Justin Elwood Howton

JUSTIN ELWOOD HOWTON, Hopkins, KY

An indictment on a charge of murder was returned Monday by the grand jury impaneled for the July term of Webster circuit court against Richard BELT as a result of the death Saturday night of Justin Elwood HOWTON, 39. July 27 has been set as date for trial for Belt, who has been in county jail since his arrest approximately an hour after he stabbed Howton nine times just outside Howton's home on Princeton street in Providence. Howton died at 8 o'clock Saturday night a few minutes after the stabbing which resulted from an argument between the two men. Belt told Sheriff Carmon PULLAM that he used an ice pick. Belt was arrested shortly before 9 o'clock by Providence policemen Paul DORTCH and Baxter DODDS at the 41 Club restaurant four miles north of Providence, where Roland SIGLER, taxi driver, had put him out of his cab after refusing to drive him to Henderson. Sigler did not know of the murder at the time. Belt was paroled around a year ago after serving part of a life sentence which he received in July 1941 on a charge of robbery. He was given the severe penalty because of having been convicted for the third time on a felony. He escaped from jail before trial but returned a week later. Howton is survived by his wife, Louise; mother, Mrs. James Howton; two daughters, Joyce, 10, and Hilda, 8; two sons, Darrell of Syracuse, N.Y., and Harold, 12, at home; four sisters, Mrs. Charlie GRAHAM of Madisonville, Mrs. Will MATTHEWS of Beulah, Mrs. Floyd COFFMAN, Providence rural route, and Mrs. Onie GISH, Poseyville, Ind.; and two brothers, Herman, Providence rural route, and Raymond, Dawson Springs rural route. Funeral services were held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Beulah General Baptist Church, with the Rev. Abe RICH officiating. Burial was in Beulah cemetery. Providence Journal-Enterprise, Thursday, July 9, 1953. Compiler's note: There is a stone for a Justine Howton in Beulah Cemetery but the dates are recorded in the Webster Cemeteries Book as 1914-1958.

Newspaper: Kentucky New Era Publication: 6 Jul 1953 - Hopkinsville, Kentucky

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