by Karen L. Cox
11. Jennie’s body was reported as being found “face up” in the ND. The details of the lamp are important. Emily always claimed to have tossed the lamp twenty feet from Merrill’s body, and yet the lamp was found nearly one hundred yards away near the dividing line between Glenburnie and Glenwood. According to the account in the Master Detective, Pink was the one who carried it back to the house. This left the door open for Dana or Dockery to retrieve it to light their path back to Glenwood and then smash it before they crossed the property line. H. Wells, “Crimson Crime in Glenburney Manor,” September 1933, 57.
12. The details of what happened are drawn mostly from Emily Burns’s formal confession. She gave more than one, but her last gave these details and was entered into her trial with her signature. Burns confession, East Papers, LLMVC.
13. Under questioning, Dick Dana made reference to this argument. “Dana’s Life Filled with Tragedy and Futility,” TP, August 9, 1932.
14. “Woman Mysteriously Missing, Atrocious Murder Indicated,” ND, August 5, 1932, and “Bullet Riddled Body of Woman Found in Thicket,” ND, August 6, 1932. While the Natchez paper identified only Willie Boyd, the New Orleans paper reported that both Boyd and Hacher heard the shots. And, indeed, both were brought in for questioning. “Slaying Mystery Suspects Held Incommunicado While Fingerprints Are Studied,” TP, August 7, 1932; “Murder Suspect’s Identity Certain, Declares Sheriff,” TP, August 15, 1932. Black men in the Jim Crow South could be, and were, arrested for the slightest offense or hint of disturbing a white woman. Even worse, they could be lynched. See McMillen, Dark Journey; and Oshinsky, “Worse Than Slavery.”
15. “Bullet Riddled Body of Woman Found in Thicket,” ND, August 6, 1932
16. Z. Wells, Merrill Murder Mystery, 9. Zaida Wells recalls “he sent the negro boy to a store to telephone for the sheriff.” In new accounts, Minor is said to have “called” the sheriff. The Times-Picayune reporting was more detailed and explained that Minor sent one of his “negro search party” to call the sheriff. “Bridge Near ‘Skunk’s Nest’ Yields Clue in Merrill Murder,” TP, August 13, 1932. In a 1979 interview with the Natchez Democrat, Laurin Farris claimed that he was sitting on the porch of the Adams County jail when Duncan Minor “came loping up” to say something had happened to Merrill. Farris claims that he was the first one to go to the crime scene. He may have been part of the search party. Photocopy of undated article from private file of Carolyn Guido, Natchez, Mississippi.
17. Notes from East’s interview with Charlie Bahin, chief of detectives in Natchez, October 21, 1976, East Papers, LLMVC.
18. Ibid.
19. Z. Wells, Merrill Murder Mystery, 9; East interview with Charlie Bahin, October 21, 1976, East Papers, LLMVC.
CHAPTER FIVE
1. Information on Roberts’s life is derived from U.S. Federal Census of 1910, 1920, and 1930, along with the Natchez City Directory for the years 1922 and 1925 and U.S. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918, for Adams County, Mississippi, no. 331.
2. The story of Roberts getting the nickname “Book” is told in “Bridge Near ‘Skunk’s Nest’ Yields Clue in Merrill Murder,” TP, August 13, 1932.
3. “Bullet Riddled Body of Woman Found in Thicket,” ND, August 6, 1932; “Natchez Recluse Shot to Death in Natchez Home,” TP, August, 6, 1932; “Slaying Mystery Suspects Held Incommunicado While Fingerprints Are Studied,” TP, August 7, 1932; “‘Wildman’ Dana, Guardian Charged with Murder,” TP, August 9, 1932. See also H. Wells, “Crimson Crime at Glenburney Manor,” June 1933. Several times, Sheriff Roberts repeated Dana’s statement that he knew “nothing of the murder.”
4. “Fingerprints May Be Dana’s, States Bertillon Expert,” TP, August 8, 1932.
5. “Investigation of Odell Ferguson Started Friday,” ND, August 13, 1932; “Slaying Mystery Suspects Held Incommunicado While Fingerprints Are Studied,” TP, August 7, 1932; “Bullet Riddled Body of Woman Found in Thicket,” ND, August 6, 1932.
