Harriet Lendora Brakefield Conder

Harriet was born April 3, 1855, in Linden, Tennessee, the daughter of Mary E. Dickson and Lemuel Brakefield. When she was 6 years old, her father enlisted in the army to fight in the Civil War. While he was in the army he contracted measles and pneumonia and died. Her mother remarried in 1865 to John Kirkpatrick.

On 30 Nov 1872 in Perry County, Tennessee, Harriet married George "Henderson" Conder. Though he went by Henderson, his close friends and family called him Henry. The two settled on a farm along Spring Creek.

On 21 February 1881, Henry and Harriet were baptized into the LDS Church by Elders Hyrum Belnap and James Eardley.[1] Harriet's brother had joined on a few weeks earlier, and Henderson's brother Jim had joined two years earlier. Eventually several of the Conder brothers joined the Church, and Harriet's mother and stepfather joined too.

Most of the Conder brothers lived in Perry County, except Jim who lived just across the county line in Lewis County. In 1883 three of the brothers moved to Obion County, Tennessee, to take advantage of work there; Anderson, Thomas, and Henderson. Of course Harriet went with them. Three of her children were born in Obion County. When one of the brothers, Thomas, was hung for murder in 1889, the family decided it was time to move on. Harriet's mother and step father lived in Sanford, Colorado, and many of the saints from Tennessee had gathered there too. So they decided to join them.

They only lived there for a short time before they moved across the state line to Aztec, New Mexico. They eventually bought land in 1897 and after Henry passed away in 1915, Harriet continued living on that land with her son, Boyd, who had never married.

Her grandchildren fondly remember her love of horses. She owned a side saddle and a beautiful white horse, that even when she was old she'd ride it to visit her grandchildren. No one recalled how she got on the horse, but when she arrived, they'd rush to help her off of it. After she died the saddle was donated to the community museum in Aztec.

She was a kind and sweet grandmother. She kept her hair up most of the time as was the style at the time, but took it down to let her grand daughters comb it. They described it as sandy brown, long enough for her to sit on, and silky smooth. The texture she claimed was from her homemade soap.

When Boyd died she moved to American Falls, Idaho to live with her daughter, Della Baker.[2] It was while living with her daughter in 1949 that she made a recording describing the events of the Cane Creek Massacre which took place at her brother-in-law's home in 1884. Her granddaughter Dessie helped prompt her for the 4 minute and 44 second recording.


Henry, Matilda (their youngest) and Harriet Conder in 1902

In 1953, at the age of 98, Harriet passed away. She had been ill for sometime. Her remains were flown by plane to Aztec, New Mexico, for burial near her husband.

[1] This date comes from the Autobiography of Hyrum Belnap. New Family Search has a confirmation date of 1 January 1880.
[2] In all they had eight children.

Tom Conder's Confession (that Martha did it)

If you have followed the posts so far you will know that a couple of days ago I posted Martha's confession. Well, the very last seven pages of the file includes Thomas Conder's confession.

Confession by Thos Y. Conder

I will commence at the out-set, as far as I can remember. On the 10 of last March I went down to Obion. She had been at me to assist her in getting away with the old man and she told me on that day to get a drug. I ask her what she wanted with it? She told me she wanted it to poison some cats that came there on the place. I accused her for wanting it for the purpose of getting away with the old man. She told me there that she didn't. After she told me she administered some of it to him.

Then at another time soon after dinner she gave him an overwhelming dose of morphine for [unreadable]. There I [unreadable] thot I was not going to stay at that place any longer under the circumstances, she would [unreadable] big around [unreadable] to commit suicide if I left. On the day before the old man got killed she told me she would kill the old man herself if I did not do it. I told her that was something I couldn't possibly do.

This confession runs up to the time of the old man's death. The day that he was killed she came out to where we were working and spoke to me and asked me if I was not going to do that job. I told her that I couldn't possibly do anything of the [unreadable]. The answer she gave me was "it should be done". The time the shooting was done I was asleep on the bed. The report of the gun and her hollowing woke me up. He was still sitting in his chair kind of leaned over in a falling condition. She told me to take hold of him and rose him down. I [unreadable] let him fall.

The idea never rested on my mind that I had killed the old man until a friend mentioned to me on the way to the grave. This friend was H. M. Pyles. He told me that I had better look out and try to keep out of the way. I went on back home then and taking his advice I started to get out of the way and had gotten as far as Midnight Longs. But still at the [unreadable]. I could not believe the report, could not believe I would be arrested.

[There are a couple of pages in which Tom is asked where and when he conducted his affair with Mrs Riley. Tom confessed to having a 8 month affair with her but that she instigated it and that he resisted her advances at first. The language is explicit and not necessary for the purposes of this blog. If you want to read it I would be willing to send you a copy of my transcription]

Mr Conder, do you mean to insinuate and charge that Mrs. Riley killed her husband? I can just say this, that he was killed and nobody else was there except her and myself that i know of and I believe before my God that she did it.
Did you not say on oath that the old man had killed himself and did you not tell Mr. Pyle so when you went after him? Well of course I told him he was killed and I supposed he had killed himself because I couldn't have said that he did it without [the last two lines of the page are illegible] it struck me forcibly? Did you ever tell anybody that you thought she did? I believe that I have. Whom? I believe I told John Crockett.
Now Mr Conder, you must recognize that fact that you are on the brink of eternity and that you must go before the judge of all. do you solemnly swear that this statement is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? God being your judge? Yes sir. I do. Why did you not make this kind of statement at first? I made th identical statement to the coroner [unreadable].

