In 1894 William Owens and his wife Mrs. Owens would fight. William would leave the neighborhood and come back on May 30th. He would then search for his wife and found her around 3p.m. working in a field with around 30 other African Americans in Nobel Lake, Arkansas.
William asked his wife to move back in with him again. She would refuse him and this angered him. He would point the gun at her and shot her once in the chest and once in the back. She would fall and he would pick up the hoe she was using and hit her twice in the head before breaking it. She was still alive and in agony and he would pick up a second hoe and would beat her head in with it. He would then escape.
He would then try to kill Grandville Simms, someone he had a grudge against. Grandville would take off his shoes and outrun William. William would then exhausted fall on a log. This allowed him to be caught.
William would be convicted and found guilty. He would be executed in 1895. He was likely executed on May 30th as an article from May 29th stated his execution the next day.
Note:
I could not find Mrs. Owens' first name none of the articles I could find stated her first name.
SOURCES:
Death Penalty USA Pine Bluff Daily Graphic May 29, 1894
Pine Bluff Daily Graphic May 31, 1894
The Osceola Times June 4, 1894
The Southern Standard June 8, 1894
Pine Bluff Daily Graphic May 29, 1894
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