R.
C. Finley Shot To Death By Son In Goodman Point Tragedy Friday
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Virgil Finley Sought To Save His
Mother From Beating By Bluffing Enraged Father With Gun But Was
Himself Attacked And Had To Fire
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CORONER'S JURY FINDS ACT
JUSTIFIABLE
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Bullet Passed Through Finley's
Body And Lodged In Brain of Mother It Was To Save -- Her Condition Too
Serious To Permit Operation Now
[A man's] temper which has made his family's lives miserable for a number
of years led to the death of Robert Curtiss Finley in the greatest tragedy
of recent years in Montezuma county last Friday night.
Virgil Finley, his son returned from a party held in the neighborhood to
find his father quarreling at his wife. Before the young man could retire
his father began beating the mother. Considerably lighter than his father
who was heavy and exceptionally strong, Virgil was unable to pull the
maddened man from the bed in which the beating was going on, so he ran to
the kitchen where he seized a heavy calibre rifle and started back to the
bedroom calling to his father to stop before he shot.
The elder Finley, instead of heeding the threatening gun, turned his
attention to the boy and started toward him with clenched fists ignoring
the warning to stop. They met in the living room which lies between the
bedroom and kitchen and Virgil fired.
The gun discharged in pitch darkness and from the young man's hip, sent
the bullet straight through Finley's heart and on through his body. He
fell with his head almost at his son's feet.
Administering to his mother's bruises and a wound near her eye as best he
could, Virgil went for help to the homes of two neighbors. Mr. and Mrs.
Carson "Peck" Seitz were first summoned and then he went on to the home of
Mr. and Mrs. O. B. Ankrum where the party had been held earlier in the
evening. Mr. and Mrs. Seitz he picked up on the way back and they were the
first to see the gruesome sight which the Finley home presented. The
Ankrums arrived shortly afterward and the ladies attended Mrs. Finley who
was in great pain. The men came to Cortez for Dr. Johnson and Virgil gave
himself up to Sheriff Dunlap.
A coroner's jury composed of Chas Winship, Carl Gregory, F. E. Larimore,
Lloyd Maynes and Earl Robinson visited the scene of the tragedy Saturday
morning. While there they helped in the search of the rooms for the bullet
which had passed through the dead man's body, and which could not be
found.
In the meantime Mrs. Finley had been removed to the Johnson hospital and
was in a most serious condition. She stated to the doctor upon his arrival
that she had raised up just as the shot was fired, saw the flash and
believed that the bullet was in her eye.
An X-ray taken before the hearing in afternoon revealed that this was
indeed true. The bullet intended to save her from the beating by a crazed
husband had destroyed the sight of her left eye and was imbedded in the
brain where an operation could not be performed.
At the inquest the testimony given by Virgil Finley, Mr. and Mrs. Seitz,
Mr. and Mrs. Ankrum and Dr. Johnson gave the story in substantially the
form oulined above. In addition, Virgil told that his mother had suffered
severe beatings from her husband on numerous occasions though never in his
presence before this time. He also testified that his father had on one
occasion hurled an ax at him when they argued about the speed of a
circular saw which they were using and which the young man believed
dangerous because it was cracked.
W. M. Conoley and Caraway Rice, both of Cortez, were summoned to testify
to an occurrence of several years ago in which the elder Finley was
involved and which displayed his ungovernable temper.
Both told how, eleven years ago when they were living near the Finley
ranch, Mrs. Finley and her children were forced to flee to the Rice home
by Finley who was after his wife with a gun. Rice is a son-in-law of the
Finleys. He summoned Mr. Conoley and Posey McNeel to his home and they
prepared for the arrival of Finley. He soon appeared, driving a buggy in
which was a rifle and wearing an ammunition belt and carrying a revolver.
He entered the house, Conoley and McNeel remaining on the ??? and leveled
the revolver at Mrs. Finley who was across the room. Rice stepped from
behind the door and ??? the gun inserting his ??? behind the trigger and
closing his fingers of the hammer of ??? the gun ??? ??? fired. The men
??? entered and overpowered the enraged? man. Finley was jailed in Cortez
but was later released upon the pleas of his family. He has repeatedly
threatened the lives of the ??? men.
Following the hearing of this testimony the jury ??? ??? bring ??? ???
verdict ??? the ??? ??? ??? gunshot ??? inflicted by his son. Virgil in
the defense of his mother.
District Attorney Jacobson informed young Finley that was brought to light
the case would not be prosecuted.
Dr. Johnson found that the bullet in
Mrs. Finley's head ??? ??? ??? in the brain??????????????. Any attempt
to remove it however might result in her death ??? it will not be ???
????. The mother is still in a serious condition from the ??? ??? ???
beating ??? ??? ??? the wound and from the ??? she has suffered from the
tragic death of her huband and the trouble in which her son was plunged.
Funeral services were held for R. C.
Finley Sunday from the Ertcel Mortuary chapel in Cortez and interment
was made in the Arriola cemetery. His is survived by Mrs. Finley,
Virgil, Mrs. Rice of Cortez, Mrs. Edwin Wilson [Mildred Wilson] and Mrs.
Lee Colner of Yellow Jacket and Miss Elsie and Miss Bessie Finley of
Topeka, Kansas.
Cortez Journal-Herald, Cortez,
Montezuma County, Colorado, Thursday, May 28, 1931
