Benjamin Franklin Lamar
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date: 18 Aug 1851 Christening: Death: 27 Sep 1897 2 Burial: Hickory Grove Cemetery, Delaware Co., Oklahoma Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: J. R. Lamar (1829-1897) 1 Mother: Elizabeth ( - )
Spouses and Children
1. *Mary A. Sansberry (14 Apr 1855 - 24 Apr 1904) 1 Marriage: Children: 1. Jessie Lamar (1883- ) 2. Ethel M. Lamar (1885- ) 3. Lucius Lamar (1887- ) 4. Maud S. Lamar (1889- ) 5. Nettie M. Lamar (1890- ) 6. Mildred J. Lamar (1894- ) 7. Frank B. Lamar (1896- )
Notes
General:
BROTHERS?
The evidence presented here suggests but does not prove that Ewing Lamar and Benjamin Franklin Lamar are brothers. There is a repetition of names in the 2 sets of children, and one of Benjamin Franklin's children (Maud) is living with a child of Ewing (Maudie Mae) in 1920. On the other hand according to the 1910 US census for Robert A. Ballard married to Benjamin's daughter Jessie, Benjamin F. was 1/8 Cherokee, and according to the tribal census of about 1900 Ewing was 1/16. I suspect that at that level of dilution people were often uncertain as to what percentage indigenous ancestry they really had.
TOMBSTONE:
His tombstone, which can be seen in Find A Grave under 'Benjamin Franklin Lamar', has an elaborate Mesonic symbol on it. The Find A Grave entry says
Son of James R. and Elizabeth Lamar. Husband of Mary A. Stanberry.
DEATH:
The following newspaper story was sent to me by a possible descendant of Herman Anton, who is mentioned in the story. It is from the St. Louis Republic of Tuesday, September 28, 1897. The story is long and detailed and is accompanied by a large sketch of the hall and staircase and the dead man lying on the floor. The length of the account suggests to me that there were probably follow-up stories, but I have not seen them, if they exist.
MURDERED IN A VARIETY THEATER.
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Benjamin F. Lamar, Wealthy Stockman of Fairland, I. T., Found Dead at the Gaiety.
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SUPPOSED HE WAS ROBBED.
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He Had Been Out With a Party of Friends Sunday Night --- A Number of Suspects Under Arrest.
---o---
The police are trying to solve the first murder mystery of the rejuvenated variety theater. Benjamin Franklin Lamar, a wealthy stockman of Fairland, I. T., was found dead yesterday morning in the hall on the first floor of the house adjoining the Gaiety, formerly the London Theater, at Fourth and Walnut streets.
Herman Anton, who looks after the place, found the body, which was in a pool of blood. There was a long gash in the head, near the crown, as if inflicted with a hatchet or some blunt instrument; the skull was fractured and there were several bruises about the front part of the head. Patrolman O'Connor was notified. He summoned an ambulance and had the body removed to the Morgue.
The facts seem to point to foul play and a number of arrests have been made. Lamar and a party of friends were at the resort Sunday night. They arrived in town Sunday morning on the Frisco Railway excursion. In the party were Lamar, Ben Philips, George Nidiffer, J. H. Connelly, David W. Vann, F. M. Connor and his son, Alonso, and Bill Davis, all of Fairland, and Bill Raines of Vinita. They put up at the Moser Hotel and Sunday afternoon started out to see the sights. In the evening they went to Hopkins' Theater. They left there about 8 30. Philips and Nidiffer went back to the hotel and the others took in the show at the Gaiety. They went up in a box on the second floor, which could be screened off from the main part of the house. They mingled with the actresses and had several drinks. Lamar was in company with a woman on the first floor when last seen. This woman is thought to be Fanny Wolff, the police are now looking for her.
About 11 o'clock all left the place except Lamar, Raines, Davis and Connelly. Each was in company with a woman most of the time, drinking and enjoying the performance. When Raines, Connelly and Davis started to leave, about midnight, they looked around for Lamar, but could not find him. They supposed he had gone out with a woman, and would return. They went to their hotel, expecting that the missing man would show up all right later on.
Yesterday morning they reported his disappearance to the police just about the time the body was removed to the Morgue. The identity of the dead man was then established and arrangements made to have the body shipped to Fairland for burial.
