Goat Castle
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Illinois Central Railroad, 61, 85, 94
Ingraham, Joseph, The South-West by a Yankee, 10
Insanity defense, in Burns’s trial, 137, 138–40, 143
Investigation. See Merrill murder investigation
Italian immigrants, 13
Jackson, Ed, 170
Jail. See Adams County jail; Hinds County jail; Parchman
Jefferson Academy, 8
Jefferson County, slave population in, 12
Jenkins, Hyde, 96, 132, 135, 138
Jernigan, Mary, 161–62
Jewish community, in Natchez, 12, 85
Jim Crow South: blacks in criminal justice system of, 2–3, 78, 81, 90, 100, 107; civil rights in, 131; coded language in, 81; mob violence in, 97
Jobs: for black men and women, 56–57; during Great Depression, 61, 62
Johnson, Barney, 136
Johnson, Ben, 138
Johnson, Paul B., Sr., 4, 165–66, 173
Joplin Globe, 104
Jubilee Trail (Bristow), 120
Junkin, John R.: in Burns’s trial, 138, 140, 141–42; at grand jury, 132; in murder investigation, 92, 93, 96, 102, 135
Jury, in Burns’s trial, 142–45; as all white men, 5, 134, 142; deliberation by, 142, 144; instructions given to, 143–44; selection of, 134; verdict of, 144–45. See also Grand jury
Jury, in Dockery’s trial, 159–60
Justice system, of Jim Crow South: blacks in, 2–3, 78, 81, 90, 100, 107
Kane, Harnett, Natchez on the Mississippi, 14
Kansas City Plaindealer, 108
Kelly, George, 64
Kennedy, Laurens, 30, 32–33, 85, 156
Kingsberry, Herbert, 138
King’s Daughters, 23–24
Kingsley, Charles, Twenty-Five Village Sermons, 48
Kuehnle, Joseph, 80, 86, 125
Ku Klux Klan, 60
Lamp, used during Merrill murder, 67–68; Burns’s confession regarding, 97–98, 102, 135, 190n11; at Burns’s trial, 135, 141; discovery of, in search for body, 75–77, 190n11
Laub, Saul, 12, 107
Laundry work, 53, 57–58
Lawsuits: against Dockery, by Geiger, 102; against Dockery, by Merrill, 32–34, 51; against Minor, by Grist, 170; against Roberts, by Dana and Dockery, 147, 151–56, 160
Lee, Robert E., 36, 48, 112
Lespedeza, 31–32
Lincoln, Abraham, 35, 74
Lind, Jenny, 8
Lindbergh, Charles, 103
Llewelyn, Michael, The Goat Castle Murder, 15
Logan, William E., 133, 134, 156–57
Louisiana: lynchings in, 97; Merrill family plantations in, 19, 22, 31, 66, 95; slave population in, 12; slave trade in, 9–10, 54
Love, Pearly, 161
Lynchings, 81, 97
MacRae, Catharine, 106
Maine, USS, 38
Marriage: among aristocracy, 17, 21; of cousins, 24
Mask, Pleasant Thomas, 41
Master Detective, 150–51, 189n16, 191n11
McKittrick, Charlotte Surget, 106, 120, 124
McKittrick, David, 106, 120, 124, 133
McMurran family, 8–9
Media coverage. See Press coverage
Melrose (estate), 8–9
Memory, community, of Merrill murder, 3, 173
Merrill, Anna (great-aunt of Jennie), 184n7
Merrill, Ayres P., III (brother of Jennie), 22
Merrill, Ayres P., Jr. (father of Jennie), 17–22; as ambassador to Belgium, 21–22, 104–5, 184n10; death of, 20, 22; in firm of Goodman and Merrill, 20, 184n7; marriage of, 17; photograph of, 19; in press coverage of murder, 104–5; slaves owned by, 11, 19; Union sympathies of, 18–21; wealth of, 11, 20
Merrill, Catherine (sister of Jennie), 21–22
Merrill, Dunbar (brother of Jennie), 22, 24
Merrill, Frank (brother of Jennie), 22
Merrill, Jane Surget (mother of Jennie), 17, 20
