A Shot Rang Out and Tore Apart a Family

One day a shot rang out and Lizzie Tolles was wounded. In 1895 a Douglas County, Oregon, grand jury determined there was enough evidence to charge Edward "Ned" Trent Bridges, Jr. with assault with the intent to kill. Justice seemed as slow then as it does today because the final judgment in the case was not rendered until 1899.

Douglas County, Oregon, Courthouse; courtesy of Genealogical Society of
Douglas County

Perhaps in preparation for being found guilty, Ned Bridges and his brother-in-law, Enon Lilly, did some fancy land trading. Ned sold his land to Enon and then, in turn, Enon deeded the land to Ned's wife, Mary Etta (Lilly) Bridges. My supposition was these transactions were to ensure the land could not be taken as a result of Ned's legal troubles.

Ned must have held out some hope that he would not have to go to jail because he was enumerated in the 1900 census with Mary and three of their children. Their son, Edward Trent Bridges, III, must have died sometime after his birth in 1891 and before 1900 because he was not included in the enumeration of the family. But sometime after the census, Ned did a runner.

He simply disappeared.

He and Mary had married on 7 January 1886 in Mercer County, West Virginia. Ned was son of Dr. Edward Trent Bridges, Sr., and Sarah Pope Claytor, daughter of Harvey Claytor[1] and Adeline Walker. He was 25 years old and Mary was 15. She was the daughter of Johnson Keatley Lilly and Alabama Gore. Ned and Mary had four children in Mercer County before Ned's grandmother, Adeline (Walker) Claytor, died. She made her grandson, Ned, Jr., the executor of her will. The Walker and Claytor were families prominent Virginia families and owned large plantations. Though the Civil War wrecked havoc on their financial position, there was still plenty of money.

Ned's inheritance enabled he and his family, along with his brother-in-law and his family to move to Oregon. The brothers-in-law bought a tract of land together in Douglas County on 9 May 1891.

Ned and Mary's oldest daughter married Authur O. Parks in 1907. Mary and the two youngest children, Bruce and Lucy, lived at 441 Fowler Street in Deer Creek, Oregon. Mary worked as a dressmaker to support her family. Her children also contributed to the family coffers as Bruce worked for the railroad as a fireman and Lucy was a clerk for a dry goods establishment.

And Ned, well, he was still alive and kicking. His runner had taken him almost 700 miles south to Butte County, California, where he boarded with Nathaniel and Clara Burns and worked as a hired man for a blacksmith. I don't know if he kept in touch with Mary and his children or not, but Mary had clearly had enough of her absentee husband. She was granted a divorce on 24 March 1919.

News-Review, 24 March 1919; courtesy of Newspapers.com

Ned Bridges, Jr. died on 22 June 1928 in Butte County, California, and was interred in the Old Oroville Cemetery.

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[1] Harvey Claytor (1800-1871) was my first cousin five times removed. This is the second new branch I've been able to add to my family tree as a result of DNA matches with other people who are related to Harvey Claytor, including:

In Celebration of Black History Month (or More DNA Discoveries)
Savior of the USS Indianapolis Survivors

Staged His Own Disappearance

Arthur Edwin Jenks disappeared on the night of 12 July 1934 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Four days later his abandoned car was found on the side of a state highway, it's left front door torn by bullets and blood stained. Deputy sheriffs learned Arthur's wife, Lillian Mabel (Koch) had filed for divorce two days before he disappeared. What happened?

Arthur was born in Elkhart County, Indiana, to Samuel Edward Jenks and Bertha "Birdie" Krontz on 31 May 1906. He grew up in Butler, Indiana, was a high school athlete and graduated in 1924. At the time of his disappearance he was 29 years old and worked for the Wabash Railroad. Before marrying Lillian, he had been married previously and had a son.

Arthur Edwin Jenks class photograph; courtesy of
Ancestry.com

His second wife, Lillian, was questioned by the deputies and told them she believed Arthur had staged his own disappearance and abandoned car to cast suspicion on her. For whatever reason the deputies believed her but came no closer to solving the mystery until late August 1934. Arthur wrote to his parents and told them he was staying with a sister in Fort Wayne.

Lillian's divorce suit was heard on 12 September 1934. The court awarded her a divorce decree and restored her maiden name. She told the court Arthur "struck and cursed her numerous times during their marriage," which lasted twenty-one months.

That wasn't Arthur's first brush with divorce. He married Bessie Irene Matson on 8 December 1926 six months after she graduated from Waterloo High School. They had a son in 1928 but divorced in February 1932 after Bessie claimed "her husband had an ungovernable temper and frequently cursed and absued her, struck and beat her." Bessie was awarded $2 a week in child support. In August 1933 Bessie was back in court attempting to receive $40 in back child support.

Article from 30 November 1931 Garrett Clipper; image courtesy of
Newspapers.com

Arthur was not finished with marriage, however. He married Elizabeth Caswell, my grandmother's first cousin on 12 May 1936 in Peru, Indiana. Elizabeth was born in Missouri to Robert Caswell and Margaret "Maggie" Muir, who was the younger sister of my great grandfather, Robert Muir. Elizabeth grew up in Danville, Illinois, where her father worked as a miner. After their marriage Arthur and Elizabeth lived in Danville. They raised two children and Arthur worked at a variety of jobs, including in the coal mines, as a state policeman, and as a dock man at Merchants' Delivery.

Arthur Edwin Jenks died 1989; Elizabeth in 1995. They were interred at Lake View Cemetery in Hertel, Wisconsin, where their daughter lived, and share a headstone.

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After Bessie Irene Matson and Arthur divorced, she married Harley Earl Spence (1902-1974). After his death she married Peter William Urban (1901-1998). Bessie died 4 January 1998 and was interred at Waterloo Cemetery, Waterloo, Indiana.

Lillian Mabel Koch married Henry Clayton McKee (1900-1970) in 1941, but they divorced by 1943 when Henry married again. Lillian then married Frank Ellsworth Clouse (1891-1969). Lillian died on 14 October 1981 and was interred at White City Cemetery in Spencerville, Indiana.

The research for this story was conducted by Sarah Semple.

House Fire Reveals a Terrible Horror

The skies were cloudy and spitting a light rain on 12 January 1950 in Hammond, Indiana, when firemen responded to an early morning alarm on the southeast side of town. Inside a fire-swept bungalow were the bodies of four adults and two children. The deputy coroner, B. W. Tidlaw, told the press there was evidence of a murder suicide and "blood was all over the place." According to the Decatur Daily Review, Tidlaw revealed machinist Felix Samas, 33, killed himself  and apparently killed his wife, Kathryn, 26, and their two children, Felix Jr., 4, and 18-month-old Phyllis Elaine; and two roomers, Richard Norman, 23, and his bride, Shirley, 18.

