A bullet put an end this week to the colorful career, of Sam J. Bates, 61, a prominent figure in Letcher County over the past 40 years. Bates was shot and killed about 6:20 p. m. Tuesday at Blair Lake, a private fishing lake on the south side of Pine Mountain about five miles from the Harlan County line.

Sheriff Lewis Hall said the bullet struck Bates at the bridge of the nose and entered his head, killing him instantly. A 24 year old Partridge man, Edwin Dearl Rowe, is in Letcher County jail on a charge of wilful murder in connection with the shooting. Rowe is being held without bond; no date has been set for a hearing on the charge against him.

Rowe is operator of a restaurant-dance hall at Blair Lake. He told officers he drew his pistol, a Smith and Wesson .38 special, and shot Bates after Bates entered the restaurant; called him a bad name and slapped him. Bates was not armed. Sheriff Hall said Rowe did not have a permit to carry the gun, which he said he drew from his right front pocket.

The sheriff said Rowe told him Bates had been to the restaurant Monday and demanded money to provide "protection" for Rowe against raids by law officers. Rowe said he told Bates he did not have any money and Bates said he would return the following day. Rowe told Hall that when Bates returned Tuesday. Rowe told him he was not going to pay any money for protection because he was not receiving protection, and he did not see any need to pay Bates at the same time he was being raided by the law. Rowe told Hall he had paid Bates $100 for protection previously but had not received any. He said Bates was supposed to keep the law from coming around his place, Hall said.

Hall said he and deputies and state police had made raids on Rowe's establishment during July. In the first raid, conducted July 13, officers found a quantity of beer, whisky and gin and charged Rowe with operating a roadhouse without a petmlt and with possession of alcoholic beverages in dry territory. Rowe was tried last Friday in Letcher County Court before County Judge James M. Caudill and was meted a $200 fine and 60 day jail sentence oh the charge of operating a roadhouse and a $100 fine and 30 day jail sentence on the charge of possessing alcoholic beverages.

Rowe appealed the convictions to Letcher Circuit Court and at the time of the shooting he was free on bond signed by Bates and his wife, Mrs. Anna F. Bates.

Hall said he and his deputies raided Rowe's' establishment again on July 20 and found a quantity of beer in Rowe's possession. That case is still pending in county court.

Hall said his men also had raided the establishment several times before it was taken over by Rowe. The previous operator, identified by Hall as Mrs. Leona Gilliam, had been fined and closed the place down, Hall said. The building is owned hy Hillard Blair; who leased it recently to Rowe, Hall said.

A cousin of Rowe, Arthur Rowe, also of Partridge, witnessed the shooting. He is being held in jail on a charge of aiding and assisting in a murder. Jesse Bates, Jenkins police judge and a brother of Sam Bates, signed the warrants against both men.

Rebecca Louise Sabriva, who identified herself as the housekeeper at the Blair Lake establishment, said she was on the porch at the time of the shooting. She said she heard Bates raise his voice and then heard the shot, Hall said.

Sheriff Hall said Tom Sexton, who accompanied Bates to the Blair Lake place, also was on the porch. Sexton and Arthur Rowe drove Bates's car to the nearest telephone to summon an ambulance and state police after the shooting, Hall said.

State Trooper Tom Wright, who answered the call said Rowe surrendered peaceably to him with the barrel of his gun in his hand.

He said Rowe said he wanted to surrender to state police rather than to anyone from the sheriff's office.

Bates was a member of a pioneer Letcher County family. He was a nephew of Martin Van Buren Bates, the well known "giant". from Letcher County. His father, Robert Bates was of the Kentucky legislature and helped guide the establishment of Knott County when it was separated from Letcher County after the Civil War. Robert Bates owned extensive coal lands on Rockhouse Creek and left a sizeable estate to his Wife and children when he died in 1921. He traded extensively in livestock and real estate and reportedly owned 6,000 to 8,000 acres of land at the time of his death.

In the 1930's Sam Bates was convicted twice on felony charges and was sentenced to life imprisonment. One sentence was imposed in 1934 in Knott Circuit Court in connection with the death of his brother, Robert Bates. The other was imposed in 1935 in Letcher Circuit Court in connection with the death of Henry Bentley of Rockhouse. Bates operated a road house on Tunnel Hill for many years and was indicted several times in connection with events there but was not convicted. His first wife, Maxine Bates, was shot to death at the roadhouse, and the woman who later became his second wife, was sent to prison in connection with the shooting.

During World War II Bates operated a coal ramp in the west end of Whitesburg and attained considerable wealth.

In May of 1949, federal agents raided Bates's home here in search of alcoholic beverages and found a machine gun, a sawed off shotgun and seven other automatic guns. A month earlier. Bates had been charged after a raid on a liquor store near Cornettsville in Perry County with conspiring to violate federal internal revenue laws by selling liquor in wholesale quantities under a retail license. News stories at the time said Bates held title to a truck found during the raid. In July, 1949, he was sentenced in United States District Court (Eastern District) on five separate counts stemming from the two raids. Three of the sentences were for two years in prison, one was for six months and the fifth was a $5,000 fine. They were to be served concurrently. Six other men arrested in the same raids also were sentenced.

In 1953, Bates was sentenced to two three year prison terms and one two year prison term and fined $15,000 on charges that he had evaded payment of more than $200,000 in income taxes. These were imposed by the United States District Court for Western Kentucky.

In April of 1956 he was again convicted of a felony in federal court in the Eastern District of Kentucky and was sentenced to a year in prison and fined $100.

He returned in 1957 to Letcher County, where he had lived most of his life except for a short period in Pike County.

Bates was a familiar figure on the streets of Whitesburg. Mild mannered and soft-spoken in public, he generally carried large amounts of cash and often gave money to people in need. He would see the victim of a fire or some personal tragedy on the street, open his billfold and tell him to take what he needed.

Bates was active in politics here. He and his activities and his connections with political figures have been a major issue in almost every city, county and state election in Letcher County over the past 25 years. His death is expected to bring about a major realignment in the Democratic Party in Letcher County.

Bates also was a familiar figure in Letcher Circuit Court, where he often was involved in legal cases. He often contributed to legal fees in cases in which he was not directly involved, and one observer said this week that he had one of the best legal brains in Letcher County.

During his lifetime Bates reared and educated three orphan children. At the time of his death, he was rearing the young daughter of his third wife, Mrs. Anna F. Bates, who survives him. Other survivors include five brothers, Jesse Bates, police judge of Jenkins; Henry Bates, Whitesburg; Letcher County Commissioner Beckham Bates, Colson; Ralph B. Bates, Whitesburg; U. L. Bates, Colson; and four sisters, Mrs. Eliza Collins, Colson; Mrs. Minerva Hall, Pike County; Mrs. Cleo Baker, Fleming; Mrs. Lola Honeycutt, Hindman, and an adopted daughter, Mrs. Edna Mae Hamilton of Detroit, Mich.

The body was taken to the Hindman Funeral Home and then was returned to the residence, where funeral services are to be held at 10 a. m. Friday. Burial will be in the Bates cemetery at Colson.