Nimrod: Courts, Claims, and Killing on the Oregon Frontier - Softcover

Lansing, Ronald B

Softcover

ISBN 10: 087422280X ISBN 13: 9780874222807

Publisher: Washington State University Press, 2005

Synopsis

At the remarkable age of 65, Nimrod O'Kelly--Ioner, former blacksmith--made the arduous trek from Missouri along the Oregon Trail in 1845 and became one of the first to stake a claim in the lush Willamette valley. Although he made few improvements to the land, he professed that he had a wife and family back home and thus had a right to 640 acres--one full square mile--of fertile ground. Over the next seven years, settlers continued to arrive, and many of these new neighbors grew suspicious of his entitlement. Slowly they began to encroach on his property. Eventually the dispute boiled over, leaving young Jeremiah Mahoney dead, a gaping gunshot wound in his chest. Curiously, the killer--72 year-old Nimrod O'Kelly--chose not to run, but to turn himself in, claiming self-defense. The events that followed provide an intricate look at law on the frontier--a place without jails, courtrooms, coroners, and crimelabs, where many settlers were as wild as the land, where judges traveled on horseback to conduct legal proceedings, and where convicted murderers often met their end on the gallows. Ultimately, Benton County vs. Nimrod O'Kelly was heard by the fledgling territory's Supreme Court. With marvelous depth and a lawyer's insight, author Ronald B. Lansing probes and analyzes the evidence, the law, the proceedings, and the politics surrounding one of Oregon's first extensively reported murder cases, and presents this incredible story from its simple beginning to its astonishing conclusion.

About this title

From the Publisher

Oregon’s first widely publicized murder trial is now brought to life. In 1846, Nimrod O’Kelly was one of the first settlers to stake a claim in the Willamette Valley, and in a property boundary dispute in 1852, the elderly recluse freely admitted shooting Jeremiah Mahoney to death. Many hoped O’Kelly would hang, but a few believed he acted in self-defense, and made efforts to save him. This homicide, the result of an ongoing quarrel over a piece of land, left a simple old man victimized within much larger political and social conflicts. The galvanized opinions regarding the fate of Nimrod O’Kelly reflected the chasms that existed in Oregon between the young and old, Whigs and Democrats, Catholics and Methodists, and local politicians and eastern-appointed officials.

About the Author

Ronald B. Lansing’s interest in the Nimrod O’Kelly legend was first sparked a full century after the Oregon settler had lived, when Lansing heard the tale from the late historian Malcolm Clark. Over the years, there had been several iterations of the story. Lawrence McNary published an article about O’Kelly in a 1935 issue of the "Oregon Historical Quarterly," and in 1987, Kenneth Mumford authored a series of newspaper articles about the infamous maverick. Yet none had captured the full story. In the 1990s Lansing decided to pursue the trail.

Proving that finding the facts behind a campfire yarn isn’t easy, Lansing spent many days and weeks of research in the Oregon State Archives and the Oregon Historical Society Library. He was gratified by making significant discoveries along the way. Each served to corroborate the remarkable tale. First was a letter to the editor from Nimrod O’Kelly himself, that appeared in the "Oregon Spectator" in 1854. Then there was a key newspaper article based on an interview with T. B. Odeneal, a contemporary of Nimrod. The author also stumbled onto proof of O’Kelly’s visit to Washington, D.C. after walking across the continent at age 76. And there was much more to confirm the legend.

As Lansing describes the life of this enigmatic pioneer, he also chronicles changes in the laws regarding land claims, trial proceedings, and more. His extensive experience in legal matters provided the ideal background for analyzing, interpreting, and deducing what happened. The author is a Professor of Law at the Northwestern School of Law, Lewis & Clark College. He is known around campus for his caricatures of tenured and tenure-track law professors, and is the author of two previous books, "Juggernaut: The Whitman Massacre Trial 1850," and a novel on law school, "Skylarks and Lecterns: A Law School Charter." His future writing project is, appropriately, a book about Charity Lamb, Oregon’s first murderess.

About this edition

• Publisher: Washington State University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 087422280X
• ISBN 13: 9780874222807
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224