Outrage in Ohio
Outrage in Ohio
Embedded Files
On a hot and dusty Sunday in June 1872, 13-year-old Mary Secaur set off on her two-mile walk home from church. She never arrived. The horrific death of this beautiful girl inspired an illegal interstate pursuit-and-arrest, courtroom dramatics, conflicting confessions, and the daylight lynching of a traveling tin peddler and an intellectually disabled teenager—who happened to be my own great-great-great-great uncle.
Outrage in Ohio is an exploration of an 1872 case of murder and lynching in western Ohio. The book uses a unique blend of historical research, contemporary accounts of the murder and lynching, creative non-fiction, and fictional narratives to seek out answers to the many unsolved questions surrounding the case.
- Who killed Mary Secaur?
- Why did suspicion focus on Alexander McLeod and Henry Kimmel’s sons?
- Were the accused guilty?
- What drove the citizens of Mercer County to lynch the suspects?
- Who was William Bradford Douglass, and did his confession exonerate the victims of the lynching?
- How did the murder and the lynching affect the families involved?
Solid answers are frustratingly rare.
What you will not find here is a straightforward history or novel, marching onward from beginning to end in pursuit of a single narrative. Narratives have a way of dictating the “truth” of an event, of cutting off the “what-ifs” and “perhapses” of a situation as their authors make their way down the forking paths of storytelling.
Instead of a single story, here is a collection of narratives--contemporary, historical and fictional. The contemporary voices are provided by newspaper accounts, an unpublished journal, and the semi-official booklet published just after the lynchings. Occasionally, I step in as narrator to tidy up loose ends or to provide some analysis of the case. The fiction comes in two flavors: some are fictionalized versions of real, documented events, while some I have imagined in order to explore real situations and people and relationships. Along the way I carefully note my sources and any departures from hard facts.
So here is what I have discovered--and partially what I have imagined--about the Secaur-McLeod-Kimmel murders.
Buying Outrage in Ohio
Buying Outrage in Ohio
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Extras
Extras
I worked on this project for over 20 years, and over that time I wrote a great deal more about the case--and about history and historical fiction--than could fit in this one book. Below you'll find links to some of this extra material.
Introduction. Not exactly extra information, but I figure it might be helpful for people if I provide a copy of the introduction to the book.
Sitterly House. Back in 2002, I visited an abandoned-and-soon-to-be-bulldozed farmhouse that I believe was the home of Mary Secaur's foster family, the Sitterlys. Here is a description of that visit.
Cemetery Visit. Every year I drive out to Rockford to pay a visit to the graves of my family and of Mary Secaur. Here is a description of a typical visit, complete with photos.
Remember, please, that these excerpts are covered by copyright and may not be distributed or reproduced in any manner without my express written consent. Feel free to contact me via email if you have any questions!
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