Merrill, Jennie (Jane Surget): birth of, 17–18, 25, 184n3, 185n24; childhood of, 21–22; clothes of, 29, 105; after death of father, 22–23; education of, 21; family of, 11, 17–22; full name of, 17; funeral of, 80; Goodman’s courtship of, 24–25; grave of, 3; guns of, 67, 68, 87; home of (See Elms Court; Glenburnie); in King’s Daughters, 23–24; lawsuits against Dockery, 32–34, 51; Minor’s courtship of, 25, 27–29, 106; Minor’s nightly visits to, 1, 29, 34, 63; murder of (See Merrill murder); in New York, 20, 23–24, 29, 184n7; photograph of, 18; physical appearance of, 67, 106; in planter aristocracy, 1–2, 6, 17, 105; as recluse, 1, 2, 29–30, 34, 105; return to Natchez in 1890s, 24, 29; rumored marriage to Minor, 106–7; wealth of, 11, 17, 20, 66, 95, 171–72; Williams’s search for work with, 62, 63, 82, 88, 89; will of, 95, 103, 107, 170
Merrill, Minnie (sister of Jennie), 21–22
Merrill murder, 63–71; books about, 14–15; community memory of, 3, 173; date of, 3, 4; discovery of body after, 77; disposal of body in, 4, 67–68, 102; dog owned by Merrill in, 65, 66, 69; facts of crime, 4–5, 63–71; as “Goat Castle murder,” 2, 6; guns in (See Guns); investigation of (See Merrill murder investigation); lamp in (See Lamp); map of vicinity of, 76; Minor on night of, 1, 69–71, 73; overcoat in (See Overcoat); phone call reporting, 70–71, 191n16; planned robbery in, 63–69, 97, 98, 135, 143, 172; press coverage of (See Press coverage); search for body after, 73–77, 95, 136; wounds to Merrill in, 67, 77, 136, 190n9
Merrill murder investigation, 73–102; arrests in (See Arrests); ballistics tests in, 93, 95, 100; black suspects in, 78, 81, 88; black witnesses questioned in, 95–96, 100; charges against Burns in, 97, 100, 131; charges against Dana and Dockery in, 4, 81, 97, 101, 155–56; in Chicago, 92–95, 137; confession by Burns in, 5, 96–102, 135, 144; early suspects in, 4–5, 75, 78–80; fingerprints in (See Fingerprints); in Pine Bluff, 92–95; questioning of Dana in, 69, 75, 79–80, 82, 84, 191n13; reasons for reopening of, 158; reenactment of crime in, 101–2, 137, 142; search for body in, 73–77, 95, 136; search for gun in, 87; search for Williams in, 82, 86, 87–92. See also specific suspects
Merrill Murder Mystery, The (Wells), 14, 191n16
Merrill murder trial. See Burns, Emily, trial of
Middle class, black, 13
Miller, Katherine, 148
Minor, Duncan, 25–30; birth of, 25, 185n24; courtship of Merrill, 25, 27–29, 106; as cousin of Merrill, 1, 25; death of, 170; in Dockery’s trial, 158; education of, 27; family of, 25–27; fingerprints of, 95; Glenwood bought by, 30–31, 47, 49; home of, 1, 25, 27; in Merrill’s will, 95, 107, 170; as murder suspect, 95, 131–32; nightly visits to Glenburnie, 1, 29, 34, 63; on night of murder, 1, 69–71, 73; photographs of, 26, 74; press coverage of, 104, 106, 111; at reenactment of crime, 142; rumored marriage to Merrill, 106–7; in search for body, 77, 95; Williams’s search for work with, 61, 62, 63, 82, 88, 89, 108
Minor, James, 27
Minor, John, 25–26
Minor, Kate, 25–27, 29
Minor, Stephen, 25
Mississippi: black population of, 58; capital punishment by hanging in, 134, 199n10; Reconstruction in, 58–60. See also specific cities
Mississippi Central Railroad, 127
