Every lawyer has stories to tell—alarming, hilarious, intriguing, or just plain peculiar tales of people and events that require legal intervention in one way or another. James L. Robertson has collected a variety of Mississippi’s most notable accounts of law-breaking characters and balanced them out with a few outlandish but little-known episodes.
Robertson is well-positioned to let us in on the scoops. He not only taught at the University of Mississippi Law School for fifteen years, he also served on the Mississippi Supreme Court. A native of Greenville now living in Jackson, Robertson is immersed in the lore of this much-maligned state. Like any good Southerner, he also knows how to keep his audience engaged.
Rowdy Boundaries (UPress of Mississippi 2023) follows the physical and legal landscape of Mississippi—or more accurately, the illegal landscape—“starting at the Southwest Corner, and Then a Bit Easterly.” Robertson kicks off this collection with the stories of Mack Charles Parker and Will Purvis, two men barely past their teens but each accused of murder in 1959 and 1893, respectively. They have similarities, despite distance in locale and time:
“There is a common denominator….Each of these occurrences took place within and against the backdrop of ongoing communal life in a Mississippi county that furnishes a part of the state line.”
The end result of both these cases, Robertson reminds us, grew from a common stem that continues to grow throughout the state to this day.
The case against Ruth Idella Thompson Dickins is a real-life Southern gothic tale that includes family drama, racism, murder, and a charismatic personality so charming that even Robertson seems smitten.
“I noticed that an attractive, smartly dressed, almost sparkling elderly lady had appeared at the clerk’s counter and was seeking some sort of service or assistance….”
Despite his belief in her guilt, the convicted murderess seems to have impressed the author rather favorably with her old world Southern lady demeanor.
Filled with true stories of sex and murder, Rowdy Boundaries also contains less sensational but equally interesting tidbits about the state that encompasses coastal, delta, red clay, and even mini-mountains. For decades, Mississippi was the state where couples could marry without the three-day waiting period for blood test results. My own parents, in fact, were married in Corinth by a Justice of the Peace who likely earned a decent living performing impromptu ceremonies. According to Robertson, “In the year 1957, almost 66,500 marriage licenses were issued in Mississippi.” Of all the things this state could be known for, encouraging young lovers is surely the most benign and surely the most attractive.
From Elvis to Tennessee Williams, from Natchez Under-The-Hill to the Mighty Mississippi, James L Robertson finds a narrative to fit the mood and landscape of the 82 counties. Robertson’s research is impeccable, and his understanding of the legal and social nuances enhances the inherently fascinating stories of people and the places that shaped them. Every Mississippian would enjoy reading this unconventional history of the state; those readers outside its boundaries will be entertained, enlightened, and often surprised by the depth of characters and history contained here.
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