McKee Pioneer Photos Yuma Co, CO

Yuma County, Colorado
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Yuma County Pioneer Photographs:

Artie and Clara (Douglass) McKee , Lansing

In 1900 Cheyenne County, Kansas, Thomas McKee born July 1859 in Minnesota, marrried 17 years to Louisa June 1869, Illinois, have Lily Dec 1883 Iowa, Elsie Dec 1896 Kansas, and Artie Dec 1894 Kansas.

Artie Sylvester McKee registered for WWI in Haigler Nebraska, born Dec 21, 1894 at St. Francis, Kansas, working for his father, married, with defective eyesight.

In 1910 Yuma County, James W. Douglass is 40, born in Iowa, married 15 years to Emily E. 32 Indiana. Clara B. 14 Colorado, Roy W. 12 Nebraska, Arthur J. 9 Colorado and Ettie G. 5 Colorado.
Next household is Elmer E. Douglas 24 Iowa, with Beryl M. 21. She's had one child. Mabel R. 2 was born in Iowa, and Elmer H. 1 in Colorado. James H. Douglas, 64 - married but no spouse is with them, born in Ohio.a
James W. and Emily E. are in Yuma County in 1920, with Arther J. 17, Ettie G. 15, and Mattie E. 7.

In 1920 Yuma County, Laird precinct, next to Joseph Douglas, Artie McKee is 35, born in Kansas, with Clara B. 24 Colorao. Hazel A. 1 was born in Kansas.

Clara McKee is buried in German Plains cemetery, Cheyenne County, Kansas October 19, 1895 - April 5, 1920.

May 14, 1920 "Artie S. McKee, a well-to-do young ranchman seventeen miles southeast of Wray, has been named as defendant in a complaint filed in Justice of the Peace Court, charging him with the murder of his wife, Clara Douglas McKee, 28, who was found dead in their ranch home Monday by Miss Gladys Hilary, the school teacher of the district, when, in company with McKee, she drove to the McKee home, where she was staying. Since Sheriff W. H. Hitchcock of Yuma county arrested McKee at the ranch, the young ranchman has stoutly declared that he had no connection with the crime and asserts that he was dumbfounded when Miss Hilary entered the house and discovered the body. A coroner's inquest called by Coroner I. J. Owen, and at which McKee was a witness, resulted in an open verdict, the Jurors finding that Mrs. McKee came to her death by a gunshot wound feloniously caused by a person unknown to them. The murder of Mrs. McKee, who was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Douglas, pioneers of Yuma county, has caused a sensation in this part of the state which has not been equaled in years. McKee left the ranch to drive in his automobile to the community mail box, four miles away. On the way back to the ranch ho stopped at the school house to pick up Miss Hilary, who had been residing at the McKee home while teaching at the district school. At the inquest McKee said he was absent about two hours. Arriving at the ranch, McKee drove the car into the garage and was busy putting it away there while Miss Hilary went into the ranch house. When the young school teacher entered the home she found Mrs. McKee lying in a pool of blood on the floor, and across her body lay the little 2-year-old daughter of the house, sound asleep, the child's tear-stained face indicating that she had cried herself to sleep on her mother's lifeless breast. Mrs. McKee had been shot in the hack of the head. Her body was still warm, according to Miss Hilary and other witnesses at the Inquest."

1920 Wray Gazette:
ARTIE MCKEE MUST GO TO PENITENTIARY FOR LIFE TERM
Artie McKee, twice convicted of the warder of his wife, Clara Douglass McKee, must serve a life sentence in the Colorado state penitentiary. In a decision handed down by the state supreme court Monday the court decided that McKee was not entitled to a new trial. The opinion was written by Justice Whitford, with Justices Burke and Teller dissenting.
The decision marks the end of a long fight on the part of McKee for his freedom. The Rattler has reviewed the case many times so that our readers are familiar with the legal battle that has been waged. McKee was accused of shooting his wife to death on April 5, 1920, at their ranch home some 20 miles southeast of Wray near the Rosenkrans ranch. The first trial resuited in a disagreement by the jury and the court immediately ordered another trial.
At the second trial much additional evidence was introduced and McKee was found guilty. He was sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor. An appeal to the state supreme court was taken by the attorneys for the defense. When the supreme court reviewed the case it was remanded back for retrial upon certain technical grounds. A change of venue was taken for the third trial.
This trial was held in the district court of Washington county. McKee was convicted a second time. Attorneys for the defense again took an appeal to the supreme court. McKee was confined in the Weld county jail at Greeley for safe keeping pending the decision of the supreme court.
The case will go on record as one of the most notorious in the history of Yuma County. Attorney Ike Pelton with triet Attorney Twombley prosecuted the case. Some of the best legal talent of the country was employed by the defense. McKee's apparent indifference was the outstanding ieature at each of the three trials. Dozens of witnesses testified and the court room was not big enough to accommo date half the crowd that came each day to hear the morbid details of the ! cold-blooded deed. Having carried : his appeal to the court of last resort and failed, McKee will spend the remainder of his life in the Colorado state penitentiary at Caron City.
He is probably about 25 years old and is the father of a baby girl possibly four years of age, who, it will be recalled, was found asleep besule the dead body of her mother on the day of the murder. Tho body was discovered in the home by Miss Gladys Hilary, a school teacher who was boarding at the McKee home.

December 29, 1938

In 1940 he might be the Artie McKee in Maricopa County, Arizona, a farm laborer, 45 born in Nebraska, living with Bert Lowe, 56, Illinois. Bert said he was in Brighton, Weld County Colorado in 1935, but Artie doesn't have a 1935 residence.

