THE WINKLER COUNTY NEWS, KERMIT, TEXAS    NOVEMBER 27, 1964

KERMIT MAN KILLED SUNDAY

MURDER CHARGES ARE FILED    


    A Kermit oil field worker was dead on arrival at 
Winkler County Memorial Hospital early Sunday morning, 
his body ripped by a pair of .22 caliber rifle slugs.

    
    Dead was Harold Junior Burns, 40 of 430 South Avenue
 C. He was found in the back yard of a house at 737 
Robinson Street, where officers allege the fatal shooting
 occurred.

    
     In Winkler County Jail in lieu of $5,000 bond is 
Robert Raymond Allen, who is charged with murder. The 
charges were filed Sunday and the bond set by Justice of 
the Peace S. C. Callaway. Burns is a 40-year old oilfield
 roughneck.

  
   Officials learned of the shooting Sunday at 12:47 a.m.
 when Wayne Wilkinson, 27, entered the Kermit police 
station and told officers were needed, according to 
Winkler County Sheriff L.B. (Bill) Eddins.

     
   Deputies Howard Westfall and Bill Oldham, Police 
Sergeant C.M. Wilkinson and Highway Patrolman E.C. 
Locklear were dispatched to the house where they found 
the body of Burns in the back yard. They took Allen into 
custody.

      
   Officers said Allen and Wilkinson live at the house 
where the shooting occurred. The slaying followed an 
argument between Allen and Burns, Sheriff Eddins said.

      
    Burns, is father of five children, ranging in ages 5 
through 13.

    
     He was a pulling unit operator for Hams Well 
Service.
   

   The body is being taken to Coringth, Miss., by Cooper 
Funeral Chapel for funeral service Wednesday at Wheeler 
Grove Church.


       A resident of Winkler County for the last 12 
years, Burns was born in Corinth Miss., Jan. 9, 1924.


        Survivors include his former wife, Jennie Burns 
of Kermit; a son, David Burns; four daughters, Jean, 
Vicki, Dena and Debbie Burns, all of Kermit; four 
brothers, Cecil Burns of Birmingham, Ala., G.B. Burns, 
Chester Burns and Garland Burns, all of Corinth; and a 
sister, Mrs. Bertha Benjiman of Corinth, Miss.