6. Zaida Wells attributes Alonzo Floyd’s words to this moment. Z. Wells, Merrill Murder Mystery, 10. Merrill was found lying face upward in “Bullet Ridden Body of Woman Found in Thicket,” ND, August 6, 1932; and “Merrill Murder Suspect, Killed Resisting Arrest in Pine Bluff, Identified,” TP, August 15, 1932.
7. “Slaying Mystery Suspects Held Incommunicado While Fingerprints Are Studied,” TP, August 7, 1932.
8. Ibid.
9. “Geiger, Overcoat Owner, Tries to Unravel Murder,” TP, August 14, 1932.
10. Ibid.
11. “Slain at Home about Seven Thirty O’Clock in Evening,” ND, August 9, 1932; “Fingerprints May Be Dana’s, States Bertillon Expert,” TP, August 8, 1932; “Bullet Riddled Body of Woman Found in Thicket,” ND, August 6, 1932; “‘Wildman’ Dana, Guardian Charged in Merrill Murder,” TP, August 9, 1932.
12. Information on James Chancellor from Jackson, Mississippi, City Directory, 1932. He also belonged to the International Association for Criminal Identification and was vice president of the state association.
13. “Bullet Riddled Body of Woman Found in Thicket,” ND, August 6, 1932; “Slaying Mystery Suspects Held Incommunicado While Fingerprints Are Studied,” TP, August 7, 1932. Dana told reporters about his hand during a jailhouse interview. “Dana’s Life Filled with Tragedy and Futility,” TP, August 9, 1932.
14. “Justice Must Be Meted Out for This Atrocious Crime,” editorial, ND, August 5, 1932.
15. Z. Wells, Merrill Murder Mystery, 12.
16. “‘Wildman’ Dana, Guardian Charged in Merrill Murder,” TP, August 9, 1932; “Fingerprints May Be Dana’s, States Bertillon Expert,” TP, August 8, 1932; “Fingerprints of Two Found Cause for the Charges,” ND, August 9, 1932; “New Fingerprints of Dick Dana Are Being Compared,” ND, August 9, 1932.
17. “Fingerprints of Two Found Cause for the Charges,” ND, August 9, 1932; “New Fingerprints of Dick Dana Are Being Compared,” ND, August 9, 1932.
18. “Slaying Mystery Suspects Held Incommunicado While Fingerprints Are Studied,” TP, August 7, 1932.
19. “Coroner Abandons Attempt to Reopen Inquest in Murder,” TP, August 11, 1932; “Merrill Murder Suspect, Killed Resisting Arrest in Pine Bluff, Identified,” TP, August 15, 1932.
20. “Coroner Abandons Attempt to Reopen Inquest in Murder,” TP, August 11, 1932.
21. “Dick Dana and Miss Octavia Dockery Questioned by Officers Yesterday, Both Maintain That They Are Not Guilty,” ND, August 11, 1932. On the Bertillon system, see “Bertillon System.” Details of O’Neill’s service in the New Orleans Police Department is confirmed through the 1920 and 1930 U.S. Federal Censuses and New Orleans City Directories.
22. “Investigation of Odell Ferguson Started Friday,” ND, August 13, 1932.
23. Suggestion that Chancellor “broke under the strain” appears in “Geiger, Overcoat Owner, Tries to Unravel Murder,” TP, August 14, 1932.
24. “May Call Darrow to Defense of Central Figures in Natchez Tragedy,” ND, August 12, 1932.
25. “Dana Fingerprints Fully Identified, Authorities State,” TP, August 10, 1932.
26. “Swelling Wave of Sympathy for Dick Dana and Miss Dockery Continues to Steadily Mount in This Community,” ND, August 14, 1932; “Tide of Sympathy toward Dana and Octavia Dockery Evinced by Natchez Girls,” TP, August 12, 1932.
27. “Swelling Wave of Sympathy for Dick Dana and Miss Dockery Continues to Steadily Mount in This Community,” ND, August 14, 1932.
