Goat Castle
Subtitle: a true story of murder, race, and the gothic South
By: Karen L. Cox
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 227
ISBN-13: 9781469635033
Subjects: Judicial error; Murder; Segregation; Civil rights; African Americans; History
Description: In 1932, the city of Natchez, Mississippi, reckoned with an unexpected influx of journalists and tourists as the lurid story of a local murder was splashed across headlines nationwide. Two eccentrics, Richard Dana and Octavia Dockery--known in the press as the "Wild Man" and the "Goat Woman"--enlisted an African American man named George Pearls to rob their reclusive neighbor, Jennie Merrill, at her estate. During the attempted robbery, Merrill was shot and killed. The crime drew national coverage when it came to light that Dana and Dockery, the alleged murderers, shared their huge, decaying antebellum mansion with their goats and other livestock, which prompted journalists to call the estate "Goat Castle." Pearls was killed by an Arkansas policeman in an unrelated incident before he could face trial. However, as was all too typical in the Jim Crow South, the white community demanded "justice," and an innocent black woman named Emily Burns was ultimately sent to prison for the murder of Merrill. Dana and Dockery not only avoided punishment but also lived to profit from the notoriety of the murder by opening their derelict home to tourists. Strange, fascinating, and sobering, Goat Castle tells the story of this local feud, killing, investigation, and trial, showing how a true crime tale of fallen southern grandeur and murder obscured an all too familiar story of racial injustice.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 183-212) and index.
Table of contents: title: Reclusive aristocrats; title: The residents of Glenwood; title: Pink and Sister; title: Murder at Glenburnie; title: The investigation; title: Jim Crow's investigation; title: National scandal; title: Sideshows; title: Cold justice; title: Hollow victory; title: Longing for home.