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Every family has its legends, stories of notorious family members who beat the odds, took part in a historical event, or made the headlines through some nefarious act. Sometimes the stories are true but most times the stories have been exaggerated with each telling through the generations until its more fiction than true. And my family is no exception. There's the story of Wyatt Earp, my 3rd cousin 4 times removed. There's Elizabeth Bathory, the famous Blood Countess of Hungary, my 9th great-grandmother. And there's Robert the Bruce, 32nd King of the Scots, my 21st great-grandfather. Each have historical accounts of their lives and the parts they played in history, but they also are embroidered with threads of fiction, making the historical accounts so much more fantastic than they probably really were. While I was growing up the story that titillated my generation of cousins was the story of our great uncle Ammon Grice, our great-grandmother's baby brother. Shot to death when he was just 59, the story of his death took on many facades, the most common being that he was having an affair with a neighbor's wife and that the husband took his jealous revenge out on Uncle Ammon during a hunting trip in one of the local cherry orchards. Now, since his nephew (my paternal grandfather) was a well-known womanizer, it didn't seem too much of a stretch that this trait might have been passed down the family tree from Uncle Ammon. But there were other intriguing suggestions that had been made. He was the president of the local cherry growers' association and Blue Pack Canners. Was it possible he was killed because of his political position?
While my paternal grandmother was still living, at the age of 95, I was just getting involved in genealogy. My sister-in-law and I were visiting Grandma one afternoon when my sister-in-law, Sharon, suggested that we dig into the story and find out the truth about Uncle Ammon. My normally reserved grandmother got very upset and said, "Leave it alone! It's in the past and it's done! Do not go stirring up trouble!" She was so upset that we promised we would leave it be, but now we were even more intrigued. What about this case would cause her to be that upset about finding the truth? After she passed away, I could wait no longer. I wanted to know, who shot Uncle Ammon, and why?
AMMON SAMUEL GRICE
Ammon Grice was the 7th child and only son of Larkin and Amanda Grice. Larkin and Amanda immigrated to Oregon from Roanoke, Virginia, in about 1890, settling in West Salem, Oregon. To say that Ammon was doted upon by his 6 older sisters would not be a gross exaggeration. The son of a successful farmer and pillar of their church and community, he participated in work and events that lent him respect and admiration as he grew into a young man. His family hosted annual Thanksgiving dinners for their entire community, filling their home with young and old. He was said to have had an extraordinary singing voice, singing bass in the church choir as well as in his high school cadet band. He played baseball for Salem High School and was said to be able to "connect with the ball whenever it was within his reach." And, as with the local farmers at that time, he helped in his father's orchards as well as with his neighbors' orchards during the harvest seasons.
A HUNTING PARTY GONE WRONG
The morning of Tuesday, October 21, 1958, dawned partly cloudy with the promise of warmer than usual temperatures for that time of year. Rain was expected the following day, so the farmers of Chapman Corners decided it would be a good time to try and thin out the deer herds that had been causing so much damage to the prune and cherry trees. Ervin Simmon's orchards had been particularly plagued by the hungry deer so it was decided to begin there. The party of eight included Ervin and his 24-year-old son, Wayne, their neighbor, Ammon, along with Glen Southwick and his hired hand 36-year-old David McGee. There were three other local farmers whose names I do not know but may have included Robert Adams, Mr. Schroeder and Mr. Doran, other neighboring farmers. The eight men trudged up Grice Hill along Winslow Gulch, spread out in the brushy back acres of the Simmon's farm to try and flush out the deer. According to Wayne, a shot suddenly rang out along with a yell. As the men all ran to where they had heard the shot they found Ammon leaning against a tree, his octagon-barrelled 0.32 caliber rifle on the ground at his side. "I've gone and accidentally shot myself!" he exclaimed. An ambulance was called and soon arrived but the two attendants had to pack him out nearly a mile on a stretcher before they could take him to Salem General Hospital where he was admitted in critical condition.
