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Trails of Our Past
To the Gallows In the article I wrote previously entitled, "The Bushwhacker",
Bill Wilson, or a Missourian was murdered north of Mantua near present day Van
Alstyne. After a search party was organized they captured two young men, also
from Missouri, William O. Blackmore and John Thompson. The men were held in
McKinney before being taken to Sherman for trial, a trial and outcome that
would make history in Grayson County. William Owen Blackmore was born about 1848 in Nicholas
County, Kentucky to Thomas W. & Sarah Howse Blackmore. Sarah had previously
been married to John Litton and had several children, including N. W. Litton
who rode with Bloody Bill Anderson in Missouri. Both Litton and Blackmore were
listed on John M. Edwards’ 1877 list of men who followed Frank James from Clay
County, Missouri to join Bloody Bill Anderson in 1864. John Thompson was born about 1842 in Missouri, probably
Barry County, to Absalom and Susan West Thompson. John, with his brother in
law, Joe Peevy, had already gotten into trouble in Missouri before he came to
Texas. In May of 1867, John Thompson murdered a man named Hiram Christian in
Springfield, Missouri. He then escaped to Texas. After a quick trial in Sherman, the men were sentenced to be
hanged. Thompson was tried first, followed by Blackmore. During Blackmore’s
trial he pled that Thompson was the leader of this incident and although the
jury might have had sympathy for him, there was nothing they could do except
sentence him the same. The McKinney Enquirer reported on February 20, 1869 that
“The Citizens of Grayson County have organized a company to guard Thompson and
Blackmore until the day appointed for their execution, for which they are to be
paid a stipulated amount. The sum, we learn, is to be raised by subscription;
any of our citizens who wish to contribute, can leave the amount they wish to
give with some of our merchants.” Thompson and Blackmore were kept for about
eight weeks while they waited their execution in Sherman. The following is a full account, including confessions, of what took place in Sherman on March 26th, 1869, taken from local newspapers at the time. “From the Sherman Courier, we learn that on the 26th ult., William O. Blackmore and John Thompson suffered the extreme penalty of the law for murder. The murder was committed about the 22nd of January, as a part of an act of robbery, upon the person of a stranger, Wilson, of Missouri, traveling through the country. Blackmore and Thompson were two young men, also from Missouri, but at the time of the murder were making their home near McKinney, Collin County. On the discovery of the body of the murdered, Wilson, great excitement prevailed and suspicion falling on the two men, Blackmore and Thompson, they were arrested and taken before the District Court, which then happened to be in session at Sherman. After a full trial, with able counsel on both sides, they were convicted and sentenced, and have now expiated their crime upon the gallows. The Courier publishes the confession of both the prisoners, made just before their execution. Both acknowledged to the commission of the dreadful murder and the justice of their fate. Both attributed their wicked career, in a great measure, to the evil influences of bad company and bad habits, and exhorted the young men of the country to flee from them. Thompson says: I do believe that a man’s sins sooner or later, blood hound-like, will scent him down. I have been running in sin a long time, but it has overtaken me at last. Blackmore also wrote letters to his mother and brother (N. W. Litton) in Missouri and urged them not to grieve for him, hoped his peace was made with God and exhorted his younger brother to shun bad company. Blackmore claimed to be the younger in the crime and that he was led into it, only after repeated entreaties, by Thompson. Of the scene at the gallows, the Courier says. The gallows was erected at the south window on the East front of the Court House in the open room of which the prisoners had been confined since their trial. At about one o’clock P.M. the prisoners were led out. Enshrouded in white, their faces only visible. We may not have looked upon them as others perhaps did, but to our mind the two men presented quite a contrast. While Blackmore appeared to accept his fate with quiet and even prayerful resignation, Thompson, though deeply affected, met his with stern determination. No words escaped the lips of either. At 1:30 P.M., the sharp stroke of the hatchet which severed the rope, was heard-the drop fell, and Thompson and Blackmore hung suspended in the air. The neck of Blackmore was dislocated and died almost immediately; the fall failed to break Thompson’s neck, nor did the cord draw sufficiently to stop immediate respiration; he lived near half an hour, and his death was terrible.” Although the hanging did not take place until early that
afternoon, the public square in Sherman was full of spectators by 10 A.M. that
morning. The scaffold which the men were hung from was constructed outside of their
window. On the day of their execution, the men were walked out of the open
window and onto the scaffold where they were hung. The anniversary edition of,
The Sherman Courier, in 1917 stated that the sheriff, Jacob Gumm was ill at the
time of the execution and that his deputy, John Hunter was the one who hung the
men. Dr. J. B. Stinson, county physician, pronounced the men dead. Their final
words were also published in the paper and will be presented in the next
installment of, Trails of Our Past.    Felony Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |