Some Unsolved Estill County Murders
by Ralph Barnes
During the O. J. Simpson trial, a mesmerized public was exposed to the
high-tech methods now employed by police departments the world over to solve felonies.
It is virtually impossible to commit a murder without leaving behind some
microscopic bit of incriminating evidence. Just a few years back more primitive
methods were relied on to solve crimes. Eyewitnesses and circumstantial
evidence were the standard means for convicting criminals. The Simpson case
also demonstrated how jury verdicts are unpredictable and often based on
emotional considerations rather than the facts. Contrary to popular belief more
crimes went unpunished, in what the over fifty generation like to refer to as
the good old days, than in the modern era. The following cases are presented
for your contemplation.
The Daisy Horn Case
Ferrell Lewis, a young mortician, who had only recently finished his training,
was sworn in as coroner on Monday, January 6, 1930. Ferrell and his brother T.
E. Lewis (an Irvine merchant at the time who served as Deputy Coroner for his
brother) would one day open the Lewis Funeral Home. But on that cold winter day
there was no inkling as to what lay ahead for the youthful coroners. The very
day Ferrell Lewis took office, one of the county’s most infamous murders
occurred. The corpse of a nineteen-year-old Irvine lass named Daisy Horn was
discovered by her neighbors on the morning following the swearing-in ceremonies.
Daisy’s bullet riddled body was lying near the Madison Avenue end of the old
South Irvine Bridge. The young victim was the daughter of Void and Minnie
Spicer Horn who lived on Madison Avenue. Void operated a boat yard near his
residence. Life at nineteen is an exciting time for youth the world over and
Daisy Horn was no exception. The social notes section of the paper mentioned
that Daisy had just spent a pleasant week with her brother Hubert, who was
visiting from Hazard. Daisy had just reached the point in her life where
caution is overwhelmed by youthful exuberance. As she left home to meet an
unidentified caller her mother must have cautioned her, as mothers do
everywhere, to be careful. Minnie Horn was the last person, other than the
killer, to see her daughter alive.
Coroner Lewis called in medical personnel to examine the body. The examination
revealed that she had been shot three times with a pistol. One errant bullet
struck her in the arm, but two of the lethal projectiles plowed into Daisy’s
chest, mortally wounding her.
Minnie Horn told authorities that an acquaintance of Daisy’s, Ancil Profitt,
called for her on the night of the killing. Profitt was arrested and brought to
court the same day on suspicion of murder. The suspect was convicted of making
whiskey the previous year and had run afoul of the law on other occasions. Ben
Scott before Judge Harry B. Wilson handled the prosecution. Feelings were
running high in the community over the senseless murder and a large throng crowded
into the courtroom to watch the proceedings. Three witnesses testified that
they heard Profitt state that if Daisy ever dated other men he would kill her. However
Profitt’s swore that he was eating supper in the Broadway Café at the time of
the murder and a number of witnesses corroborated his story. Profitt’s alibi
proved unshakable and charges were never brought against him.
Five years after the homicide, another suspect with an extensive criminal
record was indicted for the murder of Daisy Horn. He also was not convicted and
the case remains unsolved.
The newspaper gave the young coroner high marks for the professional manner in
which he handled his first case, but castigated the criminal justice system in
general for not solving the murder.
The Dave Woolery Case
On a wet Sunday morning of March 8, 1931, Dave Woolery was found hanging in the
barn of R. M. Garrett at White Oak. On Saturday, Woolery had gone to Irvine to
collect his pay and buy groceries. Woolery was in a good mood because he had
just purchased a farm and was looking forward to moving into his new home. A
little later, he walked over to Mr. Garretts place to get an automobile tire
from Garrett’s barn. Garrett, who was his boss as well as his neighbor, saw him
enter the barn but never noticed when he left. He thought nothing of the matter
until the next morning when Woolery’s body was discovered hanging by a chain
from the rafters of his barn. A red bandanna was neatly tied around the
victim’s neck to protect the skin from the chain.
