Reviewed by:

• Murder in Montague: Frontier Justice and Retribution in Texas by Glen Sample Ely
• Scott H. Belshaw

Few historians have put as much effort into understanding small town justice like Glen Sample Ely has in his book Murder in Montague: Frontier Justice and Retribution in Texas. On a summer night in August 1876 in Montague County, Texas, just a stone's throw from the Oklahoma state line, a prominent Methodist minister and his family were brutally stabbed and shot to death. Montague County resident William England, his wife Selena, and two of her children were victims of this heinous crime. Selena's last words named neighbor Ben Krebs and his friend James Preston as the killers. Other than this testimony, no evidence existed to support her claim. Montague County Sheriff Lee Perkins and his posse arrived at the scene to begin what became a decade-long, tumultuous journey through the Texas criminal justice system. Ely goes into detail about these attacks and describes how the sheriff came to the England residence to investigate and found Selena's deathbed testimony to be his only lead. It was a seemingly easy case that appeared to be open-and-shut. But was it really?

At the beginning of the book, Ely discusses the early days of Montague County and its settlers' constant fear of Indian attacks, giving explicit details and related accounts. He also discusses the rise of regional violence and the fear community members felt upon leaving their homes. Executions were conducted on the courthouse steps. The most revealing aspect of this book is Ely's description of behind-the-scenes efforts to close the England case so that the public did not feel a killer was still on the loose: the prosecutor and judges deviated from established procedures, and two men were wrongly accused of a murder they did not commit. Ely also discusses how the case bounced around the district court in Montague County and then to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin. Thoroughly investigated, Murder in Montague gives the reader a glimpse not only into the lives of the characters, but also into a criminal justice system that was plagued with problems in the late nineteenth century. Krebs and Preston were pushed through the system and often mistreated by courts and prison personnel in a time when prison staff commonly beat prisoners and businesses frequently "bought" cheap prison labor. Three governors [End Page 109] refused to pardon Krebs and Preston for the murders of the England family, but Governor Jim Hogg finally did so as he left office and received a tremendous amount of criticism for this action.

Murder in Montague is a well-written and comprehensive book that builds on reliable historical research, findings, and sources. It could be used as a supplementary textbook for Texas history or criminal justice classes focused on understanding the criminal justice system in the late nineteenth century.

审核人：

• 蒙塔古谋杀案：德克萨斯州的边境正义与报应作者 Glen Sample Ely
• 斯科特·H·贝尔肖

很少有历史学家像 Glen Sample Ely 在他的著作《蒙塔古谋杀案：德克萨斯州的边境正义与报应》中那样投入如此多的精力来理解小镇的正义. 1876 年 8 月的一个夏夜，在德克萨斯州蒙塔古县，距离俄克拉荷马州界线仅一箭之遥，一位著名的卫理公会牧师及其家人被残忍地刺伤并被枪杀。蒙塔古县居民威廉·英格兰 (William England)、他的妻子赛琳娜 (Selena) 和她的两个孩子都是这一令人发指的罪行的受害者。赛琳娜的遗言称邻居本·克雷布斯和他的朋友詹姆斯·普雷斯顿为凶手。除了这个证词，没有证据支持她的说法。蒙塔古县警长李·帕金斯 (Lee Perkins) 和他的团队抵达现场，开始了德克萨斯州刑事司法系统长达十年的动荡之旅。Ely 详细介绍了这些袭击，并描述了警长如何来到英格兰的住所进行调查，并发现赛琳娜临终前的证词是他唯一的线索。这是一个看似简单的案子，却似乎是一清二楚。但真的是这样吗？

在这本书的开头，伊利讨论了蒙塔古县的早期及其定居者对印第安人袭击的持续恐惧，并给出了明确的细节和相关说明。他还讨论了地区暴力的兴起以及社区成员离开家园时所感受到的恐惧。处决是在法院台阶上进行的。这本书最具启发性的方面是伊利对结束英格兰案件的幕后努力的描述，使公众不会觉得凶手仍然逍遥法外：检察官和法官偏离了既定程序，两名男子被被错误地指控为他们没有犯下的谋杀罪。Ely 还讨论了此案如何在蒙塔古县的地方法院和奥斯汀的德克萨斯刑事上诉法院反弹。深入调查，让读者不仅可以一瞥人物的生活，还可以一瞥十九世纪后期饱受问题困扰的刑事司法系统。在监狱工作人员经常殴打囚犯和企业经常“购买”廉价监狱劳动力的时代，克雷布斯和普雷斯顿被推入系统并经常受到法院和监狱工作人员的虐待。三位州长[End Page 109]拒绝赦免克雷布斯和普雷斯顿谋杀英格兰家族的罪名，但州长吉姆·霍格 (Jim Hogg) 最终在离任时这样做了，并因这一行为受到了大量批评。

《蒙塔古谋杀案》是一本以可靠的历史研究、发现和来源为基础的书，内容丰富且内容丰富。它可以用作德克萨斯历史或刑事司法课程的补充教科书，重点是了解 19 世纪后期的刑事司法系统。