"Ken McCutchan is a life-long resident of Vanderburgh County, Indiana, descended from pioneer families that entered the area in the early 1800s. He is veteran of WWII, having served with Army Corps of Engineers in both North Africa and Europe. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English Composition and Modern Language from the University of Evansville, a certificate in French Language and Culture from the Sorbonne in Paris, and an Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree from the University of Southern Indiana. His other books include: The Adventures of Isaac Knight, From then Til Now, Saundersville, An English Settlement, At The Bend in the River, and Dearest Lizzie. Mr. McCutchan's books may be purchased at Willard Library in Evansville, IN.

A Better Use of His Coffin.    

by Kenneth P. McCutchan

An interesting case came up in the courts of Edwards County, Ill., during a special session held in January 1824.

A grand jury brought an indictment against Shadrack Perry for being an accessory to the murder of a man named Jones Hobson. Upon arraignment the accused pleaded not guilty, and a jury of 12 leading citizens of the county was called to hear the case.

The testimony revealed that Benjamin Clark got into a fight with the deceased in a saloon in Albion, Ill.

While the two men were rolling around on the floor locked in a bitter struggle, Clark stabbed Hobson fatally with a butcher knife. When the spectators tried to apprehend the murderer, Perry, who was his friend, drew a gun and threatened to shoot any man who attempted to arrest Clark.

Thereby the killer escaped and fled from the country and was never heard from again, while Perry was arrested in his stead and charged with being an accessory.

The trial lasted two days. When the jury went out, it deliberated for only two hours and returned a verdict of guilty.

The judge passed a death sentence, stating that on Feb. 24, Perry was to be taken to a convenient place within a half-mile of the county seat and, between the hours of 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., hanged by the neck until dead.

While Perry was waiting in jail for the day of his execution, he was visited by a character named Jack Ellis, who proposed that if Perry would give him his rifle, an ax, a cow, and his horse, he would attempt to obtain a pardon for him from Gov. Edward Coles.

Of course Perry agreed. After all, he had nothing to lose. So Ellis mounted the condemned man’s horse and rode off to Vandalia, 70 miles away, which was then the state capital.

In that town Ellis mingled freely with the drunks and rowdies in the saloons and was a hale fellow well met, generously calling out the drinks.

In this way he was able to get a long list of signatures on a petition for Perry’s pardon.

When the paper was presented to Coles, the governor, being ignorant of how the signatures had been obtained, and assuming, no doubt, that they all represented citizens of Edwards County, granted a pardon.

Ellis got back to Albion on the day of the hanging. The gallows had been erected, the coffin was made, and the rope was in place, but upon being presented with the document signed by the governor, the sheriff halted the proceedings and set the prisoner free.

The large crowd that had gathered to witness the hanging dispersed, considerably disappointed at being deprived of the spectacle.

But before Perry went home, he confronted the sheriff and claimed that since the county had prepared the coffin and the rope for his special use, he thought that by rights they belonged to him.

The sheriff said he reckoned he didn’t have any further use for a coffin and a rope right then, so if the ex-prisoner wanted them, he might as well take them.

So Perry took them home and stood up the coffin on end in his cabin, fitted shelves into it, and for many years used it as a storage cabinet.