Caldwell County Times

Submitted by Peggy Gilkey

      CALDWELL COUNTY TIMES - PRINCETON, KY. 1936

        STRANGE ACCIDENT COSTS LIFE OF NEGRO
           ********************************
       CHARLES FRIAR IS SHOT WHILE IN TREE ON A FARM

 An accidental shooting, costing the life of Charles Friar, colored man, occurred about 3:30 Saturday afternoon  in the Liberty section of the county, when James Harvey Gray fired into a tree in which Friar was endeavoring to dislodge a groundhog.

According to reports, the animals had been eating corn owned by Friar and he had gathered his dogs and was out hunting for the groundhog. The dogs ran one up a tree and Friar climbed the tree to shake it out. Mr. Gray was working with his son in a near-by field and hearing the dogs barking went to the scene of commotion. Gray had carried his gun to the field with him, thinking maybe he would get a shot at a squirrel. on hearing the dogs, he took his gun along, and within a short distance
of the tree he noticed the limbs and branches shaking. He fired point blank into the tree. The shot hit Friar and he started to fall to the ground, but the limbs stopped him, and he had to be removed by Gray and others. Immediately after the shot Gray saw what had happened and said, " I believe I have shot a man." To which Friar replied: " You sure have ! " Those were the unfortunate Negro's last words. The accident happened on the B.B. Boitnott farm in the Liberty section.

At the corner's inquest held by Corner Robert Morgan, the jury rendered a verdict of accidental death.