Services for Allen Lincoln Douglas, 82, of Milford, Neb., formerly of Middleton, who died Saturday, Jan. 29, 1983 at Seward, Neb., will be conducted at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the First United Methodist Church in Middleton by the rev. Charles Chase. Interment will follow at the Middleton Cemetery under the direction of Flahiff Funeral Chapel, Caldwell.
He was born May 23, 1900, at Oxford, Iowa. He was reared and educated in Grover, Colo. He married Ettie G. Douglass Sept. 13, 1922, at Benkleman, Neb. They moved to Cheyenne, Wyo., and lived there fro several years. They moved to the Grover, Colo., area where he owned and operated a garage. He also was the town marshall.
They moved to Longmont, Colo., where he worked as a mechanic. Later they moved to Haigler, Neb., where they operated a grocery store and a creamery. In 1943 they moved to Loveland, Colo. He worked as shop foreman for the Bureau of reclamation until retiring in 1965. They moved to Windsor, Colo., and he managed a Speedway convenience story in Ft. Collins until 1968. They moved to Middleton in 1971. Mrs. Douglas died Sept. 16, 1971.
Mr. Douglas moved to Milford, Neb., in 1975. He was a member of the Bible Baptist Church in Windsor, Colo. He was a member of the Elk's Club in Loveland, Colo., and had attended the Methodist Church in Middleton while living in Middleton.
He is survived by two daughters, Mrs. Willard (Lucille)) Cantin of Lincoln, Neb., and Mrs. Aaron (Allene) Evans of Middletin, a brother, Orlo Douglas of Grover, Colo.; three sisters-in-law, Mattie Trembly of Haigler, Neb., Irene Douglas of Lolyoak, Colo., and Hazel Douthitt of St. Francis, Kan.; four grandsons and five granddaughters, 20 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
He was preceded in death by a daughter, a brother and a granddaughter.
Friends may call at the chapel Tuesday from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. and Wednesday from 9 until 11 a.m.
Memorials may be given to the First United Methodist Church in Middleton.

Bert Lowe was in the state penitentiary in 1930, too.
August 23, 1922 "DENVER, Colo., Aug. 22.-With the arrest of Albert J. Lowe, insurance agent, on a charge of murder, Greeley, Colorado, police announced today that the warrant was issued as a result of a month's investigation following the death there, ostensibly through the explosion of a gasoline stove, of Edna J. Skinner, 22-year-old school teacher of Bloomington, Illinois.
The authorities stated that they accumulated evidence to show that the young woman, who is a sister of Lowe's wife, was persuaded by him to buy an insurance policy from him naming him beneficiary.
The policy he sold her was in reality her own death warrant, for he immediately, the authorities allege, began to plot muider in a way that not only would enable him to collect the $2OOO death benefit, but also an added $5OO payable should the insured meet death through accident. To accomplish this, the police allege, Lowe beat his kinswoman to death with a heavy stove weight, saturated the body in gasoline, wrecked an oil stove to simulatened. Miss Skinner is burled in the cemetery at Leroy, Illinois, four miles east of Bloomington."

1925 "Bert J. Lowe must serve a life sentence in the penitentiary for the slaying of his sister-in-law, Miss Edna Kern Skinner of Leroy, Illinois, the Colorado supreme court decided today. The young woman's body was found after a fire in the Lowe home in Greeley, Colorado, in July 1922. The opinion of the court, written by Justice Burke, held there had been no irregularities in the conduct of the trial as alleged by Lower Lowe now is in the state prison at Canon City."

FindaGrave # 42393610 has Isla (Skinner) Lowe 1886-1924, dying in Greeley, buried in McLean County, Illinois.
July 2, 1924 Bloomington, Illinois - "Funeral services for Mrs. Isla Lowe who died last Wednesday at her home, in Greeley, Colorado, were held from the Christian church at Leroy at 2:30 o'clock, Monday afternoon. Rev. D. N. Wetiel, pastor of the Second Christian church, of Bloomlngton, was in charge of the services assisted by Rev. Burl H. Sealock. A quartet composed of Mrs. M. H. Doley, Mrs. J. H. Gassoway, Rev. Burl Sealock and Otto Zlems sang. "Beautiful Isle of Somewhere" and "There Will Be No Tears in Paradise." accompanied by Mrs. W J. Strange, at the piano. Pallbearers were: C. A. Smith, D. C. Berry, O. M. Phares, K. W. Zell. hoefer, John Staley and Mt yd Stalev. Interment was in Oak Grove cemetery. Among the relatives and friends from a distance were: Mrs. Charles Walls, of Cowden; Mr. and Mrs. Frank Patterson and family, of Armington; Mr. and Mrs. Elton Bane of Colfax; Mr. and Mrs. Fred Warner of Champaign, and .Mr. and Mrs. Wllmer Lowe, of Bloomlngton."

Bert and Isla Lowe's daughter Mary Alice Lowe married Alvin Johnson in 1940, and is buried in Fort Collins 1919-2009 #90838767.
February 24, 1931 Greeley "News of a marriage which they hoped to keep secret for a time, leaked out Monday, and Miss Clara Lowe and Arthur Carr, both popular young people of Greeley, are being congratulated by their friends as Mr. and Mrs. Carr.
The marriage occurred Feb. 5 in Littleton, the Rev. R. J. Phipps, Presbyterian minister, performing the ceremony. Randall Eaton of Greeley and Mrs. Phipps were the only witnesses. Both Mr. Carr and his bride attended Greeley high school, Mr. Carr also attending Teachers college two years. Mr. Carr, who is the son of Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Carr of Greeley, is employed at the Greeley Ice and Storage company here. Mrs. Carr is linotype operator at the Greeley Tribune."

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