The authorities arrived and after examining the death scene determined that it
was an obvious case of suicide. Everyone was shocked that a man who seemed to
be so contented with his life would kill himself, but such things happen and
his suicide was accepted as fact. Since a thick blanket of mud covered the
entire barnyard, it was not the most pleasant place to conduct an
investigation, creating an urgency to wind up the case as soon as possible. So
it was deduced that the victim had fastened the chain around his neck attached
one end to a beam and jumped out the loft to his death. Dave Woolery was taken
down, given a funeral and buried. The deceased left a grieving widow and an eight-year-old
daughter.
Woolery’s brother was bothered by the circumstances of his death and began to
raise some troubling questions. He could not believe that Dave’s mental state
was such that he would take his own life. Why would he have gone to the trouble
of buying a farm just before he killed himself? Most troubling of all was the
fact that Woolery’s shoes were free of mud when the barn was surrounded by
thick mud. And why did he have mud on his hands and shirtsleeves? Why was his
facial expression so peaceful? Wouldn’t a person that just hanged himself have
a contorted face from the force of the fall? The family demanded that he be
disinterred and an autopsy performed. The examination revealed that his neck
was not broken and that it was highly unlikely that he had died from hanging.
Almost everyone now agreed that he was killed elsewhere and dragged to the barn
by his feet while his arms trailed in the mud. The chain must have been placed
around his neck and the body tossed from the barn opening, creating the
appearance of suicide. But who would do such a thing to Dave Woolery, he had no
known enemies.
Later, people began to recall seeing Dave's wife, Rosa Woolery, out riding with
Taylor Sparks the night before the murder. She and Sparks were accompanied by
two teen-agers Zack Walden and Bertha Lunsford. The story began to circulate
that Rosa was having an affair with Taylor Sparks. The speculation was that
Rosa and the two men murdered her husband to get him out of the way. The
suspicions mounted until the three were finally indicted on May 13, 1938, more
than seven years after the alleged murder. Before Taylor Sparks could be tried,
J. D. Puckett, a relative of Woolery’s, shot Sparks to death in September of
1938. Rosa Woolery and Zack Walden were convicted in February of 1939 and
sentenced to life imprisonment. The prosecution argued that Rosa and the two
men plotted Woolery’s death and then drugged and murdered him. He was later
dragged to barn and the fake suicide rigged to cover up the murder. The guilty
verdicts for both defendants were later overturned by the Court of Appeals. The
court ruled that there was insufficient evidence for a guilty verdict. J. D.
Puckett was sentenced to ten years in prison for the slaying of Taylor Sparks.
The murder of Dave Woolery is yet unresolved.
The Bear Horn Case
On July 4, 1939, Elmer "Bear" Horn was found decapitated on the
railroad tracks near the mouth of Cow Creek. Bear was the twenty-five year old
son of Clell and Viola Lynch Horn. The Horns lived near the top of Mt.
Scratchum on the Cow Creek side of the mountain. Clell and Viola was a hard
working couple who supplemented their meager income by selling eggs and milk in
town. They had no transportation so they walked to town and carried their wares
in saddlebags. God never made finer people than Clell and Viola Horn.
Bear Horn lost an ear in an automobile accident and drank excessively to
compensate for the mutilation of his appearance. As a result, he was given to a
wild lifestyle and more often than not was under the influence of whiskey. So,
the natural assumption was that he fell asleep on the tracks while intoxicated
and a passing train severed his head. However, there were no marks on the body
except for the decapitation wound. The question naturally arose as to how a
freight train could pass over a human torso without leaving marks, leading to
speculation that he was murdered and placed on the tracks. Many people believe
the persistent rumor that a local bootlegger killed him and his body left on
the track to appear as an accident. The oft-told story is that Bear and the
bootlegger got into an argument and that the assailant and his wife killed Bear
with an ax. There has never been any proof of the allegation and no charges
were ever brought against the couple. Clell had Bear’s Model A Ford parked in a
gully near his house as a remembrance of his dead son. For years afterward the
bizarre monument was a noted landmark before it gradually disappeared under the
silt.
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