Little River News
October 11-1955
Bullet Kills Prosecutor
ASHDOWN, Ark.
Prosecutor Richard Coker Thomas, 40, was shot to death in front of the little River County jail here last night, and a former mental patient whom Thomas was sending to jail was arrested on an open charge.
Sheriff Aubrey Thrash said a murder charge would be filed against 67 year old John Spencer Furlow, who lived alone on a small farm three miles outside this small southwest Arkansas town. Thomas was shot in the heart with a .22-ca!iber revolver. Thrash said Furlow fired two other shots into a group of men standing nearby, but no one else was injured. The sheriff said Furlow was committed to the state hospital for the mentally ill at Little Rock from 1936 to 1940.
Thomas had ordered Furlow jailed on grounds that he had threatened several townspeople with a shotgun. The sheriff said that when he took Furlow's arm to lead him to jail, Furlow drew a pistol and fired at the prosecutor.
Richard Coker Thomas
1915-1955
Buried Ashdown Cemetery, Ashdown, Ar
Son of
Richard Emory & Leona Permilla Graves Thomas
Husband of Alphatique Cole
married 4/13/1941