McCue, Beattie, Allen and Hall were the four sensational murder trials in Virginia in the decade before the First World War. Books were written about the three men, but the record of Mrs. Hall was swept under a rug. Even the transcript was discarded contrary to law. And no wonder, the Commonwealth of Virginia had allowed public opinion to convict an innocent widow.
The family sought to hide the shame from the next generation. Their secret was safe until a slip of the tongue in 1982. For the next eighteen years, I listened to discoveries gleaned from old Times-Dispatch issues and declarations that "Grandma Hall could not have done it, but even if she did, she must have had good reason." Yeah. Right. So I dismissed the Hall murder as just a curiousity in the in-laws' closet.
In 2001, I viewed Mrs. Hall's parole. A multitude of letters from prominent people urged her release, even a petition from the state legislature. Yes! The woman had been framed!
How could this have happened? Indeed, politics and yellow journalism were key factors. But there was never a place like Green Springs Depot!
Technorati Tags:Samuel McCue, Henry Beattie, Floyd Allen, Claude Allen, Times-Dispatch, Green Springs, Green Springs Depot
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment