John Fletcher Clark
Marriages
Callie Ferguson Clark - February 27, 1916
in Stilwell, Oklahoma.
Burial Details
Obituaries
Eagle Valley Enterprise - July 13, 1961
JOHN CLARK WILL BE BURIED SUNDAY.
Funeral services will be conducted Sunday afternoon for John F. CLARK, Eagle County Undersheriff, who was killed by a ruthless gunman Tuesday afternoon.
The service will be conducted in the Methodist Church at 2 o'clock, and burial will be in Sunset View Cemetery. Miller Mortuary of Eagle is in charge of arrangements.
The family has requested that, in lieu of flowers friends make contributions which will establish a fund for a two-way radio for the Eagle Community Ambulance.
Eagle Valley Enterprise page 1 - July 13, 1961
CRAZED GUNMAN KILLED JOHN CLARK.
Eagle County Undersheriff John CLARK and State Patrol Lt. Hiram SHORT of Craig were killed and two officers seriously wounded by a slight young gunman, believed to be Delmar SPOONER of Storm Lake, Iowa.
The trail of death began Tuesday afternoon in Grand County, continued into Eagle County, and is almost sure to end in more bloodshed and death before trail end is reached. The crazed man is the object of one of the state's biggest man hunts in recent history of Colorado, centered in the Radium-Bond-Toponas area of this county.
Critically wounded are Robert HOOVER, State Game and Fish Department biologist of Grand Junction and Grand County Sheriff Chancy VAN PELT.
HOOVER stopped to offer assistance to a motorist east of Kremmling. He noticed a rifle and an unusual amount of ammunition on the back seat of the old model car, and radioed to Kremmling to have the car and motorist checked out.
Lt. SHORT and VAN PELT were shot down when they searched the car. HOOVER was shot five times when he attempted to get out of the gunman's range. The three were left by the roadside, and found later by a passing motorist.
The gunman fled, turning off on a county road which led him to Eagle County on the Trough Road.
Sheriff Hank KNUTH was alerted to set up a road block. He and Undersheriff CLARK left town the middle of the afternoon. The Iowa car was spotted in the Radium area, and Eagle officers followed. Two miles east of Statebridge the gunman swerved his car into the side of the mountain, jumped out, and using his car for a barricade started shooting as KNUTH and CLARK came out of their car. The two local men emptied their guns on the fugitive's car and flushed the Iowan from behind it. When KNUTH turned to his car for more ammunition, he heard a shot. He turned in time to see Mr. CLARK drop to the ground, wounded in the jaw.
Sheriff KNUTH radioed for help, and the Eagle ambulance.
Bob SHELTON and John BEASLEY, accompanied by Dr. Marshall BIGGY of Eagle took the wounded man to Kremmling, only to find the hospital there full and out of blood. Doctors there didn't consider Mr. CLARK's condition critical and advised his removal to another town.
At Dillon the ambulance was et by Mr. CLARK's family and they accompanied it on to Leadville. Even at the Leadville hospital, the undersheriff's condition was not considered gravely critical, and when the ambulance drivers left, they were assured of his recovery. When he died moments later, Mr. CLARK's death was a shock. It was later thought the bullet had lodged in the brain, causing the unexpected death.
Mr. CLARK's son, Robert, learned of the shooting n the radio of is car, as he drove near his home in California. CLARK's second daughter, Johnnie GREVE didn't learn of it until after her father arrived in the hospital. She and her family had been on an outing over Independence Pass, and received the news at a ball game in Leadville from Eagle friends.
Lt. SHORT died on the operating table. HOOVER and VAN PELT were transferred to Denver hospitals, where the Grand County Sheriff is believed to be making a good recovery and HOOVER's condition remains grave.
The killer is tentatively identified as Delmar SPOONER, 25 of Storm Lake, Ia. The car the killer drove was purchased early this month in Storm Lake. Description of the man matched that of SPOONER--5 feet 4 inches tall; slight of build, sandy complexion, bushy blonde hair. He was wearing a dark tweed jacket and jeans.
WELL ORGANIZED HUNT.
The manhunt for SPOONER was organized within minutes after Mr. CLARK's shooting. Sgt. Frank TOMSIC, Cpl. Russell CONFER, Patrolmen Jim SEABRY and Matt TURNER joined Sheriff KNUTH immediately and within hours there were law officers and volunteers converging on Statebridge from all over the state.
