Rebellion in Jackson County

the courthouse records vault. They had actually been on their way to the vault when they briefly stopped outside to survey the construction. The Jackson County Courthouse in Medford, Oregon, had technically been completed the year before, in nineteen thirty two, but there were some small projects left to complete. One of those projects not yet begun was adding bars to the windows of the courthouse's record vault to prevent a break in. County Clerk Naida Neil led the group back

inside and down the hallway to the vault. The room looked undisturbed from the outside. Neil entered the combination locks code and swung open the heavy door. Inside, the damage was obvious. Neil stared in horror. Only the day before she had secured the pouches of ballots in the vault. The men behind her, including attorneys, county officials, and a

circuit court judge, were aghast. They were there to look at those very ballots, which were crucial in a hotly contested sheriff's After months of political fighting, Circuit Court Judge George Skipworth had ruled that a recount needed to take place, but now many of the ballots were gone. This was only the latest drama to bubble up in Jackson County, located in southern Oregon on the California border. The county

had recently become a hotbed of political intrigue. Governor Julius Meyer dispatched the Oregon State Police to help the Medford Police investigate. The team found burnt scraps of ballots in the courthouse's furnace. Further out, they found water logged ballots caught in an eddy under a bridge. Whoever had taken these ballots did not want them counted. Back at the courthouse, detectives found a clue a piece of fabric had snagged on the broken vault window. Cladus MacCready, the Medford Chief

of Police, surveyed the crowd gathered outside. His eyes caught on a torn pant leg. The pants, he thought, looked to be made of the same material as the fabric scrap from the window. He fixed his gaze on the pants owner, twenty year old Mason Sexton. Mason and his younger brother Milton were temporarily living in a spare room at the courthouse, doing chores in exchange for lodging. Quietly,

Macready and the detectives took the Sextons into custody. The Medford police held the brothers in jail for four days without bail or access to a lawyer. On the fourth day, Mason Sexton confessed he and Milton had broken into the courthouse faultroom and stolen the ballots, and they hadn't been alone. The Sextons were members of Good Government Congress, a controversial local political organization founded by two Medford men, Llewellyn Banks

and Earl Fayle. The Good Government Congress, or GGC, had begun as a populist political movement, but had evolved into something more dangerous. One of the candidates in the contested sheriff's race, Gordon Skemmerhorn, was affiliated with the group Skemerhorn had taken office months earlier despite the close race, and had been trying to put off the recount for as long as possible, But once Judge Skipworth ruled that the

recount would happen, the GGC had moved into action. The night of February twentieth, the GGC held a rally in front of the courthouse. At the same time, a small crew of men gathered behind the building on a pre arranged signal. As the crowd cheered for a speaker, a supporter parked nearby loudly revved his engine. With the noise covering him, Mason Sexton smashed the vault window with an axe.

The men passed the ballots from the locked room out into waiting vehicles, which ferried them to the outer reaches of the county, where the ballot pouches were split open, their contents dumped in the river or burned in fires. The Sexton's story was shocking. They implicated a number of important local figures, including the mayor of a nearby town, Sheriff Skemmerhorn, and the ggc's leaders, Llewellyn Banks and Earl Fayle.

Fayle had recently won election to county government. The political situation had been tense in Jackson County before, but this was a whole new level and things were about to get worse. As the police pursued the ballot thieves, the GGC upped its violent rhetoric, and then they acted on it. Less than a month later, when Medford Constable George Prescott tried to arrest GGC leader Llewellyn Banks for his part

in the robbery, Banks shot Prescott dead. The murder would lead to a trial that had the potential to extinguish the burning ember of insurrection in Jackson County or fan the flames into an inferno. Welcome to History on Trial. I'm your host, Mira Hayward. This week Oregon v. Llewellyn and Edith Banks. At two thousand, eight hundred and one square miles, Jackson County is slightly larger than the state

of Delaware. It sits atop the Oregon California border, its western border shooting northward through the Siskiyou Mountains, and its eastern through the Cascade Range. Between these heavily forested mountains lies a wedge of fertile valley nourished by the Rogue River and Bear Creek. The modoc Amqua, Shasta, Takelma, and La Gawa tribes lived on the land that is today Jackson County. In the eighteen fifties, white settlers began arriving.

Throughout the decade, these settlers, with assistance from the United States Army, attacked the native inhabitants, killing hundreds of people and eventually driving them from the land onto reservations. With the native peoples removed, white settlers began transforming the land for commercial use. Wheat was the first staple product of

the region, but by nineteen hundred, fruit was king. Acres of pear and apple trees sprung up across the valley, bringing with them more money and a new kind of farmer, wealthy outsiders with large holdings. As the fruit industry grew, so too did the economic and class divides in the county. Golf courses and country clubs and private hotels sprung up

in the county's largest cities, Medford and Ashland. Alongside this orchard elite existed smaller farmers, ranchers, and dairy owners, as well as the county's most rural residents who lived in the forested foothills of the mountains and mainly worked in mining, logging, or construction. The class, wealth and cultural divides in the

county made it fertile territory for political movements. Before the Good Government Congress in the nineteen thirties, there were two major political upheavals in Jackson County, both during times of economic turmoil. In the eighteen nineties, farmers across the country found themselves suffering under the com bind burdens of low

crop prices, high railroad shipping rates, and unaffordable mortgages. These difficulties led to the rise of a populous political party, the People's Party, which largely consisted of agrarian workers who opposed industrialists, bankers, and monopolists. A chapter of the People's Party was established in southern Oregon in eighteen ninety one.

Jackson County voters were drawn to the party for its promises to root out corruption and to return power to the people, the people in this case being white Protestant farmers. The movement had undercurrents of nativism and religious prejudices. Officials hosted rallies, picnics, and other events that attracted large crowds. By eighteen ninety four, the party had won enough support to begin to win elections. Though the movement lost momentum within a few years, it left a mark on Jackson County.

