Book signing in Vienna

Meet the authors of the recently released book “The Law and Judge Lynch 200 Years of Murder in Johnson County, Illinois” at From The Past Antiques shop located on the historic public square in Vienna, on Saturday, May 13.

They will be available from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to discuss this new book and to sign copies when one is purchased for the library.

“The Law and Judge Lynch, 200 Years of Murder in Johnson County, Illinois” during the period of 1812 to 2012, takes a historic look at murder in Johnson County.

Published by Ed and Diane Annable, this is a 327 page comprehensive account of historic murders in the county from the date of its founding for 200 years.

These authors spent over three and a half years researching court records and early news accounts to complete this work.  An appendix also contains James Rose’s account of The Flatheads and Regulators during the 1840’s.

There were six murders in Johnson County during the year 1899 that overloaded the court system.

In addition, the two trials concerning the well-publicized Carterville Mines Murder Trails were brought to Vienna.

The Illinois Militia stood guard in Vienna during those two trials.  That same militia was called out again in 1910 to stop a vigilante lynching over a murder.

This book presents the vigilante lynching of Lannes Patillo in 1868 and the Court supervised hanging of Harrison Burklow in 1878.

It also looks at James Arnett, the man who seemed to always get away with murder but himself was murdered in 1891.  The total count of murders in Johnson County is well over 100.

Testimonials from those who have read this book include, “I can’t believe those things happened so close to where I live.”

“This book is very well written.”

“I couldn’t put this book down.”

“I’ve heard about some of these murders but I didn’t know the true story.”

For more information, call 618-771-6005.