Elizabeth Yerby was the daughter of Captain William and Frances Margaret McTyre Yerby. She married William Shepherd Jr about 1792 in Anson Co., NC. Their children were Michael Legrand Sr, John, William III, Isaac, Mary Louise, Hughley, Frances S, Nancy, Jemiriah, Sarah, Robert, Richmond Mack, Elizabeth, thomas and Jacob Solon Shepherd.
The following article was in the newspaper concerning her death.
A highly sensational hanging took place at Fayette Court House around 1851 when a young slave woman paid for her crime at the end of a rope.
Pherebe (Shepherd), a slave murdered her mistress, ELIZABETH YERBY SHEPHERD, a widow living at the time near Newtonville, AL. According to all accounts the crime was pre-meditated. The young slave woman leaped on her old defenseless mistress and slit her throat with a butcher knife. Elizabeth Shepherd had only been in Fayette County a few years at the time of her death, having arrived there in 1845, from Anson County, North Carolina. She came with a family group that included her sons and daughters, MICHAEL SHEPHERD, ROBERT SHEPHERD, RICHMOND MAC SHEPHERD, ELIZABETH JR, AND NANCY SHEPHERD and perhaps others. Slaves were brought with them. The Shepherds were prosperous farming people, even considered wealthy for that day.
Elizabeth was the widow of William Shepherd, Jr. who died in North Carolina, in 1823.
Her home, one and a half miles north-west of Newtonville on Bear Creek, was an old two story log house, built and occupied as a dwelling before she ever came there. (Today it is the Matt Freeman place.) Here she was surrounded by the other members of the family. MICHAEL SHEPHERD settled on land formerly owned by Levi & Jason Guin. ROBERT SHEPHERD, a miller located near by. ISAAC SHEPHERD, who lived across the creek from his mother had settled there in 1825 when he came into the county with his father in law SIMON POE. JACOB SHEPHERD another son married Mariah Nall, had lived at Newtonville since 1836. A granddaughter, Elizabeth Shepherd Williams, who lived in the vicinity was the wife of Bedford H Williams, later Probate Judge of the county. Some of the family had settled there as early as 1825.
There were other children of the widow, making fifteen in all, the oldest were born before 1800. JEMIRIAH SHEPHERD married a Stack, JOHN SHEPHERD lived in Henderson, TN, WILLIAM SHEPHERD went to Holmes Co., MS, MARY LOUISE SHEPHERD married WILLIAM BRAZEALE and lived in Tuscaloosa Co., AL., FRANCES SHEPHERD married DANIEL WATTS and lived in Holmes Co., MS. SARAH SHEPHERD born 15 July 1811 married GRIFFIN TRULL and died 20 June 1892 in Lamar Co., AL. HUGH SHEPHERD married Elizabeth Reid and went to Rusk Co., TX. ELIZABETH JR AND NANCY unmarried daughters and RICHMOND MAC SHEPHERD an unmarried son were perhaps living with their mother.
ELIZABETH SHEPHERD'S father was WILLIAM YERBY born 1728. Her mother was FRANCES MARGARET McTYRE, daughter of THOMAS McTYRE. They married in Lancaster Co., VA April 17, 1753. EVERETTE YERBY was a brother of Elizabeth. He and his wife SARAH McMILLAN YERBY were among the earliest settlers of Tuscaloosa Co., AL. They are listed with the original members of Bethel Baptist Church on the Falls of the Black Warrior constituted 31 Jan 1818. AMON & HOGAN YERBY, nepphews of Elizabeth, were well known in Fayette County where they left numberous descendants.
The murder was committed in the late afternoon, just before dark, as the old widow sat on the back door steps, feed her chickens. The Shepherd family was thrown into a state of wild excitement and grief when the murder was discovered. When dark came no Pherebe was to be found. A light, bobbing along in the darkness some distance from the house, was later observed. It was Pherebe. She carried a lantern,
When apprehended, she was tied with a rope and taken to the county jail, and held there until all legal remedies were exhausted. Judge John J. Ormond, a widely known and highly regarded Tuscaloosa lawyer, represented her. Formerly he had been an Alabama Supreme Court Judge. In the June Term of Supreme Court of 1849 the case wa s ruled on and reversed. Pherebe was re-tried in Fayette Circuit Court and again sentenced to hang.