As Jeffrey la Land writes in his book The Jackson County Rebellion, quote local farmer's time of struggle enabled solidarity to overcome individual rural communities extreme localism by focusing their attention on an identifiable enemy. This was a formula that would prove to be successful time and again in the county. It was another economic downturn that led to Jackson County's

second political upheaval. In the nineteen tens, the fruit industry was gravely impacted by a drought, a pest infestation, and World War One, which led to lowered fruit prices. The difficult times continued throughout the decade, and by the early nineteen twenties, tensions in the county were high. In nineteen twenty one, dissatisfied Jacksonians found a political outlet for their unhappiness.

The ku Klux Klan, how delightful, attracted members with its appeals for political reform, support for causes such as prohibition, and of course, its attacks on Jews, Catholics, and anyone who wasn't white. By nineteen twenty two, the KKK was a powerful presence in the county. A series of night riding attacks in which clan members abducted people and threatened to lynch them drew national attention to Jackson County. The clan continued to influence events in the county, as well

as across the country, well into the nineteen twenties. Though many in the regions supported the KKK, many others opposed it, and the conflict divided the county for years, But by the end of the decade a new concern had arisen. In the autumn of nineteen twenty nine, the stock market crashed, signaling the beginning of the Great Depression. The depression's effects quickly rippled out into Jackson County, and the timber and fruit industry struggled to stay afloat. Unemployment was rampant, and

public services experienced huge cuts. That same year, a man named llu Ellen Banks bought a local newspaper called the Medford Daily News. The fifty nine year old Banks was new to the area. He and his wife Edith, had only moved to Medford three years earlier, but he had made quite a splash. Born into a modest fruit growing family from Ohio, Banks now owned citrus groves in California

and orchards across Jackson County. Having been in the fruit business his whole life, he had strong ideas about the industry's future and what changes ought to be made. His controversial views on direct selling quickly earned him enemies amongst Jackson County's established fruit consignment sellers. Buying the Medford Daily News gave Banks another platform for his beliefs. He began writing a ca for the paper in which he attacked the fruit sellers, but over time the scope of his

political opinions increased, as did his columns frequency. He espoused conspiracy theories about bankers, regulatory agencies, and the Federal Reserve. By nineteen thirty one, he was publishing his column every day, his angry diatribes filling up a whole page. Banks was not the only controversial publisher in the area. Earl Fayle, a general contractor and real estate developer in his mid forties, was the owner of the Pacific Record Herald, a weekly paper.

Like Banks, he went in for conspiracy theories, but his focus was more local. Fayle was obsessed with what he called the Gang, a cabal of elites who he believed ran city and county government. Fail did more than just write about government, He also tried to join it, running for Medford mayor four times throughout the nineteen twenties. Another newspaper editor, Robert Rule of the Medford Mayle Tribune, called Fayle quote the hardy perennial who has been running for

mayor for this city since the Neolithic age. Banks and Fayle might seem like fringe figures, and in other times, in other places they may very well have been, But in a county with deep veins of populis sentiment, in a time of great suffering, their voices resonated. The two men became political allies in nineteen thirty, when Banks ran for the United States Senate and Fayle again ran for Medford mayor. Banks's campaign went nowhere, at least outside of

Jackson County. Inside the county, he received forty percent of the vote. Fail who was running for mayor for the fifth time, did even better. Though he ultimately lost the race, it was only by a margin of fourteen votes out of three thousand, two hundred and forty Over the next two years, conditions worsened in the county. In nineteen thirty two, the county's second largest bank failed, and while banks were failing, Banks and Fail were also failing, but seriously, both men

were facing bankruptcy. They were also facing a number of libel suits from people who they had published unsubstantiated damaging conspiracies about Fail. And Banks seemed to be at their lowest points, but they were, if nothing else, canny men. In the dire conditions of the depression. They saw an opportunity. People wanted change. Banks and Fail thought that they could

provide that change. Their plan was this, they would take control of the local Republican party, choose candidates that aligned with their political views, and use their newspapers to get those candidates elected. If everything worked out, Banks and Fail would be running Jackson County. The two men had different motivations in creating a movement. Llewellyn Banks frankly needed the money. A man accustomed to wealth, he drove cadillacs, wore finely

tailored suits, and lived in a beautiful house. He was now barely scraping by. To Banks, the path to power was also a path to money. He could use his government connections to dismiss the suits against him and reduce his taxes. For Earl Fayle, power was the goal itself. He dreamed of taking down the so called gang and getting revenge for the injustices he believed he had suffered at their hands. Though their motivations differed, the men shared

a sense of unbridled determination. They would stop at nothing to win, even if that meant breaking the law. Earl Fayle wasn't satisfied with just electing allies to political office. He wanted to run himself. Fayle, of course, had previously tried to become mayor of Medford. This time he picked an even more powerful office. He declared his intention to become county judge. A county judge is akin to a

county commissioner. The judge and the other commissioners make important decisions about local taxes, infrastructure, and boundaries of election districts. Faile ran an aggressive campaign for the Republican primary nomination. He toured the farthest reaches of Jackson County, speaking in school rules and churches, vowing to root out the elite political gang that he said was oppressing the common man.

