{"product_id":"murder-in-montague-frontier-justice-and-retribution-in-texas-9780806167091","title":"Murder in Montague: Frontier Justice and Retribution in Texas","description":"On a sweltering August night in 1876, Methodist minister William England, his wife, Selena, and two of her children were brutally slaughtered in their North Texas home. Acting on Selena's deathbed testimony, a neighbor, his brother-in-law, and a friend were arrested and tried for the murders. \u003ci\u003eMurder in Montague\u003c\/i\u003e tells the story of this gruesome crime and its murky aftermath. In this engrossing blend of true crime reporting, social drama, and legal history, author Glen Sample Ely presents a vivid snapshot of frontier justice and retribution in Texas following the Civil War. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The sheer brutality of the Montague murders terrified settlers already traumatized by decades of chaos, violence, and fear--from the deadly raids of Comanche and Kiowa Indians to the terrors of vigilantes, lynchings, and Reconstruction lawlessness. But the crime's aftermath--involving five Texas governors, five trials at Montague and Gainesville, five appeals to the Texas Court of Appeals, and three life sentences at hard labor in the state's abominable and inhumane prison system--offered little in the way of reassurance or resolution. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Viewed from any perspective, the 1876 England family murders were both a human tragedy and a miscarriage of justice. Combining the long view of history and the intimate detail of true crime reporting, \u003ci\u003eMurder in Montague\u003c\/i\u003e deftly captures this moment of reckoning in the story of Texas, as vigilante justice grudgingly gave way to an established system of law and order. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEly, Glen Sample:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cb\u003eGlen Sample Ely\u003c\/b\u003e is the award-winning author of \u003ci\u003eThe Texas Frontier and the Butterfield Overland Mail, 1858-1861\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eMurder in Montague: Frontier Justice and Retribution in Texas\u003c\/i\u003e.","brand":"University of Oklahoma Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51966962401554,"sku":"9780806167091","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_38f74153-5e11-4fdf-878d-30907fc89e80.jpg?v=1768916526","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/murder-in-montague-frontier-justice-and-retribution-in-texas-9780806167091","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}