Will Purvis was part of a racist organization. It wasn’t KKK, but it was similar. Anyways, Will Buckley (different Will) was also a member, but had enough when black man who worked for him was beaten up. So, Buckley decided to giving out secrets about this organization. Not entirely sure why because I can’t say for sure he cared for the black man considering the organization he was part of. Sadly, I guess he saw it more as a damage to property. Regardless, giving out secrets wasn’t something this group could stand, so they had him killed along with his brother and the black man, who was beaten earlier, for good measure.
This took place near the house of then 19 year old Will Purvis. Unsurprisingly, he was arrested. Of course, he denied and claimed he had an alibi. Interestingly, he had several witnesses that backed up his alibi, but they were all dismissed. He was sentenced to hanging, and declared himself an innocent man before being executed.
Well, he would have been executed but fate had other plans. The rope slipped, and when the sheriff tried to re-hang Purvis, the crowd started rioting. Later, he was sentence to death again. This time a group of supporters helped him escape. They hid him in a forest for four months, until Purvis finally surrendered. In return, he was given life in prison (instead of death).
In this case, life in prison only lasted two years. A key witness claimed he made a mistake in pointing to Purvis as the killer. Without his testimony, the evidence wasn’t there and Purvis ended up being pardoned. Not long after that, another man gave a death bed confession, which implicated another man and cleared Purvis for good. The story finally ends around 1920 when Purvis received a fee 5,000 dollars for his trouble.