Watch your step, folks, he told a crowd in Shady Cove, or they will have you in jail if you can't account for every ten minutes of your life. Faile campaigned alongside his and Banks's chosen candidates for other positions, Thomas j Enwright running for district attorney and Phil Loud running for sheriff. Both were young political newcomers and their lack

of name recognition hurt them. Both men lost their primary races. However, another ally, Gordon Skemmerhorn, did win the Democratic primary for sheriff, beating the longtime incumbent Ralph Jennings, and most importantly, Faile

won his own primary handily. Then on November eighth, nineteen thirty two, fail won the general election, and though other Faile backed candidates lost their races, incumbent George Cotting managed to hold onto the district Attorney's office, Fayle's ally, Gordon Skemmerhorn,

won the county sheriff election. This should have been a thrilling moment for Fayle, after years of failure, he had finally won and one perhaps the most politically powerful position in the county at that but behind the scenes, his personal woes were only increasing. Fayle had lost a number of libel cases, including one whose judgment entailed seizing his printing press. He now had to share a printing press

with Banks. The two men were also facing yet more lawsuits when State Circuit Court Judge Harold D. Norton, who happened to be Fayle's neighbor, refused to dismiss the pending libel cases. In the summer of nineteen thirty two, Banks and Fayle began an aggressive recall campaign against Norton, though they kept their involvement with this campaign a secret. Banks and Fayle's political gains were also not quite as solid

as they might have wished. Though their ally skemmer Horn, had won the sheriff's selection, it had been a tight race against the incumbent Ralph Jennings, who had run a write in campaign. After losing the primary, Jennings was now asking for a recount. Skemmer Horn was doing his best to delay the recount, but it was entirely possible that he could lose his position if the recount went forward. Over the summer, tensions in the area rose. Though Fayle

had many supporters, he faced criticism. Two other local newspaper editors, Robert Rule of the Medford Mail Tribune and Leonard Hall of the Jacksonville Minor, spoke out against Fayle. Hall was an irreverent, bold writer with a gift for parody, and his attacks on Fayle riled people up so much that he was physically attacked in the street. Threats of violence hung over the county like thunder clouds. Comparing the situation in Jackson County to that of Europe before the First

World War. The Oregonian called the area a Balkan powder keg. Banks and Fayle were central to creating this atmosphere. Banks publicly called for a citizen's vigilance committee to remove District Attorney Cotting and Circuit Court Judge Norton from their offices, even going so far as referencing the hangman's noose. In response, the American Legion, a veterans organization, posted guards outside county officials homes. Armed guards became the norm for prominent Jackson

County citizens. County Commissioner Ralph Billings posted them in his yard, and Mail Tribune editor Robert Ruhle stationed them outside his printing press. A whole gang of ragtag guards, mainly young unemployed men who called themselves the Green Springs Mountain Boys, took to patrolling banks and Fayle's shared press, and eventually began personally guarding banks. They swore to quote shoot anybody who came through the door. Tensions were so high when

Medford Residence said that quote. Every time a car backfired at night, they crawled under the bed. Things did not calm down once Earl Fayle took office. Hundreds of his supporters would show up at County commission meetings and harass the other commissioners. At one meeting, Fayle called for opening the County Commissary, typically only a resource for unemployed residents, to everyone. The other commissioners said that this just wouldn't

be possible. In response, the crowd of Fayle's supporters shouted, hang them, throw them in the river. As residents became increasingly concerned about Banks and faals embrace of extremes, opposition to their political efforts grew. In mid January, the American Legion and the County Bar Association organized a meeting for concerned citizens at the Medford Armory some fifteen hundred people showed up. The group voted to endorse the integrity of

county officials like District Attorney Cotting. A smaller subgroup of attendees formed an anti Banks Fail committee, which they called the Committee of the one Hundred. At the same time, Banks and Fail were formally organizing their supporters. In January, they established the Good Government Congress. Banks became the group's honorary president with the final say on all decisions. Membership was open to anya county voter who paid the fifty

cent monthly dues. The organization grew quickly. Soon the GGC claimed to have over six thousand members. Six thousand is an impressive number in a county with a total population of only thirty thousand, including children. The membership roles have been lost, so it's hard to verify this number, but Jeffrey L. Land notes that nearly six thousand people voted for Earl Fayle in his county judge election, and pictures

of GGC meetings show large crowds. That the group's first general assembly on February fourth, approximately two thousand people showed up. Like past political movements in the county, the GGC appealed to people's sense of disenfranchisement and unfairness. The group's preamble, printed on every membership card, began quote, we, the citizens, property owners, and taxpayers of Jackson County, Oregon, are faced with economic conditions which, under the existing order of things,

have passed beyond individual control. After listing these conditions unemployment, foreclosures, high taxes, low crop prices, the pre ample concluded quote, we find it necessary to form ourselves into an organization for the protection of our lives, our homes, and our properties. The GGC explicitly tied themselves to the American tradition of protest. Their mission statements reference the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

Banks compared GGC members to Revolutionary War minutemen. Many members of the GGC saw themselves as patriots who wanted to bring the county's government back to its representative, democratic roots. Opponents of the GGC saw them differently. Critics called members hillbillies, describing them as un educated, unsophisticated rural voters who had fallen under the sway of two charismatic demagogues who were the GGC members. Actually, it's hard to generalize them. Not

all members of the GGC lived in rural areas. Not all rural residents were GGC members. Not all members of the GGC were well intentioned advocates of good government. Some saw it as a channel for jobs or personal advancement. Like all political movements, the GGC attracted a varied group. The main thing that these people shared was economic status rural or urban, male or female, farmer or small business owner. Most GGC members had been devastated by the depression they

wanted change. Their motives are understandable, but banks and fail were not the men they needed, and the group's appeals to racism, xenophobia, and anti Catholic and Wish prejudices should also not be overlooked. By mid February, the GGC leadership was increasingly concerned about the impending sheriff's recount. It seemed entirely possible that George Skemmerhorn, the GGC ally and current sheriff, would be ousted by their recount's results. It was then

that planning for the courthouse break in began. Though most of the group's rank and file members had no idea about the break in, the group's leadership used a planned courthouse rally on February twentieth as cover for the crime. After the Sexton brothers arrest and subsequent confession and implication of the GGC in the crime, local officials moved quickly. On February twenty seventh, only seven days after the break in, a large group of robbery participants were arrested, including Earl

Fayle and Gordon Skemmerhorn. The police used the Sexons to elicit confessions from many of the arrested men. They placed each man in turn in a ward alone with the Sextons and listened in on the subsequent conversations about the break in. Skemmerhorn did not fall for this trap, and Fayle also escaped it. His followers had posted bond for him. Shortly after his arrest. Outside the jail, trouble was brewing.

