It was broad daylight on a nice autumn day in 1912 when 18-year-old Miss Ella Barham of rural Boone County was murdered. She was raped, killed by a severe blow to the head, and dismembered with an ax. Soon, a neighborhood man was arrested for the murder and put on trial for his life.
A new book, Remembering Ella, superbly tells this story of murder and a possibly flawed trial which resulted in the execution of the defendant.
The author of this 451-page history, Nita Gould, is a cousin of Ella Barham, but this book is no mere sentimental homage to a long-dead relative. Gould is a fine self-trained historian and a relentless researcher, and her writing is engaging. Most importantly, the author makes an ultimately successful effort to write a balanced account which is fair to the memory of Ella Barham as well as the man executed for her murder, Odus Davidson.
The murder of Ella Barham captured the attention of newspaper readers across the nation, resulting in hundreds of stories, though many were inaccurate. While no one witnessed the murder itself, the crime scene told a gruesome story.
About 9 a.m. on Nov. 21, 1912, Ella Barham left her family home to buy materials to make a hat for her sister. She walked a mile to the village of Pleasant Ridge, which is about 10 miles east of Harrison, the county seat of Boone County, and near the boundary with Marion County.
After returning home, Ella mounted a family horse and set out on a journey of about a mile to a neighbor's home, where she hoped to get help in making the hat. The neighbor was not able to help Ella, so after visiting for a while, Ella mounted her horse and rode away. She never reached home.
Ella's family began to worry about their daughter when she did not get home by late afternoon. Her brother, who was soon joined by others, mounted a search. Two boys who had been hunting stumbled upon the body. The sight must have haunted those boys forever.
Ella's body had been cut into five pieces and lay scattered about. In addition to being decapitated, both legs had been cut off and her torso cut in two.
With no telephones in the neighborhood, it took a while to notify county sheriff James W. Helm. The sheriff acted quickly, including dispatching men to search departing trains on both railroads serving the area. Hundreds of local men gathered at the murder scene, each poking about and disturbing the crime scene. Still, clues piled up.
The local justice of the peace, a respected farmer with a large family named Kansas Davidson, was called upon to perform a coroner's inquest. Two local physicians performed an autopsy just before Ella was buried. Even at this early stage, suspicion fell on Kansas Davidson's son, unmarried 29-year-old Odus, who still lived at home.
Late at night the sheriff took a posse to arrest Odus, stationing men around the exterior of the house. Not long after the sheriff awoke the Davidson family, an arm extended from the Odus' second-floor bedroom window and dropped a pair of socks. Red pepper flakes were found in the socks -- a common belief held that hot peppers would prevent a dog from following a trail. A key piece of evidence -- an ax bearing dried blood -- soon surfaced on the Davidson farm. The situation worsened for the Davidson family when Odus' younger brother, 17-year-old Lair, was arrested as an accomplice.
Ultimately, after Ella's body was disinterred for a second autopsy, a grand jury indicted both brothers separately, with Odus to be tried first.
Odus Davidson's family spared nothing in defending their sons. Former Circuit Judge B.B. Hudgins, a highly regarded lawyer and political leader of Harrison, was hired to represent Odus. Suffering from poor health, Hudgins soon took on the help of prominent local attorney and former Circuit Judge Elbridge Gerry Mitchell.
The author provides a detailed account of each session of Odus' circuit court trial for first degree murder. The prosecutors, who seem to have been competent, mounted a strong case, though all their evidence was circumstantial. The bombshell of the trial was testimony of one of Odus' friends that he heard Odus promise to get even when Ella rejected his overtures some two years before the trial. Odus never testified in his own defense. He was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged at the courthouse in Harrison.
The only real hero to emerge from the murder trial was defense attorney E.G. Mitchell. (Sheriff Helm also deserves credit for protecting his prisoners from lynch mobs.) Gould described Mitchell as "an intensely passionate man, and in the courtroom he was an absolute spitfire."
Mitchell not only provided Odus Davidson with a highly competent defense; he stayed with Davidson till the very end -- filing appeals, lobbying the governor, trying desperately to track down a U.S. Supreme Court judge for a stay of execution.
There is no doubt that the defense team had one major point which could overturn the guilty verdict -- Odus Davidson was not present during the announcement of the jury's verdict as required by the U.S. Constitution, as well as state law. That's because as soon as the prosecution finished and the jury retired to deliberate, the defense attorneys convinced the judge to have Odus immediately transferred to the jail in the neighboring Carroll County town of Berryville for his own safety. The mob spirit found in Harrison was another potential cause for a new trial.
The defense convinced the Arkansas Supreme Court to hear an appeal of Odus Davidson's conviction. During the ensuing trial Mitchell made a strong case, citing the presence of "a seething mass of people" who threatened to lynch Odus. The court discarded the defense argument that the defendant must be present to hear the court decision. Mitchell reminded the court of the circumstantial nature of the evidence. The Supreme Court in a 3-to-2 ruling affirmed the decision of the lower court. The hanging of Odus Davidson was scheduled for Aug. 11, 1913.
Mitchell refused to give up and made further appeals, including to the governor for a delay of execution. An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was unsuccessful because it was out of session, and Mitchell could not locate the justice left in charge because he was vacationing in the wilds of Canada.
Odus Davidson was executed on a specially built gallows enclosed by a high board fence on the courthouse square -- a new state requirement intended to reduce the carnival atmosphere surrounding hangings. To the end, Odus stoutly maintained his innocence. He was the last person legally hanged in Boone County.
His brother was never prosecuted. The family was soon forced by blatant and unforgiving local sentiment and outright intimidation to leave Arkansas for Oklahoma.
Remembering Ella is available from Butler Center Books for $29.95.
Tom Dillard is a historian and retired archivist living in rural Hot Spring County. Email him at [email protected].
NAN Profiles on 12/09/2018