1965-02-26

Accused Of Murder

John Lincoln Grissam, 27, right, charged with the Friday night murder of Gruver businessman P. H. (Mickey) Westerfield, was denied bond when he was arraigned Saturday night before Hansford County Justice of the Peace Johnny P. Vernon. At left is Sheriff J. B. Cooke who arrested Grissam after a brief investigation.

Death Suspect Refused Bond

SPEARMAN - A 27 - year-old Hansford county man has been charged with the murder of Gruver businessman P. H. Westerfield and is lodged in the Hansford County jail awaiting trial.

John Lincoln Grissam gave a statement to Sheriff J . B. Cooke and County Attorney James P inn admitting the Friday night shooting of Westerfield. Grissam was arraigned Saturday night before Hansford County Justice of the Peace Johnny P. Vernon, who denied bond.

A 22 - caliber pistol which police believe was used in the shooting was recovered from a small pond of water about 10 a.m. Sunday, following an eight - long search for the murder weapon.

Grissam, an ex - convict, was arrested at the home of his employer at 5 p.m. Saturday and led officers to the pond where he said he had thrown the pistol.

Westerfield was found dead in the department store he had operated at Gruver since 1929. A telephone which led to the discovery of his body, was clutched in his hand. Westerfield had dialed "0" getting the Amarillo operator.

"T've been shot." he said.

The operator then could hear only heavy breathing. Keeping the line open, she notified Deputy O. V. Walker at Gruver and the telephone company's Gruver representative, Earl Phillips. Phillips traced the call and when Walker arrived at the store he found Westerfield dead. He had been shot once in the side

Sheriff Cooke was notified and the investigation was climaxed about 24 - hours later with the arraignment of Grissam on a charge of murder with malice

Sheriff Cooke and his staff. assisted by Texas Ranger Bill Baden of Pampa, had only a few meager clues available.

Officers first determined that Westerfield's store had been burglarized. A rear rest. room window had been broken and someone had entered the store. Other than the broken window the only evidence of a burglary was one open drawer in the office.

From Westerfield's wife, officers learned that he had entered the store about 9:15 pm. Friday

Mrs Westerfield swaid she let her husband out at the back door of the store and drove off just as he was entering the buildling. She said she did not notice if the rear window was broken

The next vlue was a set of footprints beneath the restroom window. A set of plaster casts and photographs were taken of the prints to be used to match them with the killer's shoess hould he be found

From the footpints, it was determined that he the shoes had been made in a prison. This particular type of shoe is not sold in any store, officers said, and is only given to convicts.

This discovery narrowed the search down to an ex-convict or to someone closely associated with such a person

Checking on the western edge of Gruver, officers found a set of matching footprints in the dust alongside the highway. They folowed the tracks several hundred feet until they ended abruptly, indicating someone in a car had stopped and picked up the walking man

Known criminals in the immediate vicinity were then questioned by officers, including a young ex-convict who lived at spearman and who ahd been at the home of Deputy Walker when the call came in that someone had been shot

THe spearman resident gave officers an account of his activities Friday night which included an admission that he had picked up Grissam and took him home.

The youth at first said he picked Grissam up at Gruver laundry but later changed his story and said he picked him up on the highway west of town.at the point where the footprints ended.

The next step in the investigation was to confirm that the footprints beneath the window at Westerfield's Department store had been left there by Grissam. This was done thorugh the cooperation of Grissam's employer, officers said

With this information, Sheriff Cooke contacted county attorney Linn and obtained a warrant for Grissam's arrest, plus a search warrant for Grissam's house

Grissam was atken into custody about 5pm Saturday. Officers said he first denied any knowledge of the crime or any connection with the burglary of Westerfield's store.

Officers searched Grissam's home, but were unable to find the murder weapon

Leaving the Grissam house, located about 10 miles northwest of Gruver, officers started the trip bback to Spearman. En route, Grissam changed his story, admitted the shooting and showed officers where he had thrown the pistol.

The pistol was in a small pond of water, an overflow from an irrigated field, about a mile from Grissam's home

Grissam volunteered to recover the weapon, but after searching for several minutes, faield to find it

Sheriff Cooke called for a pump to drain the pond. Pumping operations began about 9 pm Saturday. The weapon was found about 10 am Sunday.

Westerfield was buried Sunday in the Gruver Cemetery. Funeral services were held in the Gruver Community Bible Church with Rev W. L. Porterfield, pastor, officiating. He was assisted by Rev J.W. Doak, pastor of the First Christian Church of Pampa.