On a warm spring day in 1909, shots rang out from a business in downtown Huntsville, Ala. Two men would be dead and another headed to a mental hospital.
By the time the facts of the shooting became known, the Huntsville business community was in shock that one of their own, a well-respected businessman, had shot two men for no discernable reason.
W.L. Halsey Grocery, established by William LeRoy Halsey and his brother Charles Henry Halsey, had been in business for 30 years in 1909. William, who ran the store, was 55 years old. The store is still in business at 305 Jefferson Street today.
The murders
It was nearing closing time on Friday, May 7, 1909 when Robert Jones stopped by the grocery store. Jones was a “prominent insurance man” and longtime friend of Halsey’s. He stopped on that day to discuss business and collect Halsey’s regular insurance premium, according to a 1909 article in The Huntsville Weekly Democrat…