To say that she received a fair trial is only stating a fact, however, there are those today who say her trial was as fair as could be in those days when the law was not lenient toward criminals and took little cognizance of the mental and emotional state of mind at the time a crime was committed. Pherebe was held in jail for two years or more. She most likely murdered her mistress in the latter part of the year 1848.
When the Federal Census was taken in 1850, those prisoners held in jail were listed. Named among them was Pherebe Shepherd, age 25, born in North Carolina. The date was Jan. 7, 1851 when she was sentenced to hang the second time. The execution was set to be on a Friday, in remembrance of the crucification.
The hanging took place somewhere near the court house, then located in Old Town. The prisoner was transported to the place of execution along with her coffin, which had been made at county expense. The limb of a large oak tree, later known as th e "hanging tree", is believed to have served as a gallows. As the voice of a minister of the gospel rose to beg mercy on the soul of the condemned woman, the rope snapped taunt. The Shepherds made up a large group on hand to see Pherebe hang. Among them was Jacob Shepherd and his small son Mart.
In the day when hangings were public events they attracted large crowds of spectators, including women and children and babes in arm. The day of hanging was one of excitement, carousing and drinking, a day of carnival atmosphere. On this day the roads leading to Fayette Court House were choked with the wagons of farmers bringing their families into town. The more sedate people not wishing to mingle with the crowds, kept on the outskirts of viewed the hanging from some convenient window. Merchants and peddlers took full advantage of the opportunity to make their sales. People often traveled for several days to reach the place of a hanging. Women impelled to view this ghastly spectacle, made themselves new dresses for the occas ion. An old English ballad, popular in the South at this time was called "The Hangmans Tree". A young woman, who was to hang, expected to be saved at the last minute. Her piteous cry in every stanza was, "Slack the rope,
Hangman, O slack it for a while". None came to save her. Nor did one come to save Pherebe either. As a usual thing, the corpse was allowed to hang for a time as a warning to others.
For years this story served as a grizzly subject for fireside conversation, So impressed were young members of the Shepherd family that they, in their dangerous and unsupervised play, attempted to re-enact the hanging. The childish prank was told many times on Mart Shepherd, who almost succeeded in stringing up his sister, Peninah Shepherd.
At the time of the execution of the slave woman, the body of Elizabeth Shepherd reposed in a lonely unmarked grave at a church yard a short distance from the family home. Around 1857 Elizabeth Shepherd, Jr. died. In her will she directed that ten dollars of her money be used for a "tomb rock" for her mother's death. MICHAEL SHEPHERD died and a few years later RICHMON MAC SHEPHERD who was the second post master of Newtonville and operator of a store there pased away. His lands included a part of the Mayfield farm. All of these Shepherds were buried at the nearby church cemetery, but their graves could not be found today. In time corn and cotton grew over their resting places. Grave markers were cleared away and put to more practical uses, such as chimney rocks, hearth stones and pillars for house building. Today undergrowth completely hides the place once pointed out as the site of the old cemetery.
With the passing of a generation or two, the burial place of Pherebe was generally forgotten. Expensive homes with neatly kept lawns now occupy the place where a miserable Pherebe spent her last days. It is hardly possible that the poor helpless creature could have understood the enormity of her crime and the fate she would suffer for her rash act. They say she believed that if she murdered her mistress she would be free. Pherebe wanted to be free.
The following article was in the newspaper concerning her death.
A highly sensational hanging took place at Fayette Court House around 1851 when a young slave woman paid for her crime at the end of a rope.
Pherebe (Shepherd), a slave murdered her mistress, ELIZABETH YERBY SHEPHERD, a widow living at the time near Newtonville, AL. According to all accounts the crime was pre-meditated. The young slave woman leaped on her old defenseless mistress and slit her throat with a butcher knife. Elizabeth Shepherd had only been in Fayette County a few years at the time of her death, having arrived there in 1845, from Anson County, North Carolina. She came with a family group that included her sons and daughters, MICHAEL SHEPHERD, ROBERT SHEPHERD, RICHMOND MAC SHEPHERD, ELIZABETH JR, AND NANCY SHEPHERD and perhaps others. Slaves were brought with them. The Shepherds were prosperous farming people, even considered wealthy for that day.
