[deanmine]

This is the Parsons family of Houston, Texas. They were murdered by Jodie (or Joda, or Jody, depending on which source you are researching) Hamilton on October 12, 1906. It is not clear how exactly they died--or rather, there are several different versions of how they died. First Jodie shot Barney (or Carney) Parsons when he confronted him and his family on a road as they were departing Houston, Missouri. Mr. Parsons had sold his share of crops/land to Hamilton as the family planned to leave town, but apparently there was bad blood and the deal did not run smooth. Parsons and Hamilton did not like each other at all, and Parsons haggled the price until he was satisfied; clearly Hamilton was not. So after the family packed up their things and got on the road out of town, Hamilton decided to follow them and confront Parsons again. It did not go well; Jodie shot Barney Parsons, then beat him with the butt of his rifle until the patriarch of the family was dead. This is were it gets a little murky...he then beat Mrs. Parsons to death with the rifle in some accounts, in others with a pole ax. I've also read that Mrs. Parsons was pregnant. In other accounts, she was not. In some accounts he also beat the children to death, in others he slit their throats with their toy knives. He then loaded the bodies into the wagon and drove them over to Piney Creek where he threw them into the water. Not long afterward fisherman found the bodies after they had traveled some downstream. The bodies were pulled from the water, and the photo above was taken of the whole family. Unlike most mourning photos we have seen, this has details that speak to the violent deaths these people endured. Just as the dehydrated, skeletal children tell of the horrors of cholera, the Parsons family tell a tale of murder.

In this way, this photo represents for me a hybrid of sorts. It is part mourning photo, part evidence without being at the scene of the crime. They are part sleeping, part bloodied. They look at peace, but the marks upon their relaxed faces reveal that they did not know peace in death. No doubt this photo was used to provoke anger and sympathy in that small, midwestern community.

Jodie, Joda, Jody Hamilton eventually confessed to the murders, but tried to claim insanity due to a kick in the head he received from a mule as a child. The law didn't buy it. He was hanged on December 21, 1906. He was hanged twice; apparently the first attempt was unsuccessful, so they had to bring him back up on the gallows, retie the noose and try again. One the second try, he died. He was twenty years old.

[murofhsirgo]

Hey cool post, which guy is it? A little land marking so I can zero in on him would be appreciated. The guy facing left with his hands in his front pockets? That kinda doesn't make sense
Again cool but post thanks

[deanmine]

Originally Posted by murofhsirgo ↗

which guy is it?

i think its the guy furthest away from the camera there in the center of the pic. hands in front of him and he and another man are lookin over waiting for the sheriff

[vagabond]

That's my hometown- they don't fool around in the big T

[Kelseecat65]

"but tried to claim insanity due to a kick in the head he received from a mule as a child"

[William May]

His grave marker lists him as "Joseph "Jody" Hamilton". He is buried next to his mother in the "Allen Cemetery" in Raymondville, Missouri.
His grave was dug too short, and they wound up having to bash in the foot end of the casket with a pickaxe so it would lay in the grave properly.

[muzaqman]

Great read! Awesome post!