Diehard GGC members, feeling threatened, went on the attack. Men seized newspaper editor Leonard Hall, who opposed the GGC, and held him fast while GGC president Henrietta Martin hit his face repeatedly with a horsewhip. A large group of GGC members assembled outside the courtroom and threatened to break their friends out of jail. In response, the National Guards sent armed men to guard the jail, and Earl Phayle, once released from jail, tried to use the powers of his

office to subvert the justice process. He issued writs for the release of all the jailed men and also issued an arrest warrant for Medford Police Chief Claydus MacCready. On March sixth, the GGC held a rally at the courthouse in front of approximately two thousand people. The ggc's leadership railed against their opponents and called for action. Llewellyn Banks, who spoke last, was explicit in his calls for a revolt.

Banks was growing desperate. He needed control of the county government in order to escape the large number of lawsuits and creditors claims against him, and now that control was slipping through his fingers. Unless we can have justice, he told a group of anti GGC observers at the back of the crowd, I will take the field of revolution against you people. As March war on, Banks's plans for

revolution became more concrete, his world was crumbling. On March fifteenth, law enforcement officials seized his fruit packing house, his orchards, and, most devastatingly his newspaper. The ownership of these assets would be transferred to the creditors. Banks was deeply in debt to and although Banks had not been arrested in the first roundup of ballot thieves, he had been intimately involved with the crime. He knew it was only a matter of time before he too was brought in. Banks was

not going to go down without a fight. For some time, Banks and Fayle had been concocting a plan to seize da Cotting and other county officials and hold them hostage until they stepped down from their positions. They might even the two men thought need to kill the county officials to smooth the process. Sheriff Skemmerhorn, usually an enthusiastic ally, had rejected this plan. Undeterred, Banks had begun recruiting Quote a secret group of fighting men, telling them that he

quote meant business. He told the men to start stashing weapons throughout the countryside. Banks also began planning for his inevitable arrest. He made a plan to hide out in a supporter's mountain cabin. He typed up two letters addressed to Chief MacCready and Captain Lee Bone of the Oregon State Police. I have committed no crime, Banks wrote, and I will therefore refuse to submit to arrest on charges

framed by the power interests and Medford's old gang. Any effort to arrest me will result in bloodshed and, to no doubt, my death. Medford Police Constable George Prescott had heard about Banks's violent threats and he was worried. The sixty three year old Prescott shared his concerns with James O'Brien, a detective sergeant with the Oregon State Police. When the two men met at Medford City Hall on the morning of March sixteenth, nineteen thirty three. They were about to

arrest Llewellyn Banks. O'Brien and Prescott had arrested a number of ballot theft suspects over the past month, but Prescott worried that this arrest would be different. He had a bad feeling about it. This wouldn't be Prescott's first run in with Banks. On February eighth, Prescott had gone to Banks's office to confiscate his newsprint per a court order

obtained by one of Banks's unpaid creditors. After Prescott sees the newsprint, Banks lashed out at him, in an editorial saying, quote, mister George Prescott, in full uniform with a badge of authority, sees the paper. Prescott violated the law with full knowledge of his act. A state of complete anarchy now exists in Jackson County. Prescott's wife had been so upset by this public attack on her husband's character that she was briefly bedridden. Now O'Brien tried to kid Prescott out of

his concern. Only the mean die young, he told the older officer. The old never die young, Prescott joked back. Nerves settled, the two men set out. They arrived at the Bank's home on West Main Street around ten point fifteen and walked up the porch steps to the front door. Edith Banks, Llewellyn's wife opened the door, but only a crack, leaving the safety chain latched. She reached the crack and dropped the letters Banks had written earlier, saying, here's two

letters for you. I am sorry, missus Banks, Prescott said, but I have a bench warrant for your husband. Edith tried to shut the door, but Prescott stuck his foot into it and told her just a minute, I will give you that warrant. And let you read it. He reached into his pocket to grab the warrant, but he would never have a chance to pull it out. At that moment, Llewellyn Banks appeared in view with his hunting rifle aimed at Prescott. Before anyone could react, Banks fired

the bullet designed to mushroom. On impact, ripped through Prescott's body. He fell back into O'Brien's arms dead. Chaos irrupted. O'Brien ran from the porch and into a nearby home, where he called in the murder. A large force assembled outside the Bank's home, armed with teargas in case Banks would not surrender, but Edith Banks called the police headquarters and said that Banks would surrender peacefully to county Deputy Sheriff