Elizabeth was the widow of William Shepherd, Jr. who died in North Carolina, in 1823.
Her home, one and a half miles north-west of Newtonville on Bear Creek, was an old two story log house, built and occupied as a dwelling before she ever came there. (Today it is the Matt Freeman place.) Here she was surrounded by the other members of the family. MICHAEL SHEPHERD settled on land formerly owned by Levi & Jason Guin. ROBERT SHEPHERD, a miller located near by. ISAAC SHEPHERD, who lived across the creek from his mother had settled there in 1825 when he came into the county with his father in law SIMON POE. JACOB SHEPHERD another son married Mariah Nall, had lived at Newtonville since 1836. A granddaughter, Elizabeth Shepherd Williams, who lived in the vicinity was the wife of Bedford H Williams, later Probate Judge of the county. Some of the family had settled there as early as 1825.
There were other children of the widow, making fifteen in all, the oldest were born before 1800. JEMIRIAH SHEPHERD married a Stack, JOHN SHEPHERD lived in Henderson, TN, WILLIAM SHEPHERD went to Holmes Co., MS, MARY LOUISE SHEPHERD married WILLIAM BRAZEALE and lived in Tuscaloosa Co., AL., FRANCES SHEPHERD married DANIEL WATTS and lived in Holmes Co., MS. SARAH SHEPHERD born 15 July 1811 married GRIFFIN TRULL and died 20 June 1892 in Lamar Co., AL. HUGH SHEPHERD married Elizabeth Reid and went to Rusk Co., TX. ELIZABETH JR AND NANCY unmarried daughters and RICHMOND MAC SHEPHERD an unmarried son were perhaps living with their mother.
ELIZABETH SHEPHERD'S father was WILLIAM YERBY born 1728. Her mother was FRANCES MARGARET McTYRE, daughter of THOMAS McTYRE. They married in Lancaster Co., VA April 17, 1753. EVERETTE YERBY was a brother of Elizabeth. He and his wife SARAH McMILLAN YERBY were among the earliest settlers of Tuscaloosa Co., AL. They are listed with the original members of Bethel Baptist Church on the Falls of the Black Warrior constituted 31 Jan 1818. AMON & HOGAN YERBY, nepphews of Elizabeth, were well known in Fayette County where they left numberous descendants.
The murder was committed in the late afternoon, just before dark, as the old widow sat on the back door steps, feed her chickens. The Shepherd family was thrown into a state of wild excitement and grief when the murder was discovered. When dark came no Pherebe was to be found. A light, bobbing along in the darkness some distance from the house, was later observed. It was Pherebe. She carried a lantern,
When apprehended, she was tied with a rope and taken to the county jail, and held there until all legal remedies were exhausted. Judge John J. Ormond, a widely known and highly regarded Tuscaloosa lawyer, represented her. Formerly he had been an Alabama Supreme Court Judge. In the June Term of Supreme Court of 1849 the case wa s ruled on and reversed. Pherebe was re-tried in Fayette Circuit Court and again sentenced to hang.
To say that she received a fair trial is only stating a fact, however, there are those today who say her trial was as fair as could be in those days when the law was not lenient toward criminals and took little cognizance of the mental and emotional state of mind at the time a crime was committed. Pherebe was held in jail for two years or more. She most likely murdered her mistress in the latter part of the year 1848.
When the Federal Census was taken in 1850, those prisoners held in jail were listed. Named among them was Pherebe Shepherd, age 25, born in North Carolina. The date was Jan. 7, 1851 when she was sentenced to hang the second time. The execution was set to be on a Friday, in remembrance of the crucification.
The hanging took place somewhere near the court house, then located in Old Town. The prisoner was transported to the place of execution along with her coffin, which had been made at county expense. The limb of a large oak tree, later known as th e "hanging tree", is believed to have served as a gallows. As the voice of a minister of the gospel rose to beg mercy on the soul of the condemned woman, the rope snapped taunt. The Shepherds made up a large group on hand to see Pherebe hang. Among them was Jacob Shepherd and his small son Mart.
