Side by Side: Moonshine and Murder in Mississippi

Side by Side: Moonshine and Murder in Mississippi
ISBN-10
1455621846
ISBN-13
9781455621842
Series
Side by Side
Category
True Crime
Pages
256
Language
English
Published
2016-02-10
Publisher
Arcadia Publishing
Author
T.J. Ray

Description

A true crime story of a gruesome double homicide in the Jim Crow South, and the manhunt and trial that followed. In Oxford, Mississippi, the dawn of the twentieth century seemed to present a sweeping landscape of progress and possibility. But under this veneer of technological advancement, cultural achievement, and prosperity lurked a stubborn core of racial discrimination, rampant criminal brutality, and violence. On a Sunday morning in 1901, the mutilated corpses of two federal marshals were discovered in the smoldering remains of the home of a notorious local malefactor. The murders, committed by moonshiner and counterfeiter Will Mathis and his father-in-law’s servant Orlando Lester, captivated the nation. The crimes ignited a manhunt, a trial marked by desperate lies and legerdemain, and a media frenzy around the hanging of a white man and a black man side by side. This enthralling account centers on two men—judged unequal in life but equal in death. The story draws on primary sources to craft a spellbinding narrative of singular immediacy and vitality. With the consummate skill of a master raconteur, author T. J. Ray powerfully evokes an era, a community, and its people.

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