John W. West
John Wesley West (1873-1927) was a Scott County deputy sheriff who was killed by fellow deputy Ben Fowler at Robbins High School in Robbins in 1927. Fowler also killed Dr. Wiley W. Foust, and later became the first person from Scott County executed by electric chair.
Biography
Born Oct. 15, 1873, John W. West was the son of Green Berry West (1851-1937) and Filana Helen Marcum (1849-1935). His siblings included Rachel Clementine West (1871-1922), William Riley West (1878-1952), James Charles West (1880-1919), and Nancy Ellen West Taylor (1883-1920). There were several other siblings, including John W. West, Sally M. West, Rebecca C. West, Ewel H. West, and Rubin F. West.
Filana was the daughter of John Arthur Marcum Sr. and Rachel West, the first Marcums to settle Pine Creek west of Oneida.
John Wesley West married Tilitha Susanne King (1881-1954) on May 4, 1899. She was the daughter of Kirby Sherman King (1846-1935) and Nancy Ellen Hatfield (1849-1917).
Their children, as listed in the 1920 census, included Ellaina, Nancy, Rilda, Etheridge, Willard, and Walter. Children born after that 1920 census included George and Fred. Several other children died in infancy, including William, Howard, Kirby, and Gatewood.
Death
John W. West died after being shot by fellow deputy sheriff Ben Fowler at a motion picture show in the auditorium of Robbins High School on March 5, 1927.
Fowler, who was intoxicated, was reportedly at the movie to serve an arrest warrant. He got into a dispute with Dr. Wiley W. Foust over laughter during the movie. He struck Foust, then shot him several times. Foust’s son, Wiley W. Foust Jr., returned fire, striking Fowler in his bulletproof vest and wounding him in the arm.
During the melee, West was shot in the abdomen. Newspaper accounts varied, with some saying that he was in attendance at the movie and others saying that he had showed up after the fact to arrest Fowler. He was rushed to Howard-Henderson Hospital in Knoxville, Tenn., where he underwent surgery before dying at 10 p.m. on Monday, March 7, 1927.
By the time of West’s death, Fowler had already been indicted for murder by a Scott County grand jury. He was convicted one week later, on March 14, 1927, and sentenced to death. In January 1928, he became the first and, to date, only person from Scott County to die by electric chair.
See Also: Deputy sheriff was first from Scott County to ride the lightning – Murders in the Heartland
Aftermath
West was buried at Marcum Cemetery in Oneida. He was 53 at the time of his death. His wife, Tilitha, died in 1954 at age 72 and was also buried at the cemetery.
Their last child, Fed Austin West, died in 2012 and was buried at Carson Memorial Park. He married Mary Lillian Burchfield (1925-2015) and they had three children.