28. Ibid.
29. U.S. Federal Censuses for 1910, 1920, and 1930 document Sophie Friedman’s whereabouts, dates of immigration, and parents’ location. See also “Inquiry in Natchez Shifted to Skunk’s Nest Area,” TP, August 14, 1932.
30. “Chancellor Orders Release of Two on Own Recognizance,” ND, August 16, 1932.
31. “Officers Placed,” ND, August 16, 1932.
32. “Fingerprint Sets May Hold Key to Merrill Murder,” TP, August 17, 1932.
33. “Chancellor Orders Release of Two on Own Recognizanc
e,” ND, August 16, 1932; “Octavia Dockery and Richard Dana Freed,” ND, August 16, 1932.
CHAPTER SIX
1. “Slain Spinster’s Own Gun Sought as Death Weapon,” TP, August 11, 1932.
2. “Officers Placed on the Trail by Tip of Old Negro,” ND, August 14, 1932.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. “Deformed Hand Again to Fore in Murder Case,” ND, August 16, 1932.
7. Ibid.; “Negro Definitely Linked,” TP, August 15, 1932.
8. “Deformed Hand Again to Fore in Murder Case,” ND, August 16, 1932; “Third Deformed Hand Figures in Merrill Enigma,” TP, August 16, 1932.
9. “Third Deformed Hand Figures in Merrill Enigma,” TP, August 16, 1932.
10. “Merrill Murder Suspect, Killed Resisting Arrest in Pine Bluff, Identified,” TP, August 15, 1932.
11. “Officers Placed on the Trail by Tip of Old Negro,” ND, August 14, 1932.
12. “Negro Definitely Linked,” TP, August 15, 1932; “Trunk of GP Alias Lawrence Williams Reveals Several New Clues,” ND, August 16, 1932.
13. Details of Meadie Pearls come from 1930 U.S. Federal Census. Pearls’s daughter, Amelia, was identified later, but Charles East transcribed her letter addressed to local officials in Natchez in which she said George Pearls and Lawrence Williams were one and the same. “Amelia Garner to To Whom It May Concern,” August 16, 1932, East Papers, LLMVC.
14. Coverage of sheriff’s trip to Chicago, Williams’s whereabouts, and the wire sent to detectives in Chicago are discussed in “Deformed Hand Again to Fore in Murder Case,” ND, August 16, 1932.
15. “Abbot Says Evidence More Than Sufficant [sic],” ND, August 16, 1932; “Officers Believe Merrill Murder Mystery Is Solved,” ND, August 17, 1932.
16. “Sheriff Roberts, Maurice O’Neill Arrive Today,” ND, August 18, 1932.
17. “Fingerprints of Seven Were Taken Here Yesterday,” ND, August 19, 1932. The paper reported that Pearls was allegedly a gang member.
18. Transcription of this letter comes from Charles East’s notes during his meeting with O’Neill’s daughter Marion Prevost. East Papers, LLMVC. These details were confirmed in Roberts’s reports to the press. “Officers Believe Merrill Murder Mystery Is Solved,” ND, August 17, 1932; “Fingerprints of Seven Were Taken Here Yesterday,” ND, August 19, 1932.
19. U.S. Federal Census for 1930, Summit, Illinois, lists the address of George and Meadie Pearls as 7727 W. 62nd Street.
20. “Fingerprints of Seven Were Taken Here Yesterday,” ND, August 19, 1932; “Prints of Minor, Six Others Taken as Police Renew Inquiry,” TP, August 19, 1932.
21. “Prints of Minor, Six Others Taken as Police Renew Inquiry,” TP, August 19, 1932; U.S. Federal Census — Slave Schedules, 1860, Concordia Parish, showed 111 slaves on Scotland plantation and 91 on St. Genevieve plantation.
22. “Latest Suspect in Merrill Case Spirited to Jail outside Natchez,” TP, August 22, 1932; “Merrill Murder Suspects Held in Jail at Jackson,” TP, August 24, 1932; “Officers Making Careful Check on Both Confessions,” ND, August 25, 1932.
23. Emily Burns testified to this during her trial. “Jury Is Unable to Agree upon the Punishment,” ND, November 27, 1932.
