This story is included because one researcher believes that the Frank Looney in this story was the husband of Alice Maxfield Looney who lived in Lamar County. Her obituary at the end of these articles seems to confirm that belief. The researcher believes that Frank Looney was buried in Woodland Cemetery. In 1920, Frank and Alice Looney were living in Red River County, Texas, but by 1930, Alice was widowed and living in Lamar County with 5 children.

SAN ANTONIO LIGHT, Wednesday, September 23, 1925, p. 1: "3 TEXANS SLAIN IN NIGHT GUN BATTLE - WICHITA FALLS, Sept. 23 - In a gun battle at 10:30 o'clock Tuesday night between officers and three men near a cache of stolen goods which the officers were watching in a mesquite pasture one mile south of Megargel, Sheriff Harrison Ikard of Archer county of the watching party and Charles Crabtree and Frank Looney, two of the three men who drove into the pasture, were slain. The third man fled from the scene in an automobile. At three o'clock this morning a man who said he was in the vicinity of the shooting appeared at Megargel and gave himself into the custody of officers, and was taken to Archer City. Deputy Sheriff R. (Cowboy) Munsford, also of Archer City, who participated in the gun battle and who continued the fight after his chief had fallen, escaped injury. BULLET HITS BELT. Sheriff Ikard was shot with a .45 caliber gun. The bullet struck the officer on the belt buckle and ricocheted, causing instant death. Sheriff Foster of Young county, and his deputy located the cache of cigarettes, hidden under a mesquite thicket, into Tuesday afternoon. A wholesale grocery store in Graham had been forcibly entered last Sunday night and more than $1500 worth of cigarettes and tobaccos had been carried away. TELL GRAPHIC STORY. Sheriff Ikard and his deputy appeared on the scene a short time later and the four officers lay in wait for the thieves to return for their loot. The officers had waited for over three hours and when the storm brought in by a cold north wind began showering rain, Sheriff Foster and his deputy left to get an automobile which had been parked at a house some 400 yards away. They intended to bring the car back to the spot and load the cigarettes to keep them from getting damaged by rain. Sheriff Foster and his deputy had just arrived at the automobile when they noticed the flash of guns from the spot where they had left Sheriff Ikard and his deputy. They hurriedly returned to the scene but the shooting had ended before they had retraced their steps. Deputy Munsford tells a graphic story of the shooting. 'Sheriff Foster nnd Howard had been gone only a minute or so when this car drove up close to where the cigarettes were hidden. Three men got out of the car. Mr. Ikard and I came out from behind the bushes. The sheriff said 'We're officers, boys. Throw up your hands.' 'No sooner had he given the command than the shooting started. I believe Mr. Ikard was struck by the first bullet that was fired. However, his gun flashed one time, as I remember. I don't know now many shots were fired. I heard bullets whizzing and I just kept on using my shotgun and my pistol. Soon I saw a man darting off through the bushes and as I walked a little nearer to the car, I saw two men lying on the ground. About that time Sheriff Foster and his deputy arrived. Mr. Ikard wns dead and so were the other two men.'"

LAREDO TIMES, September 23, 1925, p. 1: "SHERIFF DIED IN FIGHTING GANG - TWO OF A TRIO OF ALLEGED THIEVES KILLED AND THE OTHER HAS SURRENDERED. By Associated Press. Wichita Falls, Texas, Sept. 23.- A gun battle between officers and a trio of alleged thieves staged last night near Megargel, Archer county, resulted in the death of Sheriff Ikard Harrison of Archer City, Charles Crabtree and Frank Looney. The third man surrendered this morning and is being held at Archer City. An automobile and 27 cases of cigarettes were confiscated. Deputy Sheriff R. Mussford, who participated in the battle, escaped injury."

LUBBOCK MORNING AVALANCHE, Monday, Sept. 24, 1925: "SHERIFF AND TWO BANDITS SLAIN IN BATTLE - ARCHER CITY, Sept. 23.-In a serious gun battle between fearless men, remiscent of the early west, three men were shot to death in the lonely country 37 miles south of here early Tuesday, it was learned here Wednesday. When the smoke of the battle, fought between two officers and three alleged thieves, had cleared away, Sheriff Harrison Ikard of Archer county lay dead. The other two men slain were Charles Crabtree and Frank Looney. The third member of the trio resisting arrest escaped during the battle, only to be rundown and captured Wednesday. A deputy sheriff of Archer county, who with Sheriff Ikard was attempting to capture the trio, was uninjured. Crabtree, Looney, and the third man, whose name was not learned, are said to have looted a warehouse at Graham, Texas. When their where abouts had been ascertained Ikard and his deputy armed themselves and went after them. The battle took place at the bandit rendezevous where they were barricaded. Owing to the death of Ikard and the absence of Deputy Handford full details were not available."

