Frozen Moments

The saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words!" This picture is 100 years old, many of my ancestors are in it. My great-grannie took it, it was taken, the summer of 1920, the day of the annual picnic and bar-b-q that my great grand-dad did for all his family and friends. My great grand-dad is the man standing in the picture.

There are many of my ancestors in it, most sitting down front in the middle. It's said they are all laughing at the man on the left, cause when he sat down, he let a big fart out! He was one of great grand-dad's auto mechanics at his repair shop.

See the man circled, his name is Jack William Richardson, he's my great grand-dad's nephew. A few months after this picture was taken he caused all their lives to flip and flop, all topsy turvy like, to say the least!

This picture is worth way more than a thousand words, trust me!

Instead of me trying to explain everything, let's just flip through the transcript of the court case record; it's called docket number 70565-41-1920, docket just means file number, and honestly, it's kind of boring in a way, so let's just look at the good parts.

BALIFF:

Your attention please, all rise. The Fifth Circuit Court for the State of Wisconsin is now in session. The Honorable Judge Annette Ziegler now presiding.

Please maintain court decorum and respect. All persons having business before this court may now approach the bench.

All can be seated.

CLERK:

People of the State of Wisconsin against Jack William Richardson, Docket Number 70565-41-1920.

JUDGE:

This case is now ready to proceed.

Is the prosecution ready?

Will the attorneys identify themselves for the record?

PROSECUTING ATTORNEY (P.A.):

My name is Adrian Jones, prosecuting attorney for the city of Milwaukee, State of Wisconsin.

DEFENSE ATTORNEY (D.A.):

My name is Peter Wilson, defense attorney, representing Mr. Jack William Richardson.

JUDGE:

Does the prosecutor have any challenges of the jurors?

P.A.:

No, your honor, the people are satisfied with the selection.

JUDGE:

And defense?

D.A.:

No, your honor, defense is also satisfied.

JUDGE:

We have a jury. The clerk will administer the swearing in.

CLERK:

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, please rise. Please raise your right hand in accordance with this swearing in of the following oath.

Members of the jury, do you swear to solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm, that you will give a justifiably true verdict according to and based solely on the evidence?

If so, please say, I do.

JURORS:

"I do." in unison.

CLERK:

You may be seated.

JUDGE:

Does the prosecution have an opening statement?

P.A.:

Yes, your honor. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I intend to prove that Jack William Richardson is guilty, as charged:

• Two counts of felony murder in the first degree, that of Mr. Samuel Thomas Hutchinson and his wife Mrs. Dorothy Allison Hutchinson.
• One count of Class Five felony arson, that of possession of explosive materials.
• One count of Class Six felony arson, that of intent to implement such materials to cause bodily harm and/or death.

I will prove that Jack William Richardson's actions were premeditated and of free will. He deliberately and intentionally sought out and fraudulently purchased the needed materials, for which he planned and used to murder Mr. & Mrs. Hutchinson.

Thank you.

JUDGE:

Does defense wish to make an opening statement?

D.A.:

Yes, the defense would. Your honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the charges of murder and arson against my client, Jack William Richardson are untrue.

Jack's intention has always been to be helpful and assist in any way possible to his aunt and uncle, the Hutchinson couple.

As well, to be an honest, hardworking, well-mannered liked member of society and a respectful law-abiding man. I shall prove to you that there was no malice or premeditation of any kind pertaining to the horrific unfortunate accident that took the lives of Mr. & Mr. Hutchinson.

Thank you.

JUDGE:

Will the prosecution call its first witness?

P.A.:

I call Mr. Stan Harrison to the stand.

CLERK:

Please raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

STAN:

I do.

P.A.:

Detective, you were the lead investigator in charge of the Hutchinson case?

STAN:

Yes, I was.

P.A.:

Please tell the court what happened when you first arrived at the scene?

STAN:

Upon arriving about 7:45 pm, I noted it was secured by local police officers and the fire had been contained and was being tended to by the local fire department. In being briefed, it was suspected the remains of two persons were still in the residence and those remains were not intact.

My team took over securing the area to relief the other officers, and I took a look around the exterior of the house and property with the fire chief at the scene.

About an hour later, the fire was extinguished but still hot, so we maintained security around the area for the night.

P.A.:

Did you return to the scene in the morning? If so, what happened?

STAN:

Yes, my security officers switch at 7 am, so I arrived back around 6:30 am to be briefed of any overnight events, and there were none.

Shortly after 7 am, the house was cleared by the fire chief, meaning not hot and no hot spots, it was safe.

The support service teams arrived about 7:30 am, those being members of the Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators and Centre of Forensic Investigators.

P.A.:

Detective, do you have knowledge of the processes, functions and tests these support teams performed at the scene? If so, have you seen and read the various test results?

