The First Legal Execution in South Central Missouri

One hundred seventy years ago, the fledgling communities of South Central Missouri were abuzz with the news of a murder. Howell County was still part of Oregon County, with the seat of government in Thomasville, the largest town in the region. The story we now tell has several versions, resulting from a tale conveyed orally beyond those who actually witnessed it. The first account I find in area newspapers is from 1899, and though told by a witness, there are already inaccuracies found in fading memories.

 

Our suspect, Robert F. H. Shehane, was born in 1824 in Tennessee and, according to the 1850 census, lived in Marshall County, Tennessee, most of his life. He had been married three years to Emily A. Hull from a neighboring county. A daughter was born four months after their marriage. 1850, a son arrived, and in 1853 and 1854, two additional daughters were born.  Sometime after the 1854 birth of their last child, the family moved to Missouri. In the census records, Robert Shehane is noted as a "shoe and boot maker."  It appears the family settled along the southern Oregon-Ripley county line. They left no record of land ownership in Ripley or Oregon Counties. Soon after they arrived here, Robert Shehane was condemned to die for the murder of Terrell Harrison.

 

We have the records of the Missouri Supreme Court digitized by the Missouri State Archives to thank for an accurate accounting of what happened. Circuit Judge Albert Jackson heard the case against Shehane in Thomasville. Jackson was a Whig, later the Republican Party. The majority in Oregon and Ripley County were Democrats. The secession issue was already causing friction between the lawyers and the judge, eventually leading to Jackson being impeached and tried before the Senate, a first in Missouri politics. Jackson was acquitted but moved to another circuit and persecuted during the Civil War.

Judge Jackson’s case file in Shehane’s appeal before the Missouri Supreme Court is well done and gives detailed information for the state’s indictment that we won’t include here. Still, the gist of the case is in October 1854, Robert Shehane brutally stabbed to death a man he did not previously know in view of multiple witnesses. The Judge provided a detailed look into the case, which was moved from Ripley to Oregon County on a change of venue. Judge Jackson wrote:

 

“Robert York, a witness on the part of the state, says that he knows the defendant and points him out - that on the 9th of October 1854, there was a gathering at Carter Pitman’s Store in Ripley County, Missouri. There was several persons there. I (Robert York) was there, Shehane was there, and (the victim) Harrison was there. It seems as if there had been a difficulty between Harrison and one Pickeral who was there that day.”

 

“We, that is Harrison, myself, and several others, had started for home when Shehane called to us and came toward us and inquired if we had the statutes. I told him we did not have the statutes that it was at the store. While talking to Shehane, Pickeral came running toward us in an angry manner, drawing off his coat or jacket, and Shehane turned and met Pickeral some 30 yards from where we were; then they, Pickeral and Shehane had some conversation for, say, ten minutes, then Pickeral called to Harrison, and Harrison paid no attention to him, and Pickeral called again, then Harrison answered and said, ‘If you want to talk to me as a gentleman I will come and talk to you as a gentleman.’” 

 

“Then Pickeral told him that was what he wanted, and Harrison road out to where Pickeral and Shehane were standing. Pickeral then said to Harrison, ‘Darn you, I am going to whip you,’ and started and went up to Harrison. Harrison then turned his leg over the horse’s neck and slid off. It looked to me as if Pickeral and Harrison were going to fight, and as Harrison passed under the horse’s neck, Shehane shoved Pickeral to the left, took hold of Harrison’s hand, and commenced striking him, and Harrison struck Shehane with his fist. I think Shehane struck first.”

 

“We then ran up to them. I saw blood upon Harrison but did not see any knife until I got up there and saw blood coming out of Harrison’s left side. I saw Shehane strike Harrison with the knife fast. I caught the knife, and Harrison fell dead. I saw Shehane do the striking but could not see where.”

 

“After I broke Shehane’s knife, he drew another knife and made off toward his horse. Shehane said no such a darned crowd could take him. Then Shehane was knocked down and tied.”

 

“Upon cross-examination, York said Shehane and Harrison were strangers to each other. They had no fuss, and I did not hear the conversation referred to between Shehane and Pickeral. I heard the sound but could not distinguish the words. When Pickeral called Harrison, as stated above, Harrison replied that if Pickeral would talk to him as a gentleman, he would go up there. Pickeral said he would talk as a gentleman, and Harrison accordingly went up. Harrison had no weapon. I never ever knew him to have a pocket knife.”

 

So the evidence and testimony in the case was overwhelming. Robert Shehane was not popular in his new home. Shehane and his wife were 30 years old at the time.  According to Oregon County Court records, an indictment was handed down on the 16th of October, 1855, Missouri vs. Robert Shehane, for murder, and Shehane was lodged in the hewn log Thomasville jailhouse in a cell at the bottom level, which was described as a dungeon. The cell was entered from above, and the prisoner was dropped down and padlocked in. 

 

The wheels of justice moved slowly in the case. The April 1856 term of the Circuit Court ordered an inquiry into the mind of the accused, and a report by Doctor George Martin and Doctor W.M. Lewis reported Shehane “sound of mind.” A false start for trial occurred in the October term when Judge Jackson discovered they did not have the law books about this type of case in the courthouse, nor did they have the complete Ripley County records in the case. Jackson was a stickler for detail and ran his court by the book, much to the dismay of the less formal country lawyers.  

 

The April 1857 term was finally ready for trial, and Shehane was convicted of First Degree Murder and sentenced to hang. The sixteen men selected as jurors are a shopping list of early settlers extending throughout the county, including Morgan Dean, who lived at present-day Birch Tree.

 

A motion for a new trial was overruled, and Jackson suspended the case pending the Missouri Supreme Court's decision. One year later, by the April 1858 term of the Oregon County Court, the Supreme Court's decision not to intervene was read, and Judge Jackson ordered that Robert Shehane be executed "the 11th day of June 1858, between the hours of 10:00 forenoon and 2:00 afternoon of that day.

A delay of some months followed, and again, the day of execution dawned; this time, there was no respite. Rude gallows were erected, consisting of a post in the ground, a stout cross beam about fourteen feet from the earth, and a ring at the end to pass the rope. The gallows stood just south of Thomasville, on the flat sandy bottom on the south bank of Eleven Point River.

 

A Thayer newspaper recalled years later, “As hangings in those days were public, a vast crowd, running into the thousands, assembled to witness the awful spectacle. In the crowd were most of the citizens now numbered among the county's pioneer settlers and from whom these details were gleaned.”

 

“The prisoner was brought to the gallows in a wagon, seated upon his coffin. He was accompanied by the sheriff, William Griffith, and John Carr and William Humphreys, who, at his request, played the Death March upon their violins. Sheehan entered the occasion's picnic spirit with great gusto, and when the wagon stopped under the gallows, the noose was adjusted, and the proceedings were stopped to call for another drink of whiskey.” 

 

I suspect whiskey got Shehane in trouble in the first place. While waiting for the big event, he joked with the women eating gingerbread about not sharing with him and generally entertained the crowd.

“The sheriff, wishing to grant his prisoner's last wish, sent back to town for a pint bottle. When this was finally given to him, he mounted the coffin with the noose about his neck, drank the liquor down, and shouted, “I give and bequeath my body and soul to Dr. Griffith!” He reeled on the coffin, the noose was drawn, the lash was applied, and the horses dashed away, launching the murderer to his doom. Women screamed and fainted, and men bowed their heads to shut out the awful sight.”

 

So here, the story should logically end, but it doesn’t. In our next article, we will explore a second hanging of Robert Shehane, just in time for Halloween!