T'was the Christmas season of 1930.  Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Griffith’s daughters, Zexie and Jessie had spent the holidays with their parents who lived at Blackwell, Oklahoma.  The girls had planned to leave Saturday afternoon and return home, but their ailing mother had asked that they stay over.  A little before five o'clock, Sunday morning, Dec. 28, Mr. Griffith (who was the night captain of the Blackwell police department) helped his daughters carry their luggage to their car.  After bidding the girls adieu, he watched as they drove away.

     Zexie and Jessie headed south in their Chevrolet coupe.  The sisters had recently purchased the nearly-new car, jointly.  They were enroute to Norman, where Jessie lived and was the supervisor of music in the public school.   She was scheduled to sing a solo in church that Sunday morning.  It was planned that after the church service, Zexie would take the automobile and drive on to Warner, Oklahoma, where she resided and taught school.

     About 9 o'clock that same Sunday morning, C.C. Woods and his sons were hunting rabbits when they came upon the bodies of two young women, on “the old river road”, near the Salt Fork of the Arkansas.  The corpses were found approximately one mile southwest of the river bridge (on the highway, just south of Tonkawa).  Woods (who operated a furniture store in Tonkawa) rushed back into town to inform Police Chief Charles Wagner, of his grim discovery.   Upon locating the Tonkawa Police Chief, Woods led Wagner and some followers to the scene of the crime.  Kay County Sheriff Joe Cooper was notified at Newkirk (county seat).

     When Police Chief Wagner arrived at the crime scene he found the victims near the road, about a hundred feet apart.  Each of the women had been shot in the head.  The younger lady’s under-garments had been torn from her body and thrown to the side.  She had obviously been sexually assaulted.

     As the police chief observed the facial features of the two casualties, he realized they looked familiar.  After mulling a few moments, he recognized them to be the daughters Jeff Griffith, a fellow lawman whom he had known for years. 

     Sheriff Cooper, Kay County Attorney Bruce Potter and other officers from Newkirk, joined Wagner at the crime site, Sunday morning.  Jeff Griffith also arrived and confirmed that the two fatalities were his daughters, Zexie and Jessie. 

  Further examination at the scene of the crime revealed a large spot of dried blood with a tire track through it, not far from where Zexie lay dead.  Her stockings had been scuffed though at the knees and the hem of her dress was frayed.  Her knees were scratched and bruised.

     The officers began to speculate that the attacker had first taken Zexie from the car and shot her.  That she had fallen where the blood soaked ground revealed the passing of a car tire.  They projected that Jessie had tried to run away, a scarf lay on the ground and broken twigs revealed the suspected route of her attempted escape.  The lawmen figured that Jessie had been overtaken by the assailant, who after stripping away her clothes had raped then shot her.

     The officers surmised that Zexie had regained some degree of consciousness while Jessie was struggling with the villain.  They supposed that upon hearing the commotion, Zexie realized her sister was being molested.  The lawmen further assumed that she tried to get to where she could help Jessie, but after crawling only a short distance she “had passed-out” beside the road. 

     The investigating officers presumed that after the brute had raped and murdered the younger sister, he was walking back to the car when he came upon Zexie.  He then fired a final bullet into her brain that also passed through her hand, upon which her head was laying.  The spent bullet lodged in the ground below, where the officers recovered it.  Apparently the killer then went to the car and drove away.

     The two bodies were taken into Tonkawa, where Kay County Medical Examiner, Doctor J. A. Jones sought to find clues revealing of their demise.  Dried blood and bits of flesh were found under Jessie's broken fingernails, evidencing her desperate effort to fight off her attacker.  Dr. Jones determined that Jessie was alive at the time she had been sexually assaulted.

     Both of the women's purses had been found in the brush at the crime scene.  When located, the handbags were unclasped and empty, except for some cosmetics and trinkets of no value.  The officers thoroughly searched the area, but could not find any weapon.

     The Griffith girls' car was located and identified Sunday afternoon.  It was found near Sears (a small settlement) a few miles southeast of the murder site.  The vehicle had a bullet hole just below the rear window.  Evidence of blood was on the right rear tire and the tread checked to be the same as had rolled through the large spot of blood at the crime scene.  Next to where the Chevrolet coupe was found, were tracks that revealed another car had been parked, then driven away. 

     The officers speculated that the murderer had overtaken the sisters' car on the road and had fired a shot into their vehicle, causing them to stop.  That he had left his automobile and had taken the girls in their car to the location, where their bodies were found.  It was assumed that after slaying the sisters, the attacker had driven their car back to where he had left his vehicle.  He then parked the Chevrolet coupe (where it was found) and had left the area in his automobile.  Apparently the girls had traveled only about fifteen miles from Blackwell when they encountered the killer.

