless, Mrs. Mackley and the agent worked out an agreement, with the express company adjusting the delivery charge.

The matter was resolved in principle, but there were still some details to complete. The Mackleys knew that someone from the express company would come by to collect the adjusted charges and bring the receipt book to be signed. But they didn't expect it to be Hines. He had, in fact, been told not to go; his employer knew of the dispute between Hines and the Mackleys, and had designated another employee to run the errand. But Hines insisted on going himself. First, he borrowed a gun because, he later testified, he was concerned that Mr. Mackley "might attempt to do me violence in his own store." The gun was a massive Colt .44 revolver, but it had only one light cartridge so Hines purchased several heavy cartridges.

Colt .44 pistol (Wikipedia)

Hines returned on Saturday, March 8, about 5:30 in the evening, when the shop was about to close. He brought the book for Mr. Mackley to sign; he laid the book open on the show case in the front of the shop and Mr. Mackley started to sign his name. Mrs. Mackley was in the back of the shop, chatting with a family friend, Jennie Van Treese.

As Mr. Mackley signed, Hines asked for an apology because of the harsh words he had received from Mrs. Mackley. Mr. Mackley told Hines that he did not deserve an apology, and then Hines pulled out his gun. He insisted again that Mr. Mackley make amends; the women in the back heard a raised voice say, "Apologize!" Mrs. Mackley stood up and made her way to the front. She saw her husband with both hands raised, Hines' revolver pointed at him. As she passed her desk, she opened the drawer and pulled out a pistol of her own. She later said she intended not to use it but to give it to Mr. Mackley.

The details of what happened next are disputed. Hines said that he told Mrs. Mackley, "Lady, for God's sake please put up that gun, the trouble's all over," to which she replied, "No it ain't either; I'm in on this." She then raised her pistol and Hines shot her in self-defense. Then Mr. Mackley jumped in front of her, taking Hines' second bullet. Hines then shot Mrs. Mackley a second time, and finally shot Mr. Mackley a second time.

From the McCurtain Gazette

Mrs. Mackley, however, testified that she never raised her pistol but kept it at her side the whole time. She said that Mr. Mackley was the first to be shot; she couldn't recall the other shots being fired. She didn't even realize she had been wounded until noticing that her arm was numb. This was the result of a bullet that entered her left breast, followed the path of her rib cage just under the skin, exited her body under the armpit, and struck her upper arm.

Regardless of the sequence of events, Mr. and Mrs. Mackley were each shot twice. One of the bullets struck Mr. Mackley in the heart. He spun, fell into his wife's arms, and muttered "Chloe!" He died almost immediately. The shop was full of smoke as Hines made his way out the door. He stated later that he simply walked away and surrendered to a police officer; another account has him returning to the delivery office first before being arrested. Both accounts agree that he was taken into custody on the Texas side of town and returned to the Arkansas side. This is plausible--the flower shop was located in the Foreman Building on State Line Avenue in Texarkana, Arkansas, just across the street from Texarkana, Texas.

A crowd soon gathered at Majestic Floral. Among those who rushed to the scene was Era V. Williams, who worked next door at the U.S. employment office. She later testified that she ran into the store and asked Mrs. Mackley what happened. "Oh, Mr. Mackley has been killed, he has been killed," she said. Era said Mrs. Mackley then muttered, under her breath, "And it was my fault." As for Jennie Van Treese, who had been chatting with Mrs. Mackley when Hines entered the store, she retreated to a back room when the shooting started and offered few details beyond that point. She could not recall in court how many shots were fired.

From the Tulsa Daily World

Newspapers in Texarkana and Idabel, Oklahoma, were all over the story; Hines had lived in Idabel, working there as a night policeman. Some of the articles include exquisite details. One took note of the book that lay, spattered with blood, on the show case in the flower shop: "[Mackley] had signed his initials and proceeded as far as 'Mack,' the 'ley' having never been written." Others, such as the Houston Post and the Tulsa World, seized upon the amount of money involved in the dispute over the damaged flowers: 60 cents.

