{"product_id":"a-death-at-crooked-creek-9780814784563","title":"A Death at Crooked Creek","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"This is an\u003cbr\u003eextraordinary and ground-breaking book, a wonderfully creative mix of fact and\u003cbr\u003etheory, imagination and drama. Anyone with an interest in law, history, or, for\u003cbr\u003ethat matter, great storytelling will fall in love with A Death at Crooked Creek. The startling origin of the complex\u003cbr\u003e'intention exception' to the hearsay evidence rule becomes canvas on which a\u003cbr\u003egrand and marvelously detailed tale is told. This is modern narrative at its\u003cbr\u003ebest: a marriage of spectacular writing and hard, documented truth presented by\u003cbr\u003ea brilliant author who doubles as a gifted and fastidious legal scholar and\u003cbr\u003ehistorian.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—Andrew Popper,\u003cbr\u003eAmerican University\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne winter night in\u003cbr\u003e1879, at a lonely Kansas campsite near Crooked Creek, a man was shot to death.\u003cbr\u003eThe dead man’s traveling companion identified him as John Hillmon, a cowboy\u003cbr\u003efrom Lawrence who had been attempting to carve out a life on the blustery\u003cbr\u003eprairie. The case might have been soon forgotten and the apparent widow, Sallie\u003cbr\u003eHillmon, left to mourn—except for the $25,000 life insurance policies Hillmon\u003cbr\u003ehad taken out shortly before his departure. The insurance companies refused to\u003cbr\u003epay on the policies, claiming that the dead man was not John Hillmon, and\u003cbr\u003eSallie was forced to take them to court in a case that would reach the Supreme\u003cbr\u003eCourt twice. The companies’ case rested on a crucial piece of evidence: a faded\u003cbr\u003elove letter written by a disappeared cigarmaker, declaring his intent to travel\u003cbr\u003ewestward with a “man named Hillmon.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn A Death at\u003cbr\u003eCrooked Creek, Marianne Wesson re-examines the long-neglected evidence in\u003cbr\u003ethe case of the Kansas cowboy and his wife, recreating the court scenes that\u003cbr\u003eled to a significant Supreme Court ruling on the admissibility of hearsay\u003cbr\u003eevidence. Wesson employs modern forensic methods to examine the body of the\u003cbr\u003edead man, attempting to determine his true identity and finally put this\u003cbr\u003efascinating mystery to rest.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis engaging and\u003cbr\u003evividly imagined work combines the drama, intrigue, and emotion of excellent\u003cbr\u003estorytelling with cutting-edge forensic investigation techniques and legal\u003cbr\u003etheory. Wesson’s superbly imagined A Death at Crooked Creek will\u003cbr\u003ehave general readers, history buffs, and legal scholars alike wondering whether\u003cbr\u003ehistory, and the Justices, may have misunderstood altogether the events at that\u003cbr\u003ebleak winter campsite.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Marianne Wesson","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48272859955451,"sku":"9780814784563","price":51.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0779\/3917\/9771\/files\/CoreSourceHub_00bd4bba-20b8-4495-9073-e1be3bcbe478.jpg?v=1770994154","url":"https:\/\/indiepubs.com\/products\/a-death-at-crooked-creek-9780814784563","provider":"IndiePubs","version":"1.0","type":"link"}