Kathryn Coleman before her marriage; courtesy
of Ancestry.com member neonscarf

The bodies of Samas, his wife, and the children were found in one bedroom. The bodies of the Normans were found in a second bedroom. It was believed the murders were committed with a small caliber pistol and some butcher knives. The Normans and Mrs. Samas were stabbed and shot. In addition, Mrs. Samas had been beaten over the head and a portion of the butt of a .22-caliber pistol was found embedded in her head. The children were shot through the head.

Further investigation revealed the couple was estranged and Mrs. Samas was seeking a divorce. Felix lived Chicago and a 7-page letter written in red ink told the embittered husband's side of the story. The 13 January 1950 edition of the Terre Haute Tribune quoted from the letter in an article on page 17:

"I married my wife, Kathryn, while both of us were under the influence of liquor. She was 13...I want custody of my son, as I believe she is an unfit mother. We have a girl who is one year old. I don't want custody as I don't believe it is mine. I also want the baby and I to have a blood type to see if it is possible that I am the father....She claims I am violent, etc. -- This is for one reason only --  she thinks by having the police after me continuously I will not try to see my son, but judge gave me permission to see my son at our divorce hearing.

Terre Haute Tribune 13 January 1950 edition, page 17; courtesy of
Newspapers.com

Samas wrote that his wife had once been fined and put on probation for attacking her sister with a butcher knife. "I would like this incident brought out in court to show that my wife is the violent one and not I...I hired a housekeeper to help with the housework and Kathryn, my wife, would never take an interest in our family life any more...she liked the popularity of being the boss of the restaurant...Also I have always done the washing and the ironing."

Felix, Kathryn, Felix, Jr., and Phyllis were interred in Elmwood Cemetery in Hammond.

Felix Joseph Samas was born on 24 June 1917 to Justin Samas and Elizabeth Marie (Samas) Samas in Chicago Heights, Illinois. His parents were Lithuanian immigrants who were from the same home town in Lithuania and were probably cousins. Kathryn (Coleman) Samas was the daughter of George Coleman and Ollie May Woods and was born in Du Quin, Illinois. She and Felix married on 17 August 1941 in Cape Giradeau, Missouri. They lived in Hammond after Felix completed his Army service during World War II and owned a lunch counter-type restaurant, which Kathryn managed.

Felix Joseph Samas was the brother-in-law of first cousin twice removed, Bernice "Bea" Marie (Muir) Samas, who married Alexander Francis Samas about three years before this tragedy occurred.

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The research for this story was conducted by Sarah Semple.

Officer Down: William Thomas Pendergrass (1883-1940)

Margaret "Maggie" Ann Neeley, was the first cousin three times removed of my cousin's husband. When the 1900 U.S. federal census was taken in Island Creek, Kentucky, on 15 June 1900 Maggie was 18 years old and had recently married William Thomas "Tom" Pendergrass, who was a farmer. They had eleven known children between 1901 and 1925. Tom owned a farm in Owsley County.

Sometime between 1920 and 1930 Tom began working as a salesman for a flour mill but by 1940 he had joined the Owsley County Sheriff's Office and worked as a policeman. He was shot and killed while attempting to arrest a man for causing a disturbance near New Hope Kentucky.

His memorial page on the Officer Down website describes his murder:

"The suspect[1] immediately opened fire on Deputy Pendergrass as he stepped from his car, striking him in the chest with a shot from a .22 caliber. Despite being mortally wounded, Deputy Pendergrass returned fire, fatally striking the suspect.

Deputy Pendergrass attempted to drive himself to seek help but succumbed to the wound approximately two miles away.

Deputy Pendergrass was survived by his wife, four sons, four daughters, and two brothers. One of his brothers served as a detective with the Detroit, Michigan, Police Department."

William Thomas Pendergrass Death Certificate; image courtesy of
Ancestry.com

He was the third Owsley County Deputy Sheriff to lose his life in the line of duty.

Tom was interred in the family cemetery in Owsley County. His son, Willard H. Pendergast, and daughters Hazel Marie (Pendergrass) Bowman and Reba Pendergrass predeceased Tom. His wife, Maggie, never remarried and died on 19 December 1973 at her home in Preble County, Ohio. She was also interred in the family cemetery.

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[1] The name of the suspect was Oscar Becknell, son of John W. and Jerushia Alice (Evans) Becknell. He was 47 years old and a World War I veteran when he was killed by Deputy Sheriff Pendergrass.

Killed by Al Capone's Hitman

Show me a hero, and I'll write you a tragedy -- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Charles H. Skalay was born on 3 May 1904 in Bainbridge Township, Michigan, to Gustav Skalay (born Skale) and Mary Schultz. Charles was the grandson of Anna Eleonore (Schalin) Skale. By 1910 Charles and his family lived at 1121 Lavette Avenue in Benton Harbor. His father worked on a construction gang building sidewalks and his mother worked on their small fruit farm. On 21 November 1919, Charles' mother died giving birth to a premature baby girl leaving his father, Gustav, with eight small children.[1] Charles dropped out of school to help his father around the house.

When the 1920 census was enumerated, Charles, his father, and siblings lived on a fruit farm in Benton Township, which was owned by his father. Charles was 16 years old. According to Chriss Lyon, author of A Killing in Capone's Playground, Charles started working as a driver for the Yellow Cab Company in 1923. He joined the St. Joseph Police Department and changed the spelling of his surname to Skelly, which was more Americanized than Skalay.[2] He moved to an apartment on State Street in downtown St. Joseph. After the St. Joseph Fire Department became a paid department instead of staffed only with volunteers, Charles took the newly created Assistant Fire Chief position, beginning work on 6 March 1928. Charles returned to the St. Joseph Police Department in June 1929 as a motorcycle officer. The department had recently been expanded due to ever-increasing crime brought about by the illegal production of alcohol during Prohibition. Berrien County had also become a popular retreat for several members of the Chicago mafia.

On the evening of 14 December 1929 the worlds of Charles H. Skalay and Berrien County's reputation as Al Capone's Playground collided in terrible fashion.

The headlines of the Extra edition published by the News-Palladium on the
morning of 16 December 1929; image courtesy of Ancestry.com

Charles H. Skalay was shot multiple times and died from those wounds while on traffic duty. His murderer was a hitman for Al Capone known as Fred "Killer" Burke. He was also one of the shooters during the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago.

Fred "Killer" Burke; photograph courtesy of Wikipedia

Burke was arrested at a small farm house on 26 March 1931 in Sullivan County, Missouri. Police learned of his location from a tip by a resident who read detective magazines. Missouri Governor Henry Caufield, signed the extradition orders a two days later, releasing Burke to officers from the Berrien County Sheriff's Department. Though Burke was wanted for murder in several jurisdictions, Berrien County was the first to have made a formal application to the governor.

