Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 78, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 January 1911 — OIL MAGNATE SLAIN; RESULT OF LAWSUIT [ARTICLE]

OIL MAGNATE SLAIN; RESULT OF LAWSUIT

10. S. Neeley Is Shot Down by Al 0. Truskett. At Caney, Kan, J. S. D. Neeley, president of the Wichita Pipe Line company, president of the Lima, 0., Trust company, and head of several large oil companies, was shot and instantly killed in the Palace hotel by AJ O. Truskett, a prominent business man of Caney. The shooting was the result of litigation over an oil well lease. Truskett surrendered immediately after the shooting and was taken in an automobile to the county jail at Independence, Kan. The shooting occurred in the rear of the" hotel. Mr. Neeley had been sitting in the lobby reading a letter. Truskett, watching him closely, was sitting opposite. When Mr. Neeley got up and walked toward the rear of the hotel Truskett hurried around to the sample room. As Neeley pased the door of this room Truskett fired at him twice. One bullet passed through the victim's heart and the other through his left arm When employes of the hotel reached the pros: rate man he was dead President Neeley arrived here on his monthly inspection of the oil and gas Interests and of his pumping plant recently erected here. The killirg is believed.to have been largely the result of a lawsuit pending between Truskett and the Wichita Pipe Line company - Truskett refused to make a, statement following his arrest. His friends say the lawsuit weighed heavily on his mind, and that frequently advisers had told him he was being deceived by the corporation. Truskett’s is one of the oldest and wealthiest families in the southern part of Kansas