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IE SEA COAST ECHO_ _WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2008 * 1H
Crime and Punishment
oo years of history at the Hancock Courthouse
100
the
BY DWAYNE HEMER Staff Writer
~"“"Jor the past J years,
’ Hancock County Courthouse has n the anchor of down-m Bay St. Louis. Just iut every resident in county has made his her way up the stairs I between the large ne columns.
)ver the years, there e been many changes If? ^ifts to the build-itseif.
)ver the past century, building has also seen decisions and court es which have defined history and helped *e our modern com-nity.
f only the walls of this nd building could what tales could be rd?
Today, the Hancock .inty Courthouse looks ch the same as it did
Over the next fev weeks, we will brinj back some of the mos famous cases and event: in the history of th< courthouse.
The first case we wil examine — the last hang ing in Hancock County - sheds light on a serie: of events which tool place in 1928 and 1929.
Silas Richardson wa: the last man to be legalh hanged in Hancocl County.
His death came as thi result of arguably th< most sensational crim< story in the history of ou county. A story whicl saw the Bay St. Loui: police chief wounded, ai innocent by-stande dead, a posse which tool the law into its owi hands, and a racially divided community Before the story wouk be concluded, two mei had been shot and fivt others	(including