Fred Burke pled guilty to the second degree murder of patrolman Charles Skalay and was sentenced to life in prison by the circuit court judge who tried the case. He served his sentence in Marquette State Penitentiary until he died of a massive heart attack on 10 July 1940.

From the Berrien County Sheriff's Office website, which was excerpted by Chriss Lyon:

"Berrien County hasn't forgotten the impact of Fred "Killer" Burke and Officer Charles Skelly both played in its history. The arsenal of weaponry found at the Burke residence, specifically the Thompson submachine guns, have become the ever-popular topic of magazine articles and television documentaries including the 2004 episode of History Detectives on PBS, and a 2012 documentary on the National Geographic Channel called 'Valentine's Day Massacre.'

Not far from where Officer Skelly lost his life stands the Berrien County Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial Monument. Presently on the monument are the names of 15 fallen officers, including that of Officer Charles Skelly. His body was laid to rest in Crystal Springs Cemetery in Benton Harbor, while his name is etched into the history of Berrien County and the entire nation."

Charles H. Skalay (memorial on the Officer Down Memorial website)

I will be telling the story of Charles H. Skalay's murder in more detail in future blog posts.

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[1] The premature baby girl was named Helen Skalay. She died on 6 December 1919 at the Michigan Children's Home Association; she was 15 days old.

[2] The family's surname was actually Skale. Skalay was the phonetic spelling which the family adopted when they immigrated to Michigan.

DNA Discoveries: Finding Anna Eleonore (Schalin) Skale (or Skalay)

Elbin Lee McDougal, Bigamist

Thomas Albert Witt was born on 22 December 1877 in Putnam, West Virginia, to Elles Robert Witt and Emily Alice Billups. His paternal grandmother was Elizabeth "Betsey" (Beard) Witt, who was the granddaughter of my five times great grandfathers, Adam Beard (1725-1777) and Robert Mitchell (1714-1799).

Thomas grew up in Putnam County and became a farmer like his father. At the age of 33, he married Cora Bell (Martin) McDougal on 1 February 1911 and the couple had eight known children during the course of their marriage.

Cora Bell had been married previously to Elbin Lee MeDougal. They had five children between 1899 and 1909. Elbin worked as a sawyer, likely at a saw mill. The 1910 census which listed the McDougal family was taken on 7 May. However, just a couple of weeks earlier, on 20 April 1910, Elbin, using the name John L. McDougal, married Nancy Bennett on 20 April in Lexington, Kentucky. I'm not sure when he left Cora Bell and the children for good, but she was free to marry again in 1911.

Apparently, Elbin was more than a bit of a ladies' man and enjoyed being married. So much so he was married to three different women at the same time. I'm not sure how the women found out about each other, but eventually Elbin was convicted of bigamy and served time in jail. I will let The Big Sandy News article tell the story:

BIGAMIST LANDED IN JAIL AT LOUISA

Ecker McDugal, Alias McKensie, charged with having three wives

ROANOKE, Va., Mar. 7 -- Described in letters from Louisa, Ky., as a ladies' man and active in church work, formerly of Ivorydale, Ohio, Edker McKinsey, 30 years old, said to be in the employ of the N. & W., was arrested here today on a warrent charging bigamy.

The arrest was made on information from Lawrence county, Ky., charging that McKinsey is Albin L. McDugal, who escaped from the Lawrence county jail, at Louisa, several years ago. According to information from Louisa, McDugal married Edna May Austin in Lawrence county, Ky., in August 1911 when he had a wife, who was Miss Nancy Bennett, living in Lawrence county, O., near Ironton, whom he is charged with having married Apr. 20, 1910.

Under the name of McKinsey the man arrested today married Mrs. Fannie Groves, a widowed daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Overstreet of Roanoke. -- Cincinnati Enquirer.

This much married and badly "wanted" man is now in the Lawrence county jail here. Sheriff Stone had been on his trail for some time, and when he was arrested in Roanoke the officer set about to bring him back to this county. The prisoner had an examining trial in Roanoke, however, and was released on bail. McDugal did not remain in Roanoke, but broke bail and fled.

Sheriff Stone was informed of this, and knowing that the man had relatives in Charleston, W. Va., so informed the detectives. McDugal was seen to get off the train in Charleston and was trailed to the residence of one of his kin. Two of his relatives occupied adjoining houses. The buildings were surrounded, and when the fugitive emerged from his hiding plance he was arrested. Sheriff Stone was informed of this and immediately went to Charleston for his man. McDugal at first demurred to coming back to Kentucky without a requisition, but finally consented to waive this formaility, and he and the Sheriff arrived here Monday night.[1]

Snippet of an article entitled "Circuit Court Hard at Work," The Big Sandy
News, 17 April 1914; courtesy of the Library of Congress

On 16 April 1914 Elbin Lee McDougal pled guilty to the charges of bigamy for which the penalty was three to nine years confinement in the penitentiary.  His three wives attended the trial. His children by his marriage to Cora Bell Martin worked to get McDougal released from prison.

He married Minnie (Dawson) Fielder on 13 October 1918 in Mason County, West Virginia. She was a divorcee with four known children. This marriage did not work either. When the 1940 census was enumerated, Minnie lived with a daughter and told the enumerator she was a widow.

Elbin Lee McDougal; courtesy of FAG volunteer,
Bonnie Schermer

Elbin Lee McDougal died on 25 March 1943 at a hospital in Charleston, the city where he lived with his son, Osborne. He was interred at Spring Hill Cemetery in Charleston.

His wives were:

Cora Belle (Martin) McDougal Witt (1880-1957)
Nancy Bennett (about 1890-unknown)
Lilly Mae Austin (1890-1963)
Frances "Fannie" Freeman (Overstreet) Groves McDougal Terry (1884-1955)
Minnie (Dawson) Fielder McDougal (1879-1943)

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[1] The Big Sandy News, Louisa, Larence County, Kentucky, March 13, 1914, page 1

Links are to Find A Grave

Relief Fraud in Centerville, Illinois

Scandal rocked St. Clair County, Illinois, when the Alton Evening Telegraph hit the news stands on 14 December 1939. A Centerville Township supervisor had been indicted, along with several aids, on charges of relief fraud.

Indict 9 in Relief Probe of St. Clair
Centerville Township Supervisor, Aides Are Named

BELLEVILLE, Dec. 14 (AP) -- Albert Ulrich, former relief administrator in Centerville Township, adjacent to East St. Louis, and eight other persons were indicted by a St. Clair county grand jury today on charges of relief irregularities. 

The indictments were partly the results of an investigation instituted after the Illinois Emergency Relief Commission named an acting administrator, and declared 36.5 percent of the persons receiving relief allotments were not in need.

