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2B • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20,2008 Recovery Continued from Page 1 1 we have. We do not mean to open old wounds. However, during the course of our investigation, the facts of the case cannot be ignored. The trap door inside the old jail where Silas Richardson was hanged still remains today. It is an eerie reminder of the past and the way justice was administered three generations ago. Eighty years later, we will investigate the case through historical documents, newspaper reports from the day, interviews with relatives of those involved, and commentary from historians. We would like to say a special thanks for assistance in the research of this case. Our sources include the Bay St. Louis Library, the West Biloxi Library, the Hancock County Historical Society, the Hancock County Circuit Clerk's office, Mr. Ike Edwards, and others. At the end of this series, we ask you, the reader, to come to your own conclusions. Was the last hanging in Hancock justice, or was it something else?
Hancock County Courthouse Crime-and-Punishment-100-Years-of-History-(2)