Side by Side: Moonshine and Murder in Mississippi

By T.J. Ray

A true crime story of a gruesome double homicide in the Jim Crow South, and the manhunt and trial that followed.

In Oxford, Mississippi, the dawn of the twentieth century seemed to present a sweeping landscape of progress and possibility. But under this veneer of technological advancement, cultural achievement, and prosperity lurked a stubborn core of racial discrimination, rampant criminal brutality, and violence.

On a Sunday morning in 1901, the mutilated corpses of two federal marshals were discovered in the smoldering remains of the home of a notorious local malefactor. The murders, committed by moonshiner and counterfeiter Will Mathis and his father-in-law�s servant Orlando Lester, captivated the nation. The crimes ignited a manhunt, a trial marked by desperate lies and legerdemain, and a media frenzy around the hanging of a white man and a black man side by side.

This enthralling account centers on two men�judged unequal in life but equal in death. The story draws on primary sources to craft a spellbinding narrative of singular immediacy and vitality. With the consummate skill of a master raconteur, author T. J. Ray powerfully evokes an era, a community, and its people.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1455621838
• ISBN13: 9781455621835
• Release Date: February 2016
• Publisher: Pelican Publishing Company
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A true, complex, and well told double murder of two US marshals

In 1901, two US marshals ride horseback south of Oxford, Mississippi to arrest a local counterfeiter and moonshiner they know well… And with whom they enjoy a relatively cordial relationship. Given the lateness of their arrival, the subject of the arrest warrant suggests the marshals stay overnight, proposing they all ride back to Oxford the following morning. The Marshall’s agree and spend the remainder of the evening eating and drinking with the subject and his family before bedding down in a spare shed room of their hosts. Overnight, something goes terribly wrong. The excellent narrative by retired English professor T J Ray, explores the motives and the actions of 5 qualified murder suspects, the court dramas that ensue and the ultimate outcome for each suspect. This is a true and complex story, well researched and well told.