About 9:00 p.m., April 25, 1899, neighbors of Jane Tettaton living about a mile and a quarter north of Malden, Missouri, were aroused by the sight of Mrs. Tettaton’s home ablaze. Rushing to the scene, they found the home nearly consumed and smelled burning flesh. Five bodies were dragged out of the fiery embers. Although badly burned, they were identified by those familiar with the age and size of each family member as Jane Tettaton and her four children: George, Ben, Ida, and Ada.
Found lying in the yard not far from the burning house was James Henry Tettaton, stepson of Jane Tettaton and an older half-brother of her four children. The 29-year-old Tettaton had numerous knife wounds to his head and face, and he appeared unconscious. However, most people on the scene thought the superficial wounds were self-inflicted, because a bloody pocketknife belonging to Tettaton was found nearby, and most thought his blackout was a pretense. He was taken to a nearby house, where he soon revived enough to relate his story of what had happened.
He claimed the crime had been committed by two unknown men. He’d been talking to his stepmother shortly after eating supper with the family when the men entered the house with weapons drawn and demanded all the money he was carrying. When he refused, they started shooting and hit Jane at first fire. Tettaton said that he ran out of the house into the yard, where he was cut and beat into unconsciousness, and that he was unaware of what happened after that.
Tettaton had previously borne a good reputation, but few people believed his tale, because he told conflicting stories and was known to have previously been at odds with his stepmother over his father’s estate. After James’s mother died when he was a young child, his father, Washington Tettaton, remarried Jane Smith when James was not quite twelve. Wash died about 1897, and James, now an adult, was named administrator of his father’s estate. A dispute developed between James and Jane over his apportioning of the estate. She sued and won a settlement in circuit court.
One of the conflicting stories James Tettaton told involved a note found near the spot where he was lying that related to the settlement he owed Jane. Another inconsistency concerned a pistol found in the debris of the burned house, which, Tettaton acknowledged, belonged to him. He said he’d unloaded the weapon, but the cartridges were not in his vest pocket where he said he’d put them. In addition, a neighbor girl of Mrs. Tettaton told of a conversation she’d had with Jane on the day before she died during which Jane said she feared something might happen to her, and the girl’s mother said James Tettaton had recently paid a mysterious visit to Jane’s home late at night.
Tettaton was arrested on suspicion on the night of the murders, and a day or two later he was taken out of Dunklin County for safekeeping. He was brought back to the county seat at Kennett in late May and indicted on five charges of first-degree murder. Prosecutors elected to try Tettaton first on the charge of murdering his half-brother George, because the identity of the victim and the evidence of his death by gunfire prior to the house-burning were the clearest in his case. The trial was held during the October term of Dunklin County Circuit Court. On November 3, the jury returned a verdict of guilty, and the next day Tettaton was sentenced to hang on December 15, 1899. The defense’s immediate appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court, however, acted as a stay of execution.
In early January 1890, Tettaton and another convicted killer named Gregory escaped from the Dunklin County Jail. They were recaptured in mid-January in Butler County and brought back to Kennett. A few months later, the two condemned men were taken to St. Louis for safekeeping.
In October 1900, the Missouri Supreme Court affirmed the verdict in Tettaton’s case and reset the execution day for January 25, 1901. The Missouri governor later granted a stay, and the hanging was rescheduled for February 19. Both Tettaton and Gregory, who was also scheduled to die, were taken back to Kennett.
Just three days before the execution, Tettaton attempted suicide by cutting his wrist with a piece of broken mirror. Gregory, his cellmate, saw him slice his wrist but declined to alert anyone. Instead, he simply watched as Tettaton lay bleeding to death.
The dying man was discovered “very weak and almost unconscious” and a doctor was promptly summoned. When Tettaton regained full consciousness, he “seemed greatly chagrined” that his attempt to kill himself had failed, and a close guard was placed over him to prevent him from re-opening the wound.
About 1:30 in the afternoon of February 19, Tettaton was led to the scaffold by the sheriff and several deputies. Speaking to the large crowd that gathered outside the stockade, he admitted instigating the murders but claimed he hired two other men who actually did the bloody work. Tettaton was dropped through the trap at 2:10 p.m. in front of about 100 spectators who’d been allowed on the platform.
This story is condensed from a chapter in my latest book, Show-Me Atrocities: Infamous Incidents in Missouri History.
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