Clay County, TXGenWeb Project
MUSEUM MEMORIES
"Almost Lynching"
One of the essays by Mrs. Mable Glasgow Popes students
in the 1930's is one that deals with hangings in Clay Co.
One of the main points of interest in the Museum, especially
to teenagers, is the dummy of Wild and Wooly Willie, the
Horse Thief, hanging from the skylight beam in the foyer.
We always explain that our old jail is one of the few left in
the country that were equipped with a gallows for executing convicted
criminals, but that no one to our knowledge was ever hanged here,
but elsewhere in the neighborhood.
There has never been but one legal hanging and one illegal would-be
hanging in Henrietta. The legal hanging took place out
at 'The Mound, a big cliff about one mile northwest of
here. (Some sources say the bluff out by the rodeo grounds.
Anyone have anything definite on this?) The one illegal
would-be hanging took place at the 1878 county jail between the
museum and the courthouse square. (The 1878 building has
recently been bought and restored by by Mr. and Mrs. Glen Gonzenbach.)
The jail, a two story stone building, was occupied by the jailer
on the top floor and by the prisoners on the lower floor.
The man, Stegall, was being tried in the courts of Henrietta,
but the people got rather wrought up over the matter and decided
to take matters into their own hands.
One man went to the sheriffs office two doors down the
street to talk to him about paying his taxes so the sheriff wouldnt
interfere. He locked the door as he came in.
The mob then seized the prisoner and put a noose around his neck.
Someone came to tell the sheriff, Cooper Wright, but could not
get in. However, he yelled and told Mr. Wright what was taking
place, and Mr. Wright jumped out the window and got to the scene
in time to cut his prisoner down before he died.
The man was then convicted by the courts in Henrietta and sentenced
to be hanged. However, as the case was appealed to a higher
court, it was taken to Gainesville where Stegall was sent to
the penitentiary for ninety-nine years. He was pardoned
on good behavior a few years ago, though.
Another version of this story said Cooper Wright beat his captor
with a chair leg, climbed out the window and retrieved one of
the many Winchesters he kept hidden around town and shot the
prisoner down. His sympathy was not with Stegall, but he
was not about to let a mob have their way with one of his prisoners.
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