While school shootings were rare in southeastern Missouri in the early 1900s, they were not unheard of. One such event happened at Illmo High School on graduation day, May 20, 1921. As the ceremony occurred, Henry L. Rose, an engineer on the Iron Mountain Railroad, approached the school. Rose was exceptionally angry at the school over the whipping of his son.
Roscoe Pierce, superintendent of the high school, had administered the punishment to young Joseph Rose. The boy, who was not a student at the school, threw rocks at some of the female students and into the school during morning recess. Teacher J. Leland Dalton had caught the boy in the act of fighting, and with the help of male students, brought him to the superintendent. The 21-year-old Dalton had graduated from SEMO State Teachers’ College in Cape Girardeau the year before and was concluding his first year of teaching. Superintendent Pierce gave the boy a whipping and ordered him to go home.
Young Rose told his father what happened and identified Dalton as the teacher who caught him, angering Mr. Rose. Rose got his revolver, then he, his wife, and son and headed to the school. Upon arrival, he asked to see Mr. Dalton. As Leland Dalton stepped to the door, Rose asked, “Are you Mr. Dalton?” Dalton replied, “Yes. Mr. Rose, I will tell you how it happened.”
Rose was in no mood to listed to reason, and before Dalton could utter another word, Rose drew the revolver and began firing. One bullet struck Dalton. Rose began to run away, and the school custodian attempted to stop him. Rose pointed the revolver at him and pulled the trigger. The cartridge failed to fire.
Henry Rose ran from the school after the shooting, and those who pursued failed to locate him. The authorities sent to Cape Girardeau for bloodhounds, which immediately picked up Rose’s trail after they arrived. However, despite pursuit by the hounds and a posse of 100 men and boys, Rose eluded the searchers.
The search concentrated on the Illmo area, but while the posse combed the area searching for the fugitive Rose, he was walking 10 miles to Cape Girardeau to surrender to Chief of Police W. M. Seagrave. He later stated he was afraid of retribution if he surrendered in Illmo. When he gave himself up, Rose stated, “I’m sorry I shot Dalton—I’m glad he is going to recover. I was mad.”
Volunteers rushed Leland Dalton to St. Francis Hospital in Cape Girardeau. While the bullet entered his right groin and ranged upward into his lower back, doctors pronounced the wound as non-life-threatening. He recovered without incident and moved on to teach at the high school in Flat River, Missouri.
The State of Missouri charged Rose with three crimes: carrying a concealed weapon and felonious assault upon Tom Petty, and felonious assault with intent to kill in the shooting of Mr. Dalton. Scott County Circuit Court tried the latter case first before a jury on November 16, 1921. Dalton testified that he told Rose he did not whip the boy, but the boy stated, “you helped do it!” Eyewitnesses stated that Rose fired four shots at Dalton, only one of which struck him in the hip. The jury deliberated for an hour and 15 minutes, then rendered a verdict of “Guilty” and assessed a fine of $500. This translates to $8,724 dollars in today’s money. Presumably the degree of remorse expressed by Rose resulted in a fine rather than a jail term as punishment.