In the day when hangings were public events they attracted large crowds of spectators, including women and children and babes in arm. The day of hanging was one of excitement, carousing and drinking, a day of carnival atmosphere. On this day the roads leading to Fayette Court House were choked with the wagons of farmers bringing their families into town. The more sedate people not wishing to mingle with the crowds, kept on the outskirts of viewed the hanging from some convenient window. Merchants and peddlers took full advantage of the opportunity to make their sales. People often traveled for several days to reach the place of a hanging. Women impelled to view this ghastly spectacle, made themselves new dresses for the occas ion. An old English ballad, popular in the South at this time was called "The Hangmans Tree". A young woman, who was to hang, expected to be saved at the last minute. Her piteous cry in every stanza was, "Slack the rope,
Hangman, O slack it for a while". None came to save her. Nor did one come to save Pherebe either. As a usual thing, the corpse was allowed to hang for a time as a warning to others.
For years this story served as a grizzly subject for fireside conversation, So impressed were young members of the Shepherd family that they, in their dangerous and unsupervised play, attempted to re-enact the hanging. The childish prank was told many times on Mart Shepherd, who almost succeeded in stringing up his sister, Peninah Shepherd.
At the time of the execution of the slave woman, the body of Elizabeth Shepherd reposed in a lonely unmarked grave at a church yard a short distance from the family home. Around 1857 Elizabeth Shepherd, Jr. died. In her will she directed that ten dollars of her money be used for a "tomb rock" for her mother's death. MICHAEL SHEPHERD died and a few years later RICHMON MAC SHEPHERD who was the second post master of Newtonville and operator of a store there pased away. His lands included a part of the Mayfield farm. All of these Shepherds were buried at the nearby church cemetery, but their graves could not be found today. In time corn and cotton grew over their resting places. Grave markers were cleared away and put to more practical uses, such as chimney rocks, hearth stones and pillars for house building. Today undergrowth completely hides the place once pointed out as the site of the old cemetery.
With the passing of a generation or two, the burial place of Pherebe was generally forgotten. Expensive homes with neatly kept lawns now occupy the place where a miserable Pherebe spent her last days. It is hardly possible that the poor helpless creature could have understood the enormity of her crime and the fate she would suffer for her rash act. They say she believed that if she murdered her mistress she would be free. Pherebe wanted to be free.
Elizabeth Yerby was the daughter of Captain William and Frances Margaret McTyre Yerby. She married William Shepherd Jr about 1792 in Anson Co., NC. Their children were Michael Legrand Sr, John, William III, Isaac, Mary Louise, Hughley, Frances S, Nancy, Jemiriah, Sarah, Robert, Richmond Mack, Elizabeth, thomas and Jacob Solon Shepherd.
The following article was in the newspaper concerning her death.
A highly sensational hanging took place at Fayette Court House around 1851 when a young slave woman paid for her crime at the end of a rope.
Pherebe (Shepherd), a slave murdered her mistress, ELIZABETH YERBY SHEPHERD, a widow living at the time near Newtonville, AL. According to all accounts the crime was pre-meditated. The young slave woman leaped on her old defenseless mistress and slit her throat with a butcher knife. Elizabeth Shepherd had only been in Fayette County a few years at the time of her death, having arrived there in 1845, from Anson County, North Carolina. She came with a family group that included her sons and daughters, MICHAEL SHEPHERD, ROBERT SHEPHERD, RICHMOND MAC SHEPHERD, ELIZABETH JR, AND NANCY SHEPHERD and perhaps others. Slaves were brought with them. The Shepherds were prosperous farming people, even considered wealthy for that day.
Elizabeth was the widow of William Shepherd, Jr. who died in North Carolina, in 1823.
Her home, one and a half miles north-west of Newtonville on Bear Creek, was an old two story log house, built and occupied as a dwelling before she ever came there. (Today it is the Matt Freeman place.) Here she was surrounded by the other members of the family. MICHAEL SHEPHERD settled on land formerly owned by Levi & Jason Guin. ROBERT SHEPHERD, a miller located near by. ISAAC SHEPHERD, who lived across the creek from his mother had settled there in 1825 when he came into the county with his father in law SIMON POE. JACOB SHEPHERD another son married Mariah Nall, had lived at Newtonville since 1836. A granddaughter, Elizabeth Shepherd Williams, who lived in the vicinity was the wife of Bedford H Williams, later Probate Judge of the county. Some of the family had settled there as early as 1825.
