Mar 20 at 10:30 AM - Sale 2697 -

Sale 2697 - Lot 149

Estimate: $ 2,500 - $ 3,500
(CRIME.) Admission ticket issued to witness the execution of a Missouri man convicted of murder. Printed card, 2¼ x 3¾ inches, completed in manuscript and signed by Sheriff James Hull; 2 light creases, minimal foxing. Buchanan County, MO, [25 June 1897]
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Additional Details

This ticket was issued to witness the execution of James Pollard, convicted of the murder of Joseph Irvin. Pollard had a dispute while working at a farm; his shot missed and hit the intended victim's brother, killing him. Both Pollard and the victim were Black. After his trial, Pollard was hung from a gallows between the courthouse and jail.

Three days prior to the event, the St. Joseph Herald wrote that "Sheriff Hull has issued tickets to those who will witness the execution." As a large crowd eventually gathered in the public square to see the hanging, we suspect that these tickets were only issued to official witnesses. This one was issued to Dr. J.F. Owens, the Buchanan County Jail physician.

Six years later, a white murderer was sentenced to be hung at the same jail, and insisted on having a new gallows built to accommodate the color line: "I most emphatically protest against being hanged on the same gallows and the same rope by which a d____d nigger came to his end" (Maryville [MO] Tribune, 12 February 1903). The sheriff denied this request.

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