Phil Loud, a former supporter of Banks. The police agreed, and Loud arrived along with State police cam Captain Lee Bone. Banks shook Bone's hand and told the two men that he had shot Prescott, quote just like any burglar. He did not seem upset at all. Prescott's funeral three days later, on March nineteenth, was said to be the largest ever held in Medford. More than four thousand people attended. Prescott had been a beloved community member involved with service organizations

and the Boy Scouts. He left behind his wife, Lottie, and three grown children, Francis, Paul, and Nooda. Soon the district attorney charged both Llewellyn and Edith Banks with murder. Shock rippled across the community. Tensions had been high, yes, but murder it seemed unthinkable. Now people wondered what would happen when the Banks went to trial. Given the situation in Jackson County, no one was surprised when the Banks's lawyers asked for a change of venue. The inhabitants of

the county are so biased and prejudiced. The defense told Circuit Court Judge George Skipworth that a fair and impartial jury cannot be selected. Judge Skipworth, an experienced jurist who had previously ruled on the sheriff's recount and would now be presiding over the Bank's trial, concurred. He moved the trial to Lane County, a county several hours drive away. May third was set as the trial date. In the meantime,

both sides prepared for trial. The bankses had five defense lawyers, whose fees were paid in part by Llewellyn, Banks's wealthy brother in law, and in part by donations raised from GGC members. The team consisted of two Jackson County lawyers, Thomas Enwright and William Fay, as well as three experienced trial lawyers from out of county, Frank Lonergan, Joseph Hammersley, and Charles Hardy. Lonargan's name was especially well known the

former Speaker of the Oregon House. Lonergan was also an accomplished athlete and one of the best defense attorneys in the state. The prosecution team began with three lawyers, led by Assistant Oregon Attorney General William S. Levins, Jackson County District Attorney George Cotting and Special Assistant Attorney General Ralph Moody assisted Levins, but on May second, as Levin's examiners, he began complaining of heart pains. Several hours later, he

was dead. Moody took the lead role on the prosecution only the day before the trial was set to begin. It was a large task, but Moody had the necessary experience. A former assistant US Attorney General, he had spent the past several years as a highly successful corporate lawyer. He had been specially appointed as an Oregon Assistant Attorney General for the trial. Besides the notable exception of while an attorney dying, jury selection was largely uneventful. Six men and

six women were seated. Wonder would take ill late in the trial and be replaced by an alternate, making the final composition seven men and six women. On May third, the trial began in the Lane County Courthouse. As the lawyers presented their opening statements, a three foot tall statue of Lady Justice looked imperiously down at them, a sword in her right hand, the scales of Justice in her left, as per usual in Oregon. And I say this lovingly

as an Oregonian. It was raining. Ralph Moody delivered the opening statement for the prosecution. He did not be around the bush. Banks killed Prescott, he said. Missus Banks assisted him. They knew he was an officer of the law, serving legal papers, and his death had been carefully mapped out in advance. They had warned Prescott against coming, and he came anyway in the line of duty. There can be but one conclusion from the evidence the witnesses will present.

Prescott was wilfully and maliciously killed according to a premeditated plan, it is murder in the first degree. Defense lawyer Joseph Hammersley said that the case was indeed a simple one, but not in the way that Moody had presented it. The story was not one of premeditated murder, Hammersley argued, but instead a story about a persecuted man fighting back

against his attackers. Banks, in the defense's view, was a thorn in the side of the power, and the powerful had tried to punish him for daring to speak out against them. When Banks shot Prescott, it was not a cold blooded murder. It was quote the gesture of a cornered creature defending his home. It was a warning to marauders who were trying to force their way in. Hammersley also claimed that Prescott's death was an accident that Banks

had not aimed to kill. With their parade of witnesses, they would call more than sixty over the next two weeks. The prosecution hoped to rebut these defense claims. The state called E. A. Fleming, a GGC member who had been at the Bank's home on the morning of the murder. Fleming had stopped by unexpectedly to discuss some GGC business with Banks. During their conversation, the matter of Banks's arrest came up. No man can come up here with their trumped up warrants and serve on me, for I will

not go. They will take me out feet first, Fleming recalled Banks, saying when he warned Banks to be careful, Banks doubled down. I will do it, he allegedly told Fleming. I have said I will do it, and no man can come through that door and take me. They will take me over their dead bodies feet first. When the officers knocked on Banks's door, Banks told Fleming to leave

out the back. As Fleming fled, he testified he heard someone say look out or get out, and then, almost simultaneously, a loud clap, which Fleming thought was the blast of a gun. Fleming's account of the sequence of events aligned with that of another witness, Oregon State Police detective Sergeant James O'Brien, who had been beside Prescott at the time

of the shooting. As Prescott reached for the warrant, O'Brien testified, I saw mister Banks appear and he had this rifle leveled to his shoulder and he called out, lookout, and I cried look out George at the same instant and tried to pull Prescott away, and just as I did so, the shot was fired. On cross examination, Frank Lonergan asked

O'Brien questions about Prescott's use of force. O'Brien confirmed that Prescott had quickly stuck his foot in the door as Edith Banks tried to close it, but he said that Prescott never put his shoulder against the door and forcefully denied Lonargan's claim that he and Prescott were quote pushing on the door to force it open. With their next witnesses a string of law enforcement officials who searched the Bank's house after the murder, the prosecution worked to establish premeditation.

Deputy Sheriff Phil Loud testified to the contents of the letter that Banks had written to him before the murder, the one in which the defendant had written, quote, any effort to arrest me will result in bloodshed and probably my own death. Edward H. Thomas, an auditor for the State Industrial Accident Commission, testified about a disturbing encounter he'd had with Banks on March fourteenth, two days before the murder.

