Crazy Jim Crisp Beating the Rope, Vol. 1 - Ep 27

A case of 1890s true crime.

Later this July, that will have happened 135 years ago.

And it all began when two brothers were plowing corn.

They used to say in the old days, if a murderer escaped hanging, he was to have beaten the rope, whether through legal or extra-legal means.

I've collected maybe 15 or more of these stories that are worth telling and hope to trickle them out to use in ongoing series.

This began as a research project to update some local history, and it took on a life of its own.

I even use poster board and foam board so you know it's serious.

At any rate, this has been some four more years in the making.

Several of these tales were written up and printed in the Marshfield Mail.

And so began a series I started called Beating the Rope.

And now for today's episode.

Today's tale is another gleaning from newspapers.com. No big surprise, I'm sure.

For a period of time, I camped out at the dining table with a nightly pot of coffee and tracked down murderers through newspapers from beginning to their ultimate conclusion.

Many of them, there's nothing much to tell, or there is the person pleads guilty and it's never spoken of again.

Some of them, though, are a tad more involved.

I took notes.

and with the poster board and little clips of paper and sticky notes.

I had a whole thing arrayed sort of in the fashion of rust coal, if you know what I mean.

What struck me about these accused individuals is many of them, how they work the court system or were able to delay trials in some cases by years.

sounds like a common complaint often echoed today.

Well, why did I pick this one? I've got a whole bunch of them, and why I wanted to start with this one.

The story of Jim Crisp and his trial and resulting sentencing put on display the machinations of a local legal system in a first-degree murder case in the Ozarks.

I chose this one because it demonstrates the breadth of legal options to the condemned and just how reluctant citizens were to execute a man legally.

A lynch mob doesn't take a lot of thought.

It just takes a lot of anger and maybe a little liquor and a desire to kill.