Blood Legacy Murder victim remembered at Spirit Walk

James Pylant, author of ”Blood Legacy,” will join the “Spirit Walk” for a retelling of the 1925 F. M. Snow murders. The annual tour will begin on Sunday, November 1 at 2 p.m. at West End Cemetery. The cost for a tour is $5.

This year is especially significant--it is the 165th birthday of Samantha Olds,one of the historical character featured during the tour. Samantha was murdered, along with her daughter Maggie Smith; and grandson, Bernie Connally, on November 27 1925, by her son-in-law, Francis Marion Snow.

Journalists called F. M. Snow “The Bloody Butcher of Stephenville.” His trade as wood chopper was a coincidence.

“Blood Legacy” details the chilling violent saga that resulted in 20 shocking deaths. Best-selling crime writer and journalist Carlton Stowers calls it “a well written true tale with Gothic overtones and more than a hint of Stephen King style horror.” After the book’s release, one descendant changed his name.

Pylant opens his book with the cold-blooded murders that took place in 1925. However, his research reveals the uncanny links to an eerie trail of premeditated killings and seductive slayings that began 50 years earlier.

The most compelling part of this true crime account are the women who help create these blood baths. Prior publications in crime magazines paint these women as victims, but Pylant dispels these myths. In “Blood Legacy,” he lifts the veil of secrecy and offers a solid chronicling of the events crafted with a writing style that is both captivating and accessible.

“Blood Legacy” examines frontier justice, racial strife, and corruption. One of Snow’s victims, Bernie Connally was related to the famous Connally family of Texas. Pylant exposes how Snow’s wife, Maggie, was a skilled manipulator. Tragedy fell upon all but one of her five husbands, Wiley McGregor, who called her “a goddamn crook.” Her questionable relationship with one of the most powerful attorneys in Central Texas, who referred to her as his “charity case, “ would be a potent ally in her crafty schemes.

A brief look into Samantha’s world and the murders.

In 1925 Texans were stunned when two hunters discovered a decapitated head of a young man in abandoned farmhouse near the town of Stephenville. ”That head was starring straight at me,” stated Elvis Riggs whose family owned the house.

The sheriff exhibited the head at the morgue, hoping someone could provide a positive id. He noted there was over 6,000 people that would come to view the face of the “pretty boy.” Many offered a name to the mysterious face, but none were correct. It was Ida Gristy who made the positive match naming Bernie Connally. Little did she now that in mentioning F. M. Snow, Bernie’s stepfather that she was naming the butcher who committed the murder.

The two other victims, Maggie Snow and Samantha Olds were discovered in the fireplace of their farmhouse, their remains having been reduced to ashes with a few charred bones and teeth. The terrible odor of decaying flesh and the swarm of flies led investigators to conclude the bodies were buried under the floor boards and then removed to be burned in the hearth. A woman’s face was faintly etched on the bricks at the back of the chimney.

F. M. Snow confessed and took the investigators to the Moore farm where the body of Bernie Connally was left. Moore noted his livestock acted strangely, and he had difficulty diving them out of Cedar Point. Snow walked the men to a path where the decomposing body lay stomach-down in the brush. The throat was invaded by worms and between the shoulder blades was a gunshot wound that penetrated deeply into the back.

F. M. Snow was brought to trial, found guilty and executed in 1927.

The murders were ignited over an argument between Snow and his wife when she let the cows loose in the cotton patch. Snow flew into a rage because his cotton crop was damaged. Nineteen-year-old Bernie made the grave mistake of taking sides with his mother.

Samantha Ann Rachael Jones Smith Olds was born On October 31, 1850 in Cherokee, Texas, daughter of Wiley and Elizabeth Jones.

She gravitated toward violence all her life. From the time she was a little girl fear fueled every move. Her stepfather, a man accustomed to danger, served as lieutenant in command of Bosque County Rangers. The farm where they lived was under constant threat of Indian raids, and Samantha would learn quickly how to shoot to kill. The survival skill stuck with her as one local notes: “That old lady would shoot better than any man I know. She lived down by the wagon yards and used to shoot up the place right regular--just for the hell of it.”

Samantha had another weapon that proved just as deadly, her physical beauty. Her seductive, petite frame coupled with a vivacious spirit attracted her first husband by her late teens.

Her first marriage to gambler Amos Smith ended with his murder. Smith and Samantha had some troubles. He had a hot temper and criminal record. He was arrested for theft, forgery and murder. He killed his neighbor with a hoe over a land boundary dispute.

Samantha was involved in two romantic entanglements with Smith’s fellow gamblers Wood and Ledwell. This would instigate the crime.

Wood grew paranoid that he would end up dead at the hands of Smith. He, along with Ledwell arranged a kill-for-hire. On July 26, 1875, Smith headed toward Samantha’s and was gunned down on his horse.

The gunner was a black man named Alf, and all three were arrested. While awaiting court, a vigilante group captured the men and held their own ”trial.” They found them guilty and ordered death by hanging. The vigilante executors used the incident to send a clear message: ”HUNG SURE AS HELL.”

Her second husband, Bill Olds, was also abusive. He would end his days in the Erath County Poor Farm in Smith Springs.

Although Samantha was never formally charged in her husband’s murder, blood was on her hands.

Like Samantha, the women in her family craved dangerous men, firearms, and living on the edge.

Another of Samantha’s daughters, Edna Olds Gilliland, robbed a food market in a desperate attempt to feed her children. Pointing a .12 gauge double-barreled shotgun at the store owner, she vowed to make good on the groceries when money came available. She kept her promise, paid up and no charges were filed.

Edna’s daughters, Rose and Amma Gilliland, had a thirst for risky adventure. They, along with a friend, made their way over the Mexican border on horseback. Pancho Villa and his cohorts happened to end up in the same cantina where the girls were drinking. Despite their flirtatious play, the Gilliland sisters did not suffer the brutal gang rape which their friend endured. Pancho’s gang knew the reputation of the family and released them.

The vicious cycle started with Samantha would be follow her children. Maggie increased the vehemence and mastered a zeal for conning and taste for blood. Pylant notes Samantha became most dependent on her. “With their lives more intertwined, two tragedies became eerily parallel yet were eclipsed by a shared and violent fate,” he writes.

Maggie’s last seduction would seal their fate. It did not take long for Maggie to charm the anti-social drifter F M Snow in the cotton field. Samantha and Bernie made a home with newlyweds who married October 6, 1925, just 52 days from the murders.

To find out more visit James Pylant

To order Blood Legacy visit Alibris

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PHOTOS

Blood Legacy Cover
A sketch portraying Samantha Olds at the Snow Farm House
Photo of Bernie Connally, son of Maggie and San Connally. Murdered by F. M. Snow in 1925
Fireplace at the farmhouse where Samantha and Maggie were burned (bone and teeth) providing evidence of cremation.
F. M. Snow arrest picture.
A news clip from Monroe Star (January 1926). At F. M. Snow’s execution, his last recorded words were: “I had a good breakfast, a great dip of snuff; I am feeling punked, and I’ll see you sons of bitches in hell.”