     The Griffith sisters were highly accomplished, fine-figured, dark-eyed beauties.  Thirty-six years old Zexie was a talented musician as well as being a schoolteacher and attractive twenty-four year old Jessie taught music.  Neither of the ladies was married. They were  both  active in church and popular in social circles.

Zexie Griffith

Jessie Griffith

        Jeff Griffith had served in other Oklahoma communities as an officer of the law (prior to Blackwell) and he was well known.  The murder of his daughters caught the attention of the entire state.  Governor Wm. H. Murray immediately announced a five hundred-dollar reward for the killer or killers.  With THE DAILY OKLAHOMAN promoting the reward, it soon reached two thousand dollars.

     A man had been seen early Sunday morning driving a car that resembled the Griffith girls' vehicle, not far from the murder site.  He had been recognized as Lyman Constant of Blackwell, who until recently had been a patient in the state’s mental institution at Norman.  He was arrested and held for questioning.   Lyman was able to establish his innocence and he was released.

     A visitor to the Salvation Army in Oklahoma City on the day following the murders, became a suspect.  He prayed for over an hour then left two women's bloody, handkerchiefs at the altar, which the attendants suspected as having belonged to the Griffith sisters.  When the officials of the center tried to question the stranger about the hankies, he ran from the facility.  The officials then called the law and a short time later, the man was located and taken-in.  He was able to prove an alibi that precluded his involvement in the double murder and was then set free.

     Funeral service for Zexie and Jessie Griffith was held, Tuesday afternoon at the First Baptist Church in Blackwell and more than fifteen-hundred people attended.  Many of those who came to pay their respects could only stand in the church-yard.  The sisters were laid-to-rest in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery at Blackwell.

  Shortly after the shocking news of these Kay County crimes spread across the state, a young lady who lived at Muskogee came forward and told of an ordeal that had befallen her a few weeks earlier.  The woman had not previously reported the encounter to the police, because of the shame that it instilled in her.  The recent rape and murders prompted her to forgo her feelings and report the attack, in hopes that her experience might help locate the killer.  Out of respect for the conscientious woman, neither the police nor the news media revealed her identity.

     The reporting party related that she had recently visited relatives in Wichita, Kansas and the incident had occurred as she was driving home late in the evening.  She stated that upon reaching a point just south of Tonkawa, a man who was driving a Buick automobile forced her off the road.  She related that when she stopped (to prevent a collision), the man pulled a gun and ordered her into his car.  With her as his captive he started driving away.  As she realized her predicament, she decided to try escaping by jumping from the moving vehicle.  Grabbing for the door-handle, she found it was missing.  The man was watching as her hopes shattered and extensive anxiety set-in, he laughed then said, "they never get out of here".

     Her captor turned onto a side road and drove to an isolated place where he stopped the car.  To avert becoming a casualty of the pistol, which the man held at her head and threatened to use, she submitted to his sexual attack.   After assaulting her, he drove the young lady back to her car and let her out.  

     The anonymous lady’s description of the place of her ordeal led the officers to believe that she had been taken to the same site, as the Griffith sisters were delivered and killed.  The lawmen assumed that her attacker was likely the same person who had committed the recent double murder.

     Another story surfaced, which garnered a share of the publicity about the case.  A few weeks before the Griffith sisters were murdered, a nine-year-old boy had been run-over by a car and killed in Tonkawa.  The automobile that was involved in that homicide had been driven by the daughters of a local, wealthy oil-man.  Officers, who investigated the accident, absolved the girls of blame.  It was reported that the victim's stepfather was not satisfied with that determination and was quoted as having threatened, that “he would get even with those girls".

      The car that had struck the boy greatly resembled the Griffith girls’ vehicle and there was some conjecture that they may have been the victims of mistaken identity.  The stepfather was located and questioned about the recent homicides.  He was able to fully establish that he was not involved with the death of the sisters.    

     About noon Sunday, Virgil Davis a young man from Blackwell approached the police, who was working the case.  He advised them that as he was taking his girl friend (Ruby Heard) home late Saturday night, they had encountered an unusual incident not far from the murder site.  He said that the driver of a Buick automobile overtook them after first trying to run them off the road.

