On January 10, 1903, John P. Hayes was shot and killed by Conrad Haigmaier at Haigmaier's Merchant's Exchange saloon located at the corner of Main Street and Alley 9 in Wheeling, West Virginia. The shooting occurred around 1:15 AM. Hayes, approximately 40-50 years old and a pipe liner from Toronto, Canada, had been drinking at the saloon and fell asleep at a table. When owner Haigmaier tried to wake Hayes to close for the night, Hayes attacked him. During the struggle, Haigmaier pulled out a revolver and fatally shot Hayes in the neck in what he claimed was self-defense. Two witnesses, William Scanlon and an unnamed hotel employee, corroborated parts of Haigmaier's story. Hayes' body remained unclaimed at the saloon until the next day when it was identified by two co-workers, Richard J. Hamilton and Frank Schultz, who worked with Hayes on a pipeline project nearby. An autopsy confirmed Hayes was shot in the neck at close range. Haigmaier was arrested for murder but later released after a preliminary hearing on January 19 found he acted in self-defense. With no relatives claiming his body, Hayes was buried at Peninsula Cemetery in Wheeling on January 13, 1903.
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Photo Credits: Wheeling Register, Find a Grave