Thomas came to Banks's home. Thomas was trying to get records from Banks about an unrelated labor matter, and Warren Banks that if he did not get the record soon, he would have to issue a subpoena. Banks's reaction to this shocked Thomas. He began swearing and told Thomas, quote, I will pluck your heart or any other man's heart out that comes to this door to serve papers on me, miming picking up a rifle. Banks said again, I can

pluck any man's heart out that comes up to this door. Thomas, dumbfounded, responded, surely you wouldn't be foolish enough to do anything like that. Events two days later would prove otherwise. More evidence of premeditation came from Rodney Roach, an Oregon State Police officer. Roach testified to finding a loaded revolver inside the Bank's house after the shooting, as well as extra ammunition, all

concealed underneath a woman's coat on a cot. The defense, in an argument held out of the jury's hearing, objected to this testimony. Frank Lannigan said that there was no evidence that the revolver even belonged to Banks, and pointed out that Roach had found it more than six hours

after the shooting. The evidence, Lonargan said, was being quote introduced here by this state in an effort to show that an arsenal existed in the bank's home and to lead the jury into the realms of conjecture and speculation. The information presented here is done for prejudicial purposes and to inflame the minds of the jury. Ralph Moody said that the evidence was important for the jury in reaching

a conclusion about premeditation. The revolver, he argued, demonstrated quote the existence of a conspiracy backed by a deliberate and premeditated plan in which both defendants took part. Judge Skipworth agreed with the prosecution's argument, ruling that the testimony was admissible because quote, under the charge of first degree murder,

the state must show intent, preparedness, and premeditation. While it is admitted the weapon was not the one used in the alleged slaying of Prescott, it still has a bearing on the purported preparedness for battle of the defendants. The state was less successful in introducing another piece of evidence. C. A. Warren, a sergeant with the State Police, testified that he found a letter in the pocket of a coat in llew

Allen Banks's bedroom. When the prosecution tried to admit this letter into evidence, the defense objected, saying that nothing in the letter indicated who it was written by or when it was written. As such, there was no way to connect it to the crime. Judge Skipworth agreed the prosecution would try multiple times to get this letter admitted. Why was it so important to them? Because it was their strongest evidence of Edith Banks's involvement in the case. We

haven't talked much about Edith yet. Fifty one years old, with strong features and round spectacles, Edith cut an imposing figure. She wore a mink coat to jury selection and a sealskin coat to the trial's opening. She had once been Banks's secretary and was now his second wife. They had a daughter, Ruth May, who was twelve years old. Edith was very involved in the Good Government Congress and well

aware of her husband's potentially violent plans. In the letter that the prosecution wanted to introduce, Edith had counseled Llewellyn not to write down any of his instructions for the gunmen he planned to assemble. Don't use a written bulletin Edith wrote, use word of mouth instead. That way she thought he could avoid being charged should legal issues arise. She also said quote, if you are going to fight, that should be from home. Unfortunately for the prosecution, they

could not prove that Edith had written the letter. It was addressed to Daddy and signed mother. The prosecution brought on Llewellyn Banks's former secretary, Marjorie Satterly, who stated that Edith and Llewellyn frequently called one another Daddy, dear, daddy, and mother, both verbally and in writing. Satterly, who said that she was very familiar with Edith Banks's handwriting, also

identified the writer of the letter as Edith Banks. But Judge Skipworth again ruled against admitting the letter, telling the lawyers out of the hearing of the jury that the letter was too general and vague. If the letter was dated and identified specific circuitcumstances of a threat, or indicated a specific target, its informative value might outweigh its prejudicial impact. But the letter did not have any of those things.

He therefore ruled that it would not be admitted. The prosecution satisfied that they had introduced enough other evidence to prove the Banks's guilt gave up the issue. They rested their case on the afternoon of May eleventh. As historian Joe Blakelee points out in his book Rebellion, Murder, and a Pulitzer Prize, the prosecution had presented a solid case, but a dry one. The defense, if they could sway the jury's emotions, might have a chance. The next morning,

the defense began their presentation. They came out swinging, calling Llewellyn Banks as their first witness. Banks, as usual, presented a polished figure, now sixty two years old. He wore wire framed spectacles and a gray three piece suit. On stage at Giugi c Rally's, Banks seemed larger than life. One observer recalled how Banks quote knew how to work the crowd. He'd get the tempo going, get them to nod their heads. He could get them to do anything.

But on the stand, Banks appeared nervous and awkward as Lanagan walked him through his testimony. Though Banks grew more comfortable, he began to gesticulate more, occasionally pounding on the arms of his chair for emphasis and even standing up. He said that he had been targeted and harassed by law

enforcement in the county for his political work. He said that George Prescott had threatened to shoot him on site, and he claimed that on the day of the shooting, he quote saw what I believed to be a pistol in Prescott's hand. This claim of self defense had not been Banks's first idea for a defense strategy. While in jail before the trial, he had presented another theory of the case, both to his defense attorneys and to Oregon State Police Captain Lee Bone. He told them that he

had not fired the fatal shot at all. The real murderer was another man, a private detective he had hired to work as his bodyguard. The man, whose name Banks would or could not give, had shot Prescott and then escaped the police by running out of the back door and hiding amongst the gathering crowd. His defense attorneys strongly counseled Banks against trying to use this story in court, instead convincing him that a self defense and temporary insanity

defense would work better. Banks initially objected to the insanity defense, but eventually agreed to it. To this end, the defense called several doctors to the stand to testify to Banks's mental condition. Doctor S. E. Josepfi, a specialist in quote nervous and mental diseases, examined Banks for several hours in jail. From this examination, doctor Josef concluded that quote, at the time of the shooting, Banks was insane. He was affected

with what is known as transitory mania. Under cross examination by Moody, doctor Josefe expanded on this condition, quote, mister Banks was so confused in thought by the very disturbing circumstances of the episode that his mental stability was broken down for a time, varying from a few moments to several minutes. Doctor B. F. Scaife, another doctor and defense witness, concurred with doctor Josefi's conclusions, describing transitory mania as quote

a frenzied, excited, explosive mania. A patient in that condition seems to have an irresistible impulse to accomplish something, whether it is homicide, suicide, or whatever flashes into his mind at that time. Aside from these expert witnesses, the defense's case mainly consisted of two types of witnesses. The first group were character witnesses, prominent Jackson County residents who testified to Banks being a good man. The second group were