     Virgil reported that he hoped to elude the offending driver by pulling into a farm-house driveway but the man followed, then got of out his car and drew a pistol.  He told Davis that his name was Rogers and that he was a prohibition officer.  He ordered the young couple into his vehicle.  After driving about a quarter-mile he stopped and said, "I guess that you're not the people that I am looking for, you can go back to your car."  The man got out and had the young couple exit on his side of the sedan.  As the man drove away, Virgil and Ruby started walking back to their car.

     Davis further reported that after delivering Ruby Heard to her home near Three Sands, that he saw the car again.  He said that as he was driving back to Tonkawa in the early hours Sunday morning, he had seen the same automobile in a ditch, apparently stuck or broke-down as a tow truck was being attached to it.

     Wagner contacted W. S. Winchell the local wrecker-truck operator.  Winchell advised the police chief, that at about 3:30 Sunday morning he had pulled Earl Howard's Buick from a ditch at the location that Davis had cited. 

     Howard was a newcomer to the community and had recently moved into a rooming house in Tonkawa.  He was not known to be employed and was suspected to be operating as a bootlegger.  A woman who was thought to be Howard's wife lived with him most of the time, but often she was not present.

     Police Chief Wagner went to the apartment where Howard lived, but nobody was home and neither was his car.  Neighbors (who lived in  the  rooming  house) reported that they had heard Earl and his wife (Jean) loading-up and leaving, early Sunday morning.  The lawman left the apartment to work other aspects of the case.

The Dapper Earl Quinn

Wagner was surprised shortly before noon Monday when he was advised that Howard’s wife was back in Tonkawa.  He was told that Jean had driven home Sunday night and was again at the rooming house.  The police chief immediately went to the Howard residence and began questioning her.

      Jean related that she and her husband had left early Sunday morning going to Wichita.  She reported that after arriving in Kansas, they had argued and as the discord became more heated, she left him in Wichita and had driven home alone.  When advised that her husband was a suspect in the murder of the Griffith sisters, she responded, "oh no, he couldn't do that, he's just a bootlegger." 

     Chief Wagner learned from Jean that her husband’s surname was Quinn (not Howard as he had been using).  She also told the officer, that Earl had served two sentences in the Missouri Penitentiary, the first for “forgery” and the second for “assault with intent to kill.”  Wagner obtained a copy of Earl’s prison record, which revealed that his most recent release had been in May, 1929.  Quinn was of slight build and stood five feet five inches tall.  He was known to be a sporty dresser.

     Continuing their investigation into Earl Quinn, the officers learned that he was currently wanted for questioning in connection with various crimes in Wichita and Omaha.  He was a suspect in a murder case at Kansas City and officers believed that he was involved in the recent robbery of Tom Pendergast's home in that city (Pendergast was thought to be a local crime boss as well as a political kingpin).

    When a picture of Earl Quinn was shown to the lady from Muskogee who had reported being assaulted, she identified him as the man who had taken her to the remote site and had raped her.  A check of Earl’s car revealed that the inside door handle was missing from the passenger side of his automobile, same as the anonymous victim had described.

    From that time forward, Quinn was the prime suspect in the Griffith sisters’ murder case.  His whereabouts was unknown.  Officers throughout Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska were on the look-out for Earl Quinn.  As the days and weeks passed, he remained at large.  His wife was thoroughly questioned and constantly shadowed, but Earl Quinn was not to be located. 

     About a month after the sisters had met their doom, a Lucille Price who lived near Newton, Kansas was murdered.  Like Jessie Griffith, Miss Price had been sexually assaulted, slain and left beside a lonely road.  Earl Quinn was still at large and was thought to be in that area.  He became the major suspect of that crime.

     More than three months had passed since the double murder, when on April 1, Police Chief Wagner and Sgt. Messenger discovered a .32 caliber automatic pistol.  They found the gun buried south of the Salt Fork River, near the murder site.  The pistol had started to rust; indicating that it had been cached in the sand some 2 or 3 months.  The officers suspected that it was the weapon that had been used in the recent homicides.

     One account of the discovery related that the police had been tipped that some bootleg whiskey was buried at that location and they were searching for the illegal booze when they accidentally unearthed the gun.  Another version reported that Jean Quinn had told Wagner where to dig to find the pistol.  Ballistics test of the gun confirmed that it was the murder weapon. 

      As the hunt for Earl Quinn continued, his wife moved to Kansas City and was under surveillance of their local police.  On Wednesday May 13, a Kansas City detective received a tip that Jean would be leaving by train to meet her husband.  When the undercover agents learned of her destination and the train's scheduled arrival, they drove an automobile to Omaha and were at the Union Station when she came in, about 7 o'clock Thursday morning. 

The Not So Dapper Earl Quinn

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