Another Casualty of Prohibition

Prohibition came early to the Northwest, with three states – Idaho, Oregon, and Washington – passing “dry laws” that went into effect at the start of 1916. Montana and Wyoming would follow, also before national Prohibition arrived with ratification of the 18th Amendment. For true believers, Prohibition was not just an attempt to improve America’s health and productivity. No, it was an impassioned campaign to exorcize “Demon Rum.” This at a time when many, perhaps even most, people felt sure that demons and other malign spirits were real.

Thus, some officers sent to enforce the dry laws embraced their job as a sacred crusade, with few limits on their behavior. In the fall of 1919, a police officer in Pocatello shot and killed a moonshiner during a raid on his still shed. He claimed self-defense, although the unarmed victim was just trying to escape. Then, in the spring of 1921, another Pocatello officer tried to arrest a man who was a bit tipsy and perhaps had a liquor bottle on him. He too tried to run away and was shot in the back, dying a few days later. The officer claimed it was an accident. Juries did not convict either shooter of anything.

Moonshiners and bootleggers surely took note of these (and other) events, but there was simply too much money to be made. Around Idaho Falls, Idaho, it was widely believed that Bill Wilson was one of those bootleggers. He was said to be quite familiar with the preferred routes to the Canadian border. And his large touring car – used as an “auto taxi” – would be able to haul a considerable load.

William C. Wilson was born June 16, 1875 in Weber County, Utah, near Ogden. At some point, he moved to Montana and, in 1903, got married in Billings. By 1910, he was serving as an apprentice plasterer in Idaho Falls. Then he and his father invested in the theater business. That did not last long, however, and by 1918 Wilson mostly drove a taxi. During lulls, he worked as a farm laborer. He had, indeed, been arrested and fined for minor “possession” offenses, but had never been caught transporting a load of liquor.

Nevertheless, in late May of 1924, authorities issued a warrant for his arrest on a bootlegging charge. (News reports never did explain the basis for the accusation.) At that time, Wilson was in Salt Lake City. When he returned, an informant told Deputy Sheriff Neil Simpkins. On June 2, 1924, the deputy retrieved the warrant and drove to Wilson’s house to serve it. Unfortunately, Simpkins and Wilson had butted heads before.

Neil Simpkins. Family Archives.

Cornelius “Neil” Simpkins was born February 1, 1873 in a village located about 18 miles southeast of Glasgow, Scotland. The family immigrated to the U.S. in 1888 and settled in Rock Springs, Wyoming. It’s unknown when Neil moved out on his own, but in 1899, he got married in Idaho Falls. At that time, he drove a delivery wagon and sometimes acted as an express messenger. Like Wilson, he was a member of the Mormon church, but neither seems to have been active in that organization.

Around 1911, Simpkins also began to serve as an Idaho Falls constable. Over the next decade, he apparently spent less and less time in the delivery business and more in law enforcement. Neil became a deputy sheriff around 1921. Newspaper accounts suggest that he had a particular interest in enforcing Prohibition.

In 1922, he had appeared at Wilson’s door and demanded the right to search the premises, although he had no warrant. Wilson, unworried, let him in. A thorough search turned up one bottle of prescribed “medicinal” alcohol. Yet Simpkins took Wilson to the police station, where he had to post bail to avoid spending a night in jail. Prescription booze was perfectly legal under the Volstead Act, so that charge was almost certainly dismissed. However, Simpkins also searched Wilson’s car and either (illegally) confiscated a pistol, or allowed a third party to steal it.

Exactly what happened when Simpkins arrived at the Wilson place on June 2nd cannot be assessed with certainty. Mrs. Dora Wilson met him, by herself, in the yard. Some neighborhood witnesses, who could not have seen very well, claimed that she “scuffled” with the deputy and that he may have struck her with his pistol. There was general agreement that the wife at least argued with the officer, perhaps on the order of, “Would you leave my husband alone?”