When he was admitted, the doctors believed Ammon had somehow shot himself in the left abdomen with the bullet exiting his right hip, shattering his right elbow. On investigating the scene, State Police Sgt. Jim Darby was having difficulty understanding how Ammon could have fired his own gun to achieve the wounds he had. Could the shot have come from a different gun? On questioning the other hunters, Sgt. Darby asked David McGee if he had fired his gun. David replied that he didn't know if his gun had fired or not, but he had been on Ammon's right and it appeared the shot had come from the left.
Back at Salem General, surgeons found a 0.30-caliber bullet lodged just under the skin in Ammon's abdomen near what they had previously thought was the entrance wound. Based on his wounds they now determined that the shot had come from Ammon's right, hitting his right elbow first, then entering and shattering his right hip and lodging in his left abdomen. The velocity had left a hole in his abdomen the size of a baseball and his condition was grave.
Now that the determination had been made that the bullet had come from the right, Sgt. Darby suspected the shot had come from David McGee's gun. The bullet was sent to the Oregon State ballistics laboratory for verification.
THE DEATH OF AMMON GRICE
On October 24, three days after he was shot, Ammon succumbed to the fatal bullet wound. An autopsy was performed which verified what the surgeons had already suspected. The ballistics report came back with the confirmation: The shot had come from the rifle belonging to David McGee. David was arrested on charges of manslaughter. He was arraigned and held in the Polk County Jail with bail set at $5,000 (about $50,000 value in 2023). The following day, David's bail was paid and he was allowed to return to Glen Southwick's residence and obtain an attorney before entering a plea.
DAVID MICHAEL MCGEE
In researching the man thought to have fired the fatal shot ending my Uncle Ammon's life, I only found one David Michael McGee in the Salem area in 1958. His birthdate corresponded with his age at the time of the shooting, as did his occupation.
David was the oldest child of a single mother of five born in the Siletz Tribe of the Grand Ronde, west of Salem. Indian Census Records indicate that he had no education and that he worked as a farm laborer. In 1957 he married Elois Durling in Washington State, and it is presumed they lived together at the residence of Glen Southwick. While available records are incomplete, it is speculated that this is indeed the David McGee who participated in the hunting party in October 1958. Based on my conversation with Wayne Simmons, David was well-liked by everyone, and like the other farmers in the area, was always available to lend a hand when needed. His employer, Glen Southwick, had previously raised his own grandchildren, so perhaps he felt that taking in David and his wife was his way of being able to help them also get a start in their newlywed life.
On November 25, 1958, the Polk County Grand Jury indicted David Michael McGee on a charge of manslaughter, wanton disregard, and culpable negligence. He pleaded not guilty. Trial was set for February 2, 1959.
THE FINAL VERDICT
On the day of David's trial, the judge who had been scheduled to hear the case, Circuit Court Judge Arlie G. Walker, was absent. In his place Pro Tem Judge Fred McHenry of Corvallis, Oregon, was to hear the case. Before the trial began, David changed his plea to guilty, and Judge McHenry sentenced him to a suspended one-year sentence during which time he was not allowed to drive, use firearms, or leave the Salem area.
David and Elois McGee continued to live and raise their family in Salem, Oregon. In August of 1973 at the age of 51, David stopped to help a stranded motorist near the Warm Springs Reservation. The vehicle exploded, and David was killed.
A LEGEND LAID TO REST
For all the exaggeration in the telling of the story of the death of my Uncle Ammon, the final truth is that it was simply a very unfortunate accident. Ammon, wanting to shift any blame away from his neighbor's young farm hand, simply told everyone that he had accidentally shot himself. Court records indicate that David became startled at hearing the winter brush rattle and shot prematurely before verifying what he was shooting at, something he would have to live with the rest of his short life. It is likely also that Uncle Ammon was afraid of the prejudice resulting from an uneducated Indian shooting a prominent farmer in 1958. We will never know these finer details as they were laid to rest with both Ammon and David. For myself, I am glad to have ferreted out the truth and laid the legend to rest!
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