Mississippi River: bridge across, 7, 12; in Civil War, 18, 37; ferries across, 7
Mississippi State Penitentiary. See Parchman
Mississippi Supreme Court, 160, 170
Mississippi Territory, Natchez as capital of, 8
Mistrial, in Dana and Dockery’s cases, 160
Mitchell, Margaret, Gone with the Wind, 13
Mob violence, 97
Model T cars, 7, 30
Morgan, Duncan, 173
Movies, set in Old South, 13, 117
Mulvihill, Pat, Jr., 31, 48–49, 155
Murder. See Merrill murder
“My Prison Life” (Walden), 164
Natchez, Miss., 6–14; blacks in (See Blacks, in Natchez); in Civil War, 11–12, 18–20, 25–26; cotton in economy of, 8, 9, 12; decline of, 12; as epicenter of Old South, 1, 2, 14; establishment of, 7�
��8; Jewish community in, 12, 85; location of, 2; mansions and estates of, 6–7, 8–9, 12–13; origins of name, 7; planter aristocracy of, 1–2, 6; race relations in, 14, 171–73; slave population in, 12; slave trade in, 10–11; tourism in, 6–7, 117, 147–49, 169. See also specific residents and sites
Natchez City Cemetery, 3, 43
Natchez Democrat: on Burns’s confession, 97, 99, 140; on Dana and Dockery’s trials, 160; on Dana’s aristocratic heritage, 112; on Dana’s clothes, 78; on Dockery’s aristocratic heritage, 115; Farris’s 1979 interview with, 191n16; on Merrill as recluse, 105; on photos of Dana and Dockery, 110; plea for justice in, 81; vs. Times-Picayune, coverage in, 190n3, 191n14; on tourism at Glenwood, 124; on Williams, 108
Natchez Garden Club: Jewish members of, 12; pilgrimages of, 7, 117, 147–48, 150, 169
“Natchez Gothic” (East), 14
Natchez Indians, 7
Natchez on the Mississippi (Kane), 14
Natchez Trace, 10
“Natchez Under-the-Hill,” 9
National Box Factory, 56–57
National Surety Company of New York, 152
Native Americans, 7
Newell, Edgar Allen Poe: as accessory to murder, 132; alibi of, 151; arrest of, 97, 100; as boarder in Burns’s house, 57, 61; Burns’s confession on, 97–102, 135; in Burns’s trial, 135, 139; in Dockery’s trial, 158; embalming work by, 57, 172, 189n13; grand jury on, 132–33; release from jail, 102, 132; role in Merrill murder, 64, 66–68, 190n3; in Wells’s retelling of murder, 151
New Orleans, La.: Merrill in, 27, 28; slave trade in, 9–10, 54
New Orleans Times-Picayune: on Burns’s conviction, 145; on Dana, 109; on Dana and Dockery’s trials, 158, 160; on Glenwood, 120–21, 125; on Merrill’s life, 106; vs. Natchez Democrat, coverage in, 190n3, 191n14; on Williams’s death, 108
Newport, R.I., Merrill family home in, 20
Newspapers, black, 108. See also Press coverage; specific publications
“New Woman,” 43–44
New York Amsterdam News, 108
New York City: Dockery family in, 41–43, 113; King’s Daughters in, 23–24; Merrill in, 20, 23–24, 29, 184n7; Minor family in, 26
New York Sun, 35, 38, 111
New York Times: on Dana’s death, 170; on Dana’s life, 109; on Dockery (Thomas), 41–42; on Dockery’s (Octavia) death, 171; on Merrill murder, 4, 104, 105; on Merrill’s life, 105; on Natchez during Civil War, 11; on tourism in Natchez, 148
New York World, 42
Nichols, “Whalebone Lew,” 103
Nicknames: black use of, 58, 65, 190n4; of Dana, 65, 154–55, 190n4; of Dockery, 65, 154–55, 190n4; of Glenwood, 2, 6, 65, 154–55, 190n4; of Roberts, 73–74; of Williams, 58, 189n14
Norman, Earl, 110
Nostalgia, 13, 14, 42
Nutt, Julia, 25–26
