Fired town marshal murdered his replacement

EVERYONE IN THE tiny Harney County town of Westfall knew something bad was going to happen after City Marshal Asa Carey was fired for the second time. Carey had been an odd pick for city marshal, but maybe he’d been given the job because he wanted it badly — and Carey was a dangerous man to say “no” to. Basically, he was the “Bad Bad Leroy Brown” of Westfall ... right down to the “.32 gun in his pocket for fun,” about which more in a red-hot minute. And the town council really should have known better. This was not Carey’s first time being entrusted with the town marshal’s baton. His first term in office had gone a long way toward demonstrating to everyone in Westfall that giving the “meanest man in the whole damn town” a badge was bad for business. In fact, Carey appears to have been one of the main reasons the town had a regional reputation as a nest of hooligans. In 1906, while serving as marshal, Carey had gunned down fellow Westfall resident Frank Cammeron in a fight. He was acquitted on a plea of self-defense; but three years after that, he got in a fistfight with 80-year-old Dan Brady and beat the frail octogenarian to death. Both of these little incidents had made headlines statewide. The Brady incident appears to have been the point at which the town council replaced Carey as town marshal, ending his first term of office by appointing a hardware-store clerk named Ben Corbett to the position. Doubtless the town’s business leaders breathed a sigh of relief. But 'Bad Bad Asa Carey' wasn't going to go quietly .... (Westfall, Malheur County; 1910s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/2502c.westfall-gunfight-asa-carey-689.515.html)