To request a copy of this photo for your own personal use, please contact our state coordinator. If you are not a family member or the original photographer — please refrain from copying or distributing this photo to other websites.
Thank you for visiting the Missouri Gravestone Photo Project. On this site you can upload gravestone photos, locate ancestors and perform genealogy research. If you have a relative buried in Missouri, we encourage you to upload a digital image using our Submit a Photo page. Contributing to this genealogy archive helps family historians and genealogy researchers locate their relatives and complete their family tree.
Submitted: 1/10/19 • Approved: 1/12/19 • Last Updated: 1/15/19 • R816556-G0-S3
Jan 6 1913
Oct 4 1939
Parents
William Claude Clark 1894–1971
Flossie Beard Clark 1893–1993
Spouse
Anna Lucille Lawler Talkington 1914–1982
Steele, Mo.--Odis [Otis] Clark, 26, farmer of the Cooter neighborhood, died at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in a Blytheville hospital as the result of a pistol shot wound in the neck, which affected his spine, at the hands of a young negro named "Robert". The shot was fired during an altercation which took place at a negro "joint" near Cooter on last Sunday afternoon, Oct. 1, and the victim was immediatly paralyzed throughout his body.
Funeral services were held Thursday afternoon and interment was in No. 8 cemetery.
Immediately following the shooting the negro fled and so far as has been learned here has not bee apprehended. Claude Clark, father of the slain man, is reported to have offered a substantial reward for his arrest.
Clark is survived by his wife, Mrs. Anne Lawler Clark, four children, Wayne, 8, Daisy Floyce, 6, Melba Joy, 4 and Glynn, 3, also his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Claude Clark, and four brothers, Melvin, Farris, Clifford and Alvin Clark, all of whom live in the No. 8 community. He also has four sisters, Mdmes. Mabel Lawhorn and Evelyn Brazil, and Misses Nadine and Raymel Clark. All live at No. 8 except Mrs. Brazil, whose home is at Mexico, Ky., and she arrived here the day of the shooting.
The trouble grew out of an argument between Mr. Clark and the negro over a small quantity of whiskey, according to several eye witnesses, among who were Arthur Lacer, Saeger Best and Herbert Gilmore, friends of Mr. Clark who accompanied him to the beer parlor that afternoon. The place is run by a negro named Ernest Mosby, with whom "Robert" had been staying since his arrival here from Mississippi some two months or so ago.
Democrat Argus - Caruthersville, Missouri - Friday, October 6, 1939
Steele, Mo.--A widespread search is being made for a negro youth, known only as "Robert", accused of the shooting of Odis Clark, 26, Sunday afternoon at a beer parlor on the V.W. Coleman farm near Cooter as the result of which Clark is in a critical condition in a Blytheville hospital with a wound in the neck. The bullet affected the spine, so that he is entirely paralyzed and physicians hold out little hope for his recovery.
Clark went to the place, which is operated by a negro named Ernest Mosby, Sunday afternoon in company with Herbert Gilmore, Saeger Best and Arthur Lacer, who stated that an argument arose between Clark and the young negro over a small quantity of whiskey. Five shots were fired by the negro, one of which took effect in the manner mentioned, and although a negress who witnessed the shooting claimed that Clark fired at the negro also, this is denied by his companions and by other white men present.
After the shooting, "Robert" fled and although scores of men joined in the search for him he has not so far been located. Some believe he may have gone to Memphis or perhaps to Clarksdale, Miss., where it is said he formerly lived. He had been staying at the place operated by Mosby for perhaps two months.
Clark, whose home is near Cooter, was removed to the hospital in Blytheville as soon as possible, where treatment has been administered but where it is recognized it will be a hard fight if he recovers-that he is in all probability will at least be permanently paralyzed.
Clark, who was married some years ago to Miss Ann Lawler, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. B.J. Lawler of the No. 8 community, has four children. He is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Claud Clark, the former being president of the Cooter school board and the family quite well known in the south part of the county. For some years he has been engaged in farming near Cooter.
Feeling against the young negro is very pronounced and officers have stated that in case of his apprehension he will be taken to some more distant jail for fear of his life at the hands of the incensed citizens.
Democrat Argus - Caruthersville, Missouri - Tuesday, October 3, 1939
Contributed on 1/10/19 by ttack37
Email This Contributor
Suggest a Correction
Record #: 816556