Patrol Chief Gilbert CARRELL joined his men Thursday. Deputy Chief COLE and Captains MOSS and ORR were already there. Offers to help--on ground and in the air came from all sections of the state--and were accepted. The giant-size posse was kept fed by a corps of Eagle women headed by Lucile LIEBER, assisted by Mrs. ROLLAND, Eagle, the first afternoon and evening. Other Eagle women volunteered Thursday.
The first evening's search centered in the Statebridge area. The next morning bloodhounds picked up a trail at the Statebridge bridge and followed it down stream. During the day the search was mostly in the Bond area. Later tracks in the Statebridge district brought the search back that way. Thursday night tracks were reported four miles north on a high grade road which takes off two miles above Toponas.
Families in the area are warned to stay in doors at night, behind locked doors--to keep cars locked. Some families in isolated areas have moved out.
Road blocks are set up in all strategic spots and all trains on the Cutoff and Moffat routes are watched. Direct communications are maintained through the Eagle State Patrol radio station, car radios and field radios. Communications with the airplanes are carried to the airfield and an open telephone line to the sheriff's office. Radio technicians, working in the Eagle area on micro wave installations, are relief dispatchers.
There have been many reports of suspicious looking persons on foot and in cars. All of them have been checked out.
At press time there is information that a railroader reported seeing a man apparently hiding, beneath a bridge west of Minturn.
The network of search is about as complete as it can be. The killer of two is still at large. He may be in the area of the last killing--he may be miles from it. If he is still around this part of the country, time is running out for Delmar SPOONER of Storm Lake, Iowa.
Eagle Valley Enterprise page 8 - July 20, 1961
JOHN CLARK WAS BURIED IN EAGLE.
The Methodist Church in Eagle wasn't large enough to seat the crowd of more than 200 friends and relatives who gathered to pay their last respects to John CLARK, Eagle County Undersheriff who died in a Leadvillle hospital Wednesday night of gunshot inflicted by a young Iowa man earlier in the day.
An honor guard of 30 Colorado Highway Patrolmen, members of Glenwood Springs Sheriff Posse, and Department of Revenue Port of Entry officers, stood at attention at the church as Mr. CLARK's casket began the journey to Sunset Cemetery [sic] in Eagle.
John Fletcher CLARK was one of eight children born to W. J. and Regena CLARK. He was born May 10, 1892 in Spring Valley, Ark., and spent his childhood there.
He grew to manhood in Stilwell, Okla., and on February 27, 1916 he was married to Miss Callie FERGUSON.
A few months later Mr. and Mrs. CLARK moved to Gypsum, Colorado and with the exception of three years farming inArizona, the family lived continuously in Eagle County. Mr. CLARK ranched in Gypsum and Brush Creek in the Eagle area.
The couple's three children, Regena, Johnnie and Robert were raised and educated in Eagle.
Mr. CLARK, a prominent political leader in the county, accepted an appointment to fill a vacancy on the Board of County Commissioners after his retirement from farming, taking over his duties in February, 1956. He was elected to the same office in November 1956. He served as County Commissioner until his term expired last December. In the fall of 1960 he was appointed Undersheriff by Sheriff Hank KNUTH. The Sheriff was with Mr. CLARK when the latter was shot.
He is survived by his wife, Callie and two daughters, Mrs. Bob (Regena) McILVEEN and Mrs. Lloyd (Johnnie) GREVE of Eagle; a son, Robert, of Manhattan Beach, Cal.; a sister, Mrs. Ida SIXKILLER of Gypsum and a brother, James of Muldrow, Okla., and four grandchildren.
Out of town relatives here for Mr. CLARK's funeral were his son, Robert; Mr. and Mrs. George FERGUSON, Clifton; Cookson FERGUSON, Cheyenne, Wyo.; Mr. and Mrs. Dan McLAUGHLIN, Trinidad; Mr. and Mrs. Hal BANBROOK, Canoga Park, Calif.; Mr. and Mrs. Felix SIXKILLER, Dragerton, Utah; Mrs. Olive LARSEN, Bunny LARSEN, Englewood; David SWAN, Littleton and John PATTON of Salem, Ore.