Then Wilson backed his car out of the garage. (There’s a good deal of evidence to indicate that Bill didn’t even know the officer was around.) Deputy Simpkins immediately fired into the back of the vehicle. Wilson found himself staring down the barrel of a gun and fully expected another bullet, so he threw up his own automatic and shot back. Later, he couldn’t recall how many times he fired, but three empty shell casings were retrieved from inside the car.

Witnesses gave confused testimony as to how many shots they heard, with some claiming as many as six from Wilson. That was not impossible, given that Wilson might have extended the weapon outside his window. In any case, he quickly fled the scene in his car. Examination showed that Simpkins had indeed tried to fire again, but his gun jammed. Hit twice, the deputy stumbled against a tree and fell. He died on the way to the hospital.

Wilson soon discovered that Simpkins’ shot had punctured the gas tank, and he tried to plug the hole with a willow stick. But he finally parked the car at a friend’s house about ten miles north of Idaho Falls. He caught a ride and then fled on foot into rough country about ten miles further north.

Officers and volunteers began scouring the countryside, and Wilson surrendered three days after the shooting. Searchers discovered he had discarded his pistol before walking across a field to give himself up. He was charged with first degree murder. Mrs. Wilson was charged as an accessory, but that was eventually dropped. No liquor was found in the Wilson house or in the car.

Criminologist Luke S. May logged this case as a firearms investigation, but the county apparently chose not to pay his fees to appear on the witness stand. Wilson had admitted shooting the deputy, but claimed it was self defense. May could have perhaps elaborated on how the deputy’s gun jammed, but that might have only weakened the prosecution’s case.

Besides the self-defense claim, Wilson’s attorneys also asserted that Simpkins could not, legally, act as a deputy. They noted that he was not a U.S. citizen. Born in Scotland, he had never applied for naturalization. Moreover, he had resigned from his (illegal) position a couple months before the shooting after a dispute with the sheriff. The sheriff agreed that they’d had a “slight difference” of opinion, but denied that Simpkins had actually resigned. And the prosecution cited precedents that waived Simpkins’ lack of formal citizenship.

Still, the sheriff’s admission did bolster the defense’s contention that Neil Simpkins was a man of uncertain, sometimes testy, temperament. That added to other testimony along those lines, including the account of the arrest for legal alcohol and the missing pistol. Still, the jury rejected the self-defense plea. They found Wilson guilty of second-degree murder, and a judge imposed a ten to twenty year prison sentence. After failed appeals, Wilson was transferred from the Bonneville County jail to the Idaho Penitentiary in February of 1926.

Deputy Simpkins left a widow, Della, and eleven children. Della did not remarry, but held the family together as the children grew up and got married. She moved the core to Boise around 1933. Her second-oldest son, Cornelius, remained with her until her death in August 1940. Cornelius returned to Idaho Fall, where his mother was buried.

William C. Wilson was pardoned and released after less than six years in the state Penitentiary. He maintained a home in Pocatello for six or seven years, then the family moved to California. By 1940, they were living in Fresno, where Wilson died in 1953.
                                                                                

References: Sean Beienburg, Prohibition, the Constitution, and States' Rights, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois (2019).

“Killings Resulting from Prohibition Enforcement,” Congressional Record – Senate, January 18, 1930, Volume LXXII, Part 2, United States Printing Office, Washington, D.C. (1930).

Luke S. May, Luke S. May Papers, Special Collections, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington (1969).

“[Simpkins-Wilson News],” Post-Register, Idaho Falls, Daily Post, Idaho Falls, Times-Register, Idaho Falls, Idaho Republican, Blackfoot, Bingham County News, Blackfoot, Idaho Statesman, Boise, Idaho; Salt Lake Tribune, Standard-Examiner, Ogden, The Telegram, Salt Lake City, Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah; Fresno Bee, California (November 1919 – October 1953).

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