Oakland (Minor family home), 1, 25, 27
“Old Black Joe” (Foster), 128
Old South: movies set in, 13, 117; Natchez as epicenter of, 1, 2, 14; planter class in (See Aristocracy); press coverage of decline of, 105; tourism in, 6–7
O’Neill, Maurice: ballistics test by, 93, 95, 100; in Burns’s trial, 136–37, 140; career of, 82–83; case notes kept by, 199n2; in Chicago, 92, 94–95, 137; in Dockery’s trial, 158; on fingerprint evidence, 83–84, 95, 97; murder investigation joined by, 82–83, 88, 92; photograph of, 83; in search for Williams, 86
Overcoat, in Merrill murder, 65–66, 79; Burns’s confession on, 97, 98, 101, 135; at Burns’s trial, 135; Geiger questioned about, 78; Geiger’s lawsuit for return of, 102; in search for body, 75
Pacific Whaling Company, 103
Pantoliano, Thomas, 128
Parchman (Mississippi State Penitentiary), 161–66; Burns at, 3, 146, 161–66; conditions at, 162–63; establishment of, 162; labor by inmates at, 162–64; mercy courts at, 165–66; population of, 162, 163; sewing room at, 162, 163, 166, 167; women in, 161–62, 164
Pearls, George. See Williams, Lawrence
Pearls, Meadie, 61, 62, 91–92
Pemberton, John C., 18
Peoples’ Undertaking Establishment, 92, 94
Perry, Percy, 96, 100
Pine Bluff (Arkansas): murder investigation in, 92–95; Williams’s death in, 5, 87–88, 91, 93
“Pink.” See Williams, Lawrence
Pinkney Williams. See Williams, Lawrence
Plantations: former slaves on, 59; of Merrill family, 11, 19, 22, 31, 66, 95; nostalgia for, 13; slaves on, 10, 12; of Surget family, 17. See also Cotton
Planter aristocracy. See Aristocracy
Poe, Edgar Allen, 4, 111, 118, 120, 198n9, 201n3
“Poe.” See Newell, Edgar Allen Poe
Poll taxes, 160
Port Gibson, Miss., Civil War in, 37–38, 40
Press coverage: of Merrill (Ayres) as ambassador to Belgium, 22, 184n10; of tourism in Natchez, 7
Press coverage, of Merrill murder, 103–15; aristocracy in, 1–2, 105, 111–12; in black newspapers, 108; Burns in, 104, 107–8, 145; Dana in, 2, 5–6, 81–82, 104, 108–12, 159; Dockery in, 2, 5–6, 85, 104, 108–15, 159, 197n29; Glenwood in, 104, 120–22; goats in, 6, 48, 104, 120–22, 125; Merrill’s life in, 1–2, 104–6, 111; Minor in, 104, 106, 111; reasons for intensity of, 4; sample headlines from, 4, 6, 104; Williams in, 104, 107–8. See also specific publications
Prevost, Marion, 199n2
Princeton University, 27
Property taxes, on Glenwood, 5, 30–31, 47, 49, 170
Quitman, Frederick, 9
Race relations, in Natchez, 14, 171–73
Racial segregation, residential, 54–56. See also Jim Crow South
Randolph, Lee, 174
Ransom, Thomas, 20
Ratcliff, Ed: in civil lawsuit against Roberts, 155–56; on radio broadcast by Dana, 127–28; son of, 84; on theft at Glenwood, 119; writ of habeas corpus by, 85
Ratcliff, Lee, 84
Reconstruction, 58–60
Red Star Line, 22
Reed, Annie, 138, 200n23
Reed, Ethel, 161
Reed, Richard, 44–45, 187n29
Revels, Hiram, 56, 60
Rhode Island, Merrill family home in, 20
Rhythm Club fire, 166
Riis, Jacob, 23, 29
Roads, to Natchez, 7, 12
Roberts, Calpernia, 73