Five indictments were returned, charging falsification of public records, conspiracy to defraud, and making application for "relief" not required. Ulrich, who is Centerville Township supervisor, was named in four.

Named with Ulrich on a charge of falsification of relief records were his two sisters, Miss Josephine Ulrich and Mrs. Louise Ulrich Reiff, and a case worker, Miss Dorothy Bruce.

Dr. Walter Boyne, former St. Clair county coroner, was named with Ulrich on a similar charge. 

Defendants in the indictment charging conspiracy to defraud are Ulrich; Francis Touchette, a township highway commissioner; August Ulrich, an East St. Louis druggist; Max Lane, an employee at relief headquarters; Herman Harris, a negro; and Miss Bruce and Mrs. Reiff. Touchette was also charged with "making application for relief not required."

Assistant General Timothy J. Sullivan, who helped State's Attorney Louis P. Zerweck present the evidence to the grand jury, said some of the charges grew out of alleged payments of personal bills with relief funds charged to accounts of clients, with the records covering the transactions falsified.

In the case involving Ulrich and Dr. Boyne, Sullivan said an allowance was alleged to have been made for an operation on a negro woman who never underwent such treatment.

The case went to trial in January 1940. It transpired, according to the Freeport Journal-Standard, that Ulrich's chief accuser was Mrs. Tillie Toth, the relief office administrator and sister-in-law of my grand aunt, Verna (Muir) Burglechner.

St. Clair County Courthouse; photograph courtesy of the Belleview Historical
Society

Mrs. Toth testified that she wrote a check on Ulrich's orders for $50 in the name of Henry Nunn, a negro, and that the check was given to Dr. Irene Waters, East St. Louis dentist, in paying a dental bill for work on Miss Josephine Ulrich, the former relief administrator's sister and an employee in the relief office. Testifying in his own defense, Ulrich claimed he did not issue any orders in the relief office and that checks for clients were signed in advance in blank. Ulrich said because he did so much night work on relief cases he frequently did not go into the office during the day. Mrs. Toth, his chief assistant handled the affairs of the office. However, under cross-examination Ulrich was forced to identify 11 written orders he had signed that were sent to relief clients.

Then, in a strange turn of events Ulrich and five others were acquitted, according to a 16 December 1940 article in the Daily Independent, while four of the state's chief witnesses against Ulrich were indicted, including Tillie Toth, her mother, Mary Burglechner, and her brother Frank Burglechner, my grand aunt's husband.

16 December 1940 article in the Murphysboro, Illinois, Daily
Independent; image courtesy of the Illinois Historical Society

The Edwardsville Intelligencer reported on 31 December 1940 that the indictments against Tillie, her mother and brother were dismissed upon the motion of the Illinois Attorney General John E. Cassidy who told the Circuit Court judge presiding over the case they had been granted immunity for testifying for the state in Ulrich's trial.

Prosecutors must have appealed Ulrich's acquittal verdict and in a new trial, Ulrich and his sisters, were convicted. Because on 10 April 1941 the Alton Evening Telegraph reported the Illinois Supreme court had reversed his conviction on charges of falsifying relief records and remanded the case to the St. Clair County Circuit Court for a new trial. In a surprising twist, Ulrich had been re-elected supervisor of Centerville township after his conviction!

In quite a stinging indictment on Tillie Toth's motivations, Chief Justice Walter I. Gunn wrote in the majority opinion, "Tillie Toth was not a disinterested witness. She had something against Albert Ulrich and Louise and it is quite evident she bore a strong feeling of animosity against the siblings." Earlier in the opinion Gunn had called Toth's actions "extremely ambiguous conduct."

I could find no additional articles about the third trial of Albert Ulrich, but in a case filled with strange twists and turns there had to be one more. And, of course, there was.

Because Ulrich had been re-elected township supervisor, he was again the administrator of the Centerville Relief office. The Illinois Emergency Relief Commission (IERC) was clearly not happy about this state of affairs, and barred the release of money to pay Centerville relief claims because they were waiting for Ulrich to be "qualified in accordance with the law to administer the funds." Illinois Attorney General George F. Barrett was having none of it, however. He ordered IERC to release the funds.

And I feel like I have barely escaped a legal maze caused by dirty Illinois politics.

Farm Hand, Fisherman and Arsonist

Norman David Crain was born on 13 July 1899 in Cornland, Illinois, to David and Beatrice Elnora "Nora" (Turley) Crain. They had been married three years and Norman was their second child. The young family lived on a farm David Crain owned in 1900. David's mother lived with them.

Ten years later David Crain had died and Nora moved with her young boys to East Sharon Township, Illinois. She didn't work and, according to the census, she lived off her own income. By 1918 Norman's brother, Eugene, had married and had a young son. In 1920 Norman lived in Vandalia, Illinois, with his mother and a woman named May, who was listed as Nora's daughter-in-law. Norman worked as a laborer at a paper mill.

In 1921 Nora married Asa Greer and Norman apparently struck out on his own and life got just a little bit interesting. On 27 July 1931 Norman was fishing along the banks of the Kaskaskia river. Nearby two families were having a Sunday afternoon picnic, enjoying the fine weather. Two young girls stepped into the river to go wading. Suddenly they disappeared. One of the fathers plunged into the river and was able to save one girl. Twenty minutes later, Norman recovered the other girl's body.

In 1937 Norman Crain and two other men were indicted on arson charges and bound over for trial. Bail was set at $2,500 for each man. Norman posted bail and was released from jail until his trial. In a signed confession Norman and his accomplice stated that prominent Vandalia farmer, John Howell, bribed them to torch one of his houses. Howell denied the accusation. The two men had failed in two attempts when neighbors rushed to the scene of the fire and doused the flames. For their third attempt Howell supposedly provided gasoline to sprinkle in the attic. This time they were successful. Charges were dropped against the two alleged arsonists after a jury found John Howell not guilty.

24 November 1937 Decatur Review; courtesy of Newspapers.com

In 1940 Norman lived with a woman enumerated in the census as his wife named Frances Crain and worked as a laborer for the Works Progress Administration. Frances was born Fannie Wilburn Woods on 12 April 1888 in Giles County, Virginia. She had married Roy Edward Tinsley in 1908 and they had three daughters before moving to Ohio and then to Illinois, following construction work where Roy operated a crane. Sometime after 1933 he abandoned his family, leaving for work one day and never returning.

In 1958 Norman's brother, committed suicide. It was believed he was despondent over the death of his wife a few month's before following a long illness. Eugene left a large estate of over $100,000 and apparently changed his will not long before his death. In it he left everything to his mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Norman and his mother, Nora, filed suit seeking to overturn the will. They claimed that Eugene was not of a sound mind when he changed the will. Their lawsuit did not prevail.

