The Last Day of Pearl T. Marshall

      Pearl Marshall Schofield and her husband Lester Schofield spent her last day over at her mother’s house visiting. Pearl’s mother Mary Ann Allen and Pearl’s stepfather Marion W. Allen, lived just a few miles away.

      It was May 22, 1904. Pearl and Lester were newlyweds of five months, and seemed happy to those who knew them. They married in December 1903 or January 1904 when she was 19 and he was 29. Lester had a business digging wells and was farming in Fawn Creek Township, Montgomery County, Kansas.

      Pearl was “keeping house,” the expected role of a wife. 

      Lester recently had a dispute over a new road with some residents in the township. As a precaution, when they headed to the Allen’s house that day, he placed his 38-caliber Colt revolver on the seat of the buggy between him and Pearl. When they returned home around seven that evening, he jumped down from the seat and went to unhitch their horse. He finished one side and was just moving to the horse’s other side when he heard the sharp crack of the gun. He ran to his wife who lay crumpled on the ground, blood pouring from her mouth, the gun smoking beside her. 

      Pearl was already dead. The bullet entered her brain, killing her instantly. The neighbors were summoned, but little could be done for Pearl. Lester speculated that as she climbed down from the buggy, the gun fell, tangling in her long skirt and discharging. Authorities were called, of course, but his story seemed so clear-cut, so obviously an accident,  that no investigation was done and a coroner’s inquest wasn’t arranged.

 

Pearl’s Life

 

      She was born on a farm in Fawn Creek Township in 1884, the daughter of Richard Marshall and Mary Ann Brent. Richard died when Pearl was only two. Her mother was 25 when she became a widow; she had Pearl and a newborn son to raise. In 1888 Mary married Marion W. Allen, who boarded with the Marshalls and probably worked as Richard’s farmhand. 

     Montgomery County then was a place where everyone came from somewhere else - typically Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. It was a place and time where most people found their entertainment at home and in friends’ homes, and those friends lived close by. Most families were large and reports of all-day or overnight stays between adult siblings were common.

     Pearl was often mentioned socializing in the “country correspondent” columns of the Coffeyville, Kansas newspapers, as were the Allens. Her parents hosted dances at their home, attended card parties and “surprise” birthday parties for their friends. Pearl was friends with my great-grandmother’s younger siblings, Fred, Jim and Bertha Patchett, and with their youngest Patchett cousin Charlie and his wife Effie. She was also friends with future Patchett in-laws such as Clara Stackhouse, and other family, such as Charlie’s niece Stella Chance. She’d gone to dances with Fred and parties with Jim. She also went to events with other young men such as Art Smith and Orville Brent. (Orville was her cousin.)

     Early in 1903, Lester Schofield entered the scene. They were mentioned going to church together in nearby Jefferson, and spending a day in Coffeyville together with friends. Lester had lived in and around Coffeyville for 15 years. He was said to be from a respectable family.

     In the course of a year, other fun activities reported for young people - courting or otherwise - were pie socials, oyster suppers, picnics, fishing trips at the Verdigris River, ice skating parties, nutting parties, and the Literary meeting every Friday night at the West Brown schoolhouse in Jefferson. Although they weren’t specifically mentioned in the country columns, it’s likely that they attended some of these activities. They filed for a marriage license December 30, 1903 and married then or early in the new year. 

A Brief Mention

     A story about a young newlywed in a small community who is shot to death - whether accidentally or a homicide - is big news today. But it is often puzzling what received big play in the news and what didn’t in this era. There was only a sentence about Pearl’s death in the Dearing country correspondent column: “The people of this vicinity were shocked to hear of the sad accident which happened to Mrs. Schofield, the daughter of Mr. Allen.”  

     There was also a brief mention of her funeral: “A few from Jefferson attended the funeral of Mrs. L.F. Schofield of Coffeyville. Mrs. Schoville was formerly Miss Pearl Marshall of this place. She leaves a husband, mother, father and several brothers and sisters to mourn her loss.”

(In fact, Pearl had two brothers.) 

     Her husband also placed the usual “card of thanks” in the newspaper, a standard practice for decades. These “cards" simply expressed thanks for the sympathy and help shown to the family.

     Pearl’s death was the talk of the community for some time. Of course rumors swirled. But inevitably the funeral was over, she was buried, and that was that. 

Arrest and Trial

     Except it wasn’t over for Pearl’s mother. Mary Allen was convinced that Lester killed her daughter. She pushed authorities to investigate and when that didn’t happen, she spent weeks attempting to gather evidence. She made no attempt to hide her activities from her son-in-law, and told him she would find the evidence to convict him. 

