Episode 29: "Blood on Middle Fork, The Murray-Rice Murder Mystery"
Failed to add items
Add to cart failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Episode 29: "Blood on Middle Fork, The Murray-Rice Murder Mystery"
-
Narrated by:
-
Written by:
In the summer of 1902, farmer James W. Rice was shot and killed in a field near the Middle Fork of Little Ivy in Madison County, North Carolina.
What followed became one of the most sensational criminal cases to emerge from the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Gus and John Murray were arrested, escaped from the Madison County jail, fled into the West Virginia coalfields, and were eventually captured and returned to North Carolina. Their murder trial drew enormous attention, with competing stories of an ambush, self-defense, and a bitter feud between mountain families.
The jury convicted the men of second-degree murder. But then came an extraordinary turn. Their sentences were reduced, and by Christmas 1905, Gus and John Murray had received full pardons after serving less than a year in prison.
More than 120 years later, the central question remains unanswered:
What really happened in that field?
In Episode 29 of Echoes of the Blue Ridge, we return to the Ivy country of Madison County and follow a story of murder, family conflict, escape, pursuit, conviction, pardon, and a mystery the mountains have never completely surrendered.