Halloween mystery: 99 years later, the McCue murder

Oct 30

In this issue's cover story, writer Paul Forrest Jones makes a persuasive case for Sam McCue's innocence in the 1904 murder of his wife, Fannie McCue. Why, then, did the husband swing for the crime? It all starts with the weaponry– and their curiously careful placement after the crime. Sam McCue's Winchester pump shotgun was found leaning beside the bathroom door– an unusual spot for an interloper to leave a murder weapon. Ditto for the bat which had bludgeoned her: It was found propped by the tub.

Mute testimony: The missing killer?
On night of murder of Mrs. Fannie McCue of Sept. 4th, 1904, I saw Dr. McCue go in Sam's house, and five or ten minutes later, I saw a boy or lad run fast out of the house down south Park Street to the city, I thought like Wm. McCue (white hat & dark clothes). I also saw same time four boys at the mailbox talking & smoking. I don't know the names of the young boys. –Neighbor Frank Massie's intriguing note, which was entered into the court record but unheralded in trial testimony #
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Permanent vows: What's a widower to do?
ESSAY I was perusing the obituaries over coffee the other morning, looking for the odd limerick or letter addressed to the deceased. I do this often. It gives me great comfort to know that communication with the other side is as easy as a paid announcement in the newspaper. It's not only a convenient way to keep the departed abreast of current events; it's a way for the departed to maintain a place at the table, so to speak.

4Better Or Worse

The week in review
Worst firestorm: Southern California is ablaze. Ten wildfires have destroyed over 1,000 homes and killed at least 15 people. Best decision in a sniper trial: After two days...

The Dish

Fair trade? Coffee debate winds up in cup
Tall or grande? Regular or decaf? Free trade or fair trade? Once again, coffee questions are multiplying– only this time some questions involve a major global debate....

Question of the Week

What do you think of the new Live Arts building?
Rebekah Bowling: "I like it. It's very clean, modern, and unobtrusive." Dave McKinnon: "That silver thing with the purple top? Seems out of place to me." Tina Blakey: "S...

Real Estate - On the Block

Escapism: Farm it or don't-- your choice
ADDRESS: 661 Farmview Road ASKING: $325,000 SIZE: 3784 fin. sq. ft., 864 unfin. YEAR BUILT: 1987 NEIGHBORHOOD: Greene County CURB APPEAL: 6 out of a possible 10 LISTED BY: ...

Real Estate - Update

Update
What happened to "On the Blocks" of the past? APPEARED IN THE HOOK: April 17, 2003, in issue #0215 ADDRESS: 208 South Street ASKING PRICE: $750,000 SELLING PRICE: $606,000 ...

Real Estate Property auctions

Foreclosure auctions
November 6, at 9:45am, at the Orange County Courthouse Property: 105 Musket Lane, Lake of the Woods Debtor: Margaret C. and Charles R. Gallion Jr. Amount owing: unknown Bi...

Movie Reviews

Cut to the chase: Women in lust and jeopardy
Call me a perv (I'll answer), but I've never had a desire to see Meg Ryan naked. Maybe it goes back to when I was punished for playing doctor with the girl next door, but I...

Music Reviews

Analog wonders: Cool kids still mixing tapes
Mix Tape #1Compiled by Kornhauser, Purdy, and Fritz The mix tape, that savior of long car rides, defender of the single, and final cementer of nascent hip love, has not ha...
Mindlessness: Pleasures and pretense of a mechanical man
The New Deal at Starr Hill Music Hall Sunday, October 26, 2003 When The New Deal's drummer Darren Shearer beatboxed Sunday night, October 26, he nearly replicated the act...

News

"Jaws will drop": Live Arts lands in new digs
Thirty-five thousand concrete blocks. Four million dollars. Five years of dreams. That, says Live Arts artistic director John Gibson, is what it took to bring the new Live ...
Big 'Buy' here: But Crutchfield has no fear
If you build it, will they come? Alex Howe will. "Best Buy has everything a guy could want," says the fourth year UVA student. Howe and other gadget fanatics haven't yet le...
Emergency symbol: Controversy in BOS race
Eric Strucko is a compulsive volunteer. In designing campaign materials for his race to represent the White Hall district on the Board of Supervisors, he chose symbols to r...
Fur flees: Rummage sale shuns pelts
When word got out that the Charlottesville Albemarle SPCA would be selling donated furs at its biannual rummage sale, some animal lovers got their dander up. "Disgu...
Profit and loss: Film Fest highs and lows
After four days of nonstop movie-going at the 16th Virginia Film Festival, The Hook crawled home and emptied its pockets of ticket stubs, which rained down like betting sli...
Scary tale: Nightmare on N. Berkshire
Ken and Heidi Vanderford's horror story began August 3, the day they moved into their new house off Angus Road. A sudden storm caused a river to run through their downstair...
York statue: Nation's first dedicated in Louisville
America's first statue of York, the only slave on the famed Lewis & Clark expedition, was dedicated earlier this month alongside the Ohio River. Created by sculptor Ed ...

The Brazen Careerist

Busy? Don't give me that!
Let's abolish the word busy. When you ask someone, "How have you been?" and they say, "Busy," it doesn't mean anything. I'm sick of it. We all have the same 24 hours to fil...

Strange But True

Tips of the slung: Spoonerisms provoke giggles
DRAWING BY DEBORAH DERR MCCLINTOCK Q. "You hissed my mystery lecture," the professor once rebuked a student, adding disgustedly, "You have tasted two worms." Both lines ev...

Facetime

Talking the talk: Justin Steele tells it like it is
His name is Justin Steele, a fourth year Engineering student who not only knows how to move toward the head of the class, but can also wake up the slackers dozing in the ba...

Hotseat

Watkins Abbitt: Incumbent and sorghum squeezer
Watkins Abbitt's family has lived around Appomattox since well before General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia at the courthouse there in 1865. In fa...

Letters

Daycare story should be told
I was very upset to read the October 23 letter by Mark and Michelle Conner, "Stop bullying Bright Beginnings." The Hook has done its journalistic job of keeping our communi...

Cultural preview

Cultural calendar October 30-November 6
THURSDAY, October 30 PERFORMANCE Swing swap: The Charlottesville Swing Dance Society holds this weekly east coast swing practice session with rec...

Full Stories List for October 30th, 2003 issue #0243