Last week I told you of the bloody story of William Cook and the hatchet murder of his wife and niece. The story from what I had been able to find ended on a cliffhanger with his arrest. The ending is told in newspaper articles from around the country.
The first think I found was that many of the initial stories from last week were old. As newspaper had need to fill small spaces in the columns, they pulled interesting and shocking stories from other sources to fill their need.
The next article is from the Youngstown Vindicator - Aug 26, 1913. It is pretty much just another filler, but pre-dates the September articles of last week. I guess even in Ohio a murder like this was shocking from a distance.
The next article was from the Spartanburg Herald-journal Aug 30 1913 from Spartanburg South Carolina. This tells that he was brought to Nashville due to threats of Mob Violence. Since he was arrested in Nashville according to some articles, he might have been brought to Smyrna, then moved back when the people got upset...or was initially arrested in Smyrna, and newspapers said Nashville because Smyrna was small. Either way the idea of mob violence in Smyrna was interesting.
Also note that the hatchet murder had become a clubbing. The Hickory Bludgeon with blood still on it had been found and is part of the evidence...but no more hatchet.
The story skips a little as a lot of newspaper that followed it such as the Atlanta Constitution are behind pay firewalls, so the story jumps. We find in this article from The Daily Republican - Nov 26, 1913 published in Cape Girardeau Missouri (price $.05) that he has not just been convicted, but that he is seeking to get the order for electrocution overturned. The article says that the order for his death is to be carried out in less then one month. Swift justice you might say...but wait.
I went to the state of Tennessee website and viewed the list of executed individuals in Tennessee and found that Cook was not there...but the information listed might explain why.
Until 1913, all individuals convicted of a capital offense were hanged.� There are no official records of the number or names of those executed.� From 1913 to 1915, there was no capital punishment in Tennessee.� C. Rye was Governor during the first execution by electrocution.� From 1916 until 1960, 125 persons were executed by electrocution in Tennessee
As Cook was convicted in 1913 I am confused by the article that mentioned electrocution as the state website says that period was ALL convicted individuals were hanged. Then for a 3 year period starting just as his first conviction happened executions stopped. In 1916 they restarted with electrocutions being the method used. I'm not sure why this discrepancy exists, but the story continues.
I found an article by Donald F. Paine that explained how he could be ordered executed this way.
Before 1913 the state hung ’em high. For example, that was the method of execution exacted upon Catlett Tipton and Pleas Wynn for the 1896 Sevier County Whitecaps murders of William and Laura Whaley (see my August 2001 column). But on Sept. 27, 1913, Gov. Ben Hooper signed what became Chapter 36 of the Public Acts. It mandated construction of a Nashville Penitentiary death chamber with “an electrical apparatus … sufficient for the infliction of punishment of death.” I have seen a photograph of that original electric chair.The Governor had just order in the month before his conviction the construction of “an electrical apparatus" to induce death. It likely was the 3 year pause that allowed him to escape such a death.
I figured that justice would be swift, but since he did not show on the list of individuals executed the next article likely explains why. From St Petersburg Florida we find that while still convicted of the murder of his wife, he is about to face another jury for his niece...in January 1920.
Seventh time!!!! Well either he had a great attorney, or the case was very weak. At least the article says that he was convicted of his wife's death, but once again I wonder if he served his time and left the state, or was shived in the prison yard.
trying to follow a story from almost a hundred years ago is a bit frustrating.
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