Bondinot "Bood" Crumpton, alias Bood Burris/Burrow, born 1869 to William Burris/Burrows & Sarah Malinda Crumpton.
Photo from National Archives, Fort Smith, Arkansas.
These are the documents from his trial case.
Fort Smith Courthouse
Where he was hung 30 June 1891 in Fort Smith
Judge Parker's Courtroom
Here are newspaper clippings I found:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44029357/bood_crumpton/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44029304/bood_crumpton/
He swore his innocence with his last breath:
He was Cherokee blood, I found several records of him and his parents, he had two brothers, Tobe & James Burrows.
SENTENCE OF BOOD CRUMPTON
The Court: "Bood Crumpton will stand up." (Prisoner stands up.) "The jury has found you guilty of the crime of murder. A motion for new trial has been filed by your counsel; he has been heard by the court, and it has been overruled. Under the law the time has arrived when that which follows as an effect of the verdict of the jury is to be pronounced upon you, that is, the sentence that the law shall follow the commission of a crime of this kind. Have you anything to say why that sentence shall not be passed?"
The Prisoner: "Yes, sir; I will say simply I am not guilty of the charge against me."
The Court: "The Court regards it as a special duty in cases of this kind in the interest of parties situated as you are, to briefly remind them of their situation, and their duty to themselves - not to the court, not to the country, or people, or to anybody else but themselves; and it does it for your own interest. You stand under the law as the court has remarked, as having been convicted and pronounced guilty of this crime. The probabilities are that the sentence the court is about to pronounce will follow. It behooves you to consider that condition; to make preparation to meet it - not to meet it as men too often do with a spirit of bravado, braggadocio, before men: that amounts to but little; that counts for nothing; but prepare to stand before your Maker, the Great Judge of us all, to answer for the offense that you may have committed against this law. Now, that is a duty and the highest duty that every man owes to himself in this life; it is a great responsibility that every man must discharge, and especially men situated as you are. It remains with you whether you will take this advice, given for your benefit, and in your behalf; or whether you will throw the opportunity away. Your duty to yourself is to make preparation for death, to make preparation to get that forgiveness for the offense you may have committed in life, that we are taught all men can receive by a proper effort by being sorrowful for what you may have done by approaching you Maker with that spirit of penitence and sorrow that we are required to approach Him before He will give out to you that mercy that He has for all if they ask for it in a proper way. I request you, in your own interest, to make efforts in that direction, to call to your assistance persons who can assist you, and give you proper advice, and teach you how to proceed generally.
Generally, men situated as you are have spent but little time in efforts in that direction. You have made but little preparation for even living a correct life here, much less preparing for that sort of life hereafter, or that sort of existence hereafter, that men will have if they seek for it, if they do that which they ought to do. Your duty is to search your own conscience, and by the aid of others, if you feel that you need that assistance, prepare to approach your Maker, and ask Him for forgiveness.
The court will now proceed to sentence you, and you will listen to the sentence of the law as pronounced by the court, which is that you, Bood Crumpton, alias Bood Burris, are pronounced by this court guilty of the crime of murder, because you did in the Indian country take the life of Sam M. Morgan, and that you took it willingly and with malice aforethought under the law, making you guilty of the crime of murder. For that reason, and because the jury have found you guilty of murder, you are adjudged by the court as guilty of that crime, and that you therefore for the said crime against the laws of the United States be hanged by the neck until you are dead; and that the Marshal of this court, the Circuit Court of the United States for the Western District of Arkansas, by himself or deputy or deputies, do, at some convenient place within the Western District of Arkansas, cause execution to be done in the premises upon you on Wednesday, October 1st, 1890, between the hours of 9 o'clock in the forenoon and 5 o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, and that you be now taken to the jail from whence you came, to be there closely and securely kept until the day of execution; from thence on the day of execution as aforesaid you are to be taken to the place of execution, there to be hanged by the neck until you are dead, and may God, whose laws you have broken and before whose tribunal you must appear, have mercy upon your soul.
Boudinot Crumpton was executed on the Fort Smith gallows on June 30, 1891. A jury found him guilty of having shot and killed his traveling companion. Crumpton asserted his innocence up until his execution. His final statement on the gallows is a poignant example of the role alcohol played on the frontier. He warned those at the gallows, “To all present, and especially young men; when you are about to drink a glass of whiskey, look closely in the bottom and see if you cannot observe therein a hangman’s noose. There is where I first saw the one which now breaks my neck.”
The gallows are still there at Fort Smith, there 72 hanging by the time Bood hung from the rope, he was #72 at that time it was considered the oldest scaffolding, since 1 Jan 1873. (Below is the newspaper clipping I found).
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44025721/72_hung_mt/
Bood was 22 years old when he was hung.
Here are a few more of his records:
I found this records on Ancestry under Fort Smith Criminal Cases, He has a total of 108 documents there, including witness that were subpoenaed for his side.
He said an unknown man and he were ridding in a buggy and several witness saw them together at the time of Morgan's death.
