TAGUE, Joseph - Fountain County INGenWeb Project

Man well known here shot. Alonzo Payne was called to Covington, Sunday, by the death of his brother-in-law, Joseph Tague, who was shot by the night watchman at 12:15 in the morning. Tague, in company with Fremont Banta, had gone to the Big Four depot to meet Ambrose Banta, the father of Fremont, who was expected on it. While waiting, Tague fell asleep on a seat in the waiting room, while Banta and the night watchman, Allen Schaff, were chatting with the ticket agent. Some one suggested that it would be a good joke to wake Tague up by firing a revolver. Schaff drew his 38-calibre revolver and fired one shot into the wall below the seat, missing Tague's head about eight inches. This does not seem to have wakened him, and another shot was passed through his head and lodged in the wall. It was the opinion of those who viewed the body that Tague died instantly. Funeral services at the Wolf Creek Church on Monday were in charge of Rev. Grace Armfield, pastor of the Byron Wesleyan Church. He was born in Fountain County fifty-nine years ago. At the age of two and a half he was stricken with milk-sick, which left him mentally deficient. He has been a familiar figure upon our streets, and there is a general regret at the manner of his death. Schaff is under $2500 bond on charge of manslaughter. There is no evidence that there was any ill-feeling between the men. Schaff is an ex-saloon keeper, and sometimes drinks, but was thought to be perfectly sober on this occasion. He has a wife and a little girl.