Murder on Maryland's Eastern Shore: Race, Politics and the Case of Orphan Jones (Paperback)

by Joseph E. Moore (Author) "As Charles Johnson walked fearfully toward the neighboring house that was owned by his old friend Green Davis, he noticed that something was ominously wrong..." (more)
Key Phrases: rite case, lower shore, state policemen, Baltimore County, Baltimore Sunpapers, Orphan Jones (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This fascinating new book reveals in stunning detail the case of Euel Lee (alias Orphan Jones), who was accused and eventually convicted of murdering a family of four in Eastern Maryland in the 1930s. The tumultuous series of events and characters that surrounded the crime and roller coaster trial garnered national media attention and changed the course of Maryland history. The true story is told now in compelling narrative, replete with historical fact collected through exacting research.

The racially charged case of Orphan Jones features at its core the murder of a white family by an African American man over the sum of $1, but includes at various stages an obsessed Communist attorney, a series of riots and lynchings, several trial venue changes, a bizarre claim to a dead body, and much more. The action unfolds throughout Eastern Maryland as well as the Baltimore area, against the backdrop of Jim Crow politics and American society during the Depression.

About the Author
Joseph E. Moore, a native of Eastern Maryland, has practiced law in Ocean City for 37 years, served as deputy State’s attorney for Worcester County, and was elected to the office of State’s attorney. He is active in Eastern Maryland’s history community. This is his first book.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: History Press (February 17, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596290773
• ISBN-13: 978-1596290778
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #262,062 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Non-fiction rarely reads this well, July 2, 2006

By	Sherwood T. Brooks "Duke Brooks" (Ocean City, MD) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Normally, the terms "page-turner" and "non-fiction" aren't found in the same sentence; one or two exceptions, such as Walter Lord's WW2 books come to mind. But this fascinating true-crime story of an actual "Murder on Maryland's Eastern Shore" is unique in its presentment of the facts of the case and its rich, authoritative description of rural Maryland life during the Depression.
Because the murderer was black and the victims white, one may readily (and rightly) assume that race will be a central issue in this story of the deaths of a family of four at the hands of a just-fired employee at their small farm on the rural Eastern Shore. Just as it is today, the "race card" was waiting to be played in the trial of the accused killer. And don't think for a moment that the sensational "trial of the century" media-frenzy was invented when O.J. Simpson was on trial...the American press has always loved a juicy murder and this one, albeit absent the celebrity angle, was as juicy as they got back then.
The author, Joe Moore, is a particularly able attorney (and an even abler writer) in Ocean City, MD, who became aware of this case in the 1970s when he was a State's Attorney in Worcester County. Few remembered it and even fewer outside the legal community knew about it. But the basic facts were these: One Euel Lee (AKA Orphan Jones) was arrested for the murder of all four members of the Davis family in their farmhouse between Ocean City and Berlin, MD one October night in 1931. He confessed (no doubt encouraged to do so by at least one police-administered beating) after many items of evidence were discovered in his dwelling and on his person. A Baltimore attorney for the communist International Labor Defense came forward and insisted on representing Lee, then demanded (and got)a change of venue. Two Baltimore trials with all-white juries later, Lee was convicted, his appeals denied, and he was hanged in the Maryland Penitentiary. Admittedly, it doesn't sound like the most high-profile case. But add to the mix that the defense attorney was a communist (no, really...he was a member of the Communist Party, and if that doesn't make somebody a communist, I don't know what does!), H.L.Mencken's anti-Delmarva diatribes and two lynchings on the 'Shore, plus extra-legal maneuverings and some mob violence, and you get a very clear picture of what the justice system was like three decades before Miranda.
Although Lee's guilt was proven beyond a reasonable doubt, this was the last trial in Maryland in which blacks were systematically excluded from jury service, and Lee's first conviction was thrown out on those grounds alone.
I loved this book primarily because I live on the 'Shore and I know every place Joe Moore talks about in this fascinating story. It's scholarly, but not dry; clear, but not stark; lawyerly, but not legal; to-the-point, but not terse. The best parts are the ironies played out after the fact, and the lives of those involved in their later years. It's been said that "Murder will out," and at the very end of this outstanding read, the truth is out, too.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Murder, Communists, and the Legal Process on Maryland's Eastern Shore in the 1930's, April 11, 2006

By	GDF (Maryland) - See all my reviews

Was a Negro lynched for a heinous murder of a family of four on Maryland's Eastern Shore in 1931 or did justice prevail through the legal system despite the active involvement of the Communist Party? Moore has interwoven meticulously researched information about the murders and trial with his own legal expertise to produce a fascinating perspective of this tragic event that occurred in a peaceful rural town in the America of the 1930's. He has objectively portrayed the wide-reaching and long-lived interest in this fascinating case which involved not only the Green Davis family and Euel Lee but the Communist Party, the outspoken defense attorney Bernard Ades, and the involvement of a cast of 'minor characters' as diverse as H.L. Mencken and a young Thurgood Marshall. This book is not only a 'good read' but a must for anyone who is interested in events that form the history of small town America during the early part of the 20th century. This book captured my interest from the beginning and made me want to finish it in one sitting!