Norman suffered a heart attack while shopping at Montgomery Ward in Pana, Illinois, on 22 December 1960. He was declared dead on arrival when the ambulance arrived at the local hospital. His mother survived him and made clear in his obituary that he had never married.

Norman David Crain obituary; courtesy of Ancestry.com
member loisbranch

Norman and Frances did not remain together and Frances eventually moved to Hanover, New Hampshire, to be near one of her daughters. She died in 1972. I am not related to anyone in this story, but am connected in a slight way to Fannie Wilburn (Woods) Tinsley. Her husband, and the father of her three children, had married my second cousin twice removed, Connie A Padgett, in 1899. They had a daughter named Annie before Roy Edward Tinsley disappeared.

The Padgett family. Connie is standing in the back row fourth from the
left; courtesy of Ancestry.com

52 Ancestors #41: Did An Affair Lead to Murder?

Ancestory Name: Harold Elmo Vaden (1894-1928) and Virginia Lee Foster (1901-unknown)

Another story I learned while researching the descendants of John William Jennings, Jr. and his wife, Elizabeth "Eliza" Ann Vernon, was the story of my third cousin once removed, Virginia Lee Foster. She was born about 1901 in Staunton, Virginia, to Leroy Winfield and Ann Elizabeth "Annie Eliza" (Henson) Foster. She was their middle child, though her younger brother died before his first birthday. Her father worked as a shipping clerk. By 1909 Leroy had moved his family to Lynchburg and was working as a grocer.

Virginia spent the rest of her childhood in Lynchburg and married Harold "Harry" Elmo Vaden there on 14 May 1918. Virginia was 17 years old and Harry was 23. He worked as a traveling salesman for C. H. Beasley & Brothers, which was owned by Virginia's mother's half-brother, Charles Henry Beasley. Virginia and Harry had three children between 1920 and 1926. Vaden was born in Pittsylvania County and by 1928 he and his family lived in Gretna, Virginia, a small town in the county.

On 15 February 1928 the former mayer of Gretna, Dennis E. Webb, shot and killed Harry Vaden. There was an all-day court proceeding on 3 March in Chatham in which Mr. Webb's case was bound over for grand jury action. Witness testimony was contradictory. Two state witnesses testified that Webb shot first but one, who admitted being a friend of Webb's, believed Vaden fired the first shot.

Greensboro Daily News, 4 March 1928; courtesy
of the North Carolina State Archives

Harry Vaden's brother testified, as well, and it was during his testimony that the motive was revealed. According to an article in the Greensboro Daily News, R. C. Vaden stated, "that his brother had told him that he had received an anonymous letter informing him that his wife had been seen riding at night with Webb." Vaden's testimony continued, "his brother told him he went to see Webb, taxed him with the situation, whereupon Webb entered a denial, agreeing, however, to leave Gretna for good."

Another man testified that just before the shooting, Vaden approached Webb saying, "I thought I told you to leave town a week ago." Seconds later, Vaden was dead.

An earlier article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch about Vaden's funeral had this to say about the fatal incident:

"Webb will plead self-defense, insisting that as Vaden fired the first shot he, Webb grasped the pistol thereby causing the shot intended for Webb to strike the walk, and that Webb then opened fire on Vaden. The Commonwealth will attempt to prove that Vaden did not fire until he was down from a shot from Webb's pistol, though it is generally thought Vaden, after getting out of his car when he saw Webb on the sidewalk, approached Webb with pistol in hand."

The first murder trial resulted in a hung jury. During the second trial, Dennis E. Webb was found guilty and sentenced to ten years in the state penitentiary in Richmond. His attorney's appealed the verdict and in March 1929 the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals granted a writ of error and agreed to hear the appeal. His appeal was apparently denied in 1930.

In a strange twist, Webb was eventually pardoned. According to a 10 November 1933 article in the Greensboro Daily News, "He is among the state penitentiary inmates who volunteered to see what would happen to them if they allowed themselves to be bitten by mosquitoes transported from St. Louis and believed to be infected with the encephalitis germ. He is one of 10 convicts who were chosen for the test and having made their contribution to science Governor Pollard will grant all of them conditional pardons."

Greensboro Daily News, 10 November 1933; courtesy
of the North Carolina State Archives

So what happened to Harry Vaden's widow?

In 1930 she was a boarder in Washington, DC, at the home of Frank and Mary Hodge and worked as a stenographer for the United States government. Her children remained in Lynchburg and lived with their maternal grandparents. In 1940 her widowed mother, youngest child, and two boarders lived with her in a house she rented for $60. She worked as a bookkeeper. Her marital status was listed as married and her surname as Schalfer but there is no sign of Mr. Schalfer in the home. And that is the last record about Virginia Lee (Foster) Vaden Schalfer I have been able to find.

This is my entry for Amy Johnson Crow's 52 ancestors in 52 weeks challenge optional theme Colorful.

From Prominent Lawyer to Murderer

When you are researching your family history, you sometimes get shocked along the way. That happened recently as I was researching one of the wives of Miles David Blankenship (1941-2004) for the book I am writing, The Descendants of Robert Muir.

Miles David Blankenship married Harriet Naomi Hott on 29 August 1977 at the Pentecostal Holiness Church in Buchanan County, Virginia. They had each been married twice previously. Harriet's second husband was John Bruce Johnson. They were married on 21 September 1968 at the Southern Baptist Church in Honaker, Virginia. Each had been married once before. John and Harriet lived in Columbus, Ohio, at the time of their marriage but returned to John's home town for their wedding ceremony. Their marriage must have been pretty short lived because John died in 1975 and was divorced when he died.

John was the youngest of five children and son of prominent attorney Henry Stewart and Mattie Belle (Davis) Johnson. His grandfather, Granderson, had also been an attorney and his great grandfather a highly regarded medical doctor. Virginia death records indicated John's parents died on the same day in 1936 when John was five years old. What in the world could have happened?

Ancestry.com has recently added large collections of Virginia birth, marriage, divorce and death records, many include the actual images of the original record. They have enriched my research tremendously since my father's family had deep roots in the commonwealth.

Mattie Belle (Davis) died of a gunshot wound and Henry Stewart Johnson committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a .32-caliber revolver. Next I found a newspaper article that described the tragedy.

The Bluefield Daily Telegraph
8 November 1936; image
courtesy of Newspapers.com

HENRY S. JOHNSON KILLS WIFE, SELF

Honaker Attorney Takes His Own Life Saturday Afternoon After Killing Wife; Tragedy Shocks Community

Mrs. Henry S. Johnson, 36, was shot and killed about noon yesterday at the home of her mother, Mrs. J. E. Davis, in Honaker, Va., by her husband, a widely-known Russell county lawyer, who a few minutes later took his own life.