When the body was found, a gold watch was hanging out of Lamar's vest pocket. Another watch was lying on the floor a few feet away. The latter, a gold filled, hunting case affair, Lamar has [sic] purchased Sunday at Harburger's clothing and jewelry store, 212 North Fourth street, paying for the watch, chain and Masonic charm that was attached, $21. He had been steered into the store by John Heifer, a runner. When he paid for the timepiece he displayed a large roll of bills. There were also found in the dead man's clothes a number of letters, addressed to "Hon. B. F. Lamar," and 2 cents in change. This was all the money he had. It was in the emptied pocketbook that was lying on the body.
Wallace Noel of Labadie, Mo. boarded the train that the Indian Territory party came in on at Labadie. He says that at Pacific, Mo. where the Frisco crosses the Missouri Pacific, he and Lamar's friends got off and had drinks, for which Lamar paid out of a roll of paper money. Those who accompanied Lamar to the city do not know how much money he had, but as he is well-to-do and spent freely, the supposition is that he was well supplied.
After making an investigation, without learning anything important, the police began to doubt that murder was committed and now hint at accident. Their theory is that Lamar wandered out of the theater and walked upstairs in the house. In trying to descend, he stumbled and fell, sustaining the wounds that resulted in death. The house is an old-fashioned affair, and the first floor, except the hall, is used for saloon and resort purposes. The front door is barred, the only persons who live in it are Anton and his wife who occupy rooms on the third floor. The other rooms are vacant. There is an entrance to the building from the theater. The hall is several feet higher than the theater floor.
The body was found in the rear of the hall, eight or ten feet from the stairway. The floor is perfectly level and there was no blunt instrument around that Lamar could have hit his head on in alighting. He might have struck one of the steps, but the doctors say if he did there would be some mark left. The man's hat was found on the second floor landing, and the dusty floor is marked up, seeming to indicate that there was a struggle there. The hat had been trampled upon by a foot, which also shows that Lamar did not fall.
The theory most credited is that Lamar was the victim of foul play. He evidently left the theater before his friends returned to the hotel, or they would have found him among the small crowd. He had been drinking champagne and his bill was high. He may have run out of money and received a terrible beating for ordering what he could not pay for. The fact that the emptied pocketbook and the watches were out of his clothes would tend to show that robbery was the motive of the murderers. An expert thief is shrewd enough to let jewelry alone. The post-mortem of Dr. Nietert established that death was caused by a fractured skull and lacerated brain, the result of a wound inflicted by a blunt instrument or by a fall against some hard surface. The physicians say that it is just barely possible that falling upon the wooden floor of the house could have produced the fracture and other scalp wounds.
At noon Ed Samuels, William Esher, Frank Flewing and Herman Anton were arrested, as it is thought they know something about the murder. Esher is a son of Mrs. William Esher, who owns the Gaiety. Anton is the janitor, and the others are employes [sic]. Later Frank L. Gay and Frank Custer, attaches, were taken into custody. The women arrested are Carrie Feener, Lottie Thorne, Sadie Williams, Mabel Hall, Hattie Carleton, all actresses. Isaac Eisfeld, bartender at the saloon, was also arrested. They all deny any knowledge of the affair. Anton says he was going out to get some milk when he happened upon the body. Maggie Duffy and Fannie Wolff, who are said to have been in Lamar's company Sunday night, are being sought for by the police. The prisoners were locked up in the holdover, and reporters were not allowed to see them.
Lamar was 42 years old and leaves a widow and seven children. Two girls are at school in Neosho and another attends school at Talequah, I. T. The dead man was a member of the Masonic fraternity and Ancient Order of United Workmen. He was prominent in politics in the Territory and was formerly a member of the Cherokee Council. This was the first time he had been to St. Louis, and he was to have returned home with his friends last night, when their tickets expired. His tragic death will detain the party in the city for a day or two at least, as they will have to appear at the Coroner's inquest this morning at 10 o'clock.
1 Cemeteries and Burial Places of Delaware County, Oklahoma, Vol II, pg 10. Repository: Clayton Library, Houston, Texas.
2
"Find-a-Grave," Memorial # 5488804.
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