What Happened?
The story of the Doc Talbott's murder begins in the late evening of September 18, 1880. After returning home from a fair, and a last-minute house call, the doctor retired to his bedroom. Not long after he arrived, he was shot in the chest. The bullet had supposedly come through the window, directly impaling him through the breast and exiting out his back. The doctor himself determined that the injury was fatal, but he did not die until the mid-afternoon of the following day. A physician was called to the house and while Talbott was still alive they wrote up his will, leaving everything to his wife.
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The initial statements reflect that he was shot in his room in the midst of talking to his eldest son, Albert, while his wife, Belle, lay on the bed. The rest of the family was said to be upstairs sleeping. The initial statements reflect that he was shot in his room in the midst of talking to his eldest son, Albert, while his wife, Belle, lay on the bed. After the doctor was shot, Belle and Albert helped him on to the bed to lie down. Then Albert grabbed his father's gun and rushed outside to find the shooter, he fired the gun twice. Doc Talbott was quoted to have said that he believed he was shot by his political enemies.
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However, about a month later Charles, Albert, Belle, and the hired hand, Henry Wyatt, were arrested for the murder of the doctor. The mother was soon released on a $1000 bond. The trial began very soon after that.
