Cemetery

ABERDEEN – William "Billy" Paul, a Huntington Township
man that was hanged over a century ago for the killing of his
father-in-law, Joseph Yockey, has finally received a
gravestone.

Since April 29, 1896, the day Paul climbed the scaffold where
he took his last breath, he has been without a gravestone.
Surviving family members felt a gravestone may not have
been placed to mark his final resting place because of
immediate family who may have been ashamed of the
accusations that garnered Paul a death sentence.

Controversy still surrounds the murder that led to Paul's
hanging, leaving his family members debating over his
innocence or guilt.

The money to purchase Paul's gravestone, which now sits with
the graves of other members of the Paul family in Hickory
Ridge Cemetery outside of Aberdeen, was donated by his
great nephews, Lt. Colonel James H. Paul of Colorado
Springs, Colo., and Ronald Paul of Tacoma, Wash.

Doris Johnson, Erma Spiller, Forrest "Pudge" Paul and Bill
Paul are also great nieces and nephews to the late Billy Paul
and played a part in having the gravestone placed in Hickory
Ridge Cemetery.

"Regardless of whether he's guilty or not, the family still felt
giving him a gravestone was the right thing to do," said Bill
Paul.

Newspapers from the late 1800s contain articles that explain
the incidents that occurred, resulting in a sentence of death for
Paul. Even some of those reports seemed skeptical of Paul's
guilt, or innocence.

Newspaper articles from the People's Defender and the
Ripley Bee that date back to the time period of Yockey's
murder show that the actual crime Paul was sentenced to
death for was committed July 15, 1894.

According to a number of newspaper reports, this is what
happened:

Both Paul and Yockey were farmers that lived near
Georgetown. Yockey was over 60 years of age.

Paul had fallen in love and married Joseph Yockey's daughter,
Francis Yockey, making a home for themselves nearby.
Francis Yockey's sister, Anna Yockey, 15, made a home with
her sister and Paul after moving from her father's home. Those
who knew Anna Yockey at that time described her as a
promiscuous young woman.

Around the summer of 1893, Anna Yockey became pregnant
and returned to her father's home. Upon returning to her
father's home, she told her family that William "Billy" Paul, the
husband to her sister, was responsible for her pregnancy.

When hearing this, her father became outraged and sought
the proper authorities in Ripley to issue a search warrant and
arrest Paul for taking advantage of his daughter, as well as for
carrying a concealed pistol that he had displayed to many
people in the area.

Paul denied the accusation and the incident sparked a major
quarrel between him and his father-in-law.

When Paul caught word from locals that the police may be
looking for him, he packed up some clothes and left his home,
leaving his wife behind.

Authorities were unable to catch up with Paul at that time.

Paul had received threatening letters and bundles of switches
on different occasions fueling his aggression towards Joseph
Yockey.

When Paul eventually returned home from his running, he
found that his wife had returned to her father's home about
three miles away.

Late that evening, Paul ventured to the Yockey home with his
pistol and a bag of clothes seeking either peace or trouble.

What happened when Paul arrived at the Yockey home that
evening is still unclear, as different articles take different turns,
some defending Paul and some claiming his guilt.

An article in the People's Defender from the time period said
that three of Joseph Yockey's sons spotted Paul with a pistol
outside their home and retreated back to their house. The
report then said that Paul approached old man Yockey, made
the statement that "It is either peace or trouble," fired a shot
from his pistol into Yockey's midsection and disappeared into
the darkness leaving the old man dead at his home.

Other sides of the story said that Paul got into a fight with
Yockey's sons. During the fight, one of his sons accidentally
triggered a pistol shooting and killing the old man.

Paul later turned himself in and was sentenced to death by
hanging for the crime, but he always claimed his innocence in
the murder and in relation to the pregnancy of his wife's sister.

Controversy surrounds his conviction, with his family knowing
that Judge David Tarbell, who presided over the Paul trial,
was a good friend to the Yockey family.

It is said that many years after the hanging of Paul, one of
Yockey's sons admitted on his death bed that he had
accidentally shot his father and not Paul.

Paul died standing by his word that he never committed the
crime and they would be responsible for hanging an innocent
man, but one flaw in Paul's testimony is that he never would tell
his whereabouts at the time of the murder.

"If the Governor of the state of Ohio wants to bear the
everlasting stain of hanging an innocent man, I can meet death
bravely. I am innocent and I cannot believe, however, that I will
meet death on the gallows," said Paul. "I know no more of that
murder than I would have been able to learn had I been in
another world when it occurred."

His last words before he was hanged were,"I am ready to
meet death. It seems strange to me, however, that they should
hang an innocent man."

Paul's final words were inscribed on the back of his
gravestone that now rests in Hickory Ridge Cemetery.

Special thanks to The News Democrat