     In August she at last persuaded law enforcement to arrest Lester and charge him with homicide. It was implied that Mary Allen hired a Pinkerton detective. The news was widely reported in many small town papers in southeast Kansas. The Coffeyville paper said that she found a young boy, 12- or 13-year old Ula Plattner, who could testify that he had seen Lester holding the smoking revolver just after he heard a gunshot. He was standing an estimated 100 yards away, according to the newspaper. One story said Pearl had a bullet hole through the sleeve of her shirtwaist, an indication she’d put up her hands in a defensive motion.

     Nearly every story said that Pearl’s skirts had powder burns from the hem almost to her waist, which strongly seemed to support the accidental nature of the shooting. One story attributed this information to an unnamed woman who prepared Pearl’s body for burial.      

     Lester was arrested about 10:00 p.m. and put aboard the midnight train to Independence, the county seat. There he was placed in jail to await a preliminary hearing and trial. Lester spoke with a reporter and said he was not surprised by his arrest because of the threats Mary Allen made towards him. He said he was glad to have the opportunity to clear his name at trial, and identified her motives as spite.

     His preliminary hearing was September 7 and the trial the following day. The Pinkerton detective, W.P. Fleeman, did not appear at trial. There was no mention of Ula Plattner testifying. In fact, no evidence was produced to indicate that Pearl’s death was anything other than a tragic accident. The jury debated only a few minutes before rendering Lester not guilty.

Mary Ann Allen vs. Lester Schofield, Part II

     A year and a half after Pearl’s death, there was one more dispute between Mary Allen and Lester Schofield that ended in a courtroom. It was the result of an inheritance from Pearl’s father Richard Marshall. When he died in 1886, he left his farm, but not a will. When oil and gas was discovered on the property, Mary and her second husband Marion Allen leased the land to an oil company.

     Lester Schofield fought Mary for Pearl’s share of the “rent, royalties, etc.” It does bring up the concept of a motive in Pearl’s death, something never mentioned in the newspapers. Lester’s contention when he took his former mother-in-law to court was that she had no right to lease the entire property. The judge agreed and made the determination that Mary Allen owned half the property and Richard Marshall’s children owned the other half - one-fourth each to Pearl and Roy. 

Life After Pearl

     Lester remarried to another Fawn Creek girl, Helen LeMoine, in August 1911. She was the exact same age as Pearl and must have known her. Helen was four months pregnant with twin daughters when they married. The girls were born in January; one died soon after birth. The other, Velma, died four months later of valvular heart trouble. They had three more children and Lester continued his water well digging business until they moved to Colorado in 1920. He died in 1951. 

     Marion Allen ran a grocery store in Dearing for many years. Pearl’s brother Roy Marshall became a partner in the business until he sold his portion to buy a pool hall in Coffeyville. He served as city clerk and was succeeded by his younger half-brother Gus Allen. Pearl’s mother Mary Allen outlived her daughter by nearly forty years. She died in Coffeyville in 1943. 

Note: There was another Pearl Marshall living in Montgomery County at the same time as Pearl Marshall Schofield. She was almost the same age and lived in Caney. Like the Pearl in this story, her mother was born in Illinois. Family trees on the Ancestry website have understandably confused the two.

But it doesn't take much research to see that they were two separate people. The Pearl in this story was Pearl T. Marshall (her middle name was likely "Temperance" after her maternal grandmother), and of course, she died in 1904. The other Pearl was Pearl Mae Marshall, born in Missouri in April 1882. She had sisters Clary, Ida and Nellie. Pearl Mae taught school in Caney, making a monthly salary of $45 in 1905. (County teacher salaries for women varied that year from $30 to $50. The pay was only during the months school was in session.) She married William Sheffield - a last name to complete their similarities - in 1906.

Sources:

     Marion Allen residency: Kansas State Census, 1885.

     “A Kansas Woman Shot - The Accidental Killing Near Coffeyville of Mrs. Lester Schofield,” Iola Daily Register, 24 May 1904, p. 1.

     Funeral: Coffeyville Weekly Journal, 3 June 1904, p. 3.

     Shocked at News: “Dearing,” Coffeyville Weekly Journal, 3 June 1904, p. 3.

     “Lester Schofield Arrested - Charged with Wife Murder,” The Coffeyville Record, 30 Aug 1904, p. 1.

     “For Wife Murder - Lester Schofield Arrested Monday Night - Accused by Mother-in-Law, Coffeyville Daily Journal, 30 Aug 1904, p. 1.

     “Schofield Acquitted - Preliminary Hearing in Independence Wednesday - Completely Exonerated,” Coffeyville Daily Journal, 8 Sept 1904, p. 4.

     “Scofield Acquitted,” Coffeyville Weekly Journal, 9 Sept 1904, p. 1. 

     “Interesting Decision - A Widow Can Give a Lease Only on Her Interest in an Estate,” Coffeyville Daily Record, 29 Jan 1906, p. 1.

Copyright Andrea Auclair © 2023