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    Until You Are Dead, Dead, Dead: The Hanging of Albert Edwin Batson
    Until You Are Dead, Dead, Dead: The Hanging of Albert Edwin Batson
    Until You Are Dead, Dead, Dead: The Hanging of Albert Edwin Batson
    Ebook318 pages4 hours

    Until You Are Dead, Dead, Dead: The Hanging of Albert Edwin Batson

    By Jim Bradshaw and Danielle Miller

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    About this ebook

    In 1902, on a prairie in southwest Louisiana, six members of a farming family are found murdered. Albert Edwin Batson, a white, itinerant farm worker, rapidly descends from likely suspect to likely lynching victim as people in the surrounding countryside lusted for vengeance. In a territory where the locals were coping with the opening of the prairies by the railroad and the disorienting, disruptive advances of the rice and oil industries into what was predominantly cattle country, Batson, an outsider, made an ideal scapegoat.

    Until You Are Dead, Dead, Dead tells the story of the legal trials of Batson for the murder of six members of the Earll family and of the emotional trial of his mother. She believed him innocent and worked tirelessly, but futilely, to save her son's life. More than two dozen photos of Batson, his mother, and the principals involved in his arrest and convictions help bring this struggle to life.

    Though the evidence against him was entirely circumstantial, most of the citizenry of southwest Louisiana considered him guilty. Sensational headlines in national and local newspapers stirred up so much emotion, authorities feared he would be lynched before they could hang him legally. Even-handed, objective, and thorough, the authors sift the evidence and lament the incompetence of Batson's court-appointed attorneys. The state tried the young man and convicted him twice of the murders and sentenced him each time to death. Louisiana's governor refused to accept the state pardon board's recommendation that Batson's final sentence be commuted to life in prison. A stranger in a rapidly changing land, Batson was hanged.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUniversity Press of Mississippi
    Release dateOct 20, 2014
    ISBN9781626744028
    Until You Are Dead, Dead, Dead: The Hanging of Albert Edwin Batson

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    • 4/5
      Until You are Dead, Dead, Dead: The Hanging of Albert Edwin Batson" by Jim Bradshaw is an absorbing and ultimately very sad account of a man who was tried and put to death for the mass murder a family that he may or may not be guilty of. It is a little bit of a dry read but then it is a historical crime novel and reads as non fiction so that is appropriate for the novel. I actually had a very hard time putting the book down as I became very engrossed in the story.The historical background is fascinating and very well written. Highly recommended for fans of true fiction.I received a copy from the publishers via Netgalley for free in exchange for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      This is both a fascinating and disturbing look at a mass murder that took place in 1902, and a man who was, in all likelihood, put to death for a crime he did not commit. This is probably the oldest case I've read about in which the media almost single-handedly ensured the outcome of the trial. I initially found this book a little hard to follow. I knew nothing about Ed Batson's case prior to reading this. The author jumps right into the circumstances surrounding the murder and the assumptions leading to Batson's prosecution. These early chapters are set up in a way more conducive to research and discussion than ease of understanding for the casual reader. I would have liked the opening to be more about Ed Batson and the area in which he lived, so I'd have a base to build upon. That does come later, though the content feels a little choppy.The second half of this book flows with more ease, as we get into the actual trial and the turmoil surrounding the case. The author includes a lot of quotes taken from newspapers of that time, giving us an inside view of how badly the media had prejudiced the small community. ** I was provided with an advanced review copy by University Press of Mississippi via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. **This is a compelling piece of history. While the case is old, we can still draw (too) many similarities in the way we allow media to prosecute and persecute at will.
    • 4/5
      This is a true story of the case of Albert Edwin Batson who was hanged for killing a family of six in the early 1900s Louisiana. The book is from an academic press and as such does not read like a story as many of the true crime books I usually read. I found the book a bit hard to read at first, very much like a newspaper. It is full of direct quotes from the newspapers and the author's narrative between is journalistic in style too. However, once the mother comes on the scene things become much more interesting and I got quite involved having a hard time putting it down. It is a very interesting case and shows a very early example of "trial by media". The book relates the case and the two trials through the newspapers of the time as a transcript was not taken. Batson was found guilty twice and hanged for the crime but maintained his innocence throughout. There are many, many troubling things about the nonexistent police inquiry and the following trials. The first was acquitted on a technicality. Batson was the only suspect considered, witnesses were few and unreliable, all evidence was circumstantial and the jury was rigged in favour of capital punishment, a "hanging jury". We will never know if he was guilty or not, but reading the book clearly shows that life imprisonment was an option for sentencing and was in fact recommended by the governor's board at the last stages only to fall on deaf ears. If Batson had spent his life in prison would his determined mother and supporters have had the time to find real evidence of the true perpetrator?

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    Until You Are Dead, Dead, Dead - Jim Bradshaw

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