There is no date on the confession itself.

Martha Jane Riley's Confession (that Tom did it)

In 1889, Tom Conder was hung primarily on the basis of this confession. As has been pointed out already by Justin, Martha had confessed early on during the investigation. Near the end of the file I found her written confession. Even without this confession, prosecutors were pretty convinced the two had conspired to kill Jack Riley.

Troy Obion County, Tennessee

Sept 15th 1888

      I, Mrs. Martha Jane Riley, do make the following confession and of my own accord and do [unreadable] affirm that I am in my right mind.

      In the spring of 1888, Thomas Condor, who was living with me and my husband A. J. Riley proposed to me that we should kill said A. J. Riley so that we, that is myself and said Condor could live togethr as man and wife. After making these proposals to me off and on during six months, I finally consented that Condor should kill my husband A. J. Riley. On the morning of the 12th of September 1888, Conder told me that he intended to kill Riley on that day. Riley and Condor had been making boards in the woods near by and on the morning of 12th September 1888, at about 10 o'clock, they returned to the house. Condor had a double barrel shotgun and went in the house and laid it on my bed. After dinner, between one and two o'clock p.m., Riley was sitting in the hall ju[st] on the left as you enter the bedroom. I was sitting on the right and infront of him and Condor was on his bed on the right entering the bedroom and in plain sight of me. Riley had dropped asleep as usual. I saw Condor motion his hand and I thought he was going to shoot and being afraid he would shoot me, when he went to shoot Riley, I moved over to his (Riley's) left. We had agreed that Condor should shoot him, Riley, and then we would spread a report that he, Riley, had committed suicide by shooting himself. I saw Condor get up off his bed, I saw him pick up the double barrel gun off my bed, I saw him [unreadable] the trigger cock the gun. He then stepped back out of my sight and immediately he fired. Staightway he stepped forward, and I saw Condor throw down the gun by the side of Riley. I saw Condor take hold of Riley, who had begun to fall and ease him to the floor. Just after Condor threw the gun down, he said, "Now, what'll I do?" and I said "Ease him down, don't let him fall off the chair."

Martha Jane [her X mark] Riley

This confession was made at the jail, in Troy Obion County Tennessee, on the 15th day of September 1888, in the presence of the undersigned.

J. M. Brice

L. M. Mahan

T. R., Robbins, J. P.

Notes in the trial documents recognized that Martha had made several contradictory statements prior to this confession, and that even during the confession her statements were erratic. She said that Tom had, by force of personality, compelled her to have an affair with her and that she went along out of fear for her life. It was only after the prosecutor offered to take the death penalty off the table for her that she began to co-operate and offered the above confession.

There are a few problems with her story. The "don't let him fall of the chair" is a little odd, but nothing earth shattering. Witnesses found the body near the front door with his head propped up on a barrel or something. Powder burns were found on the indoor side of the door panel and a pool of blood was found next to the body, and brain matter all over the room. Witnesses, at least ones I have read so far, do not describe blood near the bed where Martha said he was shot.

Next Tom's Confession

Tom Conder, Martha J, and Jack Riley

Tucked away in the secret vaults (ok, public filing cabinets) of the Tennessee State Library and Archives are the court papers for the trial of Tom Conder and Martha J Riley. One hundred and seventy four pages of supeonas, warrants, witness statements, confessions and more.

[Just as a side note. To copy these pages on the photo copier in the archives in $0.25 a page, bringing the total to nearly $44.00 just to make the copies. But I learned today that the archives will make a copy of the whole reel for just $25.00, and I was thinking to my self, I could take this to the public library, or the family history library, and make digital copies of the pages I need. That would be almost half the price.]

Anyway, I started scanning through the pages and found "witnesses for the prosecution" and I was hooked. I won't go into every single version here. But ..... The witnesses heard a gun shot from the Riley house, and about 5 minutes later a woman scream. The first to arrive were two school age boys (one was 14) from a schoolhouse about 300 yards away from the house. Next a handful of adult men, who arrived individually within minutes of each other. All had heard the gunfire and the woman scream. Each described them as being 5 minutes apart. Each described Tom Conder and Martha J Riley being at the house and noted the presence of other witnesses who had arrived earlier.

Initially, both Martha and Tom claimed that Mr. Riley (aka Andrew Jackson Riley, he went by "Jack") had shot himself. Tom had been living at the house and claimed that when the gun shot happened he was sleeping in his bed. Tom's wife Bettie had passed away two years earlier.

