Overview

The Line between Lawmen and LawlessOn December 26, 1910, Oscar Chitwood lay lifeless on the courthouse lawn in Hot Springs, his wrists shackled together, and his body torn by bullets. The deputies on the scene claimed that masked men had lynched their prisoner and that the lawmen were innocent bystanders to the carnage. Newspapers everywhere proclaimed this killing another example of vigilantism run rampant. Within days, however, the official story fell apart, and these deputies were charged with cold-blooded murder. Authors Guy Lancaster and Christopher Thrasher tell the little-known story of accused outlaw Oscar Chitwood, the authorities he dared defy, and the mysterious resort town of Hot Springs, a place where the Wild West met the epitome of civilization, and where the boundaries between lawman and outlaw were never all that clear.

Full Product Details

9781467153270

Table of Contents

Reviews

New book tells tale of murder blamed on lynch mob in corrupt, 1910 Hot SpringsThe story goes that Oscar Chitwood was lynched by a mob of armed, masked men in the early hours of Dec. 26, 1910, at the Garland County Courthouse for his role in mortally wounding Garland County Sheriff Jake Houpt during an Aug. 17 shootout.According to Deputy John Rutherford, who was escorting Chitwood from the county jail to the city jail, the enraged mob showed up and shot the prisoner to death. The news made headlines across the country.But Chitwood wasn't lynched, and in 1911 Rutherford, along with fellow deputy Ben Murray, were indicted for his murder.The story of Chitwood and his violent end is laid out in The Murder of Oscar Chitwood in Hot Springs, Arkansas, an action-filled and intriguing book by Guy Lancaster and Christopher Thrasher that will be published today by The History Press.Along with Chitwood's fate, Lancaster and Thrasher explore the history of Hot Springs, from the myth of its healing waters playing a role in creating an American Indian valley of peace to the city's lawlessness in the late 1800s and early 1900s, including an account of an inexplicable 1899 gun battle between -- get this -- Hot Springs police officers and Garland County sheriff's deputies that left five dead, including the chief of police.Lynchings occur in intensely corrupt societies, says Lancaster, the editor of the Encyclopedia of Arkansas who has also edited and written several books on lynching, including American Atrocity: The Types of Violence in Lynching. That was some of the reason for highlighting the background of Hot Springs, to show that it was a place were violence was allowed depending on who you were. Just look at some of the very prominent people who were having shootouts and going unscathed through the justice system.ADVERTISEMENTThe book also investigates class, lynchings of Black people in Hot Springs, corruption, horse stealing and Rutherford's trial. Lan

Author Information

Christopher Thrasher earned his doctorate in American history from Texas Tech University. In 2015, Thrasher published his first book, Fight Sports and American Masculinity: Salvation in Violence from 1607 to the Present. He published his second book, Suffering in the Army of Tennessee: A Social History of the Confederate Army of the Heartland from the Battles for Atlanta to the Retreat from Nashville, in 2021. Guy Lancaster holds a PhD in heritage studies from Arkansas State University and currently serves as the editor of the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas, a project of the Central Arkansas Library System. He has authored, coauthored or edited several books on the history of violence in Arkansas, including American Atrocity: The Types of Violence in Lynching (2021).

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available