There were other children of the widow, making fifteen in all, the oldest were born before 1800. JEMIRIAH SHEPHERD married a Stack, JOHN SHEPHERD lived in Henderson, TN, WILLIAM SHEPHERD went to Holmes Co., MS, MARY LOUISE SHEPHERD married WILLIAM BRAZEALE and lived in Tuscaloosa Co., AL., FRANCES SHEPHERD married DANIEL WATTS and lived in Holmes Co., MS. SARAH SHEPHERD born 15 July 1811 married GRIFFIN TRULL and died 20 June 1892 in Lamar Co., AL. HUGH SHEPHERD married Elizabeth Reid and went to Rusk Co., TX. ELIZABETH JR AND NANCY unmarried daughters and RICHMOND MAC SHEPHERD an unmarried son were perhaps living with their mother.
ELIZABETH SHEPHERD'S father was WILLIAM YERBY born 1728. Her mother was FRANCES MARGARET McTYRE, daughter of THOMAS McTYRE. They married in Lancaster Co., VA April 17, 1753. EVERETTE YERBY was a brother of Elizabeth. He and his wife SARAH McMILLAN YERBY were among the earliest settlers of Tuscaloosa Co., AL. They are listed with the original members of Bethel Baptist Church on the Falls of the Black Warrior constituted 31 Jan 1818. AMON & HOGAN YERBY, nepphews of Elizabeth, were well known in Fayette County where they left numberous descendants.
The murder was committed in the late afternoon, just before dark, as the old widow sat on the back door steps, feed her chickens. The Shepherd family was thrown into a state of wild excitement and grief when the murder was discovered. When dark came no Pherebe was to be found. A light, bobbing along in the darkness some distance from the house, was later observed. It was Pherebe. She carried a lantern,
When apprehended, she was tied with a rope and taken to the county jail, and held there until all legal remedies were exhausted. Judge John J. Ormond, a widely known and highly regarded Tuscaloosa lawyer, represented her. Formerly he had been an Alabama Supreme Court Judge. In the June Term of Supreme Court of 1849 the case wa s ruled on and reversed. Pherebe was re-tried in Fayette Circuit Court and again sentenced to hang.
To say that she received a fair trial is only stating a fact, however, there are those today who say her trial was as fair as could be in those days when the law was not lenient toward criminals and took little cognizance of the mental and emotional state of mind at the time a crime was committed. Pherebe was held in jail for two years or more. She most likely murdered her mistress in the latter part of the year 1848.
When the Federal Census was taken in 1850, those prisoners held in jail were listed. Named among them was Pherebe Shepherd, age 25, born in North Carolina. The date was Jan. 7, 1851 when she was sentenced to hang the second time. The execution was set to be on a Friday, in remembrance of the crucification.
The hanging took place somewhere near the court house, then located in Old Town. The prisoner was transported to the place of execution along with her coffin, which had been made at county expense. The limb of a large oak tree, later known as th e "hanging tree", is believed to have served as a gallows. As the voice of a minister of the gospel rose to beg mercy on the soul of the condemned woman, the rope snapped taunt. The Shepherds made up a large group on hand to see Pherebe hang. Among them was Jacob Shepherd and his small son Mart.
In the day when hangings were public events they attracted large crowds of spectators, including women and children and babes in arm. The day of hanging was one of excitement, carousing and drinking, a day of carnival atmosphere. On this day the roads leading to Fayette Court House were choked with the wagons of farmers bringing their families into town. The more sedate people not wishing to mingle with the crowds, kept on the outskirts of viewed the hanging from some convenient window. Merchants and peddlers took full advantage of the opportunity to make their sales. People often traveled for several days to reach the place of a hanging. Women impelled to view this ghastly spectacle, made themselves new dresses for the occas ion. An old English ballad, popular in the South at this time was called "The Hangmans Tree". A young woman, who was to hang, expected to be saved at the last minute. Her piteous cry in every stanza was, "Slack the rope,
Hangman, O slack it for a while". None came to save her. Nor did one come to save Pherebe either. As a usual thing, the corpse was allowed to hang for a time as a warning to others.
For years this story served as a grizzly subject for fireside conversation, So impressed were young members of the Shepherd family that they, in their dangerous and unsupervised play, attempted to re-enact the hanging. The childish prank was told many times on Mart Shepherd, who almost succeeded in stringing up his sister, Peninah Shepherd.