24. Ibid.
25. “Negro Woman Gives Details of Slaying Miss Merrill,” ND, August 23, 1932; “Woman Confesses Presence at Scene of Merrill Murder,” TP, August 23, 1932.
26. “Negress Says That Both at Merrill Home during Murder,” ND, August 24, 1932. On the lynching, see “Negro Hanged by Citizens in Wisner Section,” ND, November 20, 1932.
27. Burns confession, East Papers, LLMVC.
28. Emily Burns’s second confession was edited and printed in the Natchez Democrat. “Negress Says That Both at Merrill Home during Murder,” ND, August 24, 1932.
29. Ibid.
30. Ibid. The confession is located in Charles East’s papers. On the back is written “Exhibit A,” meaning it was used at her trial. Burns confession, East Papers, LLMVC.
31. “Negress Says That Both at Merrill Home during Murder,” ND, August 24, 1932.
32. The double standard of southern womanhood stretches back to the period of antebellum slavery and continued well into the twentieth century. See White, Ar’n’t I a Woman? The same double standards were applied to black women convicts. See LeFlouria, Chained in Silence.
33. “Officers Making Careful Check on Both Confessions,” ND, August 25, 1932. The arrest of George “Doc” Smith took place while Dick Dana was being considered for a radio show. “Broadcast Plans for Dick Dana Show Progress,” ND, August 29, 1932.
34. “Sheriff to Save Fingerprints for Merrill Jurors,” TP, August 25, 1932; “Officers Making Careful Check on Both Confessions,” ND, August 25, 1932.
35. “Action Checked with Confession at Crime Scene,” ND, August 26, 1932.
36. “Merrill Murder Suspect, Killed Resisting Arrest in Pine Bluff, Identified,” TP, August 15, 1932.
37. Ibid.
38. “Action Checked with Confession at Crime Scene,” ND, August 26, 1932; “Sheriff Expects Development in Merrill Slaying,” TP, August 26, 1932.
39. “Action Checked with Confession at Crime Scene,” ND, August 26, 1932.
40. “Sheriff Expects to Close Inquiry during the Week,” ND, August 30, 1932.
CHAPTER SEVEN
1. Advertisement for Pacific Whaling Company, ND, November 3, 1932. On Lew Nichols, see Vinnedge, California’s Whaling Coast, 58.
2. “Old South’s Society Is in Murder Drama,” Fitchburg (Mass.) Sentinel, August 30, 1932; “Stranger Than Fiction,” Lima (Ohio) News, August 15, 1932.
3. “Rich Woman Recluse Slain in Mississippi,” NYT, August 6, 1932; “Elderly Recluse Is Slain in South,” Joplin (Mo.) Globe, August 6, 1932; “Army Coat Is Clue to Recluse’s Murder,” Atlanta Journal Constitution, August 8, 1932; “Aged Recluse Slain; 4 Held,” Titusville (Ga.) Herald, August 6, 1932.
4. “Fingerprints and Goats in Murder Case,” Star-Journal, August 6, 1932; “Bloody Fingerprints and Goat Herd Link Eccentric Woman’s Death, Charleston Daily Mail, August 8, 1932; “Hermit Named as Murderer,” Salt Lake City Tribune, August 22, 1932
5. Bruce Catton, “A Story Stranger Than Fiction,” Freeport (Ill.) Journal Standard, August 15, 1932.
6. See, for example, “Probe Death of Southern Belle,” Chronicle-Telegram (Ohio), August 8, 1932.
7. “Natchez Recluse Shot to Death in Natchez Home,” TP, August 6, 1932; “Rich Woman Recluse Slain in Mississippi,” NYT, August 6, 1932.
8. Bruce Catton, “A Story Stranger Than Fiction,” Freeport (Ill.) Journal Standard, August 15, 1932.
9. Zaida Wells, “Miss Jane Surget Merrill Was Lady of Education, Culture and Highly Refined,” ND, August 12, 1932.
10. “Report on Slain Suspect’s Prints May Solve Case,” TP, August 15, 1932.
