Diamond Bessie

A couple arrived by train to Jefferson Texas on January 19 1877. They immediately attracted the attention of the town folks with their matching luggage and the woman literally dripped with jewels which included three humongous diamonds rings. They checked into a hotel under the name of Mr. and Mrs. A Moore, Cincinnati Ohio. They spent the next two days eating, walking around town and fighting like cats and dogs. Someone heard him call her Bessie.

On the morning of January 21, Mr. Monroe bought a picnic lunch, and the couple crossed the bridge at Cypress Bayou, walking away from town along the Marshall road. The last person to see them together was Frank Malloy, who noticed them in the restaurant before 11:00 AM; Malloy took special note of Bessie's massive diamond rings. Approximately three hours later Mr. Monroe was seen crossing the bridge back into Jefferson alone.

When questioned about his wife's whereabouts at the hotel, Mr. Monroe claimed she had stayed across the Bayou to visit friends. The following morning, he took breakfast alone at the hotel, where he was seen wearing Bessie's rings. On the morning of Tuesday the 23rd, he boarded a train to Cincinnati with Bessie's luggage.

On February 5 an excited woman ran into town to report a well-dressed corpse just off the Marshall road reclining peacefully amid picnic debris. It was poor Bessie without her diamonds. She had been shot in her forehead. The townsfolk were shocked and immediately collected $150 to make Bessie a permanent guest of Jefferson Texas.

Doing some detective it was discovered they had registered in Marshall Texas under the name of A. Rothschild. He was Abraham Rothschild, the black sheep of the Rothschild family, the same family who pulled their carriage around London with a matched pair of zebras and had more money than sense. Bessie was a prostitute that became a companion of Mr. Rothschild. A warrant was issued to authorities in Ohio, and was served after Mr. Rothschild's return there. Shortly before he was arrested he attempted suicide (evidently with a BB gun since he succeeded only in putting out an eye). It was in this condition he was returned to Marion County for trial.

Rothschild was convicted — the jury foreman reportedly drew a noose on the wall during deliberations with the slogan, "That's my verdict!" — But the conviction was overturned on appeal. There was widespread opinion that Rothschild's wealth, and Bessie's being a prostitute, was influencing the appellate court. One newspaper editorial bitterly wrote, "Certainly all that is required to save a red-handed murderer from the gallows are two or three active friends and sufficient money..."

After much legal wrangling, Rothschild went to trial again on December 22, 1880, this time in Jefferson. Rothschild did not testify in his own defense, and his lawyers made mincemeat of prosecution witnesses. Rothschild, to the dismay of many, was acquitted, and rejoined his family in Cincinnati. Editorialists were again bitter, one writing, "...one of the vilest and meanest murders ever perpetrated goes unpunished through the inefficiency of the legal system."