Foreword: As a rule, but not always, America’s pre-Prohibition “whiskey men” tended toward non-violent activities even when they overstepped the law. When “love” entered the picture, however, stronger and more reckless impulses might lead to acts of homicide. Below are three brief accounts of how an intense passion for a woman could lead to death for one or more individuals, caught up in the heat of the moment.
Stanley Cooney was part of a Irish-American family that ran a grocery and liquor store in Nashville, Tennessee. The youth might have spent his life there had he not fallen in love with Mary Isabelle Wheeler from a prominent Texas family. In 1888 the couple married. Mary was 21 and her husband 28. After a year of living with Stanley in Nashville, Mary became homesick for her family. She persuaded her spouse to relocate to the Lone Star State and open a business there. The town they selected was New Birmingham, a newly minted community in East Texas built around local iron ore operations. It was a boom town that quickly had grown to more than 3,000 residents boasting a business district of 15 blocks.
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| General Hamman |
But life was not to be tranquil for the Cooneys in New Birmingham. Townsfolk were gossiping scandal about Mary, some of it reputedly coming from the household of former Confederate Gen. William H. Hamman, an influential citizen. Despite being described as usually “notably quiet and gentlemanly in his demeanor,” Cooney was neither when he encountered Hamman. Blinded by anger, he used both barrels of his shotgun to shoot the general down in the street. The Tennessean’s motive was said to be that Hamman had defamed the character of his wife. Some whispered, however, that it was Hamman’s wife who had traduced Mary.
Caught with the smoking gun still in his hand, young Stanley waived a preliminary hearing, was arrested and sent to jail. When word of this killing reached Nashville, his father and other family members immediately left for Texas to help the boy. A Nashville paper opined: “The news of yesterday was a great shock to them and the universal opinion is that he must have been justifiable in what he did.” Those sentiments did not translate to Texas. Despite able legal assistance, young Cooney was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to prison. Meanwhile Hamman was buried in the Owensville Cemetery in nearby Calvert, Texas.
In 1892 Cooney — likely with help from Mary’s politically potent Wheeler family — was pardoned and released from jail. The couple quickly headed back to Nashville where Stanley resumed selling liquor and Mary made a career as an artist. The news appears to have unhinged the Widow Hamman. “In a fit of outrage and grief,” as it is told, she ran through the streets screaming to the heavens to “leave no stick or stone standing” in the town. As New Birmingham slowly lapsed into a ghost town, many saw her diatribe as an omen or perhaps a curse.
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| "Long Henry" |
After killing the owner of the Valley Saloon in a gun battle and disposing of whatever financial interest he had in the drinking establishment, “Long Henry” Thompson left Seco, Montana, for several years. In the meantime his reputation as a gunslinger continued to grow. Shown here in a drawing, it was said of Long Henry that whatever his target, even birds on the wing, he rarely missed. Some called him "the most desperate character in Montana.”
In February 1902, Thompson returned to Seco with a wad of cash. The money drew the attention of his former lover, Georgia Grant. In his absence Georgia had taken up residence with a local named Eddie Shufeldt, now co-owner of the Valley Saloon. When Shufeldt found Long Henry and Georgia drinking together at his bar, he cursed her. In retaliation Thompson slugged him on the jaw. The gunslinger then left the premises reputedly telling Shufeldt: “You want to look out for me, for when I come back, I’ll come a shootin.’
When Long Henry returned 15 minutes later, Shufeldt was standing next to the saloon door. Although he later claimed Thompson had a gun in his hand when he entered, no one else saw it. The jilted lover immediately emptied his sixgun point blank into Thompson’s body, killing him instantly. Later Georgia Grant announced she would shoot the first man who claimed she was the cause of the fight. That did not discourage newspapers in Montana and elsewhere in the West from headlines claiming that the notorious gunman had been killed by a jealous man. Long Henry was buried in the Grandview Cemetery in Seco. Shufeldt went free.
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The letterhead above for James W. Cornell, introduces a successful saloonkeeper and liquor dealer of Cascade, Montana, whose passion for a “soiled dove” led to a tragic end. Cornell, 45 years old and 17 years married, found Goldie Graham at a Great Falls brothel and became totally enamored of her. Their relationship over time apparently became strained as he might have seen her transfer her affections elsewhere. He began to drink heavily and when drunk was known to threaten Goldie. On the night of July 16, 1911, according to the Great Falls Leader, Cornell, now estranged from his wife Mary, closed his saloon and mounting the Great Northern train in Cascade arrived in Great Falls about 10 p.m. Bystanders said he appeared to be sober.
Cornell went straight to the brothel and accosted Goldie who was a front room with other women. According to witnesses they argued. He stood up, took a 44. caliber pistol from his pocket, looked at Goldie, and shouted: “I’ve been going to do this for a long time and now I’ll finish it.” The madam tried to hustle Goldie out of the room when she sensed trouble, but the young woman was slow to heed the warning.
At last sensing the danger, Goldie tried to run out a back door. Said one newspaper account: “Cornell was too quick for her and shot her. The bullet entered Goldie’s left side well toward the base of the lungs, passed entirely through her body, coming out the right side, tore a hole in her right arm and lodged in the wall.” Then the saloonkeeper raised the pistol one more time, pointed it at his head and blew his brains out. His passion and fury spent, James Cornell lay in a pool of blood, dead on the brothel floor.
Meanwhile, Goldie, badly wounded, staggered into the back yard where she was assisted by another prostitute who caught her as she fell. The friend beat out a fire on her dress that had been ignited by the powder flash and carried her to a bed. The young woman was rushed to a hospital where she lingered in pain for a week before dying. Her death certificate listed the cause as “gun shot wound of lungs” and labeled it a homicide. Cornell’s body was claimed by his estranged wife along with a ring some said he earlier had intended for Goldie.
Note: Expanded posts on each of the three men featured here may be found on this site: Stanley Cooney, April 22, 2015; Long Henry Thompson, March 5, 2020; and James Cornell, March 2, 2021.
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