But there were issues with the story. The gun was a double barreled shot gun. Only one of the two barrels had fired. In most stories it was the left, though at least one it was the right. But the shot had passed through Mr. Riley head, from behind one ear to just infront of the other ear. The shot would have been impossible to accomplish by suicide. The muzzel of the gun was sitting in a pool of blood which seemed to also convince the investigators that it was not suicide. Though I don't really understand that part. Forensics is not my thing.

And then there were witnesses that saw Tom with his arm around Martha months before the shooting. And just after the shooting Martha shaking Tom's hand and was overheard telling him  "I am in trouble again. I harldly get out of one trouble until I get into another." Was there a love triangle?

It was the opinion of the justice of the peace that they were guilty of murder and so they were arrested and placed in the Obion County Jail. It was located in Troy. It was made of brick in 1881 at a cost of $9,000 and was considered "the finest in West Tennessee" with the exception of the one in Memphis.

Under the pressure of interrogation, their story soon began to fall apart. Martha J Riley broke first.
(next week ... Martha's Confession)

On Tom Conder's Trail

With a trial, at least the legal ones, there is always paper documentation. And in a capaital case I would expect more. So I start with court records. In Tennessee, court records are microfilmed by county and then by type of case, by date range, and then alphabetically. In this case I started with the Obion County Circuit Court Criminal Minutes for 1888 and 1889. Oddly enough, there was not a single mention of the case. I figured I was looking in the wrong place, but I wasn't sure why. So I went to the reference desk and described what I was looking for.

Ususally I don't recommend speaking loud in a library, but sometimes there is a benefit to being "open" with your issue. A patron at the next desk overheard what I was looking for and offered some help. First she corrected my pronunciation of Obion County (it's oh-BYE-uhn, not OH-bee-uhn). Second, she gave me the name of a local researcher in Obion County. Third, she shared with me a list of burials in the New Ebenezer Cemetery  in Obion County which reads "Tom Condor is buried in an unmarked grave"

While were talking the librarian brought me a book called "Tennessee's Toubled Roots" which listed by county the history of how Tennessee served out "justice". For Obion County it listed seven lynching (which is a whole other subject) but only one legal execution: Tom Cander on 5/10/1889.

After returning home I sent an email to the Obion County researcher. He was very helpful and confirmed there were no newspaper archives from 1888 or 1889. There were newspapers, but no one thought the old issues would be worth saving until it was too late. He also found which microfilm the court records were on and sent me the reel numbers so I could pull the film myself. The problem with my first search? Well, I was looking in the minutes file, not the cases file. It helps to know what you are doing.

While I was waiting for a chance to get back to the Archives, I dug around and found Mr. and Mrs. Riley's names from some online vital statistic records. Tom had married Bettie in 1885, and Bettie's parents were Andrew Jackson "Jack" Riley and Martha J. Riley.

Was Tom Conder Framed for Murder

Thomas Young Conder was born in Hickman County, Tennessee on 29 December 1848. He was a younger brother of Jim Conder at whose home the Cane Creek Massacre occurred. He was too young to serve in the Civil War with his older brothers. After the war he married Amanda Ruth Brakefield on the 25th of March, 1874. The two moved to Missouri where Ruth's family used to live. But tragedy waited for them there. Their first child died before she reached her first birthday. And when Ruth next had twins, the strain sapped her health. She died when the twins were only two months old.

Heartbroken,Tom took his two children back to Tennessee and settled on Marsh Creek in Perry County. Ruth's parents lived there (or perhaps moved with him) as did Tom's brothers. It was while living there he met the LDS Missionaries. Soon his in-laws and his brothers were baptized into the LDS church and on the 31st of January, 1881, Tom was baptized as well.

At least one of Tom's brothers rented the land on which he lived. The landlord was unhappy with his tenants receiving Mormons. So whether by choice or not, Anderson Conder took his family to Obion (oh-BYE-uhn) County, Tennessee sometime after joining the Mormon Church in 1881. Anderson's wife had a son from a prior marriage named John Westbrook. Letters to John clearly indicate his mother was living in Obion County by 1884. It appears that Tom followed Anderson there. Interviews with people who knew Tom in Obion County said they had known Tom for about 4 years (in 1888). So it is likely he moved there in 1884.

Once in Obion County, Tom married Bettie Riley in 1885. Apparently, Tom was considered quite a catch. One of the women who had her eye on Tom was his own mother-in-law (Martha J. Riley). Dessie Miller Wood, a grandniece of Tom's through his brother George Henderson Conder, claims that in September of 1888 Mrs Riley decided if she killed her husband, she could clear the way for her to be with Tom. But after shooting her husband, Tom spurned her advances. Out of spite, she accused Tom of having pulled the trigger while she watched. The accusation led to Tom's hanging for murder in July of 1889, and her being sentenced to life in prison. Only after Tom's death did she confess she had lied about his involvement.

Pat Miller sent me two newsapaper articles describing the case against Tom. Both were written in July 1889 the day after the execution of his sentence. Neither article describes Mrs Riley recanting her testimony, but if they were written the day after the Tom's death it is unlikely her changed tune would have made it into those articles.

So I figure I should be able to find out more about this case. Wouldn't it be wonderful to find out what really happened?