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Author Bartley, Nancy.

Title The boy who shot the sheriff : the redemption of Herbert Niccolls Jr. / Nancy Bartley
Published Seattle : University of Washington Press, [2013]

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Description 1 online resource (xii, 284 pages) : portrait
Contents Preface -- Herbert Niccolls Jr.'s Story -- Epilogue
Summary In 1931, a 12-year-old boy shot and killed the sheriff of Asotin, Washington. The incident stunned the small town and a mob threatened to hang him. Both the crime and Herbert Niccolls's eventual sentence of life imprisonment at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla drew national attention, only to be buried later in local archives. The author has conducted extensive research to construct a compelling narrative of the events and characters that make this a unique episode in the history of criminal justice in the United States. Niccolls became a cause for Father Flanagan of Boys Town, who took to the airwaves and implored listeners to write Governor Hartley on the boy's behalf. The bitter campaign put Hartley in such a negative light that he lost his bid for reelection. Under a new and progressive warden, Niccolls thrived in prison. Inmates like physician Peter Miller and literary agent James Ashe became his tutors, finding that Niccolls had an insatiable appetite for knowledge. During the deadly 1934 prison riot at Walla Walla, several prisoners kept him from harm. Niccolls was finally released from prison in his early twenties. He went to work at 20th Century Fox in Hollywood, where he kept his secret for the rest of his long life. This book explores the little-known story of a young boy's fate in the juvenile justice system during the bloodiest years in the nation's penitentiaries
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 247-272) and index
Notes Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher
Subject Niccolls, Herbert, Jr., 1919-1983.
Juvenile homicide -- Washington (State)
Murder -- Washington (State)
Juvenile delinquency -- Washington (State)
Juvenile justice, Administration of -- Washington (State)
TRUE CRIME -- Murder -- General.
HISTORY -- United States -- State & Local -- Pacific Northwest (OR, Wash.)
Juvenile delinquency
Juvenile homicide
Juvenile justice, Administration of
Murder
Washington (State)
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2021694443
ISBN 9780295804545
0295804548