By Michael D. Martin, E.C.P.D. Retired

About the author...Michael Martin (pictured front row, far right in the 1981 photo) is a retired veteran of 25 years on the Eden City Police Department, and has penned a number of anecdotal writings recalling his experiences.

XLIII. Little Billy Boy

I thought long and hard before I decided to write this....But here goes and the devil's in the proving.....

When I went to work for the Spray PD in 1966 My Poppa "Mr. Charlie" Hunter was justice of the peace, and some years before that...Officer Charles Hunter was the officer who was with Chief Willie Jim Robertson when he was shot to death by Folgeman and Napier behind the Spray Graded School. I grew up listening to Poppa remembering that night and knew I wanted to be an officer like poppa....and I did. I grew up thinking "let me stand as tall as poppa...give me a badge like poppa...and let the devil handle the details.....and that is pretty much what happened"....

When I became an officer in 1966 there were no standards for anything....Spray was a tough as nails little boarder town and if a man could whip a cop he was bought beer for weeks. Once I went to arrest a drunk and had a real tussle with him, it was a Sunday morning when I brought him in to the jail and went to Poppa to get the warrant. Poppa saw that my necktie was gone and my shirt was ripped and my tie clip was missing and my hat was askew.....Poppa asked.....You had trouble with that one didn't you?? Yes Poppa, I did, Almost whipped me. Did you hit him poppa asked.....Yes poppa, I wore him out with my slapstick...but it just seemed to make him madder.....let me see what you have son!! and I pulled my slapstick outta my pocket and gave it to him.....

Poppa looked at my issue slapstick and said "no wonder"...here boy...and he threw my slapstick in his drawer and pulled out "little Billie"...Take this son and I think your problems will be over.....I looked at little billy and said...poppa! this will kill a man!!!!! Oh no! son...you can not kill these people, just apply it judiciously....I never had a man who wanted a second dose of billy-boy. This was four or five ounces of solid lead, wrapped in leather and attached to a spring steel handle....This thing would take a mule to its knees.....but that was my poppa and he was a court official. I left my slapstick with Poppa and left with "Billy-boy."

It was not but a few nights later when we got a call, in the Draper section that a man was shooting at his neighbors. Richard Byrd and his partner Larry McDaniels answered the call and called for backup. Sgt. Garnet Smart responded and checked out on the scene. Fat Vestal and I were on the way from the Spray beat as hard as we could go. The neighbor stepped out onto his porch and fired at Sgt. Smart and a standoff ensued...Garnet Smart was not a man you could bluff, by the time Fat and I got there...Garnet and the rest of the shift had hands on the man and he was fighting hard......Lil Billy jumped out of my pocket and thumped the fella real hard and the fight was over...no body wanted to talk to "Billy" twice. Fat and I carried him to Morehead and had him stitched up.

Later, we got a call that one of Moonlight Murphey's drivers, Monroe Neal had been beaten and robbed by two young punks. No one had any ideas about it but a couple of hours later fat and I got a call about a violent drunk on Flynt hill...we got him without much trouble...but he thought we were arresting him for the Munroe Neal robbery and he spilled it all out, he did not hit Munroe...The other fella was carrying a hammer and beat Munroe....we locked him up and went to the address he gave us and got the other fella....we came back to the spray jail and stopped when the other fella jumped out quickly and slammed the door of the car into me and ran....he had on tennis shoes and my shoes were leather soled and I was losing ground when I grabbed Billy-Boy...I intended to throw billy at him and maybe cause him to lose a step. At the very last second...he turned to fight and drew back his fist at me......Billy boy was already on his way.....it was a cruel thump....but it was all over in a second.....come to think of it, we had to have him sewed up too...

Michael D. Martin

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