Fisher-Bonds Feud

It is rare in Bell County when a lawman shoots someone, and it is almost unheard of for a peace officer to shoot a comrade. But that is what happened in downtown Belton in 1926. So what circumstances led to one lawman turning against another?

The Fisher-Bonds feud came about in this manner:

Wiley Fisher served in various law enforcement capacities in Bell County. In 1910, he ran for sheriff but lost to the incumbent, D.C. “Charles” Burkes. The next year, he was a Temple police officer. He soon became embroiled in conflict with a local “bad boy” by the name of Wilbur L. Flewellen. Events climaxed in 1911 when Flewellen and Fisher had a shoot out at the Santa Fe Depot. Fisher was struck but not fatally wounded. The tension created by the feud left the community wondering what would happen next. On September 24, 1911, “Fisher and the Flewellen family entered into a peace treaty to put an end to hostile encounters.” Flewellen was tried in 1917 and sentenced to 99 years in the penitentiary for killing a man named Roy McKinley the year before. 

By 1914 Fisher was promoted to Night Chief of the Temple Police Department and became Chief of Police in 1918. A friend of Fisher’s was called Albert Bonds. Bonds served two two-year terms as Bell County sheriff from 1920-1924, defeating John Bigham in a heated campaign in 1922. Bonds lost to Bigham again in 1924 and entered the race again in 1926 to regain the sheriff’s office. Wiley Fisher supported Bigham and made numerous allegations against Bonds. He said he had protected moonshiners in the county, had committed arson to collect insurance money, and was involved in a drunken auto accident. Bonds denounced the accusations, but Bigham won again by about 700 votes. Bonds filed a libel suit against Fisher in the county court. 

In August 1926, after a local woman was killed in an auto accident, Fisher and his wife took the family’s three small children to care for them temporarily. On the day of the funeral, Chief Fisher with his wife, the three children, and two other women, paid a visit to the funeral home in Belton. Outside, after viewing the body, Fisher had his right foot on the running board of his car, helping his wife in, when a car approached slowly along Central Avenue. Protruding from the open passenger window was an automatic shotgun. Fisher was struck in chest, shoulder, and leg, and was killed immediately. The driver, Albert Bonds, sped off.

A manhunt was organized and sheriffs from surrounding counties participated. About 11:00 p.m., Bonds’ car was founded abandoned near Jarrell. A note to his wife was found on the car seat, but there was no sign of Bonds. In the meantime, Fisher’s funeral was held on Sunday, August 22, at the Temple Opera House. On November 8, an indictment for murder was returned by the grand jury against Bonds, and on November 14, Bonds appeared at the courthouse accompanied by Texas Rangers Captain Frank Hamer and Sergeant Taylor. It was later revealed that Bonds surrendered in Austin, and predicted that he would soon be a dead man. Bonds posted the $10,000 bond and was allowed out of jail. 

A few weeks later, Bonds was called to testify in a murder trial. As he waited in his car in front of a drugstore on Central Avenue, a car with its window curtains up came north on Main Street and turned east on Central. A shotgun blast rang out and Bonds was hit in his right eye and cheek bone with a flesh wound in his forehead. Bonds recovered from his wounds, and the likely suspect was thought to be Monroe Fisher, Wiley Fisher’s oldest son. However, no indictment was made because no witnesses came forward to identify him as the shooter. 

In May 1927, Monroe Fisher borrowed a green Ford Roadster with Black fenders from a friend. Shortly before noon, Albert Bonds was standing outside the Belton National Bank on Central Avenue. A green Ford Roadster was parked about fifty yards away. Five rifle shots rang out as bullets hit Bonds and critically wounded him. He died about fifty minutes after being shot. His funeral was held on May 12 with interment at North Belton Cemetery. 

Monroe Fisher turned himself in at the Temple Police Station. He was indicted for murder on June 9, 1927, and the venue for the trial was moved to Milam County. In October the trial commenced, and after five days of eloquent arguments and witnesses on both sides, the jury returned a verdict of “not guilty.” Mrs. Bonds was stunned. It was a classic case of jury nullification in which despite its belief in the guilt of the defendant, the jury in effect nullified a law that it believed was either immoral or wrongly applied to the defendant whose fate they were charged with deciding. 

Monroe Fisher went on to work for the Santa Fe Railroad, was elected constable of Bell County, and later worked as a night administrator and room clerk at Scott and White Hospital for over twenty years.

Bell County Historical Commission (Tex.). Story of Bell County, Texas. Austin, TX.: Eakin Press, 1988.

Miller, Rick. Bloody Bell County: Vignettes of Violence and Mayhem in Central Texas. 1st ed. Belton, TX.: Bell County Museum, 2011.