LAREDO TIMES, September 24, 1925, p. 1: "FRIENDS OF MEN KILLED IN FIGHT - OFFICERS SAY THEY WERE NOT DIRECTLY CONCERNED IN THE GUN FIGHT - By Associated Press. Wichita Falls, Texas, Sept. 24. Six more arrests were made yesterday at Megargel by Archer county officers in connection with the death of Sheriff Harrison Ikard, killed in a guntlght with three men near Megargel Tuesday night. It was reported that the men taken into custody were friends and business associates of Charles Crabtree and Frank Looney, who also met death in the same fight. The officers announced that the arrests thus far made had no direct bearing upon the gun battle but were made in connection with the events which preceded the shooting."

SAN ANTONIO LIGHT, Thursday, September 24, 1925, p. 8: "ARREST SIX MORE IN TRIPLE SLAYING - Friends of 2 Men Killed in Fight With Officers Taken Into Custody. - WICHITA Falls, Sept. 24.- Six more arrest were made more arrests were made Wednesday evening at Megargel by Archer county officers in connection with the death of Sheriff Harrison Ikard, who was shot in a skirmish with three men in a mesquite pasture Tuesday night, a short distance from town. It was reported that the men taken into custody were friends and business associates of Charles Crabtree and Frank Looney, the two men who also met death in the same gun fight. One of the men arrested is a former peace officer of Archer county and he was transferred to the Young county jail at Graham Wednesday night with three others. Two of those arrested at Megargel were released Wednesday night. Officers announced that the arrests thus far made had no direct bearing upon the gun battle but were made in connection with events which preceded the shooting. Information was secured by the investigating officers at Megargel that the two dead men, Crabtree and Looney, were in Wichita Falls practically the entire day Monday and information from a special officer at Wichita Falls substantiated the information. It was stated that the four men were transferred to Young county due to the unsafe condition of the Archer county jail."

THE PARIS NEWS, Sunday, November 7, 1943: "Mrs. Frank Looney Dies Saturday - Mrs. Frank M. Looney, 55, died at 8:45 p. m. Saturday at St. Joseph's Hospital, where she had been seriously ill some time, following a major operation. Until about a year ago, when she went to Talco to make her home, she had lived here at 42 S. 36 1-2 St. Her husband died in 1925. Funeral services will be held Sunday at 4:45 p. m. at the Brown-Roden chapel, conducted by the Rev. Theodore McElroy of the First Christian Church. Burial will be at Evergreen Cemetery. Pallbearers will be M. L. Epps, C. M. McWherter, Walter Hicks, W. H. Price, Joel J. Shirley and Ralph Eubanks. Mrs. Looney, the former Alice Maxfield, was born at Pattonville. She was married in 1907 to the late Mr. Looney, moving here in 1921. She had lived in Paris until about a year ago, when she moved to Talco to live with her daughter, Mrs. C. A. Langley. Survivors include her mother, Mrs. L. L. Maxfield of Chicota; two sons, Lt. Frank M. Looney, Army Air Base, Big Spring and James Looney of Paris; three daughters, Mrs. Langley, Mrs. Loucile LeFlore of Dallas and Mrs. W. V. Martz of Paris; three brothers, C. A. Maxfield and J. M. Maxfield of Chicota and S. D. Maxfield of Arp; besides three grandchildren."

THE PARIS NEWS, Monday, November 8, 1943: Taken from a column entitled "News Letter to Parisians in Service (Clip and Mail to a Relative or Friend Away From Home) - Mrs. Frank Looney, 55, died at St. Joseph's Hospital, where she had been seriously ill some time. She was the mother of Lt. Frank (Max) Looney, now stationed at Big Spring. James Looney and Mrs. W. V. Martz of Paris, Mrs. Loucile LeFlore of Dallas, and Mrs. C. A. Langley of Talco, with whom she made her home the past year."

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