Extracted from The Butler Herald (Butler, GA)
Thursday, December 17, 1931

Mr. W. J. Barfield Dead; Mr. W. E. Chambliss Reported Dying.

Unfriendly relations between Mr. W. J. (Jack) Barfield, of this county and Mr. W. E. Chambliss, of Macon county, came to a climax at an early hour Sunday night in one of the most deplorable tragedies that has occurred in this section in a long while, resulting in the death of Mr. Barfield and the probable fatal wounding of Mr. Chambliss.

The scene of the tragedy was at, or near, the home of Mr. Chambliss in the Ideal district of Macon county and about four miles from where Mr. Barfield resided at the W. M. Hill place in Taylor county.

Mr. Barfield, accompanied by his two sons, left his home immediately after dinner Sunday, in their automobile, to spend the afternoon with Mr. Barfield's brother-in-law, Mr. J. E. Whatley, who lives in the Garden Valley district of Macon county, the Chambliss home being located on the same public road traversed between Mr. Barfield's home and that of Mr. Whatley.

The occasion for Mr. Barfield stopping at the Chambliss home upon his return from Mr. Whatley's has never been made clear to the public. The fact remains, however, that the two men were seen together, standing near Mr. Barfield's automobile, in the road, in front of the Chambliss home, engaged for a while in, what witnesses say, a seemingly ordinary conversation that drifted into an animated discussion of some of the circumstances that had previously caused a breach of friendship between them. This continued for a short time and was followed by pistol shots, a number of them, and in rapid succession.

When the firing had ceased and the smoke cleared away, Mr. Barfield was found dead with four pistol wounds in his chest and one in his neck, while Mr. Chambliss had received a bullet wound in the abdomen, which, examining physicians say would probably prove fatal.

There have been so many conflicting statements concerning the shootings that it will be some day yet, if ever, before the real facts will be known to the public.

The two sons of Mr. Barfield, who were sitting in the car near by when the shooting took place, say that their father, nor they themselves, had a firearm of any kind. Another report is to the effect that Mr. George Chambliss, a son of Mr. W.E. Chambliss, who had been in the house up to the time the shooting began, emerged from the building with a pistol upon hearing the shots fired, and began shooting in the direction in which the two men engaged in the combat had stood, and that it was from his pistol the elder Chambliss received a probable mortal wound.

A warrant was taken Monday for young Chambliss, charging him with accessorty to the crime. He was later arrested by Sheriff Jolly, of Macon county and lodged in the county jail at Oglethorpe.

Efforts to implicate the Barfield boys, who accompanied their father on his fatal visit to the Chambliss home, are being made, it is said, but developments in that direction could not be learned here yesterday.

The elder Chambliss, who was wounded in the affray, has been county policeman of Macon county for a number of years, and it was due to some of his official acts, it is thought, that caused an estrangement between Mr. Barfield and himself, resulting in Sunday's tragedy; although Mr. Barfield was regarded by his friends and neighbors as a good neighbor, law-abiding, peaceable citizen.

Mr. Barfield was about 45 years of age, a son of the late Mr. Olin Barfield, of this county. He is survived by his wife, formerly Miss Fannie Whatley, and six children: also one brother, Mr. W. J. O. Barfield and three sisters, Mrs. E. F. Bone, Mrs. M. J. Barfield and Mrs. Ben Childres besides hosts of friends who are greatly shocked by his tragic death.

Funeral services for Mr. Barfield, one of the saddest and largest attended ever held in the county, were held at Bethlehem cemetery Monday afternoon conducted by Rev. W. H. Emmerson.