witnesses who tried to establish the threat against Banks. Several testified to hearing George Prescott threatened to kill Banks, while others claims to have seen Prescott aiming a gun at the bank's house while he walked up the stairs on the morning of the murder. The testimony of these witnesses was not convincing. They were all GGC members and no one could corroborate any of their evidence. The prosecution also introduced impartial rebuttal witnesses who disputed accounts of Prescott holding

a gun. After calling twenty four witnesses, the defense rested on May sixteenth. The prosecution called several rebuttal witnesses, ding character witnesses who spoke about Officer Prescott's calm nature, as well as medical witnesses of their own who disputed the

diagnosis of transitory mania. On Thursday, the case concluded. Before closing arguments could begin, Judge Skipworth spoke to the lawyers once more out of the hearing of the jurors he wanted, he said, to be sure that the right interpretation is placed on the law by both sides of the case in appealing to the jury. He then went on to explain that the law allows an officer with an arrest warrant to quote break open any door or portal if

entrance is refused. Thus, any self defense arguments would need to prove that quote the officer was using more force than necessary, or had threatened the defendant and was attempting to commit a felony on his person. With that, the jury was brought back in and closing arguments began. Ralph Moody presented the state's first argument. He disputed the defense's self defense argument, saying, quote, nobody was pestering Banks but

his creditors. That is no justification for Banks to murder Prescott. He said that both lew Ellen and Edith Banks had planned and prepared for violence. Frank Lnergan and Charles Hardy presented a different version of events in their defense closings.

Hardy called Banks a victim of quote, organized persecution. Lonergan described Banks's state of mind on the day of the murder, saying, quote, Banks was a hounded man, staying in his home for ten days before the tragedy to avoid trouble, planning to leave for the mountains to save his own life. Finally, when he saw Prescott trying to break into his home

to get him. Banks lost his reason. He asked the jurors to be merciful to the Banks's, who he described as an an elderly couple who just wanted to raise their daughter, Ruth May in peace. Moody returned to deliver the prosecution's final closing argument. Throughout the trial, he wrote in a letter he had tried to be quote polite but unmistakably firm, and to handle myself in the court in a lawyer like manner. But now, perhaps inspired by

Lonargan's more emotional approach, Moody let loose. He picked up Banks's arrest warrant. The warrant had been retrieved from Prescott's dead body and was soaked in the man's blood. Moody waved it in front of the jury. He said that Llewellyn Banks had cold bloodedly murdered George Prescott and Edith Banks had helped him do it. He asked the jury to find the pair guilty and sentence them to death. With that, the trial concluded. Judge Skipworth's instructions to the

jury were straightforward. He explained the laws regarding self defense and insanity He told jurors that the guilt or innocence of each defendant should be decided separately, and he provided the jurors with six possible verdicts. First degree murder requiring the death penalty, first degree murder with a recommendation for life in prison, second degree murder, third degree murder, not

guilty by reason of insanity, or not guilty. When he had finished his instructions, he dismissed the jury to deliberate. It was three thirty pm on Saturday, May twentieth. The jury deliberated all afternoon and into the evening. At nine pm, they adjourned. The next day after breakfast in the hotel they had been sequestered in during the trial, they resumed their discussion at one thirty pm, after approximately ten total hours of deliberation, they noticed the court that they had

reached a verdict. People rushed into the courtroom to hear the verdict, reporters, GDC members, local residents just there for the show. The jury foreman delivered their decision to Judge Skipworth, who asked the defendants to stand. Then he read the verdict aloud on the charge of murder in the death of George Prescott. The defendant Edith Banks was found not guilty. The defendant Llewellyn Banks was found guilty. The jury had

found Banks guilty of second degree murder. Under Oregon law, the mandatory sentence for second degree murder was life in prison. Despite this, Banks seemed unemotional, telling reporters quote, I am undismayed. I have implicit faith in the eternal cause of righteousness. I have been persecuted, prosecuted and convicted by the special privilege interests at his side, Edith Banks wept. Banks's crime

and conviction produced a mixed reaction amongst GGC members. Most members were horrified and quickly renounced any affiliation with Banks or the group. Shortly after the shooting, many GGC members called the District Attorney's office and denounced the murder. DA Cotting told people to publicly withdraw their membership, and the Medford Mail Tribune printed many withdrawals over the following days. However, some die hard numbers supported Banks and believed that the

murder was just the beginning of the rebellion. One woman said publicly that Prescott quote got what was coming to him and said quote, there will be more of this in Gold Hill. One man said he was going to quote take twenty five men to Medford and clean out the gang. In Rogue River, a group of hardcore GGC loyalists allegedly planned to dynamite a mining operation and a hydroelectric plant. But by the end of nineteen thirty three, the GGC was on its last legs. Much of the

organization's leadership faced trials of their own. GGC president Henrietta Martin was convicted of variotous, violent and disorderly conduct for horsewhipping newspaper editor Leonard Hall, and over the summer, many men, including Earl Fayle and former sheriff Gordon Skemmerhorn, were found guilty for their roles in the ballot thefts. Skemerhorn was sentenced to three years in prison, while Fayle received the maximum sentence four years. This sentencing provoked one last eruption

of GGC violence. The day after the sentencing, a GGC supporter named Joe Joseph Johnston got into a fight with Chuck Davis, a Fail appointed county employee who had testified against fail in his trial. In the ensuing fight, Davis knocked Johnston down. Johnston hit his head on a concrete curb and died soon after. Writing about these events, the Oregonian said, quote, the Johnston tragedy must be counted as

another to be laid on the doorsteps of Banks. Going further, the newspaper behind quote, never has there been in the life of Oregon another man who has done such widespread harm as Banks. His megalomania, his obsession of persecution, his violent hatred of all who crossed his purposes, his terrifically perverted leadership have spread untold harm. The Oregonian was not wrong.

