State v. Odbur and Shade

Defendants Henry Odbur and Fred Shade were charged with the murder, March 22, 1924, of Ernest Willett. They were tried and convicted of murder in the second degree, November 20, 1925, in the Circuit Court of Pike 'County; the punishment of Odbur was assessed at thirty-five years, and that of Fred Shade at ten years, in the penitentiary. They appealed in due form.

The scene of the homicide was on the levee along the Mississippi River in Pike County. The actors were habitues of the river bottom, small tenant farmers 'or farm hands. The defendants, and some of their witnesses, had lived on each…