Roberts, Clarence Powell (“Book”), 80–102; black community’s interactions with, 172; on Burns’s confession, 97; on Burns’s conviction, 147; on Burns’s role in murder, 100, 102; in Burns’s trial, 137, 138–39, 140; career of, 73; Dana and Dockery questioned by, 75, 80, 82, 84; Dana and Dockery’s civil lawsuit against, 147, 151–56, 160; in Dana and Dockery’s trials, 157, 160; family of, 73; on fingerprint evidence, 80, 81, 82, 97, 100, 102; at grand jury, 132; on guilt of Dana and Dockery, 82, 97, 129, 147, 154; on indictment of Dana and Dockery, 132, 147, 155–56, 199n5; and jailhouse photos of Dana and Dockery, 110; origins of nickname, 73–74; phone call on night of murder to, 70–71; photograph of, 74; in reenactment of crime, 101–2, 142; in search for Merrill’s body, 73–77; in search for murder weapon, 87; in search for Williams, 82, 86, 87–92; Skunk’s Nest shut down by, 50; on tall man involved in murder, 190n10; temporarily relieved of sheriff duties, 157, 159; and theft at Glenwood, 119–20; unsolicited advice in letters to, 131–32; in Wells’s retelling of murder, 150–51; on Williams’s role in murder, 100
Roberts, Quitman, 73
Rollins, Henry, 32, 34
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, 103, 165
“Rose for Emily, A” (Faulkner), 197n9
Ryan, Mike: in feud between Merrill and Dockery, 32, 33–34, 186n39; in murder investigation, 79, 80, 82, 186n39; in search for Merrill’s body, 73
Salt Lake City Tribune, 104
Saturday Evening Post, 46, 150
Schizophrenia, 140
Schumaker, William, 92
Scopes Monkey Trial, 84
Segregation, residential, 54–56
Serio, Barnett, 70
Serio, Joe, 70, 73, 75, 87
Sharecropping, 12, 13
Sims, A. E., 138
Sims, Edward, 140
“Sister.” See Burns, Emily
Skinner’s Cemetery, 3
Skunk’s Nest: Geiger’s departure from, 50–51, 65, 75, 78, 102; shut down by sheriff, 50
Slaves: in cotton industry, 9, 53–54; descendants of, 12–13, 53; emancipation of, 12–13; former, hiring of, 19–20, 59; on Natchez estates, 8–9; number of, in South, 9; owned by Dockery family, 40; owned by Merrill family, 11, 19; owned by Surget family, 17; population of, 12
Slave trade: African vs. domestic, 10; in Natchez, 10–11; in New Orleans, 9–10, 54
Sledge, Rubin, 162
Smith, Agnes, 54, 55, 188n4
Smith, Alfred, 166, 203n12
Smith, Carolyn Vance, The Goat Castle Murder, 14–15
Smith, George “Doc,” 55, 100, 195n33
Smith, Ned, 157, 159
Smith, Nellie. See Black, Nellie Smith
Smith, Nettie, 71
So Red the Rose (Young), 13
South. See Jim Crow South; Old South
Southern aristocracy. See Aristocracy
Southern Claims Commission, 26–27
South-West by a Yankee, The (Ingraham), 10
Spain, Thomas H., 25
Spanish-American War, 38–39
Spickard, Ola Mae, 161
Stallone, Eduardo, 13
Stallone, Maria, 13
Stanton, Effie, 34, 66, 95
Star-Journal, 104
State v. Emily Burns. See Burns, Emily, trial of
State v. Octavia Dockery, 156–60
State v. Richard Dana, 156–57, 160
Stereotypes, of black women, 151
St. Mary’s Hall, 21, 184n9
Stone, Joseph: in Burns’s trial, 134–36, 140; Dana and Dockery arrested by, 155; in murder investigation, 93, 96–97, 99, 100; photograph of, 79
St. Paul’s School, 27
Sturdivant, S. J., 77
Summit, Ill., 61
Sunny South (magazine), 45
Surget, Francis, 17
Surget, Jacob, 26, 27
Surget, Jane. See Merrill, Jane Surget (mother of Jennie)
Surget family, 17, 25
Tann, O. G., 163
Taxes: poll, 160; property, on Glenwood, 5, 30–31, 47, 49, 170
Tenements, in New York, 23–24
Terrell, Louis, 66, 92, 94, 137
Textile industry, 9
Thomas, Samuel, 60
Titusville Herald, 104