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52 pages

English

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Cold Betrayal is a suspenseful and poignant journey into a now forgotten, yet profound bit of Missouri's past. It explores the true story of Della Gibson, a farm girl living in northern Missouri in the 1890s. Farm life is hard work, but peaceful. Her dream is for her life to be a serene farm life, just like her parents, but at age sixteen she falls in love with handsome George Taylor. They marry, soon a child is born, and her future seems bright.

But George, though he is a good husband and a hard working man, often falls under the influence of his brother William (Bill) Taylor, whose wild ways have gotten both of them into trouble before, and the incident that forever changes the lives of Della and her young family that was influenced by the treachery and misdealings of George's brother, Bill.

Set against the beautiful and bucolic Missouri countryside, this is a suspenseful exploration of the human heart confronted with murder, betrayal, vengeance, loss, and loneliness. You will not forget the ending for a long time.

Annalou Mack explores how quickly our lives can change-a single incident, a hasty decision, a misunderstanding, and our hopeful expectations can be lost forever.

Sujets

Historical

Fiction

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Publié par	eBookIt.com
Date de parution	17 mars 2021
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781951960179
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Cold Betrayal

Annalou Mack

© Annalou Mack 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission from the author or publisher.

Published by
Compass Flower Press
Columbia, Missouri

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021901154
ISBN: 978-1-951960-16-2 Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-951960-17-9 Ebook
Table of Contents
Foreword
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
EPILOGUE
Acknowledgments
QUOTE SOURCES
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Foreword
Being an avid genealogist, I had been tracing my family history for years when I stumbled upon this story. The first of my family to migrate to Missouri came to what became Grundy County in 1837 and stayed. Grundy County is joined on the north by Mercer County on the east by Sullivan and Linn Counties and on the south by Livingston County. Since my ancestors lived in the eastern part of Grundy, I was led into Linn and Sullivan Counties in my research.
While searching in Linn County records in the History of Linn County I found the account of the murder of the Meeks Family not far from Browning, Missouri. This intrigued me for a couple reasons. First, I have the surname Meek in my family history, (although it is Meek with no ‘s’ in my family name) and second, this murder occurred within about twenty miles of where I lived as my children were growing up.
I was surprised that my grandfather had not told me the story during one of the many tales I heard while in his company when I was young. Either he had forgotten about it or he mentioned it and I forgot. No matter why I had not heard about it, I now was hooked.
For the next twenty or so years I searched for anything I could find about this terrible murder of a father, mother, and two little girls. I traveled to the Historical Society in Columbia, Missouri and began printing newspaper accounts, then visited the courthouses in Linneus, the county seat of Linn County and to the courthouse in Carrollton, the county seat of Carroll County.
Although I found articles that had been published, I decided to write my version of the tragedy. My first commentaries were a retelling of the basic story. As time went on, I chose to do something different. In my research it appeared that almost nothing had been written about Della, the wife of one of the accused murderers. This then became my mission. To write the story from the eyes of Della.
The facts of the murder and two trials are as outlined in the sources. The spoken words and thoughts of Della and her family are fictionalized since I have found nothing to base them on. The same is true of much of what I wrote of Sheriff Niblo.
As a genealogist, I had to research the families of the main characters in this book. Much to my surprise, after completing the writing of the book, I found through DNA testing that my Meek family and the Meeks family do have a common ancestor. I have DNA matches to descendants of three of Gus Meeks’ siblings. At the back of the book I have supplied genealogy lists for the Gibson, Taylor, Meeks and Niblo families. These lists are based on solid research.
Birthdates of the living have been deleted.
Prologue
September 1893

Three mounted horsemen met at the gate leading into the pasture on the large Warren McCullough farm. Abner Page, Gus Meeks, and Arthur Bingham had been hired by the local banker, William P. Taylor, to relieve his rival banker, Mr. McCullough, of his prized herd of beef cattle. They intended to carry out their job.
In contrast to the criminal duties the men were assigned, it was a beautiful moonlit night with a balmy breeze softly blowing. The sounds of the night creatures in this area were drowned out by the back and forth banter of the men on their nefarious task.
“Come on, Gus, get the gate open so we can be on our way.”
“Okay, Abner, don’t rush me. It’s wired pretty tight. I need a pair of wire cutters.”
After working with it a while, the wire was removed; the gate opened, and the trio entered the pasture where, in daylight, the cattle quietly grazed. It didn’t take long for the gang to round up the animals and herd them through the open gate. The cattle did not like being disturbed from their night rest, so milled around for a bit. Not sure they should be moving at this time of night, the cows tossed their heads and uttered loud moos, but slowly moved out to the road.
The rustlers had only a short drive down the four miles to the railroad in Browning, Missouri. Just before dawn they reached the station and roused the station master to tell him they were there to load the cattle on the next train.
“I hate to tell you this, fellows,” the station attendant told them, “you’re too late. You didn’t reserve the two box cars you’ll need, and the train doesn’t have any extras today. You’ll have to bring them back another day.” The attendant was not pleased at being called out at daybreak so hurried back into the station after delivering his message to the men.
“Hellfire and damnation!” muttered Bingham. “Cousin Bill is not going to like this.”
“Now what do we do?” groused Meeks.
Bingham mulled the situation a while then said, “Guess we’ll have to take them to my place until we can get further orders from Bill. I’m sure he will want us to finish the job soon.”
The three men sullenly turned the herd around and began the trek back up the same road. It was much farther to Bingham’s farm; about ten miles beyond the McCullough farm. Frustration showed on all their faces as they quietly made their way to the farm where the cattle would remain for the time being. Each man returned to his home, hoping the job could be finished without the law being involved. Times were hard for farmers and the money from this would give a boost to their meager funds.
A few days later, Warren McCullough, President of the Bank of Milan, Missouri rode out to check on his cows. It was a huge surprise to find the pasture empty. He lost no time in returning to Milan to contact Sheriff Niblo about the theft.
Sheriff Niblo immediately organized a posse to track down the thieves. Cattle rustling was a major crime to a law enforcement officer. Niblo and his men began talking to the farmers living near the McCullough farm. The neighbors thought the cattle had been gone for several days. One man thought he remembered seeing some cattle on the road one night not long ago when he had gotten up in the night.
After listening to what the neighbors had to say about the missing cattle, Niblo guessed the crooks might have been taking the cattle to the train. Going to the train in Browning, the sheriff questioned the train station attendant. “Have you seen a herd of cattle at the train recently?”
“Well, as a matter of fact I have. Just about a week ago three fellows brought cows here to be shipped but there weren’t any cars available for them, so they left.”
“Do you know who these men were?”
“I’m not sure, but I think one of them was Arthur Bingham.”
Following this lead, the sheriff made a trip to the farm of Arthur Bingham where the stolen cattle were found.
In answer to the questions asked by the sheriff, Bingham told how his cousin, William P. “Bill” Taylor, had hired him along with Gus Meeks and Gus’s brother-in-law, Abner Page, to take the cattle to the train for shipment to Kansas City to be sold. Taylor had promised the three men a share of the profit from the sale.
A few days later, Sheriff Niblo arrested William P. Taylor, cashier at the Peoples Exchange Bank of Browning along with Bingham, Page, and Meeks. Taylor and Bingham made bail and were released on bond. Page and Meeks did not have the money or assets to make bond so they remained in jail.
Sheriff Niblo had had run-ins with Bill Taylor in the past. The previous year Taylor had been indicted on a charge of arson and prior to that a check kiting scheme. It was no secret that William P. Taylor was not one of the sheriff’s favorite people. Maybe he had lots of friends in high places, but in the eyes of the sheriff he was just a common criminal.
A grand jury in Linn County indicted the four men, and a trial was set for each. Gus Meeks was tried first and sentenced to two years in the Missouri State Penitentiary. Trials for the others were delayed.
In preparation for the trial against Taylor, Linn County Prosecutor T. M. Bresnehen convinced Governor Stone to pardon Gus Meeks and in return Gus would testify against Bill Taylor. Taylor was sure Gus would never be able to do that.
Chapter 1
May 1894

Della heard Flossie, her one-year old daughter, whimpering in her cradle beside the bed. Before she could get up to see about her, the baby not yet born gave her a good hard kick. That was enough to wake Della completely. Her new baby was due in a couple of months and it was a good thing Della’s mother lived nearby to help out. Keeping up the house, cooking, caring for the chickens, and taking care of two babies was going to be a lot of responsibility for an eighteen-year-old.
Rubbing her eyes, Della noticed her husband George was already up and outside when it was just getting daylight. Her mother had come downstairs about midnight to soothe the crying baby and take her back to the room where her mother and father were sleeping. George wasn’t home then, and Della was too sick to think more about it. Della hadn't been feeling a b