"Don't Tell Mother" - The Murder of Dayton Wireman

 On the afternoon of January 21, 1935, a shot rang out in the Salt Lick community near the Floyd and Knott County line.

When it was over 18-year-old Dayton Wireman had been shot by Whitt Howard, a Breathitt County youth. 



The shooting occurred near the home of Willie Shepherd.

According to informants, Wireman, Howard, and Howard's father Wiley Howard, had been firing revolvers and a shotgun in the vicinity of the slaying and Wireman had slipped and fallen.

While he was washing up from the creek, Howard approached him, leveled a shotgun, and from a distance of only a few feet fired the weapon, striking Wireman in the left side.

The two had not had any previous trouble at all and no reason for the slaying had been established other than the claim that Howard thought Wireman had been shooting at his father.

After being shot, Wireman turned and walked to the home of Willie Shepherd where he fell upon the bed.  When asked if he wanted a doctor, Wireman responded, "I don't need a doctor---I'm killed.  But don't tell my mother."  He died within five minutes of making that comment.

Howard, his father and brother bought a supply of ammunition and left the scene of the shooting, going in the direction of their home on Spring Fork of Quicksand Creek in Breathitt County.  The next day, he was arrested on a drunkenness charge on Roch Fork by Deputy Sheriff Nick Brewer and was taken to Hindman.  It was there that it was learned that he was wanted in Floyd County for murder.  He was returned to Floyd County by Deputy Sheriff R.R. Allen who had been searching for him.

On Saturday, February 16, 1935, Howard was convicted by a jury of the Floyd County Circuit Court for the murder of Dayton Wireman and was sentenced to 21 years in prison.

During the trial, the jury held that in the killing of Wireman the drinking and shooting was of a general nature and, therefore took the position that the shooting was of the nature of a drunken row.

However the Commonwealth testimony showed that Wireman was shot when offering no threat to Howard. He and others had been at the home of Howard's brother, and he had fallen outside. After washing himself at the creek nearby, he fixed his revolver over his shoulder, but not in the direction of any of those present.

A moment later, Howard fired the shotgun into his side.

The Commonwealth also produced evidence that Wireman, after being wounded, told those around him that he had not intended to offend anyone; and that, as he ran toward the home of Willie Shepherd, where he died, Wiley Howard, father of the slayer, fired shots at him and was prevented from following him inside the house.

The defense testimony was to the effect that Howard thought Wireman had fired upon his father and that he shot Wireman in defense, as he believed, of his father's life.

Howard accepted his sentence without appeal.

After the funeral services at the home of his mother, Wireman's remains were interred in the Wireman Cemetery in Magoffin County, Kentucky. He was survived by his mother, stepfather, and countless other relatives.

Dayton Wireman