Claude R. Ball's body rests on ground near
Hur after being shot to death on his horse
By Bob Weaver
A Rowels Run man was coming around a primitive ridge road from Mt. Zion to Hur, when he was shot and killed in 1905 at the Emory "Em"
Ball field, a short distance from the corporate headquarters of the Hur Herald.
Claude R. Ball, in his 40s, had been appointed a truant officer, with some family members saying the authority went to his head, managing to anger residents with his behavior.
Ball apparently did not have a good reputation with some of his family members.
Ball was riding a horse through the remote woods between Pine Creek and Barnes Run when he was cut down. His murder was reported by the Calhoun assessor, who discovered the body.
Some reports said a person was interviewed about his murder.
In addition to the photo of Ball's body, another photo exists of individuals who held his inquest at the scene.
Relatives have said he was on a mission to see some family members who were not sending their children to school.
Twenty-three-year-old Ball of Randolph County married Louvernia Taylor in 1885, they being the parents of Fred, Lee, Grover, Elec, Pat, Roy, and Bessie.
Following her husband's death, Louvernia married Frank B. Grim of the Richardson area.
The late Ernest McCoy of Hur, a retired Calhoun teacher, maintained Ball was murdered by a member of the Evans family who lived in a hollow at Hur, near where the murder was committed.
"Ball had a reputation of being a big-headed guy, who like to command those around him," McCoy said in an interview before he died. He said Ball was a womanizer.
He is buried in the Wright Cemetery at Cremo.
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