Like most summer evenings in the southern city of Natchez, Mississippi, it was hot and

steamy on that Thursday night. The 68-year-old Jane Surgeon Merrill was waiting in her

home known as Glen Bernie for her cousin, Duncan Minor, to arrive.

Known by locals as Miss Jenny, she was regarded as an eccentric old lady to those in town, living as a recluse, rarely leaving her house.

One of the only guests allowed to pass through her front gate was Duncan, who was also 68, and he saddled his horse every night at his nearby home, Oakland

and rode the short distance to see Jenny, the only woman he'd ever loved.

He returned home each morning just before dawn. It was a nightly

ritual that was decades old but on that night in August 1932 it was going to come to a sudden and shocking end.

On his ride to Glen Bernie, two local African American men,

Willie Boyd and M.C. Hatcher waved Duncan down.

Willie told him he was on his way to church and heard what sounded like screaming

and gunshots coming from Glen Bernie.

He feared that Miss Jenny might be in trouble.

Alarmed Duncan spurred his horse into a gallop and arrived at the house that was dark and

silent. He called out for Jenny, but there was no reply. He quickly found a lantern, and when he lifted the

light, he discovered her house had been ransacked. Furniture was knocked over, things had been

thrown about. There were obvious signs of a struggle, and there was also blood spattered on the walls.

But there was no sign of Jenny.

One of the men who worked on Jenny's farm ran to a nearby

store to telephone the sheriff and within minutes after the arrival of the

deputies Duncan's worst fears were confirmed.

Jenny had been murdered.

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