[Granville-Hough] 11 Oct 2009 - Lost Thornton Boy part 3

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Sun, 11 Oct 2009 11:01:33 -0700
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: Thornton3 - 11 Oct 2009.

  Lost Thornton boy.(continuation)

On the day of the trial, a surprising number of citizens previously 
empaneled sent word that they were sick, or that there was a 
communicable disease in their family, or that they had to attend a 
funeral that very day. The judge turned to the Sheriff and ordered him 
to empanel non-related adult males who had showed up for the trial. The 
judge was soon able to seat a jury, most of whom just happened to be 
former Confederate soldiers from the company in which McAlpin had 
served. Just one juryman ex-buddy could have hung the jury, but there 
were enough to give a clear ôNOT GUILTY.ö So McAlpin boy returned to 
Smith County, scot-free. This ends the story as I, Granville Hough, 
recall it. (Martha Miller remembers the Jury aquitted McAlpin, as the 
only thing it heard was circumstantial evidence.)
Trivial Question: ôDid McAlpin boy get to keep the pony?ö No one said; 
however, McAlpin boy is said to have grown into a swaggering bully 
around Mize, especially shunned and feared when he got drunk. So it 
would have been in his character to keep the pony. Actually, if he 
admitted he did not find the pony or get it legally from Thornton, his 
whole fabrication of an alibi became suspect. A former Mize schoolmate, 
Harold Hopkins, has kindly provided me with the names of Jasper Thornton 
as the victim, ôLittle Billö McAlpin as the accused, and Bill McAlpin, 
Sr, as the father (or grandfather). Harold also remembers the story 
quite differently. What he heard in childhood was that McAlpin and 
Thornton were travelling together to some unrecalled destination when 
the tragic events occurred. McAlpin returned with the horse and claimed 
he had purchased it from Thornton.
Harold also recalls that many people believed ôLittle Billö was guilty 
and were literally up in arms about it. At some time later, ôLittle 
Billö McAlpin was shot dead by unknown assailants in or near Mize. Part 
of the story is that when ôLittle Billö was shot down, he grimaced and 
said, ôTell æem who shot me,ö then expired. With the situation as noted 
heretofore, these words made no sense. Art McAlpin was told by a 
relative that years later, someone in Chrystal Springs had made a 
deathbed confession to killing Jasper Thornton. Art was also told that 
ôLittle Billö was killed when he stepped off a train at the Abel siding 
of the Laurel Branch which was about two miles west of Mize.
The death story of ôLittle Billö is new information to me. I must have 
heard it in childhood but it did not remain in my memory. I often heard 
it said about another McAlpin boy whose mis-behaviors were well 
documented that he was trying to act like ôWild Bill McAlpin.ö I 
probably mis-heard the name and it should have been ôLittle Bill.ö Or 
the person talking could have confused ôLittle Billö McAlpin with ôWild 
Billö Sullivan, another Beat 3 character of similar disposition and 
equally violent behavior (continued .)

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Remember the "mote and the beam," or the "splinter and the plank," and 
consider the Greek philosopher Epictetus: "When you are offended at any 
man's fault, turn to yourself and study you own failings. Then you will 
forget your anger."