One of the Most Cold Blooded Crimes in Greene County

   In 1908, Eugene Tucker, 35, took up farming in the Joshua Ellis neighborhood north of West Nichols Street in Springfield. Tucker and Ellis, 63, scarcely spoke to each other until January 1909, when a horse and cow belonging to Tucker got into a corn field on the adjoining Ellis farm and damaged some of Ellis’s fodder. Ellis and his son George impounded the animals until Tucker paid for the damages, as Missouri law provided. The transaction, though, left Tucker bitter.
   On February 22, two of Tucker’s cows got into the same corn field, and George Ellis went to Tucker’s nearby home to inform him. Not finding Tucker at home, he explained the situation to Tucker’s brother-in-law Arthur Kittrell. The two men argued, and Kittrell assaulted George with a stick of firewood.
   Seriously wounded, George managed to go home and help his father herd the Tucker cows into their barn. The two then came to Springfield to swear out a warrant against Kittrell. George remained in town for treatment, while his father started home, accompanied by a constable and his deputy. As the three men passed the Tucker house northeast of the Ellis home, Joshua Ellis pointed it out to the lawmen, but they stayed with the old man until he turned south down the lane toward his own house.
   The officers started back the way they'd come and met Tucker on the road shortly after four o’clock. Tucker, who had just learned about the impoundment of his stock, was visibly angry. When the lawmen inquired about Arthur Kittrell’s whereabouts, Tucker denied even knowing such a person. He finally admitted he did know him and promised to deliver him to authorities in Springfield the next day. But he continued cursing and threatening Joshua Ellis. The lawmen advised Tucker that Ellis said he could have his cows back if he came after them, and they returned to Springfield, apparently thinking everything was settled.
   Not quite!
   Between 5:00 and 5:30, Tucker showed up at the Ellis farm, accompanied by 17-year-old Charlie Dubel, his wife’s stepbrother. Ellis demanded payment before giving Tucker’s cows back, and Tucker refused. He and Dubel then left, but Tucker warned he’d be back.
   Tucker and Dubel returned about six o’clock and found Joshua Ellis, his wife, and their granddaughter Mary on the premises. Tucker called Ellis outside, and the two men walked toward the barn, where the cows were impounded. Elizabeth Ellis, 58, followed close behind, while Mary came outside and stood on the porch. The two men were still talking when Tucker suddenly pulled out a revolver and fired two shots. Old Man Ellis stooped downward, staggered back, and fell to the ground. Tucker then fired several more shots, but Mary didn’t know how many. The next thing she knew her grandmother came onto the porch and collapsed in the doorway.
   Forcing Mary to give him the barn keys, Tucker got his cows out and herded them toward his place. Joshua Ellis died in about half an hour, and his wife died fifteen minutes later. Neither was able to give a statement.
   Meanwhile, Luke Wallace met Tucker and Dubel on the road as they were driving the cows home minutes after the shooting. As Wallace approached, Tucker drew his revolver and demanded to know whether Wallace was “the other son of a bitch.” Wallace asked what was the matter, and Tucker said he’d already killed two SOBs and planned to kill the other one (i.e. George Ellis). Wallace asked what two people he was talking about, and Tucker said, “The old man and the old woman.”
   Later that evening Tucker went to Springfield and turned himself in. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
   The prosecution tried Tucker for the murder of Elizabeth Ellis first, and the trial got underway in late April. The main state witness was Mary Ellis. She said she was standing on the porch at the Ellis home and saw Tucker shoot her grandfather and grandmother, who were both unarmed. Luke Wallace was related the conversation in which Tucker admitting killing “the old woman and the old man.”
   Testifying in his own defense, Tucker claimed to have shot Joshua Ellis in self-defense. He said the old man was mad and that he’d been told Ellis had a quarrelsome reputation. He added that Ellis had his hand on his hip as though ready to reach for a weapon and that he opened fire when the old man made a threatening move. He said he shot the woman accidentally as he was shooting at her husband.
   The jury found Tucker guilty and sentenced him to death. The case was appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court, automatically staying the execution.
   The defense argued that a second-degree murder charge should have been considered, since Tucker acted in the heat of passion, but the high court ruled that the heat of passion defense did not apply in Elizabeth Ellis’s case, since she did nothing to arouse Tucker’s passion. The court also rejected Tucker’s claim that he’d shot the woman by accident, citing the eyewitness testimony of Mary Ellis and the testimony of neighbors who heard two distinct sets of gunshots, indicating Elizabeth was not shot while Tucker was firing at her husband. The execution was reset for January 1911.
   However, several influential individuals had taken an interest in Tucker’s case, partly because of his good behavior since his confinement, and they appealed to the Missouri governor. During the time the appeal was being heard, two inmates escaped from the Greene County Jail and offered to open Tucker’s cell, but he declined the opportunity. This crystallized sentiment in his favor, and the governor ended up commuting his sentence to life imprisonment.
   Tucker was taken to Jefferson City in March 1911 and paroled in March 1918 after serving only seven years.
   This is condensed from a chapter in my latest book, Lynching, Murders, and Other Nefarious Deeds: A Criminal History of Greene County, Mo.