James Bowen of Bowen Funeral home was tried in Fort Smith for the murder of a Isaac Doe also known as George Nelson. I was put into a hotel at state expense until they got around to swearing me in to identify the belongings I knew about in the Packard Family Funeral Limousine. (That was the model name from the Packard Company.) The best thing about the trial was getting to see Miss Rumson every day. Sheriff Braxton had taught me about Chinese restaurants while we were eating on the state tab. My last night in Fort Smith, I treated Marion Rumson to a Chinese dinner and she treated me to a kiss when I took her home. I am looking forward to the other trials.
Mr. Bowen was spared the death penalty, but he received a life sentence at hard labor in some fine Arkansas prison. I understand Sam Waters from the Hackett Funeral Home is trying to buy Bowen Funeral Home. The funeral home businesses seem unaffected by the depression.
Mr. Pete Green’s trial turned into a simple competency hearing. He never fully recovered from his bout with Izzy’s sling shot. He is blind in his left eye. He drools from the left side of his mouth. He has a hard time finishing sentences. He has difficulty feeding himself because, for some reason, his right arm is almost totally useless. I figure it is God’s justice for Green using it to strike me. That’s actually a joke. I don’t think God spends much time on me or Mr. Green. Mr. Pete Green was given a lifetime berth in a fine Arkansas hospital. All of this was settled in a single day, but Miss Rumson consented to joining me for a steak dinner. Kisses were lavishly bestowed on her doorstep. I am hoping Baby Face Nelson has a longer trial.
In the Green hearing, it was mentioned that Pete Green was suspected of helping George Nelson, AKA Lester Gillis escape during prisoner transfer to Fort Smith. He was also suspected in the murder of Ann Bois D’Arc, wife of Jeremiah Bois D’Arc killed at about the same time as and on the same date as Jeremiah’s death.
It’s a funny thing about those newspaper articles about Izzy. The stories started off making Baby Face sound like Robin Hood beset by the cruel nine year old who caused the death of his own father and got poor Baby Face into trouble on his account. Then the Fort Smith Gazetteer published a list of all the people Baby Face allegedly killed with a little recap of each cold blooded crime. Soon, Izzy was compared to King David bringing down two Goliaths with just a sling. That was the image that stuck with the public. Thank goodness Izzy used a sling shot.
Baby Face Nelson slipped away from his justice again. It was decided in a one day hearing to ship him back to Chicago to stand trial for policeman he killed in his original escape. He was to stand trial for each killing in the order he committed them. That put Pa’s murder four down on the long list. Baby Face escaped again and was seen in California off and on for a year, and then he went back to Chicago under his own steam and was killed in a summer resort near there. He did not live two more years after he killed my Pa.
I did find out at that hearing that I might have impugned the officials in Bokoshe. The machine gun and .45 caliber handgun and even the .45 caliber ammo were all indeed with him in the prison transport. He was locked in the truck box in back. All of the evidence against him from the Bois D’Arc murder, including the weapons, was being carried in a paste-board box in the cab of the truck. Also, the murder of his transport officer was the most tenuous type of evidence, since there were no bullet holes. The officer likely died from injuries received in the stop at the end of his trip down the ravine. Baby Face maintained his innocence and that he merely took advantage of the bad luck of a truck accident to make his escape. The driver being killed and Baby Face having no injuries did make it suspicious about who had made the trip down the ravine.