Ch3 Cedar Choppers Ep 6 Defending Hill Country Killings

Our Westlake

Emmett Shelton Sr, (1905-2000) continues his tales as a lawyer in Austin related to Hill Country killings, 100 years ago. The first story is that of Emmett's friend and right-hand man in Westlake, Earl Short. He was a hard-working cedar chopper, rock worker and bootlegger. He got crosswise with another bootlegger and killed him. Emmett tells an interesting tale about defending Earl and he was acquitted.
Another Austin bootlegger, Sonny Ross, took up with his competitor's cheating wife and Sonny shot the husband. After new evidence came out in court, the jury gave Sonny 5 years.
Blondie and Curly Wright were well-known Austin street-fighters in Austin and they beat a man to death. Emmett helped prosecute the case and they were sent to prison. Twenty years later, Curly was arrested again for a murder in Bastrop. Curly called Emmett to defend him. Emmett's son, Polk, got him off.
Cheating wives are often involved in murder cases. In another Austin case Emmett defended a man who killed a neighbor who he suspected of fooling around with his wife. An Austin jury sentenced him to 50 years. In a similar case, Tom Carpenter shot his wife. Emmett defended Tom but he also got 50 years.
In the 1930s, Mattie Collins lived across Bee Cave Road from the current site of the County Line Restaurant. Maddie's husband got to arguing with their daughter. He shot the daughter in front of the daughter's husband and the husband shot the father. Emmett represented the daughter's husband and he was cleared by the jury.
A particularly interesting case was that of Ms. Wells. She was from a wealthy Austin family. She and two men were popular local musicians. One of her musician friends was found dead in her living room and she was charged with the butcher knife murder. She denied it. Emmett defended her and saw that she was not indicted.
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Stories told by Emmett Shelton / compiled and submitted by Cynthia Shelton.