Revisiting a family history research treasure buried in the branches of my Father’s paternal line. The strange murder of two brothers and how a dying woman helped send her son to the gallows.
Here is the a very strange tale from Ripley County, Missouri
Recently I stumbled upon an article about an odd double murder that happened nearly a 100 years ago which left me fascinated and delving deeper for more information. The murders took place in Ripley County, Missouri during prohibition.
Ripley County was an area with a reputation for lawlessness. Homemade corn liquor poured from stills long before the law forbidding alcohol in the country. A lack of roads inhibited the law enforcement authorities from cracking down on unsavory types in a region where many of the locals traveled by the many waterways that snaked through the area.
The region was mostly poor; a majority of the population was illiterate. Many of the people in the area had immigrated to the area during the lumber boom after 1880, most of them from Tennessee. Small family farms and timber operations were the main industries of the area.
Lillie Mae Weatherspoon
In 1920 the…
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Dusty Roots & Forgotten Treasures 
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