News of the murder-suicide shocked the entire southwestern Virginia because of the prominence of the family.

The couple had been estranged for about a month and Mrs. Johnson had been at the home of her mother during that time. Since the separation, county authorities said, Johnson had been drinking heavily, although he had never displayed any indications of violence.

At noon yesterday he went to the Davis home and called his wife out onto the front porch. As she walked from the door he placed a revolver to the side of her head and fired a single shot. Mrs. Johnson fell upon the porch and was dead in a few moments.

Leaving the Davis home, Johnson went immediately to his own home. He went to his room on the second floor, locked the door and there took his own life.

The Johnsons had been residents of Honaker for a number of years.

Mrs. Johnson, before her marriage, taught school in Russell county for several years after her graduation from Redford State Teachers' college.

Mr. Johnson, who was a graduate of Washington and Lee university was the son of G. B. Johnson, one of the oldest attorneys of Russell county and a distinguished citizen of southwestern Virginia. Henry Johnson was associated with his father in the practice of law under the firm of Johnson and Johnson. They maintain offices in Honaker, Grundy, and Richlands.

G. B. Johnson was in Dickinson county, Virginia, at the time of the double tragedy.

Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are survived by five children, the oldest being 15 years of age, and the youngest 5 years old.

Funeral arrangements for the couple had not been completed last night.

As published in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph on 8 November 1936.

As always I am left with more questions but I believe they are unanswerable.

52 Ancestors #20: The Moonshiner

Ancestor Name: Lacy F. HATHCOCK (1910-1995)

Distilling whiskey is intimately tied to the history of the United States. As a way to pay down the debt of the newly independent country, Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, pushed through legislation which taxed domestically produced distilled spirits. He believed it was a "luxury" tax and would not cause much consternation. It became the first federal tax imposed on domestic produce.

Instead, farmers in western Pennsylvania, long accustomed to distilling their excess grain, revolted. President Washington called out the militia and 13,000 troops from several states began marching to Pennsylvania with Washington leading them. The rebels went home before the Army arrived. The incident indicated the federal government had the will to enforce its laws. However, illegal distilling, called moonshining when taxes are not paid, continues to this day.

Moonshiners; photograph courtesy of the Efficient Drinker

Even after Prohibition ended in 1933.

Lacy F. Hathcock, my fifth cousin once removed, was a married 26-year-old man when he was arrested in Franklin County, Alabama, for distilling. He was sentenced to one year and a day to 18 months and day and began serving his time on 13 November 1936. He was paroled on 9 November 1937 and from all accounts went on to lead a productive life.

Lacy Hathcock's Alabama Convict Record; courtesy of Ancestry.com

Name: Lacy F. Hathcock
County: Franklin
Distilling Fee Paid: 12/9/36
$50
Alias:
Received: 11/20/36
Serial No: 36206
Race: White
Sex: Male
Age: 26
Court No: 8073
Tr. Book: 107, page 226
Crime: Distilling
Sentence Began: Nov. 13, 1936
Term: 1 yr. 1 day to 18 months 1 day
Max. Time: May 14, 1938
Min. Time: Nov. 14, 1937
Max. Time: Oct. 29, 1938
Min. Time: Apr. 29, 1938 [illegible] out
Escaped:
Recaptured:
Date of Death:
Cause and Place:
Discharged: Paroled 11/9/37 [illegible]
Temporary Paroles: 45 days on 3/30/37 Ext. to 9/1/37 on 5/22/37 Ext. to 9/15/37 [illegible] 9/1/37 or 9/9/37

Lacy was born on 12 December 1910 and was the oldest child of Bennett Moland and Sarah Caroline "Callie" (Barrett) Hathcock. By 1930 he had married Mamie Bolton and lived with her parents on their farm in Prentiss County, Mississippi. He worked there as a farm hand. He and Mamie had two children.

In 1945 he was drafted into the U.S. Army and entered military service at Fort McClellan, near Anniston, Alabama. His wife died in 1989 and Lacy died in 1995. They were interred at Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Belmont, Mississippi.

This is my entry for Amy Johnson Crow's 52 ancestors in 52 weeks challenge optional theme Black Sheep.

TVA and the Hathcock Family

This is a Robbery!

I'm turning in to a crime beat reporter! Albeit of the historic variety. Tuesday I wrote about a shooting. Today, a bank robbery.

Earlier this week I was reviewing the descendants of my great grand aunt, Margaret Muir, and her husband, Robert Caswell, in preparation for writing about the family for my multi-volume book about the descendants of Robert Muir, my three times great grandfather. I realized there were some loose ends to research involving Robert Samuel Jenks, a grandson of Robert and Margaret's. 

Robert Samuel Jenks was born in 1939 and died in 1979. He married twice and because his wives may still be living I will not provide too much information about them. When Robert died he left behind a 30-year-old widow and a 10-year-old child. Four years later his widow married Louis Willard Mercier, who was 19 years her senior. He married at least 6 times during the course of his life.

Louis was also a bank robber.

He was born in 1930 in Wisconsin and served in the Army for four years, including service in the Korean Conflict. He was honorably discharged from the Army as a sergeant and was awarded two bronze stars.  He went to barber's school at Mole Barber College after the war and became a barber for ten years.

During that time he operated a barber shop in Moses Lake and commuted to his home in Seattle on weekends. On 30 March 1964 he walked into the Peoples National Bank in downtown Seattle and handed a teller two notes. One said the bank manager's son was being held and would be released when Mercier returned. The other apparently asked for money. The teller gave him over $2,000 and also pressed the silent alarm. Mercier was held by the bank manager until the police arrived. He was arrested without incident and held in jail in lieu of a $10,000 bond. At the time of his arrest he told police he was dying of cancer and only had 30 days to live. How he thought that would help his situation, I have no idea.

Article about the bank robbery from the Centralia Daily Chronicle,
dated 31 March 1964; image courtesy of NewspaperArchive.com

Nearly two months later Mercier was convicted of bank robbery and sentenced to ten years in jail. The judge did order 90-day psychiatric evaluation and said the sentence might be reduced or probation granted after the study. The judge's final words were: "You are no ordinary bank robber by any means."

Louis lived for 36 years more years and died of a long illness in 2000 at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

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Murdered by a Stranger Or Was It Self-defense?

Murdered by a Stranger or Was It Self-defense?

Walter Joseph "Joe" Manley was my second cousin twice removed. He was born on 23 June 1905 in Troy, Illinois. Troy is in southern Illinois not far from St. Louis, Missouri, which is just across the Mississippi river. The land is rolling with good soil for farming and water was abundant. Most people in the area farmed.

