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 DC Public Library System. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Audio, Nonmusical, Sounds, Music.

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

• Cox, Karen L., 1962-

Contributor

• Ward, Pam

Author

• Cox, Karen L., 1962-

Narrator

• Ward, Pam

Subject

• African Americans -- Segregation -- Mississippi | Natchez -- History -- 20th century
• Dana, Dick, 1871-1948
• Dana, Dick, 1871-1948
• Dockery, Octavia, 1865-1949
• Dockery, Octavia, 1865-1949
• History
• Judicial error -- Mississippi | Natchez -- History -- 20th century
• Merrill, Jennie, 1864-1932
• Merrill, Jennie, 1864-1932
• Mississippi -- Natchez
• Murder -- Mississippi | Natchez -- History -- 20th century
• 1900-1999
• African Americans -- Civil rights -- Mississippi | Natchez -- History -- 20th century

Genre

• History

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, 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. 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

Cataloging source

AU@

Dewey number

364.152/30976226

Form of composition

not applicable

Format of music

not applicable

Literary text for sound recordings

fiction

Music parts

not applicable

PerformerNote

Read by Pam Ward

Target audience

adult

Transposition and arrangement

not applicable