Teacher Killed by Angry Parent

 

by Pa Rock

History Teacher, Retired

While the news may portray public attacks on educators and schools as being a fairly recent phenomenon, it is something, in reality, that probably goes back at least to the time of Aristotle.  Yesterday, while searching old newspaper files for family history tidbits, I came across this article on the front page of the March 1st, 1907 issue of the "Pineville (Missouri) Democrat".  It was one newspaper column in width and ran the entire length of the from page - obviously a big story.  It follows - and is perhaps a true indication of what the "golden days" of education were really like!

The Saratoga School was a one-room school house in the vicinity of Saratoga in the extreme southwest corner of McDonald County, Missouri - which is the extreme southwestern county in Missouri and borders Arkansas and Oklahoma.  The community of Saratoga no longer exists.

Clarence Mosier Killed.

________

One of McDonald County's

Bright and Energetic School

Teachers Shot Down

in the Road

_________

During the noon hour Friday, February 22nd, Clarence Mosier, teacher of the Saratoga school, was shot and instantly killed by Charles Heath, one of the patrons of the school.

The shooting came up over Mosier correcting and punishing one of Heath's children.  It is very difficult to get the particulars, but from what can be learned previous to a trial, one of Heath's daughters was very unruly in school and gave the teacher a great deal of trouble.   Mr. Mosier punished her Friday morning for some offense and when he was going to dinner Heath met him about 150 yards from the school house and began to abuse the teacher for punishing the girl.  It is said that Heath threw two rocks at the teacher who then hit Heath with a rock, then Heath shot Mr. Mosier, the bullet entering the right side, passing through the heart, lungs, and liver and passing out on the opposite side about an inch lower than it entered.  The wounded man walked a few steps and fell, dying almost instantly.

Sheriff Carnell with deputy J.C. Jones with Pros. Atty. J.S. Long went to the scene of the tragedy Friday afternoon but Heath had succeeded in getting away.  He, however went to Bentonville, Ark., and there employed Felix Lindsey to defend him.  Mr. Lindsey wired Mr. Long to meet him in Southwest City Monday, that Heath wanted to surrender and have a preliminary trial immediately.  Mr. Long and Sheriff Carnell went to Southwest City and met Mr. Lindsey who agreed to produce Heath there in court Thursday (yesterday) for the preliminary trial.  Word reached Pineville about noon yesterday that Heath had given himself up to Sheriff Carnell that morning as the latter passed through Saratoga on his way to Southwest City.

Mrs. Lucinda Mosier, mother of the deceased, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Bradley and Mrs. John O'Brien and others went to Saratoga and brought the remains to Pineville arriving here about 4 o'clock Saturday morning.  Dr. M.L. Sellers and Dr. O. St. John held a post mortem examination Saturday.

The funeral was held at 11 o'clock Sunday under the direction of Pineville Camp, Modern Woodmen of America, of which organization he was a loyal member.  Twenty-two members of the Anderson Camp and members of other camps in the county were in attendance at the funeral.  Rev. J.E. Harney preached the funeral sermon.

Clarence R. Mosier was born in Pineville, Mo., July 15th, 1884 and was killed at his post of duty at Saratoga, Mo., February 22nd, 1907.   He was a bright young man and had many friends who attended his funeral to pay their last respects to his memory.  He leaves a heart broken mother, two brothers, and three sisters to mourn his untimely death.  He carried life insurance for $1,000 in the Modern Woodmen of America in favor of his mother.

 

The incident at school which precipitated all of the trouble involved the teacher attempting to "switch" a student after she became unruly.  The girl grabbed a poker and struck the teacher with it - and then fled the school.  As she ran, the teacher told her that she could not come back, and if she did she would be whipped.  The next morning, the father, a prominent farmer, brought the girl back to school and told the teacher he was not to whip her.  Over the course of the day things happened and the teacher did whip the girl.  Her younger brother left the school and went to a nearby mortgage sale to find his father.   After telling witnesses that he intended to kill the teacher, the father left the sale and went to the school where he threw two rocks at the teacher, the second of which knocked him down, and the teacher threw a rock back at the parent and then tried to flee.   The parent chased the teacher as he fled and shot him at close range.

The case against Charles Heath went to trial a couple of months later on a change of venue to Lawrence County, Missouri.  Both sides, the state and the defense, were represented by teams of capable lawyers and the trial lasted for a couple of weeks.  (One of Heath's several attorneys was former Missouri congressman M.E Benton, the father of famed painter Thomas Hart Benton.). The trial ultimately came down to four hours of testimony by a thirteen-year-old student of Mosier's who had witnessed the entire encounter.  The boy's testimony was supportive of the teacher and Heath was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to forty years in the penitentiary.  The State Supreme Court found errors in the trial and sent it back to the lower court.  A new trial again found Heath guilty and he was sentenced to life in the state penitentiary.  He was still serving that sentence a couple of years later when the local newspaper reported that his wife was out collecting letters asking the governor to parole him.

Schools, it would seem, have always been places where emotions run high.  Thankfully, corporal punishment is finally disappearing from the school scene, but angry parents remain - and guns are once more becoming commonplace in society.

And guns and anger are two prime ingredients of bloodshed.