11. “Slaying Mystery Suspects Held Incommunicado While Fingerprints Are Studied,” TP, August 7, 1932; “Coroner Abandons Attempt to Reopen Inquest in Murder,” TP, August 11, 1932; “Probe Death of Southern Belle,” Chronicle-Telegram (Ohio), August 8, 1932.
12. McKittrick’s comments appear in “Report on Slain Suspect’s Prints May Solve Case,” TP, August 15, 1932.
13. “Stranger Spreads News of Murder,” TP, August 10, 1932; “Hints of Contest on Merrill Will Heard in Natchez,” TP, August 29, 1932; “Indiana Woman May Seek Share,” TP, August 23, 1932; “Six Held in Jail Pending Merrill Murder Solution,” TP, August 31, 1932; “Greenfield Woman Gets Word from Stranger of Recluse’s Passing,” Kokomo (Ind.) Tribune, August 19, 1932.
14. “Indiana Woman May Seek Share,” TP, August 23, 1932.
15. On black male incarceration during this era, see Oshinsky, “Worse Than Slavery”; and Blackmon, Slavery by Another Name.
16. Calling it a “gun duel” was simply ratcheting up the language. “Natchez Sheriff Predicts ‘Startling Development’ in Merrill Murder Case,” TP, August 21, 1932.
17. “Mississippi Woman Is Given Life, Accessory to Murder Plot,” Kansas City Plaindealer, December 9, 1932. See also “Natchez Woman Gets Murder Investigation Spotlight,” Chicago Defender, August 27, 1932; “Grand Jury of Dixie State to Probe Deaths,” Chicago Defender, November 12, 1932; and “2 White, 2 Colored Arrested in Murder,” New York Amsterdam News, August 24, 1932. The latter incorrectly referred to her as “Mrs. Emily Jones.”
18. Unknown to Emily Scott, August 13, 1932, Emily T. Scott Papers, LLMVC.
19. “New Fingerprints of Dick Dana Are Being Compared,” ND, August 9, 1932.
20. Ibid.; “Rich Woman Recluse Slain in Mississippi,” New York Times, August 6, 1932; “Natchez Recluse Shot to Death in Natchez Home,” TP, August 6, 1932; “Hermit Charged in Murder,” Jackson Daily News, August 8, 1932.
21. “Finger Prints Made Basis of Murder Charge,” Jefferson City (Mo.) Post-Tribune, August 10, 1932. For example, the photo caption for Dana and Dockery reads “Eccentric Recluse, Aged Sweetheart Held in ‘Goat Feud’ Murder,” Coshocton (Ohio) Tribune, August 14, 1932.
22. “Pictures Taken of Dana and Miss Dockery,” ND, August 9, 1932.
23. “Fingerprints Point Way to Two Slayers,” The Hutchinson News (Kans.), August 10, 1932; “Pair Charged as Merrill Slayers,” The Kingsport Times (Tenn.), August 9, 1932; “Southern Goat Castle Scene of a Tragedy,” Lebanon Semi-Weekly News (Pa.), August 15, 1932.
24. “Dick Dana and Miss Octavia Dockery Who Are Being Held on Murder Charges and Whose Life Stories Are Both Fantastic and Weird,” ND, August 11, 1932.
25. “Dana’s Life Filled with Tragedy and Futility,” TP, August 9, 1932; “Fallen Grandeur Bared by Murder,” Kingsport (Tenn.) Times, August 17, 1932.
26. “Dick Dana and Miss Octavia Dockery Who Are Being Held on Murder Charges and Whose Life Stories Are Both Fantastic and Weird,” ND, August 11, 1932.
27. Ibid.
28. Ibid.
29. Dockery was allowed this one interview, and it was first documented in the Times-Picayune and the Natchez Democrat. The story then appeared in the AP newswire and was picked up by newspapers around the country. See “Life Story of Miss Dockery Reveals Struggle against Whim of Ironic Fate,” ND, August 10, 1932; “Dick Dana and Miss Octavia Dockery Who Are Being Held on Murder Charges and Whose Life Stories Are Both Fantastic and Weird,” ND, August 11, 1932; and “Death of Sister, Poverty, Drove Natchez Butterfly from Poetry to Pigsty,” TP, August 10, 1932.