STAN:

Yes, as the lead investigator I have to be informed of every detail and especially if anything at the scene will be disturbed or taken away, even for testing purposes. I need to document and approve it all and yes, I have seen and read the test results.

P.A.:

Your honor, I'd like to submit these twenty affidavits, as exhibits "A thru T", testimonials from each professional support service person, their various tests and results.

Detective, as a professional investigator, do you understand these test results and what they mean? If so, please elaborate for the court.

STAN:

Yes, I understand them very well; it's a very crucial part of my job for the past twenty plus years. The various tests confirm that explosive materials were used and caused the intense fire. Char that is left on all the surfaces contain many chemical components consistent with explosive materials. Furthermore, other tests confirmed the presence of human DNA from two victims, a male and a female.

P.A.:

Thank you, that's all at this time.

JUDGE:

Does defense wish to cross examine this witness?

D.A.:

No, your honor.

JUDGE:

Prosecution, call your next witness.

Now it starts getting boring; fifteen more pages of he asks this and they say that, blah, blah, blah!

Oh, here's my great grandparents on their wedding day, so sweet, hey!

Ok, let's look at this...

JUDGE:

Does the prosecution have a closing statement?

P.A.:

Yes, your honor.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you've heard numerous witness testimonials from Mr. Hutchinson's friends, family, employees, bank manager, and all those members of the Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators and Centre for Forensic Investigators. The latter, all confirming that Mr. & Mrs. Hutchinson were both killed and their residence blown up by explosive materials.

You heard that Jack William Richardson had complete access to and from the residence as a trusted loving nephew. He was seen by the gardener and handyman carrying in and out of the basement numerous suspicious looking brown paper wrapped boxes, over a period of three months prior to the event occurring.

As well, housekeeping staff witnessed Mr. Richardson leaving many small brown paper wrapped boxes in the den and smoking room at Mr. Hutchinson's residence, the very day of the explosion.

Mr. Richardson under false pretenses purchased specific materials from his uncle's own automotive supplier, not charging it to the company account because he personally needed them, and so his uncle would not find out.

Lastly, you heard from Mr. Stephen, the bank manager, that Mr. Richardson accompanied his uncle to the bank a few days prior to the event.

I ask the jury to carefully think about everything you have heard about the deliberate actions of Jack William Richardson, those many suspicious brown paper wrapped boxes and the explosion that killed his aunt and uncle and destroyed their home.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, there is only one true verdict you can possibly deliver and that is guilty, guilty as charged.

Thank you.

JUDGE:

Does defense have a closing statement?

D.A.:

Yes, your honor.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I ask you to seriously think about the kind of defense Mr. Richardson can possibly obtain.

The man that has all the answers, his uncle, Mr. Hutchinson, is dead. The answers are forever gone.

What was in those many suspicious brown paper wrapped boxes Mr. Hutchinson asked his nephew to move in and out of the basement for whatever reason, we'll never know.

Why did he ask his nephew to place those smaller brown paper wrapped boxes in the den and smoking room, we'll never know.

Sure, all the professional testimonials prove an explosion happened, a fire happened and yes, poor Mr. & Mrs. Hutchinson died. Those professionals did their job, that's it.

We all heard and saw with our own two ears and eyes, the explosion and fire; yes, we all suspected the Hutchinson couple were inside, and it was confirmed. But that's it, everything was burnt to a crisp.

There were no boxes in the basement, none in the den or smoking room; actually, there was no basement, den or smoking room anymore, it was all gone.

Mr. Richardson is a good person, that did as he was asked by his aunt and uncle. He didn't question them or pry into their lives; he was a kind loving nephew that helped and assisted them when he was needed; that's it.

Yes, he made a purchase under false pretenses; to fix a mistake he did in throwing out the wrong bags, trying to replace them and not wanting his uncle to know and be cross with him.

I ask the jury to give deep thought about this decent man, Mr. Richardson and being incarcerated for years and years for something he had no part of.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, there is only one true verdict you can possibly deliver and that is not guilty, not guilty of all charges.

Thank you.

Ok, now its all that mumbo jumbo stuff the judge tells the jury about the law and blah, blah, blah.

The end result was Jack William Richardson was found not guilty of all charges!

Still to this day, 100 years later, no one knows exactly what happened!

Jack left the court house that day a free man!

However, it didn't end there!

Stories 100 years old get all wonky but supposedly Jack's parents feared him after all that; they told him they were worried people would be out to get him. They gave him some money, the family car and told him to leave and go start a new life somewhere.

As Jack was packing his belongings into the car, all the family members watching started singing...

Hit the road Jack, don't cha come back

No more, no more, no more, no more

Hit the road Jack, don't cha come back

No more, no more, no more, no more

Hit the road Jack, don't cha come back

No more, no more, no more, no more