At the time of the execution of the slave woman, the body of Elizabeth Shepherd reposed in a lonely unmarked grave at a church yard a short distance from the family home. Around 1857 Elizabeth Shepherd, Jr. died. In her will she directed that ten dollars of her money be used for a "tomb rock" for her mother's death. MICHAEL SHEPHERD died and a few years later RICHMON MAC SHEPHERD who was the second post master of Newtonville and operator of a store there pased away. His lands included a part of the Mayfield farm. All of these Shepherds were buried at the nearby church cemetery, but their graves could not be found today. In time corn and cotton grew over their resting places. Grave markers were cleared away and put to more practical uses, such as chimney rocks, hearth stones and pillars for house building. Today undergrowth completely hides the place once pointed out as the site of the old cemetery.
With the passing of a generation or two, the burial place of Pherebe was generally forgotten. Expensive homes with neatly kept lawns now occupy the place where a miserable Pherebe spent her last days. It is hardly possible that the poor helpless creature could have understood the enormity of her crime and the fate she would suffer for her rash act. They say she believed that if she murdered her mistress she would be free. Pherebe wanted to be free.
The following article was in the newspaper concerning her death.
A highly sensational hanging took place at Fayette Court House around 1851 when a young slave woman paid for her crime at the end of a rope.
Pherebe (Shepherd), a slave murdered her mistress, ELIZABETH YERBY SHEPHERD, a widow living at the time near Newtonville, AL. According to all accounts the crime was pre-meditated. The young slave woman leaped on her old defenseless mistress and slit her throat with a butcher knife. Elizabeth Shepherd had only been in Fayette County a few years at the time of her death, having arrived there in 1845, from Anson County, North Carolina. She came with a family group that included her sons and daughters, MICHAEL SHEPHERD, ROBERT SHEPHERD, RICHMOND MAC SHEPHERD, ELIZABETH JR, AND NANCY SHEPHERD and perhaps others. Slaves were brought with them. The Shepherds were prosperous farming people, even considered wealthy for that day.
Elizabeth was the widow of William Shepherd, Jr. who died in North Carolina, in 1823.
Her home, one and a half miles north-west of Newtonville on Bear Creek, was an old two story log house, built and occupied as a dwelling before she ever came there. (Today it is the Matt Freeman place.) Here she was surrounded by the other members of the family. MICHAEL SHEPHERD settled on land formerly owned by Levi & Jason Guin. ROBERT SHEPHERD, a miller located near by. ISAAC SHEPHERD, who lived across the creek from his mother had settled there in 1825 when he came into the county with his father in law SIMON POE. JACOB SHEPHERD another son married Mariah Nall, had lived at Newtonville since 1836. A granddaughter, Elizabeth Shepherd Williams, who lived in the vicinity was the wife of Bedford H Williams, later Probate Judge of the county. Some of the family had settled there as early as 1825.
There were other children of the widow, making fifteen in all, the oldest were born before 1800. JEMIRIAH SHEPHERD married a Stack, JOHN SHEPHERD lived in Henderson, TN, WILLIAM SHEPHERD went to Holmes Co., MS, MARY LOUISE SHEPHERD married WILLIAM BRAZEALE and lived in Tuscaloosa Co., AL., FRANCES SHEPHERD married DANIEL WATTS and lived in Holmes Co., MS. SARAH SHEPHERD born 15 July 1811 married GRIFFIN TRULL and died 20 June 1892 in Lamar Co., AL. HUGH SHEPHERD married Elizabeth Reid and went to Rusk Co., TX. ELIZABETH JR AND NANCY unmarried daughters and RICHMOND MAC SHEPHERD an unmarried son were perhaps living with their mother.
ELIZABETH SHEPHERD'S father was WILLIAM YERBY born 1728. Her mother was FRANCES MARGARET McTYRE, daughter of THOMAS McTYRE. They married in Lancaster Co., VA April 17, 1753. EVERETTE YERBY was a brother of Elizabeth. He and his wife SARAH McMILLAN YERBY were among the earliest settlers of Tuscaloosa Co., AL. They are listed with the original members of Bethel Baptist Church on the Falls of the Black Warrior constituted 31 Jan 1818. AMON & HOGAN YERBY, nepphews of Elizabeth, were well known in Fayette County where they left numberous descendants.