Coal was discovered in Madison County as early as 1840 but when the railroad connected Springfield to East St. Louis, mining began in earnest. Many men from Troy worked for Donk Brothers Coal & Coke Co. The company sank a mines near Marysville, Collinsville, and Troy, which employed about 1,000 men by the time Joe was born. Joe's father Samuel J. Tilden Manley had moved to Troy from Big Island, Ohio, where he lived with his sister and brother-in-law and worked as a day laborer. He lived out the remainder of his life in Troy and worked for Donk Brothers as a miner for several years.

Walter Joseph Manley was the first child born to Tilden and Mary "Mollie" Blanche Riggin. I am pretty sure that in 1920, at the age of 15, Joe was an inmate at the Illinois State Home for Delinquent Boys, also known as the St. Charles School and Home for Boys.[1] According to the St. Charles Public Library website, "the purpose of the school was to provide boys with a strong education in both intellectual and vocational studies so that once released they could live a life of 'usefulness'." Additionally, the boys were given religious and military training.

Illinois State Home for Delinquent Boys opened in 1904; image courtesy
of the St. Charles Heritage Center

By 1927 Joe was back in southern Illinois, married to Mary Burke, and living at 906 Rock Road in East St. Louis. He was days short of his 22nd birthday when he was murdered.

From the front page of the 22 June 1927 Edwardsville Intelligencer; image courtesy
of Ancestry.com

Interestingly enough, there was not another mention of this incident in the newspaper. While Eddie McAteer was held for murder, he doesn't appear to have been convicted or even had a trial unless murder was so common in East St. Louis it wouldn't have warranted a mention in the newspaper. Joe lived long enough to give a statement to police. In it he claimed he'd never met McAteer before and his shooting was a case of mistaken identity. McAteer's story is much different. He claims he'd had trouble with Joe for a long time and Joe had threatened to kill him. This time Joe came at him with a razor.

So was Joe Manley murdered or did Eddie McAteer shoot him in self-defense?

Joe died in St. Mary's Hospital and was buried at the Troy City Cemetery.

I plan on contacting the Illinois Regional Archives Depository about the records of the coroner jury mentioned in the article to see if there was ever a murder trial.

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[1]This is the only viable 1920 Census record for him unless he was living in another state far from Illinois. The only thing that gives me pause is the birth location of his parents.

HELD FOR MURDER OF TROY YOUTH

Joe Manley Dies After Statement Implicated Eddie McAtee in Shooting

Eddie McAteer, of East St. Louis, was held for murder by a coroner jury late yesterday afternoon in the death of Joe Manley, 21 years old, son or Mr. and Mrs. Tilden Manley of Troy, who was buried this afternoon at his old home. McAteer is 37 years old. The fatal shooting occurred in sight of Manley's home, 906 Rock Road, East St. Louis last Saturday night at 7 o'clock.

Manley died at St. Mary's Hospital Monday from three bullet wounds in his body. After the shooting McAteer surrendered at the police station, declaring he shot in self defense.

The jury found that Manley's death was due to a gun shot wound, in the chest, inflicted by Edward McAteer with murderous intent.

Stories on the killing of Manley are widely different. It is believed that McAteer was looking for another and killed Manley through mistaken identity. 

Before Manley died he made a statement implicating McAteer and declared he was not acquainted with the assailant and never saw him before.

McAteer contented that he was attacked by Manley with a razor and shot in self defense. A razor was found in the ambulance that took the injured man to the hospital. The razor is a new one and it is claimed to be unlike the style Manley used.

Before his death Manley told police officers that he was about to enter his house when a man in a Buick coupe called to him. He said he went to the machine and the man in the car, whom he said that he did not know, said "you're John Pringle and I am going to kill you." Manley said that with this remark the man in the coupe pulled a revolver out of his pocket and fired three times. The bullets struck Manley.

Clay Farrell, an employee at Fill Motor Co. nearby, heard the shots and ran into the street. Farrell told police that he observed the Buick coupe, with no license plates, driving away and then saw Manley lying in the street.

When McAteer gave himself up at police headquarters he said that he had been having trouble with Manley for some time and that Manley had several times threatened to kill him. It was about one of these threats, McAteer declared, that he had come to see Manley. During the conversation, McAteer said, Manley displayed a razor and started to cut McAteer. It was then that McAteer fired the shots which resulted in the death of Manley.

Though Manley, before his death, declared that he had no trouble with anyone, McAteer claimed that he had trouble with the dead man for a long time.

Finding Della (The Power of Social Media)

During Dad's research of the Jennings family, he worked occasionally with another family researcher who discovered that Dad's second cousin once removed, Samuel Lee Jennings (1863-1913), killed his wife and then himself. Samuel and his wife, Emma, had two children, Della, 14, and Clifford, 4. Della was the informant on her mother's death certificate, but that was the last trace of her I could find until a few months ago.

I blogged about the tragedy during the summer of 2013, and as I always do, tweeted a link to the post. One of the editors of the British magazine, Your Family Tree, asked if I would write an article for their magazine. The article appeared in the December 2013 edition and was entitled, "Skeleton in the Cupboard: Murdered by Her Husband."

My article about Samuel and Emma's murder-
suicide in Your Family Tree magazine

In late August of this year, someone posted on my Tangled Roots and Trees Facebook page. She said she lived in the U.K. and was re-reading the magazine prior to throwing it out. It struck her that Samuel and Emma's daughter had disappeared after the death of her parents. So she went looking for Della and found a marriage record!

We exchanged email addresses and she sent me the link to the record. Once I had that bit of information, the brick wall that was Della Virginia Jennings (1899-1959) came tumbling down!

Virginia Select Marriages, 1785-1940 on Ancestry.com

I knew from my one of my Jennings research collaborators that Della was born on 26 January 1899 in Columbus, Ohio. Her family moved to Toledo before her brother was born in 1909. Her father killed her mother and then himself in June 1913. Della and Clifford's Uncle Charles Jennings traveled to Toledo to see to shipping his brother's body back to Virginia and about the care of the children. Clifford was placed in the Baptist Orphanage in Salem, Virginia. I do not know what happened to Della until 1918.

She married Clement Elliott Bray, Jr., on 21 May 1918 in Lynchburg, Virginia. Clement was a professional musician, composer, and orchestra leader, specializing in popular dance music. During their marriage, they lived in Easton, Maryland; Martinsburg, West Virginia; and Fairmont, West Virgina.

As published in the Harrisburg Telegraph
on 15 September 1934

While they were living in Easton, they had a daughter, Maxine Elliott Bray, born on 23 January 1920. However, things went bad for Bray marriage sometime between 1927 and 1931. It likely went bad in Fairmont where Clement perhaps met a young married woman named Ruhamer Inez (Bosserman) Kuner as Ruhamer was born and married in Fairmont. Clement and Ruhamer were living together in Tampa, Florida. by 1931.