Hines, 30, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years in the Arkansas penitentiary for killing Mr. Mackley. There was a second trial for assault to kill Mrs. Mackley; I have no records regarding the verdict in that case. I don't know how long Hines was in prison. At the time of his conviction, he had a wife and two young daughters.

Chloe Mackley later remarried and stayed in the floral business in Texarkana. She died in 1961 at the age of 70. The 7-year-old daughter whose father was killed was my grandmother, Willella. According to The Daily Texarkanian, she was in the flower shop until just a few minutes before the shooting but left with a family friend before Hines arrived. Years later, Willella ran a flower shop in Texarkana called Flower Fashions. She died in 1988 at the age of 76.

My grandmother told me stories about the shooting. I can still see her pointing to her chest and tracing a path around her ribs, showing me where the bullet entered her mother's body and explaining how it ranged back and out, striking her arm as it exited.

I don't remember hearing about the lawsuits that were filed afterward. Mrs. Mackley sought damages from the American Railway Express Co., and initially was awarded a judgment of $103,500. The verdict was overturned on appeal, however, with the Arkansas Supreme Court stating that, even though Hines was an employee and was in the flower shop on company business, the business was limited to the transaction involving the flowers and settlement for damages. It was not within the scope of his employment to shoot anyone, and his employer had not asked him to do so. Once Hines acted violently, the employer's responsibility ended and he was on his own.

"There would have been no trouble," the court said, "but for the fact that Hines thought an apology was due him for what Mrs. Mackley had said the day before. His demand for an apology was made during his employment; but it was no part of his employment. It was in no manner necessary for him to obtain this apology to discharge his employment, and his act in demanding it must be attributed to a feeling of personal resentment, or injured pride, or some other emotion impelling him to rashness, of which the master was not advised and for which the master was not responsible, because it was a matter in which the master had no concern."

More:

• "Peter Mackley Killed; Wife Wounded." Old, W. J., editor. McCurtain Gazette. (Idabel, Okla.), Vol. 14, No. 5, Ed. 1 Monday, May 12, 1919, Newspaper, May 12, 1919; (http://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc141509/ : accessed October 31, 2015), Oklahoma Historical Society, The Gateway to Oklahoma History, http://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

• "Shot to Death As He Pleaded With Assailant." The Daily Texarkanian. Monday, March 10, 1919.

• "Testimony Given by Mrs. Mackley at Hines Hearing." Old, W. J., editor. McCurtain Gazette. (Idabel, Okla.), Vol. 14, No. 9, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 26, 1919, Newspaper, March 26, 1919; (http://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc141497/ : accessed October 31, 2015), Oklahoma Historical Society, The Gateway to Oklahoma History, http://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

• "Verdict of Second Degree Murder Against Jeff Hines." Old, W. J., editor. McCurtain Gazette. (Idabel, Okla.), Vol. 14, No. 32, Ed. 1 Saturday, June 14, 1919, Newspaper, June 14, 1919; (http://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc141519/ : accessed October 31, 2015), Oklahoma Historical Society, The Gateway to Oklahoma History, http://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

• "Quarrel Over 60 Cents; Florist Shot to Death." The Morning Tulsa Daily World. (Tulsa, Okla.), 09 March 1919. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042345/1919-03-09/ed-1/seq-1/>

• "Express Company Lost Big Damage Suit Friday." Old, W. J., editor. McCurtain Gazette (Idabel, Okla.), Vol. 14, No. 67, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 13, 1920, Newspaper, October 13, 1920; (http://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc99766/ : accessed November 03, 2015), Oklahoma Historical Society, The Gateway to Oklahoma History, http://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

• American Railway Express Company v. Mackley, 148 Ark. 227, 230 S. W. 598. http://opinions.aoc.arkansas.gov/WebLink8/0/doc/172542/Electronic.aspx