The murder was committed in the late afternoon, just before dark, as the old widow sat on the back door steps, feed her chickens. The Shepherd family was thrown into a state of wild excitement and grief when the murder was discovered. When dark came no Pherebe was to be found. A light, bobbing along in the darkness some distance from the house, was later observed. It was Pherebe. She carried a lantern,
When apprehended, she was tied with a rope and taken to the county jail, and held there until all legal remedies were exhausted. Judge John J. Ormond, a widely known and highly regarded Tuscaloosa lawyer, represented her. Formerly he had been an Alabama Supreme Court Judge. In the June Term of Supreme Court of 1849 the case wa s ruled on and reversed. Pherebe was re-tried in Fayette Circuit Court and again sentenced to hang.
To say that she received a fair trial is only stating a fact, however, there are those today who say her trial was as fair as could be in those days when the law was not lenient toward criminals and took little cognizance of the mental and emotional state of mind at the time a crime was committed. Pherebe was held in jail for two years or more. She most likely murdered her mistress in the latter part of the year 1848.
When the Federal Census was taken in 1850, those prisoners held in jail were listed. Named among them was Pherebe Shepherd, age 25, born in North Carolina. The date was Jan. 7, 1851 when she was sentenced to hang the second time. The execution was set to be on a Friday, in remembrance of the crucification.
The hanging took place somewhere near the court house, then located in Old Town. The prisoner was transported to the place of execution along with her coffin, which had been made at county expense. The limb of a large oak tree, later known as th e "hanging tree", is believed to have served as a gallows. As the voice of a minister of the gospel rose to beg mercy on the soul of the condemned woman, the rope snapped taunt. The Shepherds made up a large group on hand to see Pherebe hang. Among them was Jacob Shepherd and his small son Mart.
In the day when hangings were public events they attracted large crowds of spectators, including women and children and babes in arm. The day of hanging was one of excitement, carousing and drinking, a day of carnival atmosphere. On this day the roads leading to Fayette Court House were choked with the wagons of farmers bringing their families into town. The more sedate people not wishing to mingle with the crowds, kept on the outskirts of viewed the hanging from some convenient window. Merchants and peddlers took full advantage of the opportunity to make their sales. People often traveled for several days to reach the place of a hanging. Women impelled to view this ghastly spectacle, made themselves new dresses for the occas ion. An old English ballad, popular in the South at this time was called "The Hangmans Tree". A young woman, who was to hang, expected to be saved at the last minute. Her piteous cry in every stanza was, "Slack the rope,
Hangman, O slack it for a while". None came to save her. Nor did one come to save Pherebe either. As a usual thing, the corpse was allowed to hang for a time as a warning to others.
For years this story served as a grizzly subject for fireside conversation, So impressed were young members of the Shepherd family that they, in their dangerous and unsupervised play, attempted to re-enact the hanging. The childish prank was told many times on Mart Shepherd, who almost succeeded in stringing up his sister, Peninah Shepherd.
At the time of the execution of the slave woman, the body of Elizabeth Shepherd reposed in a lonely unmarked grave at a church yard a short distance from the family home. Around 1857 Elizabeth Shepherd, Jr. died. In her will she directed that ten dollars of her money be used for a "tomb rock" for her mother's death. MICHAEL SHEPHERD died and a few years later RICHMON MAC SHEPHERD who was the second post master of Newtonville and operator of a store there pased away. His lands included a part of the Mayfield farm. All of these Shepherds were buried at the nearby church cemetery, but their graves could not be found today. In time corn and cotton grew over their resting places. Grave markers were cleared away and put to more practical uses, such as chimney rocks, hearth stones and pillars for house building. Today undergrowth completely hides the place once pointed out as the site of the old cemetery.
With the passing of a generation or two, the burial place of Pherebe was generally forgotten. Expensive homes with neatly kept lawns now occupy the place where a miserable Pherebe spent her last days. It is hardly possible that the poor helpless creature could have understood the enormity of her crime and the fate she would suffer for her rash act. They say she believed that if she murdered her mistress she would be free. Pherebe wanted to be free.
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