Through the power of social media -- blogging, tweeting, and posting on Facebook -- I was able to solve the mystery of what happened to Della immediately after the tragic death of her parents. What happened to Della after she and Clement Elliott Bray, Jr., were no longer together? Had I lost her again? Staying on Della's trail, however, required the use of different tools.

To be continued, so stay tuned!

Murder-Suicide in Toledo
Tangled Roots and Trees on Facebook
@TweetTRnT on Twitter
Your Family Tree magazine

Discussing Infanticide

On 23 December 1952 my fifth cousin once removed murdered his three children, ages 4, 2 and 4 months, attempted to kill his wife and himself. After he was paroled in 1968, he co-authored a book. In the epilogue he described killing his children and his life after. I blogged about it last year in a series of posts:

• Connett Family Tragedy
• Connett Family Tragedy Continued
• Archie Connett in His Own Words: The Crime
• Archie Connett in His Own Words: The Trial and Prison
• Archie Connett in His Own Words: Parole

This discovery really threw me for a loop. I had often said I inordinately fond of my black sheep, but this was beyond the pale. Yet, he wasn't the first murderer I discovered among my ancestors or even the first one who killed a family member. The previous fellow was actually a closer relative but the crime happened a long time ago. What made this so different?

After each post, I would send the link to my youngest brother, John. We're 10 years apart in age and have always been very close. I've felt for many years he was the really scary smart one in the family. What I most appreciate about his brain is his analytical ability and the way he explains his position. I typically operate by instinct so I usually find his point of view thought provoking. I asked him for his assessment of Archie because I found myself disliking him intensely, especially his excuses for why he killed his children which included, in my view, blaming his mother. Blame being the key word.

Published in the Oakland Tribune on 24 December 1952

My brother's take on the events:

Your wanted my evaluation on this. I assume I have a somewhat different take on it than you.

I think there is a difference between blame and reason that you may not be taking fully into account. I think in the epilogue of his book Connett is talking about the reason he committed the crime. The part about his mother, the need to feel accepted, etc., is the reasoning behind why he did what he did. I don't think he is blaming his mother. Of course, there is no rational explanation for killing your three children, so the logic of any reason for doing so will obviously be twisted.

Let's use another example which removes the absurdity of killing your children from the scenario. Let's examine the case of a general who lost an important battle. His memoirs will likely be filled with lots of reason why he lost the battle, including things that were both in his control and beyond his control Some readers will call these excuses, but I tend to see them as explanations of why the battle transpired the way it did. Imagine an After Action Report in which a general says simply, "I take full responsibility for the defeat. I screwed up." It's good that he takes responsibility, but it doesn't provide any lessons for future strategists to learn from.

The more interesting question to me is should Connett have been paroled, either earlier or at all? This comes down to the question of whether a criminal is incarcerated for rehabilitation, punishment or to protect the rest of society. Connett was not the typical criminal; he was well educated and a productive member of society who committed a heinous crime in one spasmodic episode. In his pleadings for parole he made much of the fact that he had been "rehabilitated," as evidenced by the work he did with therapy groups. I think he missed the point. Since he was not a habitual criminal, rehabilitation means nothing. You can't rehabilitate for a one-time spasm of anger. Connett's incarceration was for pure punishment. I think the judge understood this point and I tend to agree with the judge when he wrote, "...if ever a man in the State of California had committed first degree murder, he was the man; that if ever a man deserved to go to the gas chamber, he was the man; that he should never be released from prison."

The fact that Connett was up for parole after only 3 years and 4 months is the most amazing point of this whole series of blog posts. That's a little over one year for each child. Incredible! Thankfully, the judge was around for 15 years to ensure the denial of his parole.

Published in the Gastonia Gazette on 25 March 1971

I responded a few days later after thinking long and hard about my brother's email...as I said he is always thought-provoking:

I believe you have it right and I did not. Your analogy about the general is completely valid and really made your point. It doesn't come with so much associated anger as a child killer. I think your point about punishment motivating the judge is particularly on point.

I also agree that being eligible for parole after such a short time is totally unbelievable and I now understand why the "do the crime, do the time" movement got so popular.

My brother ended the exchange explaining his thoughts on parole:

I think about parole differently depending on the nature of the crime and criminal.  The guys who are running the prisons obviously want well behaved inmates, so I understand if good behavior is rewarded with a better chance at parole.  But it should only by 10 - 15% shorter sentence, not the incredible case below where a 10 - life term is eligible for parole in 3 years.  In cases where the primary point of the incarceration is punishment, then I don't think there should be any lessening of the sentence, except for the small reward for good behavior noted above.  In cases where rehabilitation is possible, such as someone whose crime was motivated by a drug addiction, then I think that inmate could be offered parole much sooner provided their addiction is overcome.

This is just one of the many reasons I love my baby brother so much. He keeps me on my toes. You can't have these types of conversations with just anyone. Plus he uses semicolons properly. What's not to love? I haven't got him totally interested in genealogy yet, but he is intrigued by DNA ethnicity results so I believe I've got a chance. What do you think?

Did John Wilkes Booth Escape?

Today is the 149th anniversary of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Izola Forrester, a famous American author and film screenwriter, grew up thinking John Wilkes Booth, the assassin, was her grandfather. She never believed Booth was shot by a Union soldier in a barn in rural Virginia when he refused to give himself up.  She documented what she thought happened to him in her book This One Mad Act, which was published in 1937. Contrary to the official assassination story, Forrester attempted to prove:

• John Wilkes Booth was secretly married to her grandmother
• Booth and Forrester's grandmother had a daughter, Ogarita Rosalie, in 1859; her middle name was for Booth's favorite sister.
• Lincoln's assassination was instigated by men high in the order of the Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC), said to have been a branch of Freemasonry
• James William Boyd, a confederate solider was killed in the Garrett barn, not Booth
• Booth escaped from the barn and lived in exile in California, England and India until his death in 1879
• Booth and Forrester's grandmother had a son in 1870, who grew up as Harry Stevenson, nearly five years after the assassination

There is a fascinating article on the Barnes Review website entitled Wanted: The Hidden History of Lincoln's Assassin John Wilkes Booth, His Great Escape and the Truth about the Plot. I hope you'll read it and let me know what you think of this alternative history of the assassination of one of our most famous presidents.

Capture of John Wilkes Booth. Courtesy of The Smithsonian Instituate, The Harry T Peters Collectionn

Izola (Hills/Henderson/Forrester) Merrifield/Page (1878-1944) was the wife of my sister-in-law's 8th cousin once removed.

Are their any conspiracy theories in your family history?

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 I've written about Izola Forrester before: Izola Forrester: American Author, and her grandmother, Martha Lizola (Mills) Bellows Stevenson: She Seemed Rather Fantastic and Extravagant and  Secret Wife of John Wilkes Booth?