Was this man really innocent??? Or did he get what he deserved from the justice system of that time???
These are the documents from his trial case.
Fort Smith Courthouse
Where he was hung 30 June 1891 in Fort Smith
Judge Parker's Courtroom
Here are newspaper clippings I found:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44029357/bood_crumpton/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44029304/bood_crumpton/
He swore his innocence with his last breath:
He was Cherokee blood, I found several records of him and his parents, he had two brothers, Tobe & James Burrows.
SENTENCE OF BOOD CRUMPTON
The Court: "Bood Crumpton will stand up." (Prisoner stands up.) "The jury has found you guilty of the crime of murder. A motion for new trial has been filed by your counsel; he has been heard by the court, and it has been overruled. Under the law the time has arrived when that which follows as an effect of the verdict of the jury is to be pronounced upon you, that is, the sentence that the law shall follow the commission of a crime of this kind. Have you anything to say why that sentence shall not be passed?"
The Prisoner: "Yes, sir; I will say simply I am not guilty of the charge against me."
The Court: "The Court regards it as a special duty in cases of this kind in the interest of parties situated as you are, to briefly remind them of their situation, and their duty to themselves - not to the court, not to the country, or people, or to anybody else but themselves; and it does it for your own interest. You stand under the law as the court has remarked, as having been convicted and pronounced guilty of this crime. The probabilities are that the sentence the court is about to pronounce will follow. It behooves you to consider that condition; to make preparation to meet it - not to meet it as men too often do with a spirit of bravado, braggadocio, before men: that amounts to but little; that counts for nothing; but prepare to stand before your Maker, the Great Judge of us all, to answer for the offense that you may have committed against this law. Now, that is a duty and the highest duty that every man owes to himself in this life; it is a great responsibility that every man must discharge, and especially men situated as you are. It remains with you whether you will take this advice, given for your benefit, and in your behalf; or whether you will throw the opportunity away. Your duty to yourself is to make preparation for death, to make preparation to get that forgiveness for the offense you may have committed in life, that we are taught all men can receive by a proper effort by being sorrowful for what you may have done by approaching you Maker with that spirit of penitence and sorrow that we are required to approach Him before He will give out to you that mercy that He has for all if they ask for it in a proper way. I request you, in your own interest, to make efforts in that direction, to call to your assistance persons who can assist you, and give you proper advice, and teach you how to proceed generally.
Generally, men situated as you are have spent but little time in efforts in that direction. You have made but little preparation for even living a correct life here, much less preparing for that sort of life hereafter, or that sort of existence hereafter, that men will have if they seek for it, if they do that which they ought to do. Your duty is to search your own conscience, and by the aid of others, if you feel that you need that assistance, prepare to approach your Maker, and ask Him for forgiveness.
The court will now proceed to sentence you, and you will listen to the sentence of the law as pronounced by the court, which is that you, Bood Crumpton, alias Bood Burris, are pronounced by this court guilty of the crime of murder, because you did in the Indian country take the life of Sam M. Morgan, and that you took it willingly and with malice aforethought under the law, making you guilty of the crime of murder. For that reason, and because the jury have found you guilty of murder, you are adjudged by the court as guilty of that crime, and that you therefore for the said crime against the laws of the United States be hanged by the neck until you are dead; and that the Marshal of this court, the Circuit Court of the United States for the Western District of Arkansas, by himself or deputy or deputies, do, at some convenient place within the Western District of Arkansas, cause execution to be done in the premises upon you on Wednesday, October 1st, 1890, between the hours of 9 o'clock in the forenoon and 5 o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, and that you be now taken to the jail from whence you came, to be there closely and securely kept until the day of execution; from thence on the day of execution as aforesaid you are to be taken to the place of execution, there to be hanged by the neck until you are dead, and may God, whose laws you have broken and before whose tribunal you must appear, have mercy upon your soul.
Boudinot Crumpton was executed on the Fort Smith gallows on June 30, 1891. A jury found him guilty of having shot and killed his traveling companion. Crumpton asserted his innocence up until his execution. His final statement on the gallows is a poignant example of the role alcohol played on the frontier. He warned those at the gallows, “To all present, and especially young men; when you are about to drink a glass of whiskey, look closely in the bottom and see if you cannot observe therein a hangman’s noose. There is where I first saw the one which now breaks my neck.”
The gallows are still there at Fort Smith, there 72 hanging by the time Bood hung from the rope, he was #72 at that time it was considered the oldest scaffolding, since 1 Jan 1873. (Below is the newspaper clipping I found).
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/44025721/72_hung_mt/
Bood was 22 years old when he was hung.
Here are a few more of his records:
I found this records on Ancestry under Fort Smith Criminal Cases, He has a total of 108 documents there, including witness that were subpoenaed for his side.
He said an unknown man and he were ridding in a buggy and several witness saw them together at the time of Morgan's death.
Was this man really innocent??? Or did he get what he deserved from the justice system of that time???
Comments
Post a Comment