On the night of August 1, 1907, 19-year-old Jess Hall assaulted Springfield (MO) police officer J. M. Noe at the Green Light Saloon after Noe went there to investigate a report that Hall was causing a disturbance. Halll was alleged to have struck Noe with a "pair of knucks." A Springfield newspaper said at the time that Hall had been arrested a number of times previously. What the paper didn't know was that Hall was just getting started on his life of crime.
Hall was arrested a few nights after the Green Light incident and held for trial on an assault charge. When he went on trial in November of 1907, Noe was the principal witness against Hall, while the young man's former wife was the main defense witness. She had ben present at the time of the incident, but she had divorced him while he was in jail. Nevertheless, she cried and took on when Hall was convicted and sentenced to three years in the state prison. The Springfield Leader again observed that Hall was an "old offender" who had been convicted seven times in local court on various charges ranging from petit larceny to disturbing the peace.
Hall was admitted to the penitentiary in Jeff City in late December 1907 and released in February 1910 on the 3/4 rule. Returning home to Springfield, he must have stayed relatively clean for a few months, but in late 1911 he was arrested for stealing chickens and charged with grand larceny.
Again, he was convicted and sent up the river, and he again served 3/4ths of his time. Sentenced to four years, he was released in late December 1914. This time, it took him only until September 1915 to get into trouble again. He was arrested on robbery charge after holding up a Kansas City salesman near Maple Park Cemetery at the south end of South Street.
He was convicted once again and this time was sentenced to approximately ten years in the penitentiary. He got out after only a little over a year on a commutation from the governor. Apparently old Jess went relatively straight after that. At least I didn't notice his name in the papers in the late 1910s.
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