Around 7:00 in the evening of February 27, 1925, Frank Richardson, Booney Cooke, and Phil Coleman were loafing around Hutchison’s Drug Store in Chester. With nothing but time on their hands, one of the young men suggested they drive up to Rock Hill to a dance at John T. Roddy’s place. Just as they were agreeing on the idea, Dewey Simpson drove up, and they all got into Cooke’s new Maxwell touring car and headed to Rock Hill.
The 24-year-old Phil Coleman was employed by Glenn & Abel Motor Company there in Chester. He and Dewey had gone to school together, and both of them had known Frank for six or seven years. Coleman had known Booney for eight years, ever since the Cookes had moved to Chester and opened a grocery store. But he’d been “running with him” only the last six months or so.
Booney, who was employed by his father, must not have had money problems since he was sporting a new car. Dewey Simpson was pretty much on his own, having been employed by G. R. Dawson at the Chester Hardware since April 1924, where he lived in the rear of the business.
Everyone knew Dewey as a “sober, honest, hardworking and very loyal” young man. This was Dewey’s and Booney’s first meeting, and it would end tragically with Dewey returning to Chester in the keeping of an undertaker.
Frank took the front seat with Booney while Dewey and Phil made themselves comfortable in the back seat. The young fun seekers arrived in Rock Hill sometime between 9:00 and 9:30, and drove directly to the Roddy’s filling station where the dance was being held. They scoped the place and saw nothing or anyone worth staying for and decided to cruise around town. They drove down Main Street and back and then headed down Saluda Road. All along the way, Booney kept up a racket by blowing his horn and hollering at girls on the street and in passing cars.
Eventually, the noise attracted the attention of motorcycle officer Morris McFadden, who began pursuing the touring car. Booney sped up, with Frank urging his friend to pull over. Frank took matters into his own hands, grabbed the gearshift, and threw the car out of gear. But Booney quickly shifted and kept the car going.
McFadden came along the side of the speeding car and shouted, “Stop!” When Booney continued speeding down Saluda Road, McFadden pulled his pistol and fired twice. From the back seat Dewey cried out, “Boys, he got me for sure!” Then Dewey fell over into Phil’s lap. Booney raced ahead of the cop, who fired two more shots, then ended the pursuit at the city limits and returned to town.
Seeing the motorcycle turn around in the distance behind him, Booney felt safe and pulled off the road next to a peach orchard. Frank and Booney got out and went to the rear side to see how badly Dewey was hurt. Booney struck a match and held it high; the tiny flame reflected in the crimson stream running down the young man’s face. They all agreed he was in need of immediate medical attention and decided they must get him to the Fennell Infirmary.
Booney and Frank jumped back into the car, and Booney began turning around but ran into a ditch. Phil and Frank got out to push the car, but Booney, nervous about the situation, somehow lost control and ran across the road into the opposite ditch. With no other option available, they had to anxiously wait for help to come along.
Some minutes later, George Matthews and John Banks stopped and asked if they might help. The young men told Matthews and Banks about the urgent need for their friend to see a physician. They helped move Dewey into their car and rushed to the Fennell Infirmary, along with Frank. Booney and Phil remained behind with the car.
It was nearly 11:00 that night when they arrived at the infirmary with Dewey. Doctors W. E. Simpson (no kin to Dewey) and W. B. Ward met them on arrival, only to declare him dead within minutes. An examination of the body revealed one bullet had struck the victim on the right side of the face about two and a half inches below the right ear lobe, traveling in a straight line through the neck and exiting below the left ear. That explained why Frank had heard the neck bones grating against each other when he had moved him to the good samaritan’s car. Frank quietly walked out of the clinic after Doctor Simpson informed him that he would call an undertaker and notify the police.
In the meantime Officer McFadden had returned to the police station and found Chief of Police J. M. Youngblood, policemen Merritt and Thomasson, and Constable Frank Allen. McFadden gave a full report to the chief saying that he had to give up the chase because dust bellowing from behind the speeding car made it impossible for him to see. He surmised that the driver was drunk and would probably wind up in a ditch or collide head-on with another vehicle. All five men got into a city car and went down Saluda Road to investigate.
Just as McFadden had guessed, they came upon a car in a ditch with a number of spectators standing around. The car matched the description he had given to Chief Youngblood — a new Maxwell touring car with all the curtains fastened tight and without a license plate.
Phil Coleman identified himself to the officers and told Youngblood that one of his friends had been taken into town to the Fennell Infirmary. Inside the car the officers found a young man sitting behind the steering wheel in a drunken stupor. Phil identified him as Booney Cooke and as the driver. Getting no response when they tried to awaken him, Allen and Merritt dragged him from under the wheel and put him into the city car. Youngblood took Booney and Phil into custody and left the scene with Merritt and McFadden.
Just as they arrived at the police station, Frank walked up and informed them that Dewey had died. Hearing this, McFadden went “all to pieces” bemoaning the shooting, saying it was purely accidental and that he would not have “done it for anything in the world.”
Youngblood tried to comfort his officer and compassionately told him to go inside and sit down. Merritt went in with his fellow officer, and when they got inside, McFadden surrendered his gun, billy club, and keys, saying he must surrender himself to the York County sheriff. As soon as McFadden could make arrangements to have his wife and son sent to his father’s home in Richburg, Constable Allen and Officer J. D. Wilson escorted him to York. Officer McFadden was received into the York County jail at 2:00 in the morning.
Officer McFadden was 28 years old and a veteran of World War I. He had served nearly a year in the 118th Infantry, in the 13th Division of the American Expeditionary Forces. Returning from the war in March 1919, he resumed his life and within a short time married a hometown girl. At the time of his incarceration, he had a four-year-old son. McFadden had joined the Rock Hill police force and was commissioned a State Constable by Governor McLeod in 1924. Until this event, he had maintained a spotless record as a policeman and was well respected by his supervisors and peers.
Next time — McFadden goes to trial. Solicitor Glenn declares the case to be one of the most important to come to trial in years. Will he go for the death penalty?
J.L. West – Author
This article and many others found on the pages of Roots and Recall, were written by author J.L. West, for the YC Magazine and have been reprinted on R&R, with full permission – not for distribution or reprint!
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