The Murder of Frank Wade

On Tuesday, July 28, 1897, the neighborhood between Relfe and Spring Creek in southwest Phelps County (MO) was thrown into excitement when the nude body of 11-year-old Frank Wade was found in a pond on the Hamilton Lawson property, his throat having been slashed. Hamilton Lawson's wife and at least one of their sons were suspected of the murder, a mob formed, and the only thing that prevented a lynching was the lack of "a hot-headed leader."

Frank and his 14-year-old brother, Millard, had gone over to the Lawson place on Sunday the 26th to play with Hamilton's 15-year-old son Johnny and his 11-year-old grandson, Rack. The four boys spent the morning playing together before Frank and Rack separated from the other two shortly before noon and went into a pasture. 

When the boys were called to dinner (i.e. lunch), all of them showed up except Frank. When questioned, Rack said that Frank had "gone up the ravine singing and laughing." 

Later in the day, Millard went home, thinking he'd find his younger brother there, but he wasn't there. Frank's parents became greatly worried and gave an alarm. Search parties failed to turn up any sign of the missing boy until his body was found two days later.

Based on the testimony of witness Martin Harris, Mrs. Lawson and two of her sons, 30-year-old Jake and Rack's father, Andy, were arrested on suspicion of murder. 

Andy's trial was held first, in March of 1897. Although the case against Lawson was largely circumstantial, it was considered a strong case for the prosecution. Among the evidence presented was the fact that the defendant had gone to his mother and father's house and secured a razor on the fateful day, supposedly to shave with, but he still had a full beard several days later. To the chagrin of many observers, however, Lawson's trial ended in a hung jury.

His mother was then tried in the summer of 1897 and found not guilty. Again, many observers thought she was guilty, but many also conceded that the state had not presented a strong case against her. 

Jake was tried and Andy was re-tried at the same time, in December of 1897, and they, too, were acquitted. Many people in the Phelps County area remained convinced, however, that they were guilty.

One possible motive for the crime that was put forward was the fact that William Wade, Frank's father, had shot and killed a brother of Jake and Andy several years earlier after the brother was arrested on a robbery charge and tried to escape while Wade, who had been deputized to guard him, was on duty. Some folks, on the other hand, conjectured that the boys had gotten into a fight, that one or both of the Lawson boys had killed the Wade boy, and that the Lawson adults tried to shield their kids.