Goat Castle : a true story of murder, race, and the gothic South

Resource Information

The work Goat Castle : a true story of murder, race, and the gothic South represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Austin Public Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

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Label

Goat Castle : a true story of murder, race, and the gothic South

Title remainder

a true story of murder, race, and the gothic South

Statement of responsibility

Karen L. Cox

Creator

• trueCox, Karen L., 1962-

Author

• trueCox, Karen L., 1962-

Subject

• 1900-1999
• African Americans -- Segregation
• African Americans -- Segregation -- Mississippi | Natchez -- History -- 20th century
• trueCivil rights
• Dana, Dick, 1871-1948
• Dana, Dick, 1871-1948
• Dockery, Octavia, 1865-1949
• Dockery, Octavia, 1865-1949
• trueEccentrics and eccentricities
• History
• trueJudicial error
• Judicial error
• Judicial error -- Mississippi | Natchez -- History -- 20th century
• Merrill, Jennie, 1864-1932
• Merrill, Jennie, 1864-1932
• trueMississippi
• Mississippi -- Natchez
• Murder
• trueMurder
• Murder -- Mississippi | Natchez -- History -- 20th century
• trueNatchez, Mississippi
• trueRace relations
• African Americans -- Civil rights -- Mississippi | Natchez -- History -- 20th century
• African Americans -- Civil rights

Genre

• trueHistory

Language

eng

Summary

In 1932, the city of Natchez, Mississippi, reckoned with an unexpected influx of journalists and tourists as the lurid story of a local murder was splashed across headlines nationwide. Two eccentrics, Richard Dana and Octavia Dockery--known in the press as the "Wild Man" and the "Goat Woman"--Enlisted an African American man named George Pearls to rob their reclusive neighbor, Jennie Merrill, at her estate. During the attempted robbery, Merrill was shot and killed. The crime drew national coverage when it came to light that Dana and Dockery, the alleged murderers, shared their huge, decaying antebellum mansion with their goats and other livestock, which prompted journalists to call the estate "Goat Castle." Pearls was killed by an Arkansas policeman in an unrelated incident before he could face trial. However, as was all too typical in the Jim Crow South, the white community demanded "justice," and an innocent black woman named Emily Burns was ultimately sent to prison for the murder of Merrill. Dana and Dockery not only avoided punishment but also lived to profit from the notoriety of the murder by opening their derelict home to tourists. Strange, fascinating, and sobering, Goat Castle tells the story of this local feud, killing, investigation, and trial, showing how a true crime tale of fallen southern grandeur and murder obscured an all too familiar story of racial injustice

Writing style

• trueComprehensive

Cataloging source

NcU/DLC

Dewey number

364.152/30976226

Government publication

government publication of a state province territory dependency etc

Illustrations

• illustrations
• maps
• portraits
• facsimiles

Index

index present

LC call number

HV6534.N28

LC item number

C69 2017

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography