Rakestraw v. State

Albert and Jim Rakestraw were convicted of murder in the second degree, for that they killed Jesse Nelson by cutting him with a knife. The Rakestraw and Nelson families lived on adjoining farms. On the afternoon of the killing the Rakestraw family and two or three friends were out under the trees in the yard, most of them engaged in a game of rook. There was a “scope of woods” on the Nelson farm which extended up to the line between the two. This wood lay back from the road and was between 300 and 400 yards from each of the dwelling houses. During the afternoon the mother of these defendants,…