Warning: Spoilers Included
This is the forum for people who have read Grievous Deeds to share their thoughts and theories about the book.
Note: Your first comment has to be approved to deter spam bots.
Cover art by Rick Turylo
I’d love to hear any thoughts you’d like to share about Grievous Deeds, or feel free to weigh in on any of these controversial questions:
- Ed Johnson’s story
- Did Will Hixson really see Ed Johnson at the depot, or did he make up the story for the reward money?
- Was Captain Shipp lying when he said he didn’t expect a mob at the jail on the night of the lynching? Or if not, why did he go to such extreme measures to save Ed Johnson’s life in January and then be careless with his safety in March?
- People in Chattanooga were horrified by the lynching. Why didn’t anyone stop it?
- What role did the media play in the lynching?
- Has the media changed in any significant way since 1906?
- Ed Turner’s story
- Why did Ed Turner kill his wife?
- If he had managed to beat the charges, would Turner have committed more violent acts?
- Why didn’t Captain Shipp send his deputies looking for Ed Turner instead of employing an inmate to do it for him?
- Lillie Turner’s story
- What do you think of this unverified story of Lillie Turner?
- Dave Edwards’ story
- Why did Dave kill his supervisor that he thought of as a friend?
- Should Dave have been kept in jail after he murdered Sam Brooks?
- Why did Dave resist any effort to defend him or appeal his case?
- Was Dave responsible for his crimes? Why or why not?
- What was the root cause of Dave’s troubles?
- Captain Shipp’s case
- What role did the interview Capt. Shipp gave to the Birmingham Age-Herald play in his conviction?
- Did the dissenting justices have a good point?
- Was his conviction just?
- Was his punishment just?
All civil and thoughtful comments are welcome!
old spirituals 
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I finished “Grievous Deeds” (my first by Kimberly Tilley) with a strong belief that Ed Johnson was not guilty and that Dave Edwards had a mental disorder, e.g. manic depressive, but was not criminally insane.
Particularly found the involvement of Teddy Roosevelt, a favorite historical person of mine, a new piece of history I can add to my “mental folder” about the former President.
As a history lover, especially stories of specific individuals from the 20th Century, I found myself picturing the people, places and events in the story. After reading “Grievous Deeds” I immediately purchased “Cold Heart” and am already intrigued by the characters and their behaviors.
Hope books of new stories continue to be published.
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Thank you, JAX! I’m also a big fan of Teddy Roosevelt and his involvement in the story was so interesting. Reading his warning about mobs, rioting, and lawlessness, just a few years before this took place was eerie. I think Ed Johnson was innocent, at least based on all the evidence I could find. I often wondered if, after he was murdered, Nevada Taylor still believed he was the man who had attacked her. She was so strong before and during the trial, but after the lynching, she seemed to collapse inward and didn’t survive long, despite being a young healthy woman. Dave is the person I found to be most fascinating in the story. I’m curious if you think his punishment was just.
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I believe that Nevada Taylor felt pressured, real and imagined, into identifying Ed Johnson as her attacker; so, for me, the punishment was placatory. That likely disturbed Nevada emotionally and mentally; it is no surprise she had a short life after the Johnson was given the death penalty.
If one concludes that Dave Edwards was insane, then the punishment was not a just one. I struggle with whether Edwards was truly insane, as defined by the law, or whether he had a bipolar disorder. I suppose it is possible he was simply a depraved soul addicted to alcohol.
Based on Dave’s family history and knowing that 70% to 90% of bipolar disorders are attributed to genetic factors, it is likely that Dave was bipolar. That disorder when combined with alcohol during his manic episodes made him a dangerous person. Without modern drugs, Dave would have continued to behave in the same manner and, possibly, murder more people. The era (i.e. advancements in science and medicine) influences my opinion. For the authorities in 1906, death was the only viable solution to protect society from citizens like Dave.
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That’s some very interesting insight about Nevada! Perhaps she would’ve had an early death even if Ed Johnson had been hanged legally. But the horrible way he died must have weighed on her.
I had many of the same thoughts about Dave. I never arrived at a solid opinion about his insanity. At his trial, the attorneys focused on his epilepsy and bipolar/circular insanity but they could just have easily pointed to severe traumatic brain injuries, or the the fact he’d had syphilis and was probably treated with mercury. But Dave always insisted it wasn’t insanity; he just got drunk and murdered Davis for no reason. I wondered if Dave did have fits of insanity but preferred to pass off his crimes as pointless acts of cruelty so he could evade the asylum. The conditions in the insane asylums were brutal and hellish. Dave had several relatives there and he would have known that.
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I’m rereading Grievous Deeds and want to share my thoughts on Ed and Lily Turner. I have real mixed feelings about them. My raw feeling was that I was glad when Turner got his comeuppance. He was portrayed as a low-life, a coward and a disgusting opportunist. But a man who murders his wife because she cheats is more understandable to me than a man who guns down friends and strangers, like certain other people in this book. The problem is we don’t have Lily’s side of the story. What we know about her is either from her mom or the men who paid her for sex. Even if they testified truthfully, it’s possible Lily lied to them and blamed everything on Ed to avoid responsibility for her acts.
I don’t mean to defend Ed Turner but I am uncomfortable about him. Ed likely was a despicable man but Lily may not have been as much a victim as she was portrayed to be. That’s just my perspective.
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Ruby, I’m so sorry, I don’t know how I missed your comment!
That’s a really interesting perspective on Lily and Ed Turner. Turner was a narcissist, IMO and he murdered Lily. I guess she gets the benefit of the doubt because she never got to tell her side of the story. Only Ed got to talk. Only Ed got a trial. He got appeals and newspaper interviews, and a chance to confess his sins. Lily didn’t get any of that. Ed silenced her for all time and we hear her story through him, mostly.
But I hear you. You’re not sympathetic to him and you don’t have animosity toward her. It’s the injustice of painting one person as All Bad and another All Good. Whether such people even exist is debatable. But certainly one does not make the other: Ed being a narcissistic jerk doesn’t mean Lily a blameless angel. I agree with that.
Maybe she wasn’t an angel. She might have done her part, or more than her part, to create the deadly conflict with her husband. Even if she was cruel to him, that’s not worthy of a death sentence. What is the right way to consider Lily then? How do we look at her?
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Thank you, Kimberly. You understood just what I meant!
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