In his quest to escape responsibility for his financial failings, Banks had become a demagogue, leading his followers to violence. He preyed on people's insecurities and fears for his own ends, with deadly results. But Banks was not the only one whose behavior in nineteen thirty three was troubling. In their quest to defeat the GGC, some elected officials did trample

on people's rights. The Medford police held the Sexton brothers in jail for four days without allowing them to contact anyone, and the District attorney's office as they prepared for the ballot theft trials in the spring and summer of nineteen thirty three, engaged in a variety of underhanded and even illegal activities. They placed audio surveillance in the courthouse, using it to listen in to privileged attorney client conversations. They

tapped phones and intercepted letters and telegrams. These measures were not just used on defendants, but also on possible jurors, witnesses, and attorneys. The District Attorney's office did not use evidence obtained the surveillance in any trials, but it certainly informed

their legal strategy. As Jeffrey Leland notes quote in using such measures, Da Cotting gave at least some, albeit after the fact, substance to the ggc's charges of a conspiracy by the legal officers, And there was a grain of truth and banks and fails claims about the need for better representation in government. There was no gang, of course, no secret cabal of government officials conspiring to oppress the public.

But there were deep inequalities within the county. The county had an elite political class who regularly overlooked the less fortunate. People across the county deserved to have their voices heard and their needs met. That being said, the Good Government Congress was never going to help its members because its leaders were not interested in doing so. They were interested in personal gain, in being proved right, in putting themselves above the law, in grasping power and deploying it for

their own ends. Fortunately, though their defeat came at the cost of George Prescott's life, Llewellyn Banks and Earl Fayle did not succeed. Banks refused to accept failure. He still claimed that he had been framed. He said that people were trying to kill him in prison, going so far as to poison himself to try to prove his point. He tried to bribe a parole officer. A psychologist who examined him reported that Banks dreamed of running Oregon as

a military dictatorship. All of these things are not looked on favorably by parole boards. Banks spent the rest of his life in prison. Edith and Ruth May visited him for the first two years, but after Banks accus used Edith of stealing money from him, Edith stopped coming. Banks died of cancer in a prison hospital on September twenty first, nineteen forty five, aged seventy five. Edith moved back to California, dying at age eighty six on November tenth, nineteen sixty seven.

Earl Fayle also refused to admit his guilt. Fayle was released from prison in late nineteen thirty six and quickly resumed his old antics, suing the county to try to get his position as county judge back. He and his wife, Electa started publishing broadsides which libeled various government officials. He filed multiple lawsuits against anyone he could think of. He'd

tried to buy a rifle and rally the troops. Within three months of his return to Jackson County, the county had filed a notice of insanity against Fayle, and in December nineteen thirty seven, he was committed to the Oregon State hospit. After his release four years later, fail quieted down somewhat, though he kept up his favorite hobby of suing people for the rest of his life. He died in his home in Medford on January twenty ninth, nineteen

sixty two, aged seventy six. By this time, the Good Government Congress was long gone, but its legacy can still be felt in moments where charismatic leaders feed on the fears of their followers and in sight violence in those moments. We can learn from the example of those who stand up to such violence, including Jackson County newspaper editors Leonard Hall and Robert Rule. Both men had been outspoken against the GGC, even when it came at a personal cost.

Hall was horsewhipped and beaten several times, while Rule faced threats to himself and his family and had to post armed guards outside his newspaper's office. In May nineteen thirty four, Rule's paper, the Medford Mail Tribune, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service reporting. Hall, whose newspaper was a little less respectable, did not get such recognition, though even

Rule thought he deserved it. Another Oregon newspaper, the Eugene Register Guard, congratulated the Mail Tribune on its prize and hope that the win would send a message, writing quote, there are times when the easiest course, often for editors and politicians, is to cater to public prejudices and suspicions. The Pulletzer award to the Mail Tribune is a warning to demagogues that quackery has become a tiresome fashion. Ninety years later, it is still a warning that ought to

be heeded. That's the story of Oregon v. Llewellyn and Edith Banks. Stick around after the break for a look at how a program of real political reform helped preserve George Prescott's memory. In nineteen thirty three, just as the ballot theft trials were wrapping up, the first effects of

the New Deal made themselves felt in Jackson County. President Franklin Roosevelt had promised to bring America out of the Great Depression, saying in his presidential nomination speech quote, I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people. Over the next seven years, that new deal took shape via an ambitious set of laws, relief programs, and public works. Many of these programs benefited Jackson County.

Highway construction projects provided jobs, while price control codes allowed local industries like timber and fruit to get back on their feet. Medford also became the regional administrative head quarters for the Civilian Conservation Court. The CCC hired more than three million young men across the country to work on improving public lands. One of the CCC's projects in Medford was creating a trail system on land that had been

donated to the city. The resulting park, with an area of seventeen hundred acres, is the second largest park in Oregon. In nineteen thirty seven, the park was dedicated to the memory of George Prescott. The park Prescott Park still bears his name today. Thank you for listening to History on Trial. My main sources for this episode were Jeffrey max Leland's book The Jackson County Rebellion, A Populist Uprising and Depression era Oregon, and Joe R. Blakelee's book Rebellion Murder and

a Pulitzer Prize. For a full bibliography, as well as a transcript of this episode with citations, please visit our website History on Trial podcast dot com. History on Trial is written and hosted by me Mira Hayward. The show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producer Trevor Young and executive producers Dana Schwartz, Alexander Williams, Matt Frederick,

and Mira Hayward. Learn more about the show at History on Trial podcast dot com and follow us on Instagram at History on Trial and on Twitter at Underscore History on Trial. Find more podcasts from iHeartRadio by visiting the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.