Arrest the Murderer ; Harris County, Texas
1853. Broadside poster printed in black ink on cream-colored wove paper, 6 x 12 7/8 inches (151 x 321 mm), the full sheet. Overall toning, scattered foxing and damp stain. Corner losses, none of which effects the image area.
Newspaper articles published throughout the winter of 1856 and the into the summer of 1857 which appear in local publications including the Galveston Star, The Central Texian, and The Weekly Telegraph, tell an almost cinematic story of murder and escape set against the backdrop of a country on the precipice of civil war. Skirmishes already taking place in Kansas and across the south, and notices of "radical abolishionist" activity in New York, the Presidential canvas had begun; the Know Nothing candidate Millard Fillmore, who was the last Whig candidate in American history, and Democrat James Buchanan were preparing to square off in the Nation's highest civic contest. While most local news still consisted of mundane issues like steamship arrivals, land disputes, and cattle theft, the Hyde case remains a window into the storied past of wild west justice. Although the details of the disagreement remain lost to history, Hyde was accused of murdering his neighbor, Charles Butler, after which he fled along with his brother into the vastness of the northeast territory of Texas. After a years-long manhunt, Hyde was eventually apprehended in Arkansas and repatriated to Houston. His trial is recorded to have been an emotional one. Hyde claimed to be innocent, the victim of prejudice, his plea bringing the jury and presiding judge to tears, but the prosecution prevailed after delivering the brutal details of the Butler crime. Hyde was convicted after a seven minute deliberation, and sentenced to death. After a failed attempt at escape in which Hyde successfully filed off his shackles he was detained once again and his sentence was carried out a week later. On July 11, 1857, in front of a crowd of hundreds, John Hyde suffered the penalty of the law under the public gallows in Harris County, Texas.
Item number: 987
Price: $5,000.00
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