The whole thing started in the fall of 1896 when Henry Max was accused of raping a thirteen-year-old girl named Lizzie Harness. Max was married and had three daughters, but his family was still in Ohio, where he had previously lived. He was currently living alone in a house in Piedmont and had more room than he needed. So, he rented out part of the house to another family, who had taken in Lizzie, an orphan girl. It was suggested that Lizzie could help earn her keep by doing housework for Max, and he finally agreed. In exchange for her work, Max bought the girl some clothes and other items for her personal use.
In late November, just a few weeks after Lizzie had started working for Max, she accused him of "having carnal knowledge" with her. She said he had "accomplished his purpose" through "persuasion and force" and had afterward threatened her if she told anyone. But she broke down and told anyway just a week or two after the incident.
Max was promptly arrested, and at his preliminary hearing in early December, he was bound over to the circuit court without bail on a charge of rape. It appears Withers actively aided the prosecution of the case against Max and lobbied for his conviction. Despite these efforts, the jury could not agree on Max's guilt, and his trial in the spring of 1897 ended in a mistrial. Max was then released on $6,000 bond. Withers, however, continued to advocate for the prosecution, earning Max's ire. At one point, Max even threatened to kill Withers if he didn't mind his own business.
On the early morning of September 8, 1897, Withers's dead body was found lying face-down beside the railroad tracks in Piedmont with the back of his head bashed in. Withers had been to Ironton on the 7th and had returned to Piedmont in the wee hours of the 8th. A few people thought he had fallen or jumped from the train and crushed his head in that manner, but most thought he had been murdered and his body positioned by the track for effect.
Circumstantial evidence pointed to the involvement of Henry Max and his brother Kirk, and they were arrested on suspicion of murder on the evening of September 9. Supporting the idea that the scene had been staged, investigators found buggy tracks leading to the railroad tracks from elsewhere in town and away from the tracks toward a nearby river. It was, therefore, theorized that Withers had been killed elsewhere, his body hauled to the tracks and dumped, and the buggy driven to the river to wash off the bloodstains. One of the wheels on Henry Max's buggy was found to have blood on it, and the wheels also made a unusual track matching the track made by the buggy that had been driven away from Withers's body. In addition, a couple of witnesses turned up who claimed to have seen the Max buggy in the vicinity of the railroad tracks on the night in question. Also, Kirk Max and George Withers had supposedly had some strained business relations of late. After their arrest Henry and Kirk made no statement except to declare their innocence.
In mid-September, a coroner's jury found that the Max brothers were responsible for Withers's death, and they were officially charged with murder. In December, a grand jury brought a true bill against the brothers, and they were bound over for trial in the circuit court.
In early 1898, the brothers were granted a severance, and E. K. "Kirk" Max was tried first. It came out at trial that some of the evidence against him and his brother was dubious. For instance, at least one of the witnesses who claimed to have seen Henry's buggy in the vicinity of the tracks where the victim's body turned out to be "an irresponsible tramp." The blood on Henry Max's buggy was shown to be that of an animal rather than a human. Still, when Kirk's trial ended on April 1 with an acquittal, many people were reportedly surprised. The so-called tramp later went before a justice of the peace and swore out an affidavit that the testimony he'd given against the Max brothers was false, that he'd been bribed to give the testimony, but that he'd never received the promised payment.
On the night of September 9, the one-year anniversary of George Withers's death, Kirk Max was shot in the back from ambush on a street in Piedmont, Riddled with buckshot, he was taken by train to St. Louis, where he died on the morning of the 11th.
Henry Max's trial for the murder of Withers finally came up in August 1899. After hearing the case, the jury deliberated for only a short while before acquitting him of the charge.
After the verdict, Henry Max removed to Ohio, from where he wrote a detailed account of his side of the story, which was published in a St. Louis newspaper in mid-September. He said he had returned to Ohio because of death threats he had received in southeast Missouri. He claimed he was totally innocent of the charges against him, both the charge of raping Lizzie Harness and the charge of killing George Withers. Max said that Lizzie, like the tramp who'd implicated him in the Withers case, had later recanted her story, saying she had been bribed to falsely accuse Max. Henry said he'd only taken Lizzie as a housekeeper at the insistence of her foster parents, who could not afford to send her to school or buy her personal items. He finally agreed and soon came to see the girl almost as one of his daughters, until she turned against him. Henry said the girl had apologized to him for her betrayal after recanting her story.
Max said the only real evidence against him was his threat to kill Withers. He readily admitted to making such a threat but said he'd done so in anger with no intention whatsoever of carrying through with it. In fact, Max claimed that he and Withers had somewhat settled their differences prior to Withers's death and that he had even done business with Withers at the bank during the weeks leading up